I saw this system at a Costco warehouse the other day for $799. Lorex wants $1099.
What is Arfcom's thought on this?

4K Ultra HD IP 8 Channel NVR System with 6 Outdoor 4K 8MP IP Cameras

The 4KHDIP86 security camera system from Lorex  includes a 4K capable 8-channel NR900 Series network video recorder (NVR) and six LNB8005B 4K bullet security cameras.
4K security cameras
The 8-megapixel image sensor within the LNB8005B security cameras can record a pixel resolution of 3840 x 2160 at 15 frames-per-second (FPS).
2(4) TB security certified hard drive
HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding), H.265 recording

From a review:
"Got this at Costco. only difference was the NVR HD size. Costco model has 4tb instead of 2tb. Did some prior research on camera systems before purchasing and a lot of forums recommended this system because the cameras are relabed Dahau starlight cameras from my understanding. System was simple to set up. Cameras are great. Advertising them as full color at night is not very accurate, should say full color in low lighting. Only con was the Lorex app. Ended up using the Flir cloud app with a lot more success."

Last time I was in Costco I saw a system similar to this, priced at $799.

It was 1080p and only used coax/BNC wiring.

I'd be interested in this 4k system but need more than 8 channels.

Edit to add...
Read the reviews on Costco website. Lorex is a big fat NO for me.

Not to upset the apple cart but I am replacing my home CCTV with Wyze cameras. Works great and cheap.

What is my best option for outdoor security wifi security cams?

Situation:  My dad needs temporary surveillance of his barn until he can get a whole home/barn security system set up.  Wifi signal easily reaches to the barn.  Cameras would be semi protected under a 12" eave / soffit.

He would like a camera that he could view on his phone w/ some capability of storage.  Having storage on a cloud service would be fine for now.

Additionally, he would like door alarms that are wifi capable that could alert him via his phone.  I am willing to do something via a Raspberry Pi. I have no clue what is available on this front.

Any suggestions?

The Arlo Pro 2 should work great.......

can you view the cameras off network?  I need some new baby monitors and I'm thinking about going this route.

I didn’t scan the whole thread, so I’m not sure if they are mentioned, but the amazon cloud cams have been a pleasant surprise for me. They were $60 each on Prime Day. I bought 7 of them and they were beyond easy to set up. I know that are an entry level cam but for the money they have performed beyond expectation. Good video clarity, very simple app.

I use a foscam C1 for the baby monitor job. They kick the shit out of any baby video monitor. You can port forward them so they have access to the internet but I use a VPN. It's more secure. They suck at audio so I'd still use a conventional audio monitor.

I recently added a Reolink Wifi camera into the mix just to test it out and I am very impressed.
This is the cam I bought.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DC2GM5K/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have been needing a wireless camera to put out on my shop to give me a good view of that side of my house and the drive up to the shop so wireless was the best solution.
I was looking into system options for a friend who wanted to put an  NVR and cams up at her house and found excellent reviews on the Reolink stuff. Apparently they used to have issues with BlueIris but that problem has been resolved.
All of my other cameras are Hikvision and the Reolink probably has the best picture of all of them. Granted its 4mp and the HV are all 1,2 and 3mp.
It was half the price or at least the wired equivalent cam would be about half and you don't have to play the "Is it greymarket with chinese firmware that I cant upgrade etc" game.
It was relatively easy to set up and add to BlueIris though I did find at least one feature I couldnt change via the cameras web gui and had to use the app.

I'm the opposite.  I've got a handful of Wyze cams (the new pan and scan ones are amazing), but each one uses a massive amount of bandwidth and there's no way to store the video locally.  For $20-30 bucks a pop, they're a cheap and simple way to get a camera or two up and running with no technical knowledge.

But three cameras brings my internet connection to its knees.

So, I'm still reading and hoping to find a program that works with my home server (unRAID) to store and view IP camera feeds.

I'm still using the the 8 channel 4k NVR from Laview(rebranded hikvision). So far petty happy with it.  Because of the layout of my front porch the door approach would never get a clear picture of the face.

