Security Camera / Security System Thread - Wired or wireless? That is the question.

[beholdachair]

But these recorders are cheap a.f. but probably also unbelievably shit.

Don't get that, get one of the HIKVISION NVR/DVR's listed with this vendor.

He's got a H.265 with a 2TB HDD included for $70. They are brick shithouses compared to those flimsy aliexpress devices.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_dkr=1&iconV2Request=true&_blrs=recall_filtering&_ssn=altatac&_oac=1&_nkw=hikvision

but with a cat6 connector, it's not a big deal.

Thanks.

Any suggestions for a NVR program that works well on linux without Internet access?

Get one of those HIKVISION boxes.

 

[QMWIC]

As opposed to making a new thread, I feel this thread may make sure to ask if anyone has advice on a good dash cam? Saw a clip today where the cop knew someone was in the right only because they had a dash cam and realized I may want one. Obviously meanwhile I would prefer to avoid anything that requires an app on your phone or anything else that's clearly simply tracking you.

 

[QMWIC]

As I hope for a response, I thought I might add something for parents concerning their child's security that avoids using an app.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B083KNVVRH

My family has had a lot of success with this product, the features are nice, battery life is good (though you'll want it plugged in overnight). The price is fantastic for what it provides, too. All while giving you piece of mind at night.

 

[Dean Pentel]

Peeps in this thread, I want to setup a doorbell camera or similar to a Ring with intercom ability but I don't want a Ring. I also want a security cameras installed that watches my front door/porch area, the sides of my house, and the back door. Can someone please point me to a site or send me a document that has some information I can use to get started? My alarm company and/or Xfinity will install cameras for me which would be the easier option but I don't want external parties to have easy access to my security feeds or intercom. Any help is appreciated.

 

[Sperg_rancher]

Peeps in this thread, I want to setup a doorbell camera or similar to a Ring with intercom ability but I don't want a Ring. I also want a security cameras installed that watches my front door/porch area, the sides of my house, and the back door. Can someone please point me to a site or send me a document that has some information I can use to get started? My alarm company and/or Xfinity will install cameras for me which would be the easier option but I don't want external parties to have easy access to my security feeds or intercom. Any help is appreciated.

What's your top priority? Privacy or ease of access?

 

[Dean Pentel]

What's your top priority? Privacy or ease of access?

Since I want my wife to be able to use it easily, I'd say ease of access. My primary concern is that I can see who's at my front door, talk to them in the same fashion a Ring camera works, and see/record what's going on at the exterior perimeter of my house.

 

[hog cranking frog]

Ran cat6 for a bunch of POE ReoLink cameras. For the price I'm amazed at the quality of the sensor and what you get. The night vision works amazing, the object detection isn't as good as running your own detection models or Frigate but darn close enough and they integrated perfectly with Home Assistant. Got a nice wife approved dashboard for the house with the cams going.

Also everyone in this thread should learn how to make their own Ethernet cables. Its very easy and very useful.

 

[Sperg_rancher]

Since I want my wife to be able to use it easily, I'd say ease of access. My primary concern is that I can see who's at my front door, talk to them in the same fashion a Ring camera works, and see/record what's going on at the exterior perimeter of my house.

I've heard great things about the reolink cameras in terms of their usability. Wifi would be OK, but you'll have to change the battery every so often. PoE would be an upgrade, but is also a lot more installation work.

 

[Dean Pentel]

I've heard great things about the reolink cameras in terms of their usability. Wifi would be OK, but you'll have to change the battery every so often. PoE would be an upgrade, but is also a lot more installation work.

I've found some resources in the thread about some of this like what cameras are available and how to build enclosures for them. Anything else you can point me to so I can start doing homework on how to install this stuff?

 

[Sperg_rancher]

I've found some resources in the thread about some of this like what cameras are available and how to build enclosures for them. Anything else you can point me to so I can start doing homework on how to install this stuff?

It's not too hard, just pull a cable up to where you need it, and mount the camera to any block of wood you have up where you want to mount it.. even the plywood sheathing will do nicely. It's usually a bracket that you screw into something, and then the camera can be locked into the bracket. It'll have a hole in the middle to pass the cable through. Not much else to it.

I did write a thread on using mapping software for placement: https://kiwifarms.st/threads/sperg-ranchers-guide-to-complete-security-camera-planning.195024/
but I don't think that's too relevant to what you're asking here.

 

[Scatty]

I use 4 Reolink dual-lens cameras and their NVR. This gives me full 180 degree views of every wall of the house with no way to approach the house in a blind spot. Each camera has an auto-spotlight and alarm, so they do more than just passively monitor (if needed). The NVR has an actual hard drive (I believe it's 1 TB), and it is constantly recording. The hard drive is replaceable/upgradeable.

