DIY CCTV for your Lotus

[Jam_s160]

https://www.arlo.com/uk/

If it helps I just purchased last week the Arlo system with 3 cameras... For home, garage and office. Very impressed with it so far. I'll be buying / adding two more cameras now to make it 5. Although you can goto 10 cameras if you want.

Super easy to install, setup within 10-15mins out of the box. Loads of versatility to move the cameras around and reasonable wireless range.

The only negatives will be battery life I hear via Internet forums. So I'll buy recharge ones in 3months time

[Sanjøy]

Rebuilt my CCTV with a new capture card and on Windows 10. Thinking of moving to Blue Iris from I-Catcher. Anyone else use it?

S

[Callummarshall]

Is something like that arlo system likely to be good enough for home use? Or would you be better building your own?

Looking for something with simmilar features to that but would prefer a hard wired fit and forget option opposed to something I had to change batteries on. Would be looking for something with 2-4 cameras and quite discreate if anyone knows of anything else that would fit the bill.

[j2 lot]

I have just installed and Arlo 3 camera system too. It is perfect for home use. Works straight out of the box and with a couple of extra mounts you can change the coverage really easily if you need too and/or easy to add to it with additional cameras. I like that it works inside and outside and the cameras are discreet too.

[Callummarshall]

I have just installed and Arlo 3 camera system too. It is perfect for home use. Works straight out of the box and with a couple of extra mounts you can change the coverage really easily if you need too and/or easy to add to it with additional cameras. I like that it works inside and outside and the cameras are discreet too.

Do you have the hard wired option or the battery ones?

[j2 lot]

Battery. Hard wired seems to be indoor only

[p4ilip]

Does anyone have any complaints about this arlo system? It looks good on the website but I wondered in everyday use how people have found it? Has anyone had the cameras taken? They look quite easy to detach.

[j2 lot]

No problems so far with our system. I was wary about cameras bein easy to detach so put a screw mount at the front of the house where it's more public. I have them all mounted above reach height so you need steps to remove them. The small size means they are reasonably easy secrete and you can get coloured covers so you can blend in with surroundings.
I have no regrets about buying it.

[Dominic]

So, here's one for the boffins...

We now live at the end of a short lane. The junction from the lane to main road has poor sight lines due to a blind crest about 40m away. I am looking at possibly installing a camera at the crest, which would wirelessly pair with our phones (and maybe our neighbour's also). The location of the camera will be quite far from any buildings, so it would need to have a decent battery. It would also need to have a decent wireless connection to our phones, around 40m distance required. We don't need something that is web connected - just to connect direct to our phones to give us a live image of what is over the crest. I have found a few options on line, but the cameras which connect directly to the phone, have very short battery life - about 30 mins! The other camera systems seem to all require a wifi connection..... The other option is to leave our phones out of the equation and have a screen at the end of our drive, receiving the live image from the camera.... but not so keen on this option.

TIA

[BiggestNizzy]

Some carefully positioned mirrors

[rossybee]

Some carefully positioned mirrors

Yup, those convex ones which you see in the country

[Dominic]

Should have mentioned - mirror not an option. The folk across the road are not willing to have one on the fence / property. The council have said no to one too.

[Shug]

Also legality of CCTV that's not on/viewing your property - does it need to be recording to fall foul of that legislation or not?

It's a pretty tough one, TBH, having seen the crest in question.

[j2 lot]

Think Shug is right, camera in public space isn't going to be straightforward and might require an operators licence or permission for public space use.