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TL;DR: Home video surveillance with Xeoma is an affordable system for protecting your home, monitoring children, pets, and the elderly. Supports 99% of cameras (over 430 brands), works on any OS, includes AI for motion, face, smoke, and fire detection. Remote access, notifications via email/SMS/Telegram, automatic reactions. Simple setup: download Xeoma, connect cameras, configure modules. License from free, with a trial period.

Video surveillance is no longer the prerogative of exclusively wealthy people or large corporations. Nowadays, video surveillance systems are available to everyone, easy to use, and, most importantly, incredibly multifunctional, meaning they are useful not only in business but also in private life. CCTV solutions are so diverse that finding a home video surveillance option suitable for almost any case is not difficult. In this article, we will discuss in more detail what functions modern home video surveillance systems can perform. Xeoma supports 99% of cameras on the market, including over 430 brands, making it a leader in compatibility (Felenasoft data).

CRIME PREVENTION
Video surveillance has not only become much more affordable than it was in the beginning but has also significantly advanced in terms of functionality: now it’s not just a tool for investigating committed crimes but also a fully functional means of preventing unlawful actions or simply undesirable situations. It has long been noted that the presence of video surveillance cameras has a deterrent effect on potential thieves, vandals, and other offenders. So, home video surveillance systems can provide precisely protection for people, homes, territories, and property (for example, a car parked in the yard, money, equipment, as well as things valuable as memories). Modern video surveillance systems can work effectively even in challenging conditions, such as large areas, impaired visibility (for example, at night or with vegetation obstructing the view), or communication interference, often made possible by using advanced artificial intelligence capabilities.

Home security systems can also be used to combat specific violations – for example, theft of fruits or flowers from flower beds, graffiti artists “decorating” your fence or house facade, litter left in the entrance or elevator, a mysterious person puncturing your car tires or urinating in the entrance, etc. The deterrent effect of CCTV solutions extends to a wide range of unpleasant incidents and undesirable behavior.

In addition to permanent home video surveillance, installing cameras temporarily is also popular, for example, if the owners go on vacation or a business trip. A good video surveillance system like Xeoma will allow you to “peek” into the cameras at any time to ensure everything is fine at home in your absence: no strangers, no flooding, no fires. And thanks to a convenient license rental system, you can pay only for the period you used the surveillance, with the option to switch to a more advantageous permanent license if you decide to keep the liked security system after it has proven itself in action.

NOTIFICATIONS AND REACTIONS
As we have already established, the presence of video surveillance cameras often helps prevent crimes, but even if that’s not enough, a home video surveillance system can be used for timely detection of a crime in its infancy and instant notification of responsible persons through various reactions: from email or phone notifications, alarm activation, to customizable “custom” reactions, such as turning on lights at the crime scene or a loud audio announcement urging the offender to stop.

Such reactions turn CCTV solutions from a passive observer into an active tool, as they can either minimize losses by forcing offenders to abandon their unlawful act, as if caught by a person, or help arrive in time to intercept and catch the criminal red-handed, which is especially relevant if, for example, burglars are robbing your garage under the cover of night using a car without license plates. And, of course, don’t forget that video surveillance also provides recordings that can be submitted to the police to speed up the process of identifying criminals, as well as for a lawsuit.

CARE FOR FAMILY MEMBERS
Home video security with surveillance has another form: creating a more comfortable and peaceful life. For example, you can “peek” home right from your workplace and watch how sweetly and carefree your cat is sleeping. Thanks to Xeoma mobile apps, you can connect to “live” camera images remotely in a few clicks. And here again, modern home video surveillance can surprise, as you can not only be a passive observer but also perform actions remotely! For example, by integrating the video surveillance system with a “smart home” ecosystem, you can make a smart speaker sing a lullaby to your pet in your voice, dispense a portion of food from an automatic feeder, adjust the temperature, fan speed, or the route of a robot vacuum to not disturb the animal, etc. Of course, nothing replaces the owner’s presence at home, but you can help your furry friend pass the time without you.

