Morning coffee

[gasman826]

Thanks for your thoughts.

[RICH MUISE]

Sorry to hear you had to get caught up in that, Gary. We've all got enough going on to be worried/depressed about as it is, but at least you've finally got your car back.

[Ford Blue blood]

Gary so glad you finally got some resolution.  I suspect he just didn't realize how things were and those trying to protect his interest complicated the situation.  Just sad when folks go without knowing what is happening to them.  A close friend's wife is in mid stages right now.  She is the salt of the earth, knew things were different at first but now has no clue.  It is really heart breaking to watch a nice person go that way.

[RICH MUISE]

Lost my mom to alzteimers(SP?). I lived in Colorado, my mom in Mass. My sister kept telling me she was getting worse even though talking to her on the phone seemed pretty normal. Decided to go back for a visit, and once again everything seemed normal except my sister kept saying she's good at covering up. Stayed at my mom's house, and one day the three of us decided to go do some tourist type things. We were out for 3 hours or so, stopped for lunch at a Brigham's ice cream shop I use to frequent. So, we're sitting at the table eating, everything normal, when my mom looked at me and said "you've been awfully nice to me today, who are you again?
My mom was very healthy except for the alzteimers she lived for 8 or 9 years, well cared for in a nursing home, after she no longer knew or recognized anybody. When she died, I felt we had lost our mom many years ago, now we can finally put her to rest. Tough issue to deal with.

[RICH MUISE]

Back to security camera talk.........Les and others:
I'm an analog guy lost in this digital world. My old system was self contained. The recorder /dvd unit just plugged into a power outlet with the 4 cameras hooked to it. Not so with the new systems apparently......at least the one I got.
I spent a few hours yesterday hooking up everything on my kitchen table. The kit came with a "quick start guide" only, with a note that the full manual can be seen/downloaded on their website. Not so, I can't find it anywhere, and the company is closed on weekends, so I can't get the "live chat" until Monday.
issues I'm having:
1:The new system has to be hardwired to our modum/router, which is at the opposite end of the house from where the camera setup will be. I'm trying to find out if connection to the internet is only for setup, or has to be permanent. If we want to use the smartphone connection, I suspect it has to be permanent.
2: no troubleshooting guide in the "quick setup" manual.
3: I can't get the monitor I'm trying to use (an older model) to work / sync with the camera's DVD box, so nothing coming up on the screen to be able to "follow the instructions as shown on the screen". When I get that operational, there's a whole slew of connections/setups/passwords/etc that have to be done....the kind of stuff that gets my stress level rising!!
4: wires at the camera end are pretty bulky, meant to be inside the walls/ceiling".....ain't gonna happen with my install, so instead of a neat simple wire going to the camera, as my current system is, I'll have a cluster of wires with a small gizmo attached, right at the camera to try and hide. I may have to mount an electrical box to hide the wires in and mount the camera to.
5: two of the indicator lights on the dvd box are blinking..........quick setup guide only tells what the lights are, so I don't know if the blinking is indicating a problem.

Other systems may be just as complicated.

[fdlrc]

Rich, you mentioned Defender Series. Is there a model # or something that I can try to look it up? Curious why they made it so un-user friendly. I'll probably have time today to poke around. I'm not that tech savvy, but another set of eyes won't hurt.

[RICH MUISE]

Defender model 4K2T8B8
Here's a link to their not-so-good website. It just runs me around in circles.
www.defender-usa.com

[gasman826]

I went down this road a couple of years ago.  I wanted wireless cameras: 1) for ease of installation, 2) easily moved 3) easier to conceal 4) didn't want the house cluttered up with unused wire like from the last security system installation and the last ten cable guys.  I wanted to store images on my huge backup hard drive for viewing at my leisure if and when I wanted.  I read and studied.  I had a home camera/entertainment guy review my requirements.  Nothing...na da!  All systems want to store your camera images on the cloud.  This means a monthly subscription!  I don't want someone else looking at my images and I damn sure don't want another monthly payment.  My wife though she would help me out and bought the RING door bell camera.  Since it was a gift, I was obligated to install it.  It installs as a large, lite door bell button with camera, microphone, and speaker.  It installed fairly ease and even hooked to the original door bell wires so the door bell worked.  RING also interacts with smart phone and my wifi.  RING day or night images and audio worked well.  My phone alarmed me if something moved in the front yard.  If someone came to the front door AND pushed the button, my phone alarmed me.  I could see who was at the front door.  I could converse with who was at the door.  The sound and video could also be reviewed at a later time.  This worked for 30 days and then terminated if I didn't subscribe for $3.99 monthly.  Nothing on the box or paper work mentioned the subscription...I was just too ignorant.  I did like the ability for be in the back yard, in the shop, or away from home and ID and communicate with someone at the front door.  It was nice to have Brown drop a box at the front door and be alerted before Porch Pirates got to it.  In reality, by the time alerts went through the Ring system, were uploaded to my wifi, and went through my cell provider, whoever was at the front door is a block away.  Another problem with the RING is that visitors need to push the door bell.  It amazes me how many people bruise there knuckles on the front door but completely ignore that big, lite button that says RING on it.  Aren't door bells common on most front doors!  Another benefit of this system is AMAZON's ALEXA also interfaced with RING.  So ALEXA is monitoring and sharing with who knows who.  I have had enough of FACEBOOK, GOOGLE, and other unknown parties collecting, monitoring and censoring my data.  It is eerie to log into the internet and pop-up ads are offering me a deal on something I dreamed about last night.  Now the cops want to have access to my RING videos to help with crime prevention in my neighborhood.  I have tossed ALEXA and about to stop using SensorBook.  Even though I don't subscribe to the RING cloud image service (I can't view the images), I'm sure RING is still collecting the images.  The RING battery is about dead so no more data collection to the RING cloud.  How do I know this...RING keeps notifying me that it needs a recharge.  Am I paranoid to think a RING tech will show up some night and install a fresh battery......

