Wireless Security Camera

Wireless Security Camera: A Simple, Cheap and Efficient Way to Secure Your Home

Indoor Wireless Security Camera

Basic Indoor Wireless Security Camera

Have you thought about installing a simple and efficient indoor webcam in your house but you’re not sure where to start? You are in the right place!

Although my low-cost D-Link wireless security camera is three years old, it still working well, so I can highly recommend them. I originally installed them to be able to watch our cat when we are not home. However, they proved to be extremely valuable when my house was broken into. They basically scared away the burglars. My simple and efficient camera is all I need, but if your budget allows you can go directly with more expensive ones, with more features.

There are certain factors to consider when choosing a wireless camera.

You will find multiple options, all of them are good, but when making up your mind consider the following:

• the main purpose
• your home layout
• whether you have pets
• whether it should it be discreet or a visual deterrent
• where you prefer a particular look
• what functionality is important to you

Out of all the cameras, you can find out there, 95% of them have day/night capabilities. You may decide to purchase and indoor or an outdoor camera, or both. Let’s talk about your options.

I recommend you start with an indoor camera installation, this one is simple and offers a lot of flexibility.

As far as outdoor cameras go, you can have a standalone camera, a camera security system (4-24 cameras) or a domotic system – where you can have the cameras integrated directly with the alarm/monitoring system. I will talk about this in a future blog post, so stay tuned.

Let’s talk about your options regarding functionality

As far as motion functionality your simple and efficient wireless security camera can be a:

• Fix camera (you adjust the camera in one position, tighten it up, and it will stay in that position all the time) – the cheapest way.
• Pan & Tilt camera (the camera can be rotated remotely to get the desired view)
• Fix camera with a wider field of view (personally, I prefer this one)

There are further functionalities to consider when buying your wireless camera:

• Color image – most of the cameras have this feature, and also at night time (unfortunately mine doesn’t)
• Built-in micro-SD card (I am not a fan of that – if the burglars see the camera and know the type, they may remove the card, so the best option is to have a recording system in place)
• Remote viewing (all of them should have that)
• Motion detection (a very important feature, except if you have pets in the house it’s going to be a little bit more complicated, but not impossible)
• Sound detection –  this is a good feature also with pets; normally when the owners are out, the pets are sleeping, moving around, but not making a lot of noise (except the dog when somebody is at the door, so that’s a good moment for the camera to activate and record)
• Remote viewing – it’s an important feature, you can use this for many things:viewing the kids with the babysitter if you’re out,view contractors renovating your house,view your pet and find out what mischief they are up to when they think you’re not around, etc.

  As far as the level of security provided, you have to set up your email for motion detection and to be able to connect when an email arrives to catch the movement in the house. For burglar identification, this is not the best option, as they are moving fast. Once you connect remotely you may see an empty room or a broken door. It will however, notify you, that something is going on, which is important.

Please stay tuned, I will talk in another post about installation of and the best spot to install a wireless security camera.

• Two-way audio, mostly seen in Baby Cameras, this feature was built in some of the security cameras as well. You may be able to monitor and communicate with your kids and tell the burglar to get out of your home. The funny thing is, when they are looking around to see where the sound is coming from, you can catch their face.

• The most important feature is:

  record on a network hard-drive or cloud drive for increased security and peace of mind. If you want to know who is lurking around your house or what happened inside your home, you definitely have to set up this feature. Here you have the option to record on a cloud system that is provided with a Network/Camera Video Recorder, record on the hard-drive of your computer, or record on an online storage. Which one is more secure? I will talk about pros and cons in another post.

In my free comparison spreadsheet, I did most of the research, so you don’t have to spend a lot of time browsing. I summarized all the features of the wireless security cameras, including prices from BestBuy and Amazon to compare. Remember, choose the camera that best fits your needs and suits your home layout. I have created Layout examples with camera views to make the process easier for you.

If you have questions regarding cameras, installations, set up, I am here to help. Post a comment or send me an email, and I will reply to you as soon as possible.