delurking after burglary

[TBVyou2]

I've been hanging out here reading for several months....unfortunately I never thought I would be burglarized so instead of forking out cash for a great camera I tried out a mole and a foscam.

the mole's wireless board was defective so I sent it back after our trip last month. the foscam worked great for a while (it was a genuine one BTW) but would stop working every once in a while and need to be unplugged and replugged. then two days before we were burglarized it quit working about the same time (in the am) I think it was overheating actually because of it's placement.

the day of the burglary I started to have my husband try and restart the dang thing and point it inside the house. I wish I had. the bastards got mostly my stuff because although I don't have much compared to my husband, what I did have was quality. his stuff was with him at work and they didn't take any tools.

we have a new security system, but I love messing around with gadgets so I am going to do my own video surveillance instead of paying someone else. they want way too much money for crappy equipment.

I'm probably going to go with AXIS from what I have read around here.

[40th Floor]

How was entry made? Time of day?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burglary

Though that's for those not yet in the club. ADT, Brinks, good for the signs and insurance rates. Not so good in the response.

What type of stuff and how much were you quoted?
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[TBVyou2]

forced entry through garage door to house, during the afternoon. they took electronics and an heirloom from my dad. I think they brought the tool with them, but it could have been from our garage, we just don't know for sure what was used.

just as an example, I was quoted about $2,000 for two CVC627 and the recording system. ha. ha. ha.

I still freak out getting home, although if I vary the time a bit it seems to help.

don't hide your valuables in your bedroom, that is one of the first places they look. at least they didn't trash our house...

[buellwinkle]

I just got an ACTi cue (4201) and I was impressed by the image quality. It's about $250 but 1.3. MP, cs mount lens, Poe.may replace my fFoscam and Axis with them.
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[TBVyou2]

I grabbed an axis M1011W just to get started quickly, and it is must more reliable than my foscam, however the indoor image quality is much worse than the foscam.

For long term I will check out the ACTi.

I just did a clean install on my extra desktop to run BlueIris. Very nice.

[buellwinkle]

I've been there, the Foscam does a pretty good job, but poor stability. Ironically, the Foscam clone I got has been more stable, not perfect by any means.

The Axis M10 is just terrible if the light is not very bright. I have one looking out a window and in direct bright light it does pretty well, indoors its grainy under the best circumstances and useless if it dims slightly.

I don't want to publish pictures of the inside of my house, but if you want I can send you screen shots comparing the Axis and ACTi cameras side by side. I'm not pushing ACTi by any means, but like you, I'm trying to find what's the most affordable camera that does the job. For example, the Axis M1114 does a great job, but at a higher cost.
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