Cost and planning
What does a professionally installed Amcrest system cost on Long Island?
It is priced per job from our published Amcrest price pages, and we do not quote a single figure for the whole island because the job changes so much from house to house. Three things move the total: the number of cameras, the cable route each one needs in your type of house, and whether you are supplying the equipment or buying it through us. Nassau addresses use our Nassau County Amcrest prices and Suffolk addresses use the Suffolk County page, because blueprint pricing runs the two counties at different rates against our Brooklyn base. Send photos and model numbers and we will tell you which lines apply before you book.
How many Amcrest cameras does a typical Nassau or Suffolk house actually need?
Most detached houses we expect to see need cameras on four views first: the driveway, the front door, the back door or slider, and the side gate or path. A detached garage adds one or two more. On a compact Nassau lot, four or five cameras often cover everything; on a deep Suffolk lot with a long drive and outbuildings, eight is more common. We would rather plan fewer cameras in the right places than many cameras that all see the same lawn, and we size the recorder with a few spare channels so you can add later without replacing it.
Is a camera system really worth it for a Long Island homeowner?
The local record suggests it can be. In May 2026, Daily Voice reported that a Roslyn Heights homeowner spotted would-be burglars on his surveillance system, called police, and arrests followed. Nassau and Suffolk police have described driveway cars as what draws burglars, and a Suffolk package-theft case in 2025 covered 31 communities. A camera does not stop every crime, but it can alert you in time and give police a usable image. With Amcrest, the absence of a required subscription keeps the running cost down, so the value depends mainly on placement.
The brand and the rules
Are Amcrest cameras banned on Long Island after the FCC's 2026 changes?
No. Amcrest is not named on the FCC Covered List. Dahua is, limited to certain public safety, government facility, critical infrastructure and national security uses, and since July 16, 2026 the FCC has barred the continued import and marketing of previously authorized Dahua equipment for those uses, according to iCTally. One source says installed equipment is not revoked and private use is not banned. Because Amcrest has historically built on Dahua hardware, we check each model before installing it so you are not caught out on replacements later.
Where are Amcrest cameras designed and made, and should that change what I buy?
Amcrest describes its products as designed in Houston, Texas, and says on its own site that it built its brand with Dahua. Compliance lists published by integrators place Amcrest under Dahua as a U.S.-distributed OEM, and Amcrest says it is moving toward NDAA-compliant lines it calls AMLINK and HELIX. For a private home, the origin mostly matters for future parts and firmware support. For a business with federal money or a federal contract, it can matter a great deal. Tell us which you are and we will advise accordingly.
Does whoever installs my Amcrest cameras need a New York license?
If the cameras are there to watch for intrusion, theft or movement, yes. A New York law firm, Kirschenbaum & Kirschenbaum, explains that the state's security and fire alarm installer license covers CCTV used for those purposes, and the license is issued by the Department of State under General Business Law Article 6-D. One permit guide notes that homeowners installing their own system do not need a state license. A paid installer does. Our license is NYS #12000287431, and it appears on our quotes.
How can I check that a Long Island camera installer is properly licensed?
Ask for the state security and fire alarm installer license number and check it with the New York Department of State. For residential work in Nassau, also ask for the county home improvement license; Nassau's consumer checklist gives the Office of Consumer Affairs as the place to check a contractor, and the county requires licensed home improvement contractors to be fingerprinted. In Suffolk, county licensing applies through the Office of Consumer Affairs except in towns and villages with their own rules. Any installer who hesitates over a license number is telling you something.
Recording, internet and the app
If our internet goes down during a storm, do the Amcrest cameras stop recording?
They should not, if the system is installed to record locally. Amcrest's support forum explains that remote viewing usually relies on a peer-to-peer connection through the internet, so you lose the ability to watch from your phone when the internet drops. Recording to the NVR inside the house does not need the internet at all. It does need power, which is why we recommend a battery backup for the recorder, the PoE switch and the router. After Isaias, when almost half of PSEG Long Island's customers lost power, that battery is the difference between footage and a gap.
Do the Amcrest PoE cameras in my kit plug straight into my router?
Usually not directly. PoE cameras take power and data over one cable, and most home routers do not supply power on their network ports. Many Amcrest PoE cameras need a separate PoE injector or switch, as product listings note. In an Amcrest NVR kit, the recorder often has built-in PoE ports, and the cameras plug into those. When you add cameras beyond what the recorder can power, or put a camera far from the recorder, we add a PoE switch sized for the load. We check the power budget on paper before we buy anything.
The property and the weather
How do you get a camera cable out to a detached garage across the yard?
There are two honest options. One is a protected run, buried in suitable conduit or carried overhead in a protected way, entering both buildings through sealed holes. The other, when the garage is far enough that a single run is marginal, is to put a small outdoor-rated switch in the garage and feed it from the house. Long Island installer field notes we reviewed say detached garages need their own cable runs, and that matches what we plan for. We never staple an unprotected indoor cable across a lawn or a fence.
Our ranch is on a slab with no basement. Where does the recorder go and how do the cables get out?
The recorder goes in a closet or utility area with an outlet, inside the heated part of the house, and the cables go up, not down. We bring a bundle up through the top of the closet wall into the attic and run each cable across to its eave, where the camera mounts on the soffit or the wall below. The slab is never drilled, because houses of the Levittown era were built with radiant heating pipes in the floor. The attic route is short and dry, and it puts the cameras high enough to see the yard.
Will Amcrest cameras hold up to salt air on the South Shore and along the Sound?
The camera bodies are rated for outdoor use, but the weak points near salt water are usually the fixings, the junction boxes and the cable entries rather than the camera itself. Long Island installer notes we reviewed say waterfront jobs need weather-rated housings for salt air. We use corrosion-resistant screws and mounts, seal every entry, leave drip loops so water runs off before it reaches the connector, and avoid putting the recorder in a garage on a flood-prone lot. Sandy's damage on the South Shore is the reason for that last rule.
Privacy, police and the law
Can my Amcrest cameras legally record sound around my Long Island house?
Carefully. New York is a one-party consent state for recording conversations, according to the Digital Media Law Project, which means a camera recording a conversation that no one present has agreed to record can be a problem under Penal Law 250.00. A doorbell where you are speaking to a visitor is different from a backyard camera picking up the neighbors over the fence. Video in a bathroom, bedroom or changing room without consent is a felony under Penal Law 250.45. We set outdoor cameras to video only unless you ask otherwise and understand the rule.
Should I register my cameras with the Suffolk police, and do they get to watch them?
Registration is your choice, and it does not give police live access. The Suffolk County Police SHIELD program lets residents and businesses register the locations of their systems so the Department can ask participants to check video for a particular date and time, with retrieval at the owner's convenience. A separate Emergency Remote Camera Access option is opt-in. In Nassau, we found village programs such as Garden City's, which says registration does not give police access to privately owned systems, but no county-wide registry.
Can my Uniondale landlord stop me from putting up cameras on the house I rent?
The landlord controls the building, so drilling into the outside of a rented house needs the owner's agreement, and a lease may say so in writing. We found vendor claims that New York law now requires landlords to allow tenant cameras, but we could not verify any such statute, so we do not rely on it. What a renter can usually do without drilling is a camera inside the unit looking at their own door, or a battery doorbell that replaces an existing one with permission. We ask for the owner's written approval before any exterior work on a rental.