The ring doorbell seemed nice but don't want my stuff in the" cloud" .

I got some targeted marketing that Laview had a Christmas sale on a doorbell camera! Didn't even know they had one. Facebook must have been listening....

https://www.laviewsecurity.com/video-doorbell-camera.html

WiFi camera that uses an open channel on the NVR and will record directly to your NVR and to the included micro SD card! It gets its power from your doorbell's transformer!!! It was also only $70

This thing is amazing.

when someone pushes the doorbell button it literally calls your phone with full video and audio. The one thing I don't like is that it uses their off-site servers (like ring) to push the alert to your phone app. I don't know at way around that except to just turn it off. IPhone uses the standard APNS push services and android uses Google's FCM. otherwise there's no way for it to notify the app on your phone. It's a nice feature so I left it.

I did run wire shark on the ip and there is no data leaving my network except APNS, FCM, and the occasional ping to make sure it's alive.

Here's an example of a video where my neighbors dog came over to get my dog to come play.



https://youtu.be/7VSYIpWlEV0

Any chance we could start 2019 with a top 25 camera list based on current offerings?

https://www.laviewsecurity.com/8-channel-4k-nvr-4-2-rx.html

Here you go. All 4k (8MP), thermal, color night vision, and even two with strobes.

Can't get much better than that. It's less than I paid for mine with 4MP cameras less than a year ago. The thermal is amazing for motion detection

Each winter I think, I really need a few cameras pointing out while I am enjoying working in the basement.  I picked up one low res camera, but I am looking for more.

So I start looking at the  NSC-2A4-PTZ 4MP, very good day time performance, but kind of week for large areas without multiple IR light sources.

So what would be a good secondary IR illuminator?

Outdoor installation, I was thinking that being powered over POE might be a good idea.  If I am running one cat Ethernet cable, might as well run two.

Added:

I am going to have to look at a better setup here...long runs and power setups with thin cable will never work as well as I want it to.

I did find a lot of hardware on Amazon that can help out with secondary lighting the back yard.

-----------------

Ok, no feed back so far . . .

spotted a
Monoprice 8MP, 4K 2.8mm Wide Angle Fixed Lens, Bullet IP Security Camera, Matrix IR 2.0, WDR with microSD Slot up to 128GB, PoE

It indicated that it had a very good IR support, so pulled the trigger for 1 just to see what the tech is behind this camera.

30% off sale - so it should provide a nice play thing for 230 or so dollars.

Added:

The new hardware does look good. I have not setup the equipment yet, I managed to get side tracked making working on a new server to support recording and playback in the basement.

I managed to buy all of the cheap stuff for the server, I am still working on the setup for the the motherboard  / CPU.  Once that is done I will get a bit more testing with my old 1080p camera and the new 8 MP setup.

I like my BLINK camera system.  Great battery life I am over a year on my original set.

For a temp setup for that area I think the new Blink XT2 is worth checking out.

Is Nelly's Security still in good favor. I'm looking at the 4 channel 4k system. Going to add 2t hard drive for storage. looks to be a good product. Haven't heard anything bad about it , reviews seem to be lacking though.

US to reportedly blacklist Chinese surveillance camera giant Hikvision
The reported ban on Hikvision comes at a time when US is restricting technology exports to several leading Chinese technology companies, including Huawei.
May 22, 2019

The Trump administration is considering slapping a US export ban on China's Hikvision, one of the world's largest surveillance companies, the New York Times reported on Tuesday, citing unidentified sources familiar with the matter.

The US Commerce Department may require US companies to obtain government approval to sell components to the Chinese surveillance firm, which would limit Hikvision's ability to access key technology for its business, the report said.

Hangzhou-based Hikvision was the world's largest surveillance camera maker between 2011 and 2017, owning 38% in market share globally in 2017, according to a research report by IHS Markit published in July 2018.

