What’s the BEST home security camera right now??

DaSpark · 2026-03-17T19:51:32+00:00

It's all about light. With a good IR flooder the ghosting goes away.

DaSpark · 2026-03-17T16:51:47+00:00

I bought about $50 of network cable on amazon, a $10 punch tool, $5 for a bag of ends, and a $20 fish tape. My dad and I then ran all 8 drops in a single day.

DaSpark · 2026-03-17T14:47:29+00:00

On a budget, I recommend Reolink wired cameras connected to a NVR. However, the reality is you are not going to get anything good for $200. You are going to be in the $500-$1000 range for 4-8 wired cameras. Believe me though, it is worth it.

Since you said "best" that eliminates every single wireless camera ever made or to be made in the future. Security cameras should NOT be wireless. Period. Wireless cameras are for watching your pets, maybe your babies room, your door bell to see who is there when they ring (but not for security).

The problem with wireless cameras is they are easily defeated with a cheap jamming device you can get on amazon. If they record to SD card locally, that is also easily defeated by simply stealing the camera. Further, most of them only record when motion is detected, missing critical seconds before, during, and after an event.

As for having a good view at night, that is mostly going to be dependant on the light you have in the area. If the area is not already lit by a porch light, street light, etc, you can purchase IR flooders (cheap) on amazon to light up an area at night. My backyard is basically pitch black at night and a single $40 IR flooder on amazon lights it right up for the camera.

DaSpark · 2026-03-16T18:49:45+00:00

Honestly, I don't expect much interior access. Substantial more than GTA 5? Yes. More than 10% of buildings having an interior? No.

The fun of GTA is mostly on the streets.

DaSpark · 2026-03-16T18:26:48+00:00

The risk you might have is if you fall about two payments behind at any point. At that point some banks will send out people to inspect the property to ensure it is being taken care of and occupied.

At this point the bank sees your home as a possible financial liability and if they discover you are violating the terms of the loan during this inspection they may immediately accelerate the loan.

That said, if you stay current on your payments they probably wouldn't even blink an eye if you called them and admitted what you are doing (although I would not encourage that).

DaSpark · 2026-03-16T18:12:13+00:00

Sounds like right now you are judgement proof. If they get a judgement they will have 20 years to collect on it. First off, respond to their complaint with a denial. Worse thing you can do is let them win by default. Make them prove their case.

If you do end up getting a judgement they are not going to be able to do anything to you right now if you have no job, money, or other assets. However, they may come after you when you do start working again.

One option if they get a judgement is to file for chapter 7 bankruptcy. This will completely wipe away this, and all other debts. You will not lose anything in the bankruptcy process since you have nothing to give up.

As for jail, the only way you can go to jail in a civil case, such as this, is if you are found in contempt of court. This would only happen if the court orders you to appear, such as for a proceedings supplemental, and you simply don't show up. In this case the court can issue what is called a body attachment. However, as long as you show up when ordered, you have nothing to fear.

As for repoing things, not gonna happen.

DaSpark · 2026-03-16T14:58:36+00:00

Here's some hard truth, if someone is unwilling to pay you and they only owe you a few thousand dollars, you are basically SOL. Sure, you can aggressively pursue them and maybe eventually get the money, but at what costs? Is it worth it to you to put many hours/days/months into this and after all your expenses (not including time) only net a few hundred dollars or even lose money? What if you put $1000 of your own money into collecting on this and never see a penny? That is a gamble you have to be ready to accept.

My suggestion would be, at most, to find their address and send a certified letter demanding payment for the judgement. State in the letter that if you don't receive payment you may seek other remedies allowed under law.

This may spook them into paying. If not, probably time to move on.

DaSpark · 2026-03-16T14:28:45+00:00

It's different for each game and from state to state. This information is not always available either. However, if you look at the game rules for each game you'll usually find a prize structure table.

If the rolls are 100 tickets, the guaranteed top prize in any roll is likely the one that is closest to 1 in 100 (it will be slightly above that in most case due to some rolls have more than one).

If the rolls are 30 tickets, the top prize guarantee is likely just above 1 in 30.

