CCTV/Home Surveillance Advice

[DNA Tuning]

Hi guys, I hope you're all well, because I'm not.

Some low-lives vandalised my car last night while it was sitting in my driveway. They forcefully took off the S4 badge (with a flat head screwdriver, gouged right through the paint to the sheet metal), and tried to rip off a side mirror; they failed but they left with a lower insert/cover of it and left my mirror loosely placed back on such that when I drove down the road this morning it came off and scratched the side of my car (it was dangling from the 2 connections to the mirror heater).

Not only that, they took junk mail from my mailbox and left it scattered over my nature strip. This is the second time something like this has happened in the last couple of years (they ripped off my boot lip spoiler last time on my previous car), and is totally uncalled for as my S4 is, appearance wise, 100% stock; not lowered, no loud exhaust, stock rims, etc.

Can someone recommend me an affordable but effective CCTV setup? One that can capture decent quality at night time without the intruders realising? The last thing I want is to be targetted again if they find out I have reported them to the police.

[jamesatfish]

Can someone recommend me an affordable but effective CCTV setup? One that can capture decent quality at night time without the intruders realising? The last thing I want is to be targetted again if they find out I have reported them to the police.

Very sorry to hear about the car - nothing worse than those types of individuals who mess with other people's property.

Unfortunately night time image quality is something that doesn't come with lower-end CCTV devices. For best results you'll want to find a camera that captures in the IR spectrum for zero-light situations, or a camera which captures down below 0.1 lux in the visible spectrum. If you're trying to capture enough information to identify a person you'll also want a decent image resolution - 1280x720 or above in the digital world.

You can buy a cheap IR-capable analog CCTV camera from somewhere like Jaycar, but these are typically no more than PAL resolution and often even less, which isn't really sufficient for what you want to achieve. To get a reasonable image quality in low light you'll need to spend some serious money (i.e. $750+) on a high quality digital camera. I use the Axis P5534 for outdoor surveillance (AXIS P5534 PTZ Dome Network Camera, HDTV pan/tilt/zoom camera | Axis Communications) in my system and find it to be pretty good, but they're not at all cheap - about $2500 each on Amazon.com.

If you're interested I can upload some images showing the difference in image quality from different cameras in the same low light conditions so you can see how useless some of the cheaper cameras can be at nighttime.

The final nail in the coffin might be that, no matter what you capture, it might be completely ignored by the policy anyway. A few years ago a commercial property of mine was broken into. We had the gates and property under video surveillance and handed over to the police clear video footage of the 'alleged offenders' driving up, connecting an angle grinder, spending 20 minutes grinding through our locks and finally gaining entry and removing two vehicles. No charges were laid as the footage was, apparently, inconclusive.

Happy to help with any other info if you're interested in more details about our setups etc.

[ian]

Why don't you hook up a security light with a sensor at least it wont give them time to damage your car as they will think that you have turned it on , You can buy them cheap at Bunnings $40 even if you run a lead inside to a wall plug and fix it overlooking your car .

[Johnbu]

Sorry to hear John.

Your house seems to be in a decent area too, well I thought so.

Unfortunately, alot of these Vandals are teenagers who do it for kicks.

At night time a CCTV isn't going to be to clear..

I would suggest maybe a motion sensor activately light. Hopefully that would assist detering them in future.

Any chance of you parking inside the garage?

[Tim]

just spend $100 and put a dummy camera near where you park, a sign that says the place is under video surveillance and a security light that comes on. No-one will touch the car if they think there is a chance of being caught.

[Water Boy]

As Tim said. Get a dummy camera and a security light.

Also have thug looking mates come to your house once a week like I do and hang out! Let the neighbours know you are connected!

[The_Hawk]

Maybe a sensor light or two (or three or four) + a cheaper camera which then has half decent light to work with???

[Ironman]

Or be like me and have a MotherF*&(^ing Rotty that is attack trained

[Wolfgang]

Not good to hear.

One of those light units they use for night roadworks hooked up to a sensor should do the trick.

[DNA Tuning]

Thanks for the advice guys. I will get one of those kits from motion detector lights from bunnings and a dummy camera i reckon. This morning i was still fuming over what had happened and wanted justice, but if i can at least prevent future cases that will be fine i guess!

I will park my s4 in my garage at all times in the future i think, if they want to hurt my audi 80 then so be it. Still boggles my mind that there are such scummy people in this part of town...