The export ban on Hikvision would be the same as the one applied to Huawei, which has been included in the US government's Security Entity List. Foreign companies included in the list are required to get approval from the US government before that can do business with US companies.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/us-reportedly-to-blacklist-chinese-surveillance-camera-giant-hikvision/

That's not good.

Aren't all of the security cameras made in China?

Even if they are not banned from importation, the import tariff may drive the prices up.

My dumb question:

If I have a PoE NVR system that compresses video (H.264) for local storage, is it difficult (or even possible) for me to provide recorded video to, say, the local sheriff's office or a friend in a format that they can see and share?

Or is the only way for someone to watch it is for them to watch it on my cell phone or my NVR monitor?

Thanks.

I'm no expert.  I don't even have my own system set up yet.  But, assuming your NVR is on the same network as your home computers, if your NVR software doesn't make it easy, then I know that using video capture software would be very easy.  Actually, you could do that on your phone, too, if you wanted.

Is this something that you have set up and you can't figure it out?  Or is this a question that you're asking before you purchase equipment/software?

But I'm thinking about setting one up right now.  I read this entire thread a long time ago and don't have time to read it again, so forgive me if I'm repeating questions that have been answered.

I have a network server already.  It runs unRAID, which uses Dockers, which has a ZoneMinder Docker available.    I also see MotionEye (which seems too simple for what I want) and Unifi (which seems too proprietary) Dockers that are available for unRAID.  I'm still learning about Dockers, but it seems like ZoneMinder is what I want.  I'm open to any other opinions on this.

Am I correct that if I get IP cameras, then the only other hardware I need (other than ethernet cable) is a POE switch?  What kind of ethernet cable do I need to get for 4K video (and possibly audio)?  CAT-5E?  CAT-6?  Do they have to be tipped any special way, or is regular network data cable tipping fine?  (I'd rather buy pre-made cables.)

I just looked at Nelly's and see that this IPCamPower IPCP-24P2G-EXAF 24 Port POE Network Switch for IP Security Cameras with 2 Gigabit Uplink Ports is not much more than the 16 port, which isn't that much more than the 8 port.  I also like that it has 8 ports that can be put in "extended" mode:  "Traditional POE switches limit out at about 300' cable runs (100 meters). Flip the toggle switch on the front of the unit and ports 17 thru 24 allow for 800' runs! (note when extend mode is on ports 17-24 drop to 10Mbps throughput) (standard mode allows for traditional 100 Mbps w/ 100 meter cable runs)"

I just plug the cameras into the POE switch, and connect that switch to my router, configure the software, and that's it?  (Eventually I'll want to get sensors, I'm sure, but I'm doing this on a budget and will likely start with just two cameras, but I don't want to cut any corners.)

Any current recommendations for best bang for your buck 4K weatherproof day/night cameras?  I don't want to cut too many corners, but I don't want to overpay or buy outdated stuff.

How many 4K cameras would I need to be using before I'd need to use the second gigabit uplink port?  This calculator says that twenty-four 10 megapixel H.264 cameras running with "high quality" at 15 fps would only use 589.96 Mbps.  The cameras I've been looking at use H.265, so that's even better.  Are there other reasons to use two uplinks?  Maybe if I wanted to do the mic/speaker thing so I could speak to people via the camera?

Another question:  The "extended mode" on the above switch got me thinking.  Is there ethernet cable that is designed to be buried, or do I need to run conduit if I'm going to bury the cable?  800 foot runs give me some ideas if I can run the cable underground.  I think it could be useful to have cameras looking back at the house from the backyard fence.

The latter: I am trying to figure out what to buy. I currently do not have a security camera system.

I would like to understand what the limitations are before I go to the expense and pain of buying and installing a system.

Thanks for the feedback.