[fdlrc]

Ya Rich, I see what you mean upon looking at the website. I'm trying to picture in my head what I'd have to do to install a wired system here. Not sure I could get cameras where I'd want them, especially if I have to run wire to router. Can't understand either why that is so. I guess I have some homework to do prior to buying one myself.

[mustang6984]

I am done with trying to implement new technology. Got there a long time ago. I don't do cloud...facebook, blue ray, or most other things that have come around in the last 10 years. The only exception is smart phones, but even then...I don't use it for things like e-mail and banking. Cell phones are easier to break into than PC's...so not having that lurking in my mind. Thus...I have peace of mind. My neighbors are all cautious about me anyhow...they aren't real sure if I am dangerous or not, going back to when I moved into the neighborhood...so I have not done anything to change that perception.

[RICH MUISE]

The camera system I bought does not have a monthly charge. It has a 2T (terabyte?) hard drive, and can be set to record constantly/24-7, or only when motion is detected. I believe there are other recording options such as time of day. Not sure if cars driving past our house would set the motion detector off. We live on a busy street in normal times. It'll automatically start recording over previous recordings when the drive is full. Also, if I chose to use the smartphone app, there is no monthly charge on that either.
At least with the Defender company, the largest wireless system only has 3 cameras. They still need to be wired for power (no batteries, which is good), but transmision of the image is wireless.
I suspect the issue I'm having is trying to use an older tv/monitor. Maybe the newer ones are plug and play. I'm assuming since the monitor is hooked to the camera dvd via an hdmi/lan cord, that the input setting on the monitor should be hdmi?? Then I still need to figure which channel.
On their website, Les, the problem I was having is it tells you to click on the specific product when found, and from there the manuals are suppose to be viewable. When I click on the product, another screen comes up for just a split second, then it goes back to the home page.
I'm going to try it with this monitor to see if I can get it working. If so, I'll buy a new monitor.

[Tom S]

Back to security camera talk.........Les and others:
................
I spent a few hours yesterday hooking up everything on my kitchen table. The kit came with a "quick start guide" only, with a note that the full manual can be seen/downloaded on their website. Not so, I can't find it anywhere, and ......

I may have found your manual.
See the  3 pix.
First pic: Opening the 1st two 'Defender' sites shown gets you to the 2nd pic.  Bad stuff!
The third pic is a screen shot of what may be what you need plus my note that you probably don't need. I assume that you have the Acrobat reader for pdf files.
Here' s the link.
https://media3.webcollage.net/a51aca3705b1e44656ec305ed4377a2e41e7bf2d?response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAIIE5CHZ4PRWSLYKQ&Expires=1893464343&Signature=yEtdas7fMcGMyr%2FZuufpffGcLyQ%3D

[RICH MUISE]

Wow...........Thanks for finding that. Not sure what you meant by "bad stuff".
The issue I had with the monitor was as I suspected. When I plugged in my computer's monitor, it came right up......plug and play. I was in process of setting it up when I found out they would be sending emails for confirmation, so off to the store for a new monitor. Guess what there's a shortage of due to folks setting up working  from home. I lucked out, as the guy who workes the dept. at Walmarts had two in his hand as I asked him about the empty shelves. It's a cheapo, but works. Now I can finish checking out the system. BTW, the setup with passwords was easy peasy.........so far.

[RICH MUISE]

OK...where I'm at so far....... the system works, all 8 cameras function. The picture clarity is good, even with dim inside lighting. Setup was easy once I figured out my monitor was the problem. The system also appears to function properly, even after shut off and restart, with the hdmi cable UNHOOKED FROM THE ROUTER/MODUM. I am going to install the system without the hdmi cable. It can always be added later if needed.
What I won't have without the internet hdmi cable: ability to use our iphones to monitor the cameras when away from home, and will not have the ability to use Defender to correct isssues that may be done online by them getting into our system. I did not like their service aggreement. They will need credit card info on file, passwords, etc. I didn't read the whole 4 or 5 pages, but read enough to figure out I needed to see if I can do without. Especially when they use 3rd party companies that would have access to that info. Call me paranoid.
As far as the iphone app, the cameras will be pretty much aimed in a direction that could/would pick up street and sidewalk traffic, so a setup where I would be notified if motion was detected would not work, and all we'd be able to see for the most part is views of our yard, not the house. I figure that's what we have an alarm security system for....and 5 dogs inside. I will have two cameras inside pointed in the direction of doors and windows.
Now the hard part of getting the system installed!!

[mustang6984]

Does this mean I can't sneak up on you next time Sasha and I visit? DARN!