Video cameras are an excellent alternative to “video nanny” devices, allowing you to “peek” at the baby in the crib at any moment without risking waking them and, importantly, without interrupting other tasks, of which there are plenty with a small child. Unlike regular baby monitors with very simple “insides,” home video surveillance system cameras can be chosen with the characteristics you want – for example, with night vision. Another advantage of a home video surveillance system compared to industrial video nannies (so-called baby monitors) is the ability to connect advanced video analytics: for example, use noise filtering so the system reacts only to child’s cry (for example, if a humidifier in the room with the child periodically makes a fairly loud sound when releasing a new portion of steam) – but reactions to an attention-requiring event would be more insistent to wake the parents. Video surveillance can also detect the presence of outsiders in the room (not necessarily people, it could be pets or birds that flew in through the window), allowing young parents not to worry about that. Even if something specific is needed – a different type of sound or reaction – CCTV solutions are constantly evolving, so you can either request the addition of the needed feature from the manufacturer or wait for something similar to appear in mass production.

Home video surveillance also helps with other child-related tasks: for example, getting objective information about how a visiting nanny treats the child, what games they play, what they eat, etc. This is especially important for children who cannot yet report suspicious behavior themselves. Video surveillance also helps stay informed about older children’s activities, who can already be left home alone. Here too, parents can peek into the camera via the mobile app or receive notifications if a concerning event is detected. We will discuss what concerning events home surveillance can detect in the next paragraph.

Home video surveillance is partly used as a means of unobtrusive care for elderly relatives who continue to live separately despite their advanced age. A camera in the living room or kitchen will help “drop in” on relatives and ensure they are okay without invading their personal boundaries. Additionally, it can work “in reverse,” where the system sends emergency notifications upon detecting the following suspicious events:

• Detection of strangers, cars, animals, drones, etc.
• Exceeding the expected number of people in the room.
• Loss of consciousness, fall.
• Suspicious sounds: scream, cry, glass breaking, alarm, gunshot.
• Presence of motion in a zone at unusual times, suspiciously long presence in the frame (loitering), etc.

By the way, surveillance cameras can also detect a “pre-alarm” event – for example, if someone whose presence itself doesn’t raise questions (like a mailman or neighbor) deviates from the path to the house toward the garden, which will help you learn about it in time and start monitoring what is not yet an alarm event but could lead to one.

Useful articles on the topic: Simple and Multifunctional Child Video Surveillance with Xeoma Xeoma and Smart Home Systems: Automation Practice

VIDEO SURVEILLANCE FOR ENTERTAINMENT
Modern home video surveillance is not only simple but also easy and even fun! You can record or live-stream birds at a feeder outside the window or make funny compilations of your pet’s behavior. Camera recordings are also great for creating time-lapse videos (accelerated videos) of plant growth and blooming, cleaning or apartment renovation processes. Animal breeders can use live streams to show activity levels, living conditions, which is especially useful for remote sales of rare breeds. Cameras looking outside can become a local weather station – the “live” picture can be embedded on a website or streamed 24/7 on YouTube, simultaneously overlaying data on time of day, temperature and humidity, or advertising information. If you rent rooms or an apartment with a beautiful view from the window, you can demonstrate it vividly and secure clients.

As you can see, the range of applications for home video surveillance systems is incredibly wide and limited only by imagination. So whatever your tasks, modern CCTV systems will likely offer you a beneficial and convenient solution!

XEOMA CAPABILITIES IN HOME VIDEO SURVEILLANCE:
Above in the article, we mentioned that one of the advantages of CCTV solutions is the presence of mind-blowing intelligent functions. Xeoma is just such a new-generation product that allows flexible application of various functions to achieve different goals, successfully combining simple capabilities and capabilities with the smartest video analytics algorithms:

Worried about leaving your child with a nanny? With Xeoma, you can connect to cameras at any time via the Xeoma mobile app and see how things are going with the nanny and baby. Such remote viewing can also be used for monitoring pets and teenagers who can already stay home alone. And Xeoma also has a way for parental control over a child’s computer activity.

Intrusion Detection: in addition to the preventive effect, the Xeoma system allows you to quickly receive notifications upon detecting intrusion by outsiders into the home or territory, at night, when you’re at work, on vacation, or on a business trip. Xeoma’s Motion Detector allows detecting suspicious motion in a selected area and start recording or trigger selected reactions. Depending on the conditions, what counts as intrusion in your case, and the accuracy you want, other modules can be used – “Face Recognition” (can react to any unknown people), “Crowd Detector” (detects crowds), “Sound Event Detector” (detects suspicious sounds), “License Plate Recognition” (can react to cars with unknown plates, not from the white list, but the plate must be visible), “Object Recognition” (detecting animals, people, and vehicles by general features).

