My uniden garbage failed me...

T

tcqb

n3wb
Sep 12, 2018
8
7
USA
Hi everyone!

I had my bikes stolen off my porch last week. My Uniden bullet cams from Costco never even noticed the perp(s). It's a record on detection type setup that my wife impulse bought when the drinky neighbor told her he saw some kids rummaging through our trash. At least they look the part I guess. I've been reading the wiki religiously and have a Blue Iris PC coming this week. I had decided on a few of the IPC-HDW5231R-ZE from Andy, but thought I should ask a question before I finalize the order. My garage/driveway and front porch have lights that are hardwired into a sensor that automatically turns them on at dusk. In fact, every house in my smallish subdivision has the same thing. The developer decided that would be cheaper than installing streetlights I guess. My question is, would there be a better camera to use since there will always be some sort of light? Or do I just force my cams to stay in daylight mode? Does something with a higher megapixel make sense? Sorry for the long-winded rant, and thank you for already being a wealth of knowledge.
 
tcqb said:
Hi everyone!

I had my bikes stolen off my porch last week. My Uniden bullet cams from Costco never even noticed the perp(s). It's a record on detection type setup that my wife impulse bought when the drinky neighbor told her he saw some kids rummaging through our trash. At least they look the part I guess. I've been reading the wiki religiously and have a Blue Iris PC coming this week. I had decided on a few of the IPC-HDW5231R-ZE from Andy, but thought I should ask a question before I finalize the order. My garage/driveway and front porch have lights that are hardwired into a sensor that automatically turns them on at dusk. In fact, every house in my smallish subdivision has the same thing. The developer decided that would be cheaper than installing streetlights I guess. My question is, would there be a better camera to use since there will always be some sort of light? Or do I just force my cams to stay in daylight mode? Does something with a higher megapixel make sense? Sorry for the long-winded rant, and thank you for already being a wealth of knowledge.
Click to expand...
There is a new 8mp that performs well in low light, though most of the testing done in the threads discussing this cam have a good amount of light or highly reflective surfaces...there are simply not enough users with this to make final conclusions.
Dahua HFW-1831E in-depth review
The downside to that camera is that it is bullet form, no sd card, no audio, fixed focus.
There is a VARIFOCAL variant of that camera that appears to use the same sensor that adds sd card and varifocal, no audio no turret format.
IPC-HFW2831T-ZS
The 2mp 5231 is an exceptional camera and with audio and turret design with amazing low light capability..you should probably stick with it or a combo of the two.
 
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tcqb said:
Thanks @fenderman ! I'll probably grab two 5231's and see how they do. Then I'll decide on a third cam.
Click to expand...
You wont be disappointed. Ensure you save some of that uniden footage so you can show your wife the difference...
remember you can return those cams to costco for a full refund.
 
tcqb said:
That's a great tip about returning the other cameras. I wonder if I need that old receipt...
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Nope with Costco you don't need any receipts... They can pull up your order using your account... You don't even need the boxes in most cases... Also note that security cameras do not fall under the 90-day exclusion that photo cameras and camcorders fall under.. so you can return them anytime any day...
 
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What a difference a little knowledge can make :) I installed a Dahua 2mp starlight by the front door and it looks great. (Thanks Andy!) 10pm looks like mid day. I still have a little adjusting to do!
 

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tcqb said:
What a difference a little knowledge can make :) I installed a Dahua 2mp starlight by the front door and it looks great. (Thanks Andy!) 10pm looks like mid day. I still have a little adjusting to do!
Click to expand...
keep in mind that image is the substream from the mobile app...it will be significant better when viewing the main stream.
 
Great point. My Blue Iris PC is taking longer than expected from my eBay seller. I already have a camera from Hong Kong and will probably have two more before it shows up from Ohio. I can't wait to get it all up and recording. However, I was able to get a separate VLAN setup for the new cameras and some access rules that prevent them from accessing the internet. I'm using a VPN to live view this camera for the time being.

Thanks again for your time and help!
 
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So what was the problem with the Uniden cameras during the bike incident? Did it not detect the motion at all? Or was the quality poor?

I just got the IPC-HDW5231R-ZE installed a few days ago. I have the outdoor cameras set to 24/7, and the garage one set to motion.
 
Yes, the uniden units were set to motion record only and they never triggered. And they're potato quality resolution. The bikes were taken at night. There were fresh tracks through the grass just outside my gate, heading in two directions.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
 
tcqb said:
Yes, the uniden units were set to motion record only and they never triggered. And they're potato quality resolution. The bikes were taken at night. There were fresh tracks through the grass just outside my gate, heading in two directions.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing. I wanted to learn about the problems during your incident, so I could learn from it.

You confirmed two problems with the camera. One is that the motion never triggered. Two is that you didn't like the image quality anyways.

Do you think there were two people involved in the theft, since the tracks were heading in different directions?
 
I could have set the uniden cams to 24/7 I believe. But their placement wouldn't have allowed me to discern more than a shadowy figure even if they had recorded. I can't speculate how many people were involved because I just don't have the data. The title of the thread says that my cameras failed me, but the truth is, I failed. I used the wrong equipment in the wrong way. I didn't have enough coverage. I didn't have good cameras. The bikes weren't worth all that much, but the whole experience has given me quite an education about proper home surveillance.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
 
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