ETA: Looks like you can get direct burial ethernet cable:

Link

Category 3UTP

10 Mbps
Category 5UTP

10/100 Mbps
Category 5 eUTP

1000 Mbps
Category 6UTP or STP

1000 Mbps

There is Cat6a - rated a bit more than normal 6, spec's are closer to Cat 7 cables.
Cat 7 cables are capable of running up to 10 gigabits per second

I think Cat 7 cable "ends" might be a tad bit bigger and may not always fit

POE should work fine with Cat 5E and better...the longer the run the more power is lost. Normal good quality cables is all you need for POE.

Conductor Size

Conductor resistance in PoE applications results in heat generation in the cable. Typically, Cat6 and Cat7 have larger conductor size than Cat5e patch cable. Cables with a larger conductor size can reduce more conductor resistances. It’s said that the heat generated in the cable will be reduced with the same ratio of the conductor resistance reduction. Cat6 PoE cable has about 80% heat generation of Cat5e PoE cable. Thus, the larger conductor size of the cable, the better.

So, in my limited knowledge of digital video, the H.265 is the method of compression, but it's utilized within a video "container" which might be a .mkv file or an .avi file, or something along those lines.  So, even though it's compressed, the video is likely still in a file format that you can move around.  And, hopefully, your NVR software will allow you to easily create smaller clips from the larger files.  If not, there's certainly video editing software that will allow you to do that (but that's one more thing to learn how to do).

Thanks for the link to the direct burial cable.  That's helpful info.

I knew the general data capabilities of the cables.  You cite the bandwidth, but I think the max cable length is the more important spec on those different cables.

I didn't know about the conductor size and didn't think about the heat from resistance.  Good to know.  Thanks!

A few messages above was asking of Nelly was still good to go...I am not sure; however, I just ordered two how low can you go "goswift" cameras to play with from them.  No price saves to be found; but they did have a lot of good info that swung my vote to buy.

This is the basic IP style camera; a bit on the small side; but only costing 99 dollars.

What sold me was the ability to access direct live feeds from the camera so I can use it on it's own network without setting up some sort of fee based access.

Truth be known; I was looking to find a camera I could replace the door peephole with and let me see who is at the door without getting up to check the door.   I did not some monster 'ring' door bell...however, getting power to that sort of device would have been tricky so I put that project on the back burner.

Quick snip on hardware stats:
GoSwift 4K Ultra HD Weatherproof Bullet Security IP Camera | 8MP 3840x2160 | 100' Night Vision | 3.6mm Wide Angle Lens | POE | Onvif

The last rating on the spec is "Onvif" an open standard to help with compatibility issues with camera dedicated recorders.

OK, I have been pondering where to locate a POE security camera NVR.

Everybody says, "Don't put the NVR in your attic. The heat will destroy it."

I am wondering if I could buy one of those little dorm room refrigerators like you see in a motel room, place the fridge in my attic, set the fridge's temperature at the highest setting (probably around 50 degrees F), and install an NVR in the fridge.

Obviously, NVRs have a maximum temperature specification (though it is hard to find).  I think it is usually around 135 to 140 degrees F.

(My attic gets up around 130 degrees F in the summer time.)

But I have plenty of space and 110-volt power in my attic.

It would be very convenient to install my NVR in my attic.  It would simplify running POE cables to the cameras and it would be virtually impossible for a burglar to get to the NVR.

Yeah, I would need to drill a hole through the fridge wall for the wires and caulk around them.  And yeah the NVR would generate a little heat.

But I don't see any reason it wouldn't work.

A little fridge only draws a little current; so I would not worry about the fridge's power consumption.

Thoughts???  

No the fridge won't work. PC gamers tried this years ago.

Side note, I installed two Reolink 5mp systems last week. Damn nice for the price.

Wonder why the fridge won't work?

Any idea?  Too cold?  Too warm?  Condensation?

An NVR should not need oxygen to breathe.  

Which Reoliink 5MP did you get?  I have been considering their RLK8-410B2D2 (5MP/4MP Bullet & Dome System on sale today):

https://store.reolink.com/security-camera-systems/

Looks like they rotate through each system being on sale.  Last week their RLK8-800B4 (more expensive 4K Ultra HD) was on sale.

