Hi,
What’s the advantage of using the alarm.com integration versus a stand alone system?
I’m technically capable of installing a standalone system so that is not an issue but I’m not at all familiar with the alarm.com system and I am wondering the advantages. If I were to go that route I would likely buy the SVR and have around 4 exterior cameras along with maybe one or two interior. I’m happy with the alarm.com camera offerings so that is not an issue either.
Thanks for any input!
Sensor/arming activation rule based recording. That’s it.
Standalone are basically VMD only.
The alarm.com NVR/SVR runs $500-$600 (new on ebay) as is an additional $5/month (plus the cloud/video plan add on)
The outdoor cams compatible are the V720, V720W, V721W
So what you are saying is that if I have a living room window contact trip I could then say the camera in the living room record? That sort of thing?
Thanks for the speedy reply!
Base video plan is 1,000 clips storage, and 1,000clips upload a month… so set camera res to highest, quality to highest, fps to highest, and clip duration to highest to optimize clip recordings.
The SVR allows 24/7 recording with a playback timeline. With 1TB HDD, and 4 cams, you would still have approx. a month of video recording before it started to overwrite.
The SVR is local recorded storage, but is not locally accessible, and needs the alarm.com cloud service. SVR timeline clips can be downloaded, or live streamed (20min streaming duration if I remember correctly) and it does not count against the 1,000 clip quota.
You can still live stream without the SVR in any event.
Another advantage (and probably the most important one) is the ease of use versus a standalone network… you for the most part don’t need to configure and secure a surveillance LAN network, or surveillance storage devices, (which you would with a standalone system)
Ok, that explains it. Thanks again!
If I were to go that route I would likely buy the SVR and have around 4 exterior cameras along with maybe one or two interior
The base cloud video package is 4 cams, so you would have to upgrade. Also, the SVR is only 4 channels (4 cams), to run 5, or 6 cams, you would need two SVRs (8 channels supporting up to 8 cams).
The following indoor cams will work with the SVR:
V520
V520IR (infrared)
V620PT (pan/tilt)
V820 (dome)
And as posted previously, the following outside cams:
V720 (infrared PoE)
*V720W (infrared)
V721W (infrared)
*The V720W was replaced by the V721W
Ok. That is good to know. I think 4 would be plenty anyways.
Another question. Can you put the cameras in a “do not disturb mode” from the alarm.com app? For instance, if you are doing yard work and you don’t want to keep tripping the motion detection.
The integration with your alarm system and the Alarm.com app is one advantage and ease of use as mentioned above is another. To elaborate on that, when it comes to remote viewing there is an advantage in connecting through a reliable hosted service instead of connecting directly to your home network. You don’t have to maintain an NVR server, port forward and maintain your own dynamic DNS. Setup and maintenance is easier with Alarm.com video. It’s kind of like the difference between hosting your own email servers or just using gmail.
The advantages of a stand alone system are no monthly fee and that a stand alone system gives you more flexibility to customize and integrate with other NVR software.
Having important video backed up in the cloud is nice. You don’t risk losing it. I don’t recommend using video motion detection to trigger uploads on outdoor cameras unless you’re willing to put more time into maintaining those settings. Outdoor cameras are much easier with an SVR.
You can enable/disable any recording schedule via the Alarm.com website to temporarily disable uploads.
Can you put the cameras in a “do not disturb mode” from the alarm.com app? For instance, if you are doing yard work and you don’t want to keep tripping the motion detection
All recording rules can be turned off
Revisiting this subject after 4 years 
I’m looking into adding cameras outside my home and would like to know if there are any standout benefits over buying a standalone system aside from what is listed above.
Thanks.
The biggest advantage (in my opinion) is the tight integration with the rest of the security and home automation system. It’s hard to replicate that with a stand alone system. You can do things like quickly see what was happening when a door opened without relying on motion detection as the trigger.
Video verification of alarms is only possible with Alarm.com cameras so if you’re interested in using that then it’s a big advantage.
The video analytics object detection is pretty good on Alarm.com cameras. I’m sure there are stand alone systems with good AI too but they’d be higher end systems and probably wouldn’t be updated/enhanced via firmware updates as frequently.
If you go with Alarm.com cameras I recommend using the SVR. I like having the 24/7 recording and timeline interface even though it costs a little more for the hardware.
Alarm.com cameras are not the best fit for everyone but when used with an Alarm.com security and home automation system they get you a lot of functionality for very little setup work/effort.
Are there any specific features you’re looking for that would help guide the decision?
Hi Ryan,
There was nothing in particular except cloud backup, which I know Alarm.com handles. The video verification is a great point that I didn’t think of.
Thanks.
The biggest advantage of adc cameras is they tie into the sensors. So you can set recordings via a door opening. But if you are like me, I like to have them recording 24/7 regardless if the door opens or not. They make a SVR but it is limited on what it can do for you. A dedicated cctv system do the same thing for you.
I have 8 adc camera for the inside with their 8 ch svr. Then I have a poe cctv system for the outdoors tied into a tv on the wall so I can constantly monitor outdoors. Both svr/nvr locked in a server cabinet.
I think I’m going to buy a few cameras for outdoors and see how I like it. If I change my mind, they can always be moved inside.
Thanks for the info.