Security Cameras

The primary reason that I want wireless, is because I don't want to have to drill any holes in the wall for the cable to pass through. However, I don't have any composite inputs to the PC either...unless the TV Tuner has them...can't remember. It is just that wireless seems like the easiest way to accomplish the purpose. As far as aperture-viewing angle goes, the two are directly tied together. The higher the aperture, the narrower the viewing angle. For it to be of use at 100+ feet, the aperture must be 9mm or greater. I'm guessing that 9mm would give about a 30 degree viewing angle, and a 12mm would give a 27 degree viewing angle. Actually, I would prefer a narrower angle than that, but have never found it available.

Perhaps glowing LEDs would be a good deterrent, but with the mood that I'm in now, I would prefer to simply get photos of the culprits in action, and that would be more likely if they never noticed the camera.

seekermeister said:

You must be referring to some other model than the one that I have, because as far as I know, it has no audio capability. For me, that is not important, because the audio range for the cameras that I read about this feature on, were too limited to be any use to me. Now if one had a parabolic microphone that could hear normal conversation 100 feet or more away, then that would be great.

It is a different model, F18918w, however the comment was more to the manufacturer and how they handle problems and treat customers, as you found out.

I've just about given up on my quest to find a security camera that would serve my purposes, because it appears that if such a critter exists, it is out of my price range. I called one vendor that I found online, primarily because they have a page on their website saying that they would not sell any wireless security cameras, because there were no good ones.

That alone is enough to deter me from going wireless, but the same vendor said that at the range that I need it to work, it would need a lens that would zoom in to only a 5 degree field of vision, for obtaining details of clarity sufficient for legal identification of a vandal or thief. I have not found a camera of that specification, but if I did, I would imagine that the price would be very hefty.

You may well be right, but the memory of car alarms constantly going off for no good reason, when I lived in Southern California, put a bad taste in my mouth for them. That and all that they really do at best, is to scare off a thief, without providing anything usable in court, and that is only if they don't know how to disable it, or cause enough ""false" alarms, that the owner turns it off.

The fact that a good alarm is not very cheap, brings it worth into question.

I was tending toward a camera, because of the theft that caused me to post this thread in the first place, because I believe that I know who the thieves were, but had no proof. As far as the usefulness of a photo or video of the theft/thieves being worthwhile in court, that would depend on whether they were grainy or lacking detail, as you described. I think that some of the more expensive cameras do provide good quality videos that would do the job, but then that is an opinion, rather than a fact. The point is that I want something that would stop a thief as permanently as possible, not just something for them to continue playing their games with.

EDIT: With an alarm, by the time that I awoke, if asleep, and was able to get to the vehicle, a thief would have had more than enough time to have stolen the vehicle and driven away.