I enjoy having cameras on my house to see what’s going on in the neighborhood. It has come in handy at least once when my neighbor’s truck was stolen in broad daylight.
They are ring cameras because two were installed already when I moved in. What should I switch to? I just really want motion alerts and proof when something bad happens.
That might be some wishful thinking. I tried getting some Reolink cameras a neighbor decided to buy on his own, to work with Blue Iris the other day, there was no way to configure them without installing their shitty app. All they have to do is just like every other not-shitty camera, enable DHCP, RTSP and ONVIF by default and then fuck off. But that’s not happening.
I told him to send them back, I wasn’t going to deal with them.
Initial setup with Reolink is hit or miss. You’re right that those settings are off by default, which sucks. The better cameras host their own WebUI with which you can login and make changes with no app required, but the cheaper ones cut that corner and need the app. With that said, yes it is an initial hoop you might have to jump through, but once done and isolated you’ll never have to deal with it again. It’s a worthy trade off for the affordability and featureset IMO, but of course it could always be better.
NVR = Network Video Recorder. It’s the box that has the hard drive(s) to record all the video streams coming in from the cameras over WiFi or Ethernet.
In Estonia it’s legal to have it film the public ground if you have signs making it clear
On the one hand it’s useful to have cameras that show the street. On the other hand, when you post signage like that it kinda says “I have shit worth guarding”
Unifi Ubiquiti products are one of the best option for completely local data hosting and camera services with really good “ai” detections all run locally, but they aren’t that cheap and you’ll need to buy one of their Unifi protect capable routers to get started, which is gonna be like $300 by itself.
Edit: Looks like they have a standalone recorder with a 3.5 inch drive bay but it’s still $200, and also most of their cameras are Ethernet. They do have a couple wireless options but not many.
Ethernet is the standard for security cameras anyway. It’s a higher quality feed which is important for indisputable evidence in a court of law. Just about every Wifi camera is either seriously lacking in resolution, frame rate, or both. Wifi cameras are also stupidly easy to jam with like $10 worth of equipment and minimal knowledge…
I enjoy having cameras on my house to see what’s going on in the neighborhood. It has come in handy at least once when my neighbor’s truck was stolen in broad daylight.
They are ring cameras because two were installed already when I moved in. What should I switch to? I just really want motion alerts and proof when something bad happens.
https://reolink.com/
Offers all the features Google/Amazon do, but without the subscriptions.
Plus they joined the open home foundation, so they’re unlikely to enshitify.
That might be some wishful thinking. I tried getting some Reolink cameras a neighbor decided to buy on his own, to work with Blue Iris the other day, there was no way to configure them without installing their shitty app. All they have to do is just like every other not-shitty camera, enable DHCP, RTSP and ONVIF by default and then fuck off. But that’s not happening.
I told him to send them back, I wasn’t going to deal with them.
Initial setup with Reolink is hit or miss. You’re right that those settings are off by default, which sucks. The better cameras host their own WebUI with which you can login and make changes with no app required, but the cheaper ones cut that corner and need the app. With that said, yes it is an initial hoop you might have to jump through, but once done and isolated you’ll never have to deal with it again. It’s a worthy trade off for the affordability and featureset IMO, but of course it could always be better.
I have a Reolink setup that’s entirely air-gapped. No app required, just configure everything through the NVR unit.
What is an NVR unit?
NVR = Network Video Recorder. It’s the box that has the hard drive(s) to record all the video streams coming in from the cameras over WiFi or Ethernet.
How is the legal situation in the US? Are you allowed to permanently film and record the public space?
In Germany, you have to limit the camera to your public ground, due to private reasons
In Estonia it’s legal to have it film the public ground if you have signs making it clear
On the one hand it’s useful to have cameras that show the street. On the other hand, when you post signage like that it kinda says “I have shit worth guarding”
Unifi Ubiquiti products are one of the best option for completely local data hosting and camera services with really good “ai” detections all run locally, but they aren’t that cheap and you’ll need to buy one of their Unifi protect capable routers to get started, which is gonna be like $300 by itself.
Edit: Looks like they have a standalone recorder with a 3.5 inch drive bay but it’s still $200, and also most of their cameras are Ethernet. They do have a couple wireless options but not many.
Ethernet is the standard for security cameras anyway. It’s a higher quality feed which is important for indisputable evidence in a court of law. Just about every Wifi camera is either seriously lacking in resolution, frame rate, or both. Wifi cameras are also stupidly easy to jam with like $10 worth of equipment and minimal knowledge…