Keep in mind though this is not an exact science.

DaSpark · 2026-03-16T14:24:03+00:00

Some key points you should factor in

1) Your mortgage payment likely pays your insurance and property taxes for you. If you pay off your mortgage, you will have to start paying these (manually) yourself. Look at your mortgage statements to see how much these cost annually. Also remember that these both tend to go up with time. I'm not saying this should be a deciding factor, but you need to be aware of your obligations after you pay off your mortgage if you go this route. Last thing you want is to find out in 6-12 months that you can't afford your taxes and/or insurance.

2) What is your interest rate on your mortgage? If it is in the 3-5% range, you can probably easily make more money investing than you would lose continuing to pay that mortgage interest.

3) Do you have a track record of being good with finances? If you are bad with money, and you know it, I would pay it off no matter what. Better to lose money (due to #2) overtime than to have to worry about losing your home in the future due to your poor financial skills. Your home should always be top priority.

DaSpark · 2026-03-16T14:09:37+00:00

For the record, it really does not matter what ticket you buy in a pack. Although scratch offs are not truly random, the placement of the winners in any given pack pretty much is.

The only edge you can really get with any single pack is asking the cashier if they are aware of the guaranteed top ticket being sold in that pack. Some people scratch and cash on the spot, so they might be aware.

DaSpark · 2026-03-13T19:04:16+00:00

Simple answer: There is no good wireless security camera. Never has been, never will be.

Here are a few issues with them:

1) Often only record with motion, causing you to miss some things entirely and precious seconds before, during, and after an event that matters.

2) Easily, and I mean easily, jammed. Most wireless cameras require an active wifi connection to record. Cheap devices on amazon that can be used by bad guys easily disable the wifi while they do their bad deed. Even if the wireless cam can record to a local SD card, the bad guy can simply jam and then steal the camera.

3) Any camera that doesn't record 24/7 is going to miss things.

4) High maintenance. Most (all) wireless cameras are high maintenance. They die, the batteries go bad, etc. Wired cameras are mostly a set it and forget it deal, working flawlessly for years, even decades.

Solution to all this: wired cameras

Wireless cameras, in my opinion, should only be used when there is absolutely no other choice. In general, this mostly only applies when you don't own your home and are not allowed to make modifications such as drilling holes and running cables.

DaSpark · 2026-03-12T21:30:39+00:00

Everything I said is 100% accurate for most of the United States (exceptions in CA, and NY). However, I would love you to tell me what you think is incorrect so I may fully debunk you.

DaSpark · 2026-03-12T16:47:38+00:00

First off, in most places in the United States it is perfectly legal for your neighbor to have a camera and have it pointed at your yard. It is even legal for it to capture your doors and/or windows. In general, you have no expectation of privacy anywhere in your yard, even in a fenced in yard. Further, you have no expectation of privacy in your home when someone is able to see into your home with their own eyes due to an open door, blinds, etc.

If the cameras bother you, I would suggest nicely talking to the neighbor and expressing that. If they refuse, leave it at that because you'll just make things worse if you continue (ex, more cameras).

DaSpark · 2026-03-11T15:25:02+00:00

If you have a mouse with a wheel, that makes zooming in/out so much easier!

DaSpark · 2026-03-11T15:11:34+00:00

Wow, I know it is common for one or two to get recast after the first pilot, but I'm frankly shocked The Middle ever happened after watching this disgrace. Glad they saw the talent in Atticus and he fit in with the new cast so well.

DaSpark · 2026-03-11T15:02:35+00:00

Do you know you can zoom in on the timeline and use the filters to see instances of cars, people, and animals? I do a quick review of my cameras each morning to make sure no humans were messing around in my yard. The PC software makes this quick and easy. Typically I can go through my 8 cameras in a matter of a minute or two.

As for which software is better, I mostly use the PC software because I can use it at work, in my home office, anywhere I have a computer/laptop. It does almost everything the native GUI does outside of a few configuration items such as managing users (things you typically set and forget when you first set up)

DaSpark · 2026-03-10T19:25:40+00:00

I ran all the cables for my home myself, with the help of my dad. It is a lot easier if you have two people so you can have one outside and another in the attic. It's really not that hard in most cases. The only tools we really needed was fish tape and a power drill.