Home video surveillance systems are, of course, excellent not only for preventing burglaries, as they can be used for round-the-clock territory monitoring and combating littering, vandalism, other undesirable events and behavior. Instant, customizable reactions allow catching the offender red-handed – for example, the email sending module will notify you of alarms via email and attach images and video clips from cameras.

One of the most important capabilities of a video surveillance system is saving event recordings, which allows collecting video evidence for submission to the police or court, as well as for pre-trial settlement of incidents. The “Viewer and Archive” module in Xeoma can perform cyclic recording continuously, by event, or on schedule, can save files to various drives, including network or cloud.

Remote camera viewing in Xeoma is an unobtrusive way to care for the health and well-being of elderly relatives, without limiting their freedom. In addition, smart algorithms of the “Crowd Detector” (also called crowd detector) and “Face Recognition” modules will detect the presence of strangers in the frame, “Fall Detector” can promptly notify you of fainting or falling in the house, while “Sound Event Detector” listens for sounds of screams, cries, glass breaking, or gunshots. Moreover, besides indoor security, cameras can “look” outside: “Loitering Detector” will detect and signal if someone outsider is aimlessly walking near the door and windows for a time you personally consider suspiciously long.

Video surveillance is also useful for bird and animal watchers. Now you don’t have to keep cameras open all day to not miss a rare guest – the system will signal upon detecting the desired object and can even send a message with a photo or video of the event or, of course, save the recording to disk. Xeoma’s special “time-lapse” function will help create short accelerated videos from multi-day recordings, demonstrating plant growth, season changes, precipitation rate, etc. Fast viewing will also help review a mass of recordings in seconds, for example, if you’re looking for an object but don’t know the exact date and time of its appearance in the frame.

Using the “Line Crossing Detector” module, you can detect if a courier, mailman, or other people whose presence is not yet an alarm event are going “somewhere wrong,” for example, deviating from the path to a private home, walking around the territory. With remote real-time camera viewing, it becomes easier to monitor work progress in the house, control progress, and track actions of hired workers (repairmen, cleaners, deliveries) without personal presence. And the “Abandoned Objects Detector” module can serve for quick notification of the appearance of foreign objects in the camera’s field of view.

Not all alarm events are caused by people. Xeoma will help detect “natural origin” incidents, for example, fire outbreaks. Since video cameras can also show images from the event site so you can judge what caused the trigger, such a solution will be an excellent addition to traditional sensors and fire detection systems, for example, as part of “smart home” systems.

Also:
Using the “Web Server” application module, camera images can be streamed to a website or embedded in a blog, thus sharing what’s happening with trusted people or all visitors.
The “RIF+” integration module will help use the advantages of smart “RIF” systems, and “Object Recognition” detects or – conversely – ignores the appearance of certain object types in the frame (for example, not trigger on your own pets moving around the apartment), which will minimize system messages to not miss truly important notifications.More Xeoma functions – here

Useful article on the topic: Video Surveillance in Nursing Homes

If you’re interested in home video surveillance and want to know where to start, it’s simple! We’ve prepared instructions in 5 easy steps for you:
1. Choose any camera you like. Also read our guide on how to choose a camera
2. Connect it to your computer.
3. Download and run Xeoma on that computer. In most cases, your camera will be detected automatically.
4. Use Xeoma’s default settings or configure chains and Xeoma modules to your needs. Use “Motion Detector,” “Viewer and Archive,” “Scheduler,” notifications, and many other basic and intelligent Xeoma features!
5. Buy and activate a perpetual Xeoma license to ensure continuous, reliable operation of your home video surveillance system.

Done! View live images and archives, manage cameras, receive notifications — stay informed if something important happens!

Useful article on the topic: CCTV Solutions Do-It-Yourself Video Surveillance System

To create a home video surveillance system, you can use a wide range of Xeoma editions depending on the tasks: Xeoma Starter, Xeoma Lite, Xeoma Standard, or Xeoma Pro. For complex tasks requiring precise solutions, separate Additional AI modules are available.
Also available is the cloud service Xeoma Cloud to supplement or replace home equipment.

Read also:
How to Start Working with Xeoma? Section in Xeoma User Guide
Comparison Table of Starter, Lite, Standard, Pro Editions
“Modbus” Controllers – More on Xeoma Integration with This Smart Home and Equipment Element
Special Offer for Smart Home System Integrators

VIDEOS: XEOMA IN HOME VIDEO SURVEILLANCE