It doesn't work wit PC gaming rigs because they produce too much heat for a fridge to handle.

That being said, the NVR in a mini fridge in an attic is a terrible idea.

A better idea is to build an enclosure with some fans pulling air from a cooler area.

Or submerge it in mineral oil?

Seriously just put it in a close on a top shelf with decent ventilation, it will be fine.

I just picked up two new IP cameras from nelly's security - fast shipping and the price was ok.

These cameras are $99 dollar 4k version; a bit on the small side.  I am waiting for my new Raspberry Pi 4b computer to see how well they will perform.

Brand name is 'goswift' and here is a link
go swift 4k from Nelly's

MFG Link

Other places do sell the hardware at about the same price point.  Why did I buy from Nelly's? -- Their video on that camera sold me to give the hardware a test drive.

The first thing I have noticed about the new camera....is dang, that camera is on the small side...

I'm interested in more of your opinion, once you've got it set up and used for a bit.  I'm going be setting up my system one or two cameras at a time, so this kind of info is great.

Specifically, I'd like to know:

How far away could you, say, read a license plate on these?

How is the nighttime image quality?

How weatherproof is it really?  (This question may take a long time to answer)

Note: Price decrease by 10 dollars....$89 with free shipping.

Based on the spec's for waterproofing, it is not the high end submerge under 1 foot of water for 30 mins.  Install location right now will be under the eaves of the house so it will be protected.   The hardware should be able to take a water hose and be sprayed down without issues tho.

Based on the examples at the website the it license plates can be observed during daylight hours at 25' and 35 foot.  The problem with license plates is getting the right angle to see them.  So if the camera mount is up high, then there will be issues.  Also is the vehicle moving, or at night?  Those will cause other issues... What distance are you look at for the plates to be readable at?

I am sill waiting on my POE injector before I can start to have some fun....but looking at the size difference between the last hardware I took for a test drive and the new equipment....wow has the size decreased.   I bought another camera (bullet) style from MonoPrice a while back.  I never did get the hardware setup and tested. The new equipment is less than 1/3 the size and at least 2x the res.

I will be setting up a closed network with a 2 - 4 cameras for testing.  I will be using Cat 5E or better running POE injectors within 25 feet of where the cameras will be mounted.   My existing POE router is way too far away from the mounting source to be of use.

My goal for the equipment is not so much as security; but to be able to see outside at different locations in the house.  OK, I do want to see what the night vision looks like....   Ideal mode would be to see if I can get the video from the camera system to my Kindle 10" ebook reader.  Yea, that is a wifi solution, not the best for security....but it will only be used for testing 'can I do that'.

One of my goals is  to clip the IR feature (or turn it off) and use a secondary IR light source.  Why?  From what I was told, the bugs and spiders love the heat / light of that hardware.  Also the IR projectors can be set to prevent excessive flash back and to optimize the night time view.

How far away?  The POE router I'm looking at should reach to the corners of my house easily.  What is a POE injector?

What security risk do you see from WiFi?  You're setting up a separate network?  Why not put it on your main network?  Do you have multiple static IP addresses for your home?  How will you access your cameras remotely?

Yeah, I was thinking about turning off the IR and just having motion sensing floodlights.  Not sure if I even need IR floods.  But I'm pretty sure that I don't want to use the camera's IR.

Many of the cameras you have  choice on how to get power to them.  Most can be powered over Ethernet with an option to have a power brick.  A POE injector is a simple device that takes a normal network cable (in) and applies the power to the output to simulate a POE router.   So it simulates a POE router for one or two lines.   If I was mounting 4 or so cameras in the same area, I would just get a small(ish) POE router close to the cameras and run a hard line.

Right now I have not a clue on what bandwidth usage will be...I plan on using Wireshark to help me measure the network loading.

For me, my router is in the basement as far as possible to the area I want to monitor.  I rather not drill holes, run cables all over the house when I don't have to.  The last thing I want to find out is gee, that cable run is just too long, the POE router I have is just too week to handle the long haul power supply.   I also would not want to poke more holes in cement or brick, or run powered cables in the attic.  Now if my attic had real floor, and the ability to move around then I would consider running the network work / power thru that area.