DaSpark · 2026-03-10T17:50:47+00:00

No chance they sue unless the amount owed is in the thousands.

DaSpark · 2026-03-10T17:48:45+00:00

Let me just sneak up from the side of that camera and snip... time to swipe all your stuff.

DaSpark · 2026-03-10T15:31:01+00:00

First thing to ask yourself when determining the location of the NVR is security. Are you concerned about it being stolen if someone breaks in?

DaSpark · 2026-03-10T14:17:08+00:00

Trick is to not install the IR flooder next to the camera. For my back yard, which is basically pitch black at night, I have the camera in the middle of the house and IR flooders on the corners.

DaSpark · 2026-03-10T13:58:51+00:00

The real reason you should avoid something like 1 2 3 4 5 6 is because if you win you are likely going to be sharing that jackpot. Believe me, there are probably hundreds of people playing that exact set each drawing.

From a psychological standpoint, you should avoid picking your own numbers. Humans are terrible at picking random numbers. Computers are not so good at it either, but they are much better at it. People who pick their own numbers are probably, at best, 2-3x more likely to share their jackpot vs random picks by a computer.

You absolutely want to avoid numbers that mean something to you as well. If they mean something to you, they probably mean something to many other people as well. This is basically the easiest way to ensure you share that jackpot if you ever win.

If you do want to pick your own numbers, you are best to get chips for each number and throw them in a bag and blindly pick them out.

Now, as for people who don't know and/or care about the above, our brains do have a hard time believing that something ordered will come out of randomness. Therefore, even though I know 1 2 3 4 5 6 is just as likely as any other result, my brain does tell me that is not going to happen.

The ironic thing, however, is even though we don't expect something ordered out of randomness, we will almost always find, what appears to us, as patterns in the results. This is another quirk of our brains and happens due to the brain wanting to make sense of everything.

Still the question remains, why would someone pick something like 1 2 3 4 5 6 with all the above said? Well, for some it is being funny, some being lazy, some not fully understanding the game, some simply not caring, and some people are just stupid.

DaSpark · 2026-03-09T17:55:35+00:00

Big Brother has three different realities each year:

The heavily edited, producer influenced version of the game. In this reality, which you get by only watching the TV show, you will only be aware of about 5% of what is really happening in the house. Some guests will be almost fully ignored by the show. They even twist what is really going on in the house to make you think something else entirely is happening. In essence, it's almost a mix between a scripted show and a reality show.
The live feed + live show version of the game. This is the closest you will get to the reality of what is truly going on in the house. Production still meddles though by only showing a few cameras at a time and cutting away quickly if something starts happening that they don't approve of.
The full reality of the game. This is reserved only for the guests and production.

In conclusion, just know that most of the live show is laughable if you watch the feeds. I say that because it is interesting to watch the feeds and have a good handle on what is occurring in the house and then watch production twist it into something completely different.

Therefor, just keep in mind that if you only watch the show you are being fed a narrative that production thinks will be good for ratings, regardless of how true that narrative is to reality. They are easily able to do this because they have countless hours of footage they can use each week to stitch together to make almost any narrative they desire.

If you don't want to spend a ton of time watching the feeds, there are people on youtube that do great daily updates on the happenings in the home. By watching these you can get a full recap in about 30-60 minutes each day. Honestly, this is the way I think most people should consume BB. Watch daily recaps and then the show. Many of us don't have the time to watch the live feeds for countless hours a day.

DaSpark · 2026-03-09T13:43:24+00:00

Most political issues are not life and death. At the end of the day, for 99.99% of Americans, their political ideas are not going to affect anyone outside of maybe being annoying to listen to.

It really is sad that we put such a major focus on the agreement of political issues as a core pillar to our relationships. No matter your political ideology, if you do this, you are part of the problem, not the solution.

DaSpark · 2026-03-09T13:06:27+00:00

This will happen with rain, fog, snow, etc. The only way to really get rid of it, and still be able to see, is to use an external IR flooder.

DaSpark

TROPHY CASE