Is it creepy to put a security camera at my front door? The siding off so now is the time if I’m going to do it. Ideally it would use Cat 5 for power and signal and be viewable over my LAN. Any recommended products?
It might be a bit creepy to have it directly over your front door. Off to the side out of obvious view is better. 
Camera options depend on what your goal is. If it’s just deterrence, a dummy camera not hooked up to anything is a cheap option. Decent IP security cameras in my experience start at around $80; to get really good resolution images/video you’re probably looking at $120 and up.
Without recommending any specific models, I suggest paying close attention to 1) online reviews and 2) available of tech support*, especially good online setup videos which a few companies have. Beware of certain Chinese manufacturers who have incomprehensible “manuals” and/or have knockoffs flooding the market which they do not support (i.e. Hikvision).
*Companies that advertise “easy setup” or “plug and play” are most often wildly exaggerating or outright lying. Make sure you have a good, reasonably modern router and don’t experience connection problems with your other devices. Most complaints I see online are from people who can’t get their cameras connected consistently, or at all.
Front door of your house? No. Why in the world would that be creepy?
A camera installed in your guest bedroom would be creepy though.
Not creepy at all. Cameras are cheap these days, so common for homeowners to put them in.
Note cameras within reach can be stolen or vandalized. Better to mount them up high. And have two cameras pointing at each other (if one is vandalized, the other will see who did it). And best to have 8 or more cameras around a house - at least one pointing out and covering the street.
Then do put up “Video Surveillance” signs. The idea is to let them know there are cameras in the area - they will go elsewhere.
There are separate video surveillance boxes with 2 terabyte or more capacity disk drives which are specially designed to be in constant use. P.C. disk drives may not hold up to constant recording.
A buddy of mine just set his place up with five LogiTech Alert 750n cameras (the outdoor variant) and is very happy with the result. One looks down from his roof edge toward the porch, one is aimed from a porch corner toward his door, there’s one mounted on the house with a view of the driveway, one mounted to a chimney, and one other I can’t recall.
He has one set up for motion, and it sends him an email alert. We were having a beer and he pulled out his tablet and showed me the array. Cool!
He lives in the country and has zero crime concern, it was more of a lark for a techie sorta guy.
I don’t see it as creepy. I mean, as long as you’re directing it at whoever might be coming onto your property and not directing it at the front door of the house across the street.
I agree with putting up signs. Better to have them not even try, than to have them try, succeed, but have video of it.
Now you tell me.
How else would you know if they fit the bed?
Not creepy. I see commercials all the time for a product known as the Ring video doorbell. It’s connected to wifi and if someone rings your doorbell when you’re not at home, you can see and talk to them over your smartphone.
Good advice. Though IP (Internet Protocol) cameras usually can be configured to take snapshots or videos on detecting motion and to send you images automatically (i.e. to e-mail), so you’d likely have evidence of the person stealing or damaging the camera.
Of course, the dimwit who does this may not realize that images have been sent to a safe location, figuring that everything is stored on a card in the camera itself and that stealing it means securing the evidence. So best to mount the camera out of easy reach.
A combo (camera plus gun-slot n the door) would be scary.
Many front doors already have a peephole viewer, and there are digital wifi cameras that mount in the existing hole in the door. Peepholes are so common, I doubt anyone still perceives them as creepy.
After you install the camera(s), if you’re civic-minded, you can call your local police to see if they’re registering home security cameras.
It’s a voluntary program that lets the police know that there may be video evidence of crimes in your neighborhood. They don’t have access to your cameras or any captured footage - the registry just lets them know that you might have footage of a nearby crime, the getaway car, etc., and are probably willing to share it.
My husband just installed one of those Ring things, it works quite well. He also has several video cameras pointing at different places. One is in a guest bedroom that has a window overlooking the driveway. It has a little light that shows it’s on which is visible from the street, purposefully so. If someone really wants to break into a house they will break in, but I do think that visible security helps to ward off opportunistic thieves.
This is…is…so…WRONG and WRONG on so many levels.
Part of the joy of driving is the ability to be ALONE - NOBODY can disrupt you.
Now we have phones which allow simply EVERYBODY to disrupt you at any and all times.
Well, at least I can avoid those idiots who want to save me lots of money - we just need your utility account number…
Now even anyone who can ring a doorbell can disrupt your solitude.
And gawd help the soul whose wifi signal dies…
All Hail the Cloud!!!
The Cloud knows all and tells all (you just need to know how to ask)
Lord Cloud, please bless this thread and keep it safe for eternity!
(and you Know it will be kept for all time) :eek:
Install an electrical box at the chosen location, and if possible, flexible low-voltage plastic conduit from there to your main location. Then you can easily replace your camera when new, better products become available. And even replace the wiring cables in the future. That’s so easy to do now, when construction is being done, and gives you much more flexibility for the future.
Around here some people follow the UPS truck and steal packages off of front porches, so a camera that could see this has been useful. Once enough of these people see themselves on TV they get the message. So not creepy. We don’t have one since we’re home and can get the package quickly, usually.
My mom is thinking about this. She is home bound, and it is difficult for her to get around or move very fast. It would be good for her to know if someone at the door was legit, or another solicitor that she can just ignore.
When we had our house built we put in external power points under the eaves on all 4 corners of the house. We haven’t actually put up cameras yet but we’re all set once we decide to go ahead.
It’s not a high crime area by any stretch of the imagination, but since we’re planning to be here til the kids move us into an old folks home we wanted to put all the tools in place to make things easier.
If I were to do this, I’d also want to install electronic locks. That way, if someone comes to the door and it’s someone you like, you can let them in from the comfort of your secret lair. Which would be especially useful for someone like enipla’s mom, but would be cool even for more mobile folks.