This is one of those POE Injectors POE Injector
That hardware shows the cable run length and I would expect normal POE routers to share about the same ability.

Security; wifi is easy to hack, and the last thing I want is someone changing the settings on the hardware.   For bandwidth testing I figure running it's own network on a older but capable router will be the simple thing to do.  No worry about IP address conflicts, no issues about bandwidth usage.  For a test ground not a bad choice to go.  For real use, I can see setting up shared area.  Right now I use mac addresses to assign critical hardware like my PI hole and samba server.   I am looking at setting up a real DNS server as a fun project and do SSO for network resources.

If I want to get to the outside world, I can move some of the raw data to a simple cloud device.  If I want more, I would look at some of the real time sharing options so I can remotely see what is going on.

Two areas for turning off IR, three if you say I just don't use it or the area is well lighted...

1) bugs, they like that stuff and will swarm, crawl and web over the device.
2) flash back from the IR, might be easier to adjust with off axes IR sources.

So, you don't have WiFi on your home network?  I don't understand.  In my world, I have a lot of things that on my network that are more sensitive than cameras.  And, since I (like everyone else in the world) have WiFi enabled, all of those things are accessible if my WiFi is hacked.  I must be missing something here?  When did WiFi become easy to hack again?

Sure I run wifi all the time at home....to hook up the TV, my cell phone and my Xbox One.  And I will on a rare case use it for my laptop.
I am lucky that where the computers are located is the physical access point to my cable modem.   The stuff that uses wireless tech is mostly on their own network and IP range.

With the right hardware software combo a laptop for some of the older security protocols can hack into wifi signals. This was based on the week long security class I had about 6 months ago.    It is easy to attack the signal source and cause wifi networks to fail with the right (cheap) hardware.   A software defined radio transmitter / receiver can do wonderful things.    There are a few sites out there that you can download the necessary hacking tools (along with out things you might not want) and go to town.

I am not saying that the cameras should not be connected WIFI other than possible loading on your network.  Last time I configured my wireless router I looked at the firewall logs an showed about an attack every few seconds - or at least someone trying to scan my network.  And no, they were not attacking the wireless side of the of the router...so the point is...there are bad people out there....

The IOT (Internet Of Things) are not the most harden devices out there...many run with default accounts and passwords.  Many never receive security updates.   So I figure for my first stage to hook up the new equipment on their own network.  A network not connected to the outside world.  This way I could look at bandwidth usage, will it place nice with the network.   I did read where some of the less secure IOT hardware were turned into a botnet for DDOS attacks....The lesson here, change passwords and if possible user accounts.

A few points about my setup.
 1) I am looking at new hardware and what to see performance of the equipment on both network and quality of video.
 2) I have extra networking hardware to allow me to do this sort of playing.
 3) I don't want to be able to access the hardware from the outside world - just local.  My requirements only on this setup.  I am just too cheap to want to pay the monthly subscription service for easy access.

4) My system is not setup as a security system, but to learn about current hardware capabilities on video for fun.

[edit:added]

More data on wifi security wi-fi

Banned Chinese Security Cameras Are Almost Impossible to Remove

July 10 2019, 5:00 AM July 10 2019, 1:00 PM (Bloomberg) -- U.S. federal agencies have five weeks to rip out Chinese-made surveillance cameras in order to comply with a ban imposed by Congress last year in an effort to thwart the threat of spying from Beijing. But thousands of the devices are still in place and chances are most won’t be removed before the Aug. 13 deadline. A complex web of supply chain logistics and licensing agreements make it almost impossible to know whether a security camera is actually made in China or contains components that would violate U.S. rules.