These cameras are power-over-ethernet. I was initially very hesitant to run cables, but Reolink has splitter/joiner adapters that allowed me to run only 2 ethernet cables to the first 2 cameras, where I split the cable off and ran to the next two.

I got a 1080p monitor and a cheap mouse to use as a viewing station so that I can see at a glance everything that is going on outside my house. The system is fully off-grid, but still sends notifications and alerts to our phones.

Remember to plug your security setup into a UPS so that your security will continue if the power is cut. My whole system ran around $1,000 and I'm very happy with it.

NOTE - If you have vinyl siding, you can attach security cameras using cheap clips, meaning no drilling is required to mount them. This was a huge win for me.

 

[Lord of the Large Pants]

The system is fully off-grid, but still sends notifications and alerts to our phones.

Could you say a bit more about this? I've had a hard time finding something that can send proper push alerts that isn't spyware cloudshit.

 

[Scatty]

Could you say a bit more about this? I've had a hard time finding something that can send proper push alerts that isn't spyware cloudshit.

Apparently it's some sort of P2P system to handle the push notifications. I just tested my setup without internet (but with local wireless lan still alive), and I was able to use the mobile app to view and control my cameras, but I don't believe the notifications came when I tested detection. This leads me to believe they're using a special server to handle the alerts, but aren't sending the actual imagery to the cloud. It may be possible to point the NVR to a special offline server to generate the push? I'll have to look into that later.

I'm not too worried about privacy since it doesn't seem like the video is being sent anywhere (the detection is handled on the cameras themselves), but it would be good to have mobile alerts if the internet goes offline for long periods of time.

 

[Lord of the Large Pants]

Apparently it's some sort of P2P system to handle the push notifications. I just tested my setup without internet (but with local wireless lan still alive), and I was able to use the mobile app to view and control my cameras, but I don't believe the notifications came when I tested detection. This leads me to believe they're using a special server to handle the alerts, but aren't sending the actual imagery to the cloud. It may be possible to point the NVR to a special offline server to generate the push? I'll have to look into that later.

I'm not too worried about privacy since it doesn't seem like the video is being sent anywhere (the detection is handled on the cameras themselves), but it would be good to have mobile alerts if the internet goes offline for long periods of time.

What NVR (or whatever) are you using that does this?

 

[Scatty]

What NVR (or whatever) are you using that does this?

It's this one: https://reolink.com/product/rln8-410/
It has inputs on the back for ethernet internet connection and 8 POE camera slots. There are bigger units available, but I only need 4 cameras. It has a standard hard drive inside, a usb port for a mouse, and hdmi out in case you want a security monitor like I have.
The NVR records, provides power to the cameras, provides a monitoring interface, allows you to adjust camera settings, and handles pinging the servers to send the push notifications. To the best of my knowledge, the cameras themselves have onboard chips that handle object identification, remembering their settings, and even recording to an SD card in the camera itself (optional). The NVR is an interface to the cameras that records and sends the push notifications.

 

[hog cranking frog]

Home Assistant will provide good push notifications to an app if you take the time to setup all that manually. That said I'm in the trade so getting it running in an operationally sound way in my home k8s cluster was easy. YMMV

 

[Scatty]

As opposed to making a new thread, I feel this thread may make sure to ask if anyone has advice on a good dash cam? Saw a clip today where the cop knew someone was in the right only because they had a dash cam and realized I may want one. Obviously meanwhile I would prefer to avoid anything that requires an app on your phone or anything else that's clearly simply tracking you.

Yeah I'm curious about that too. I don't really see any dash cams with clearly good reviews.

 

[Dean Pentel]

Thread bros that know, in your opinion, is it easier to get a system up and running by buying pre-built cameras (maybe even WiFi ones) or would it be worth the time and effort to buy the parts and assemble my own cameras/enclosures? As I said before, my primary considerations are reliability and ease of use.

 

[Lord of the Large Pants]

Thread bros that know, in your opinion, is it easier to get a system up and running by buying pre-built cameras (maybe even WiFi ones) or would it be worth the time and effort to buy the parts and assemble my own cameras/enclosures? As I said before, my primary considerations are reliability and ease of use.

I built my own out of a Pi at one point. Expensive and didn't even work very well. As long as you can get CAT5/6 and a PoE switch, Amcrest hardware is good enough for 90% of uses. The software is a bit suck though.

 

[Dean Pentel]

The software is a bit suck though.

Is there a better SW solution you can recommend? Even a tip on what features you think are good to consider I'd appreciate.