For years security cameras have been thought of as a staple in only businesses and other commercial buildings, when in fact nowadays they are easier and cheaper than ever to set up in a residential setting. Perhaps you need to cover your house’s interior or exterior for security reasons, or perhaps not for security at all. Maybe you want to thank the Amazon delivery person on your front porch with a 2-way voice camera you can speak through, maybe you need to receive notifications when your child gets home so that you can disarm the house to let them in. Or, maybe you’re just like me and need constant assurance due to the paranoia you experience every time you leave the house. Either way, we have an extensive list of video devices for different needs and uses, and I’m here to explain which one’s best for you.
Why Alarm.com?
Alarm.com is our most recommended service provider for a couple of reasons. To start, they are by far the best for DIY installation, most alarm.com products are incredibly intuitive and simple for anyone to install even if they lack any prior experience. And secondly, the mobile app that comes with their service makes for the easiest access to your devices, whether just cameras or even other interactive features if you choose to have more than just video service, all of it will be located in a single app one tap away. Another perk to mention is the multitude of different accessories they offer for their products, items like a WiFi Access Point make the convenience of setting up your system even more appealing.
Which Service Option Is For Me?
We offer 3 different options for Alarm.com Video Service, but before I explain them, I want to discuss a few things that might be important to note. Firstly, all video plans only allow up to 4 cameras at base, if you require more we offer additional Expansion Plans with an extra 4 cameras each. Note that these camera amounts cannot be changed based on how many you wish to use, if you have only 2 cameras you will still need to buy the service providing up to 4, the same applies to the camera expansions as well. Lastly, if you wish to have only a single doorbell camera, we offer a service that provides video with analytics to the said camera, however, that can only be bought if you already have an interactive service account.
Now to start with the first option, Pro Video. This allows you to view your cameras through the app at any time as well as allowing you storage of up to 1000 clips. The second option, Pro Video with Analytics, is the option I recommend most to people. It provides the same benefits as the first option with an added 2000 available clips monthly, however, it also allows your cameras to detect specific moving objects and send you notifications when they trip, it will notify you if it is specifically an animal, a vehicle, or a person. It also gives you the capability of being able to do onboard recording if your camera supports it and can slot an SD card. This is typically the go-to as it’s only an extra $20 annually. Note that the analytics and onboard recording services only work with cameras that have said capabilities. The third and final video service we offer is Premium Video, this includes all of the same perks as the others with the added capability of being able to onboard record with all cameras. To sum it up, if this is your first time using cameras I would recommend the Pro Video with Analytics plan, this is by far the most sought-after service we provide for video.
Which Cameras Should I Buy?
The 3 types of camera types we offer are doorbell cameras, wifi cameras, and hardwired POE cameras. To start off with doorbell cameras, we offer 3 types, the one recommended most is the VDB770. This camera covers everything you’ll need with HD video quality, night vision at up to 15 ft as well as many image settings to change the video to your liking. The second one we offer is a very similar, slimmer model named the VDB105X, the only difference between the two is that this one lacks video analytics capabilities. Finally, the last doorbell camera we offer is the VDB780B. This camera is completely wireless and has a battery that can last for around 6 months at a time, on top of that this doorbell camera is by far the easiest to install and also supports HD resolution.
Wifi cameras are the most easily accessible and perfect for anyone looking to install them with the least amount of hassle. We currently sell 4 Wifi cameras, the first one, the V515, is an indoor camera that sports HDR, HD video quality, night vision, video analytics capability, and 2-way audio which allows you to speak through the camera to those on the other side. The other indoor camera, the V523X, is very similar to the former camera, with the main noticeable features being a larger field of view and better image quality along with a better WiFi band. As for the two outdoor cameras, the V723X is your standard issue outdoor camera, with HD video quality on top of being waterproof and dust-tight. The main benefit of this camera is the flexibility, it has many customizable settings you can change to your liking through the app, such as brightness, contrast, sharpness, and exposure. The last outdoor WiFi camera we sell is the V724X, while being very similar to the last product I mentioned, the main draw to this one is the 2-way voice capability that I explained earlier.
As for hard-wired POE cameras, we have a slightly wider selection, such as dome cameras. It is worth noting that only one of these cameras has 2-way voice capabilities. The first POE camera I’d like to talk about is the VC727P, this camera has 2-way voice capability along with HD resolution and HDR, and it also supports onboard recording along with video analytics technology. The next device is a bit more specialized, the VC728PF is a camera that features a motorized lens that allows the user to zoom the lens in and out to clarify things better, it also supports analytics and onboard recording. Finally, the last device I’ll be talking about is the VC827P dome camera, this device is for those who would like to cover as large of an area as possible, just like the others it also supports analytics and onboard recording.
One last thing that might be worth mentioning is the accessories that I mentioned earlier, to start we offer different-sized SD cards for onboard recording, ranging from 128GB all the way to 512 GB. Another item that could be important to some is a Wifi Access Point, which heavily simplifies the setup and use of your cameras by letting your WiFi cameras bypass complicated router passwords and speed up the process of enrollment. The last accessory worth mentioning is a Doorbell Chime that wirelessly connects to your doorbell cameras while also functioning as a WiFi extender for your cameras if need be.
Assuming I was making a recommendation for the average person with little to no camera experience, I would highly recommend Wifi cameras. Even if you are a bit more experienced, I still think the Wifi cameras edge the hardwired cameras out by just a bit in terms of personal preference. However many have specific wants for their setup and/or just prefer hardwired devices which is more than understandable.
Making decisions on which method of security to invest in can be very difficult due to the sheer amount of questions someone just starting may have. The Links in this article will lead you to the products in case you’d like to do some of your own research, but hopefully this short overview was able to help. You can always feel free to contact us to learn more or if you have more specific questions not covered here.
Customer Service