The National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, which outlines the budget and spending for the Defense Department each year, included an amendment for fiscal 2019 that would ensure federal agencies do not purchase Chinese-made surveillance cameras. The amendment singles out Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co. and Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co., both of which have raised security concerns with the U.S. government and surveillance industry. Hikvision is 42% controlled by the Chinese government. Dahua, in 2017, was found by cybersecurity company ReFirm Labs to have cameras with covert back doors that allowed unauthorized people to tap into them and send information to China. Dahua said at the time that it fixed the issue and published a public notice about the vulnerability. The U.S. government is considering imposing further restrictions by banning both companies from purchasing American technology, people familiar with the matter said in May.

Read more at: https://www.bloombergquint.com/business/banned-chinese-security-cameras-are-almost-impossible-to-remove
Copyright © BloombergQuint

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

And that link confirmed what I thought.  If you're not securing your WiFi with WPA2, you're crazy.  And WPA2 is pretty much secure still.

I don't have anything critical on my WiFi, but it is the same network as a lot of critical stuff.  And my cameras (other than the Wyze cams that I already have) are going to all be wired.  I've already got a secure way to access my home network (not sure why you think you need a subscription?).  Being able to access my cameras from anywhere in the world is important to me.  I know that theoretically it opens up a layer of security, but if you're that paranoid, you might as well just air gap every computer device in your home.  No need for networking in that case!

Not everything has a fee attached however:

The Ring unit costs $200, and you install it yourself. ... The companion app is free, as is the user account that lets you access the Ring's features. The cloud storage of all your recorded events is free through April 1, and then $3 per month or $30 per year

ADT - there be a fee

synology: It is free to use their s/w for the first 2 cameras; additional fees are required to activate additional cameras.  Once the license is paid, there should be unlimited local use.

Blink security system: No fee

SimpliSafe Cost
Monitoring for SimpliSafe packages starts at $14.99 and goes up to $35.10 a month. The Standard Plan costs $14.99/mo., and you'll have access to cellular monitoring providers over Verizon and T-Mobile cellular networks, as well as environmental monitoring for hazards like fires, flooding and freezing

Can SimpliSafe be hacked?

IOActive, security consulting firm from Seattle, confirmed that Simplisafe can be hacked by recording wireless transmissions between its system components. ... An intruder only needs to set-up the device about 100 feet from your home, and record the code whenever you disarm the system.

I have received all but two chunks of hardware for my testing...I am still missing my NAS which was stolen in route and a replacement power supply.

One of the power supplies I received has a UK plug and not a standard US plug.

One of my cheap solutions for testing is missing a 'computer case'.  I can drive up to MicroCenter to pick one up, but that is about 140 mile round trip.  The case is not 100% required but it would be cool for a long term solution.

With a bit of Linux fun I can access a live video feed and push it out to the net or even a internet web server.  The problem with the dedicated server is that I have to watch bandwidth usage otherwise there will be an additional fee involved.

If I am willing I can setup a harden server with access to the real world; but holding off on that until I figure out just what hardware I am willing to risk.

Just an interesting piece of info.

We recently had a string of car break ins during the night in our neighborhood.  As usuall the police went around asking for video camera footage since everyone now seem to have Ring doorbells or WIFI enabled cameras.

The issue was that every camera failed as the criminals went down the street.  The cameras would come back and you could only see them far down the street after the house had been hit.  The police believe the criminals were using a WIFI jammer you can buy for under $100 online.  It made every camera worthless as no one was alerted and nothing was recorded.

Yet another reason to have a real wired camera setup.

Most of those cams have sd cards in them...

SD do wear out - hard lines have there use - but sometimes  you need to mount the hardware where you can't run a wire...

Amazon has been having fun with me...first the NAS get pinched during shipping at AMAZON....the video cables I need to run with a raspberry pi were bad...replacement cables need get destroyed in shipping.  but at least I found a old mega pixel camera that I can use as the low end comparison check.

Not the most popular ones every homeowner seems to use like Arlo and Ring.

On my Hikvision system, I can record a video or picture file while viewing playback.  You simply save the file, where it can be sent via e-mail, or added to any file storage device and passed on.