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keep an eye on your lockers


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Does the security camera industry charge premiums for higher levels of service?

I.e., is it prohibitively expensive to have HD vs. Analog cameras? Are companies charged more to have straight-on, wide-angle viewpoints vs. half-angle, round-the-corner views? Oy!

I often wonder why, in this world where even 2G phones have better video capability than some security systems, we still see blotchy, blurry camera footage on the nightly news.

"Police are looking for this man, last seen wearing an 8-bit, pixilated hoodie, having blotchy, grey eyes, and walking in a jerky, 2-foot incremental hyperspace motion..."

Anyway, just always operate under the assumtion that someone is watching you, so guard your combo!

Also, I watched a guy at Walmart try to purchase a gift card with a credit card number he had written on a napkin... and almost got away with it! Keep your credit card numbers and check numbers hidden. Thieves are watching!

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Guest dtk1376

It generally has more to do with bandwidth and memory restrictions as to why you will see a lower level quality on a security camera vs. that of one on your smart phone. Generally a smart phone is recording a video for a few minutes so it takes up very little of your memory on your phone. Multiple security cameras running 24/7 are going to use up a huge chunk of memory and bandwidth. Lowering the quality level of video improves the amount of data you can put on several servers with shared resources as opposed to investing a ton of money into a large amount of servers for security footage only.

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We have home security cameras my techy husband set up, and a couple times we have had thefts we needed to bring the police in for (see badthief.com from when we were still living in Cali and a punk from our apartment building was stealing from us). They have been highly impressed with the video quality, because usually they see the same grainy footage that makes the news programs. Being able to actually identify an individual seems rare.

There's a real need for a easy to set up version of what we run, but so far it doesn't exist- my husband had to write his own software for our system. It is one of the things he would like to create and market if he didn't already have one full time business.

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Good points. Still, science has gotten us to a point where memory storage is getting more and more compact. $100 can buy a Kit-Kat Bar-sized, 2 Terabyte external drive with data transfer rates up to 4.8 Gbps via USB 3.0 today, and the improvements to that are halfway through beta already! ...and that's off-cloud. ( :blink: ).

It just seems like we're past ready for much clearer, smoother private video surveillance capabilities at this point.

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^^ There are off-the-shelf high definition security camera DVR products available. With IP cameras, installation can be as easy as setting up a home network. Writing your own software is certainly commendable, but consumers don't have to go that route.

Granted, a Linux box with a 4TB hard drive and some Python scripts is going to be a lot cheaper than an off-the-shelf 4TB DVR, for those with the time and expertise to set up the former.

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Guest dtk1376

A home security system is going to use up a lot less bandwidth than a retail company, bank, or amusement park chain. Mostly because they are on the "cloud" and all that information from multiple locations are all getting stored in a server somewhere with limitations on the amount of memory it has. Found a good article on some things these larger companies do to cut costs on security camera data storage: http://avigilon.com/connected/IT/four-ways-hd-surveillance-users-can-reduce-bandwidth/

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The main thing our system has that isn't readily available at the moment is intelligent recording. So you don't waste storage on hours of unchanging images. We can set up areas of the image to "watch" and others to ignore, so it doesn't pick up street traffic but does start recording any time someone walks onto our property, etc. It makes searching for relevant data a lot easier as well. It's not the perfect solution for everywhere, but it would be a way for many small businesses to protect their property with a relatively small investment on storage and camera equipment.

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Even MEIDs can be changed (albeit illegally) on many devices. Thieves may legitimately acquire a destroyed phone, clone its MEID onto a stolen phone, then sell it to a customer who won't care about missing/counterfeit labels. Even more are shipped to countries where carriers might not care about blocking/tracking stolen phones.

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I think it's ridiculous that we pay insurance premiums every month just to sit back and be afraid to use it when we need to. That's why we buy insurance right? I've heard all my life, "don't call in that claim, you're premiums will only go up!" And I think to myself, "then why the heck am I paying for insurance?" I'm not the type of person that calls in with insignificant claims, but if it's something that's going to cost me several hundred dollars out of pocket and my policy will cover it, then you better believe I use my insurance. That's why it's there, that's what I've been paying for for the past 17 years. I've filed multiple claims over the years and my premiums have only gone down, not up. So I'm not really sure what all the fuss is about.

My wife had home owners insurance put on her brand new house last year and a month after she moved it in flooded. It ended up being $15,000 in damages. She filed a claim and the insurance company paid for everything no questions asked, no dropped policies, and no raised premiums. That's how it should be. We've had great experience with our insurance company, but I've heard horror stories from other people and their insurance companies. I'll tell you one thing though, if I were those people, I'd be switching. It's nice to have insurance that you can actually use without the fear of being punished for it.

There was proof that the house was flooded to the point it needed professional repair, and there were probably other houses around it flooded.

My neighbors got in dutch when they had their entire roof redone when a few shingles flew off. The second story of our roof came off, but Stink climbed up and redid it. No one else had their entire roof come off as was claimed by the neighbors. I think a lot of it has to do with circumstances, and I think insurance adjusters have to deal with so many people fudging the truth, they may judge on the side of caution.

That's not good, that's not right, but that's the way it is.

The neighbors were pretty steamed at us for not calling insurance on our roof, too, so I think in a situation where a disaster causes the claim, they might also look at the neighboring properties to see if there's the same damage.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I simply have no patience for the segment of society that steals from people. These two probably mooch off the taxpayers as well.

Hang them from the tallest tree in Warren County...would have to be a stout tree, as they are a couple of bigguns.

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I was reading about that on another news website last night that had more info... channel 12 i think... and it said they had a whole system worked out where one would stand behind people at the kiosk while they were renting the locker and then would give the locker # and passcodes to the other one who would then go back later and get the stuff out after the people had left. It said they did it at least a dozen times. I can't believe they were able to do that so many times without anyone getting suspicious of the lady peering over their shoulder at the screen. I'm on high alert any time anyone comes near my personal space.

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I wish they would go to something more secure than just a four number pin to unlock these lockers. They have seemed to be more theft from the lockers since these were installed. I know when we use the lockers we are very careful and look around when renting the locker and every time we open it up. It's sad what this world has came too.

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The coding device is out in the open. It should be in a cubby hole big enough for the customer, and turned to the side so the customer has their back to one wall while facing the device. Then the device should be fully encased in a box with a hinged cover over it to conceal the keypad.

Or they could/should convert to a fingerprint/wristband device.

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Guest dtk1376

There is a flaw in just about any system you try to implement. I just stay away from the lockers unless I plan on being over in Soak City for a good amount of time, and when I do use them over in Soak City I always cover up as much as I possibly can then worry about my stuff the whole time I'm over there, which is not FUN. Hence why trips to Soak City are maybe one or two times a year because I don't enjoy it as much as I should.

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My last trip to Soak City I left my stuff in my beach bag along with a towel on a lounge chair in a crowded area in Soak City. I rode slides and did the lazy river and came back a couple hours later and everything was untouched. Then I dried off, threw on a shirt and some flip flops and headed to the dry park with all my stuff in the same spot. I came back several hours later and once again my belongings were in the same spot I left them. Granted I didn't leave anything of value behind anyway (except my cell phone), and I don't recommend anyone else to try this, but I will say that sometimes the safest hiding spot is the one in plain sight.

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Lookout is a greeat security app for your Iphone. Sorry this happened.

^^ This. Imagine my son's expression when I asked him why he was trying to get onto my phone. Lookout takes a pic with the front-facing camera when the wrong security code is entered, and emails it to you! Also will kill the phone's data remotely.

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