Best cameras that can connect to a home lab? - eviltoast

I’m looking for security cameras that will integrate with my home server and nas. I want ones that record to my nas without some BS subscription service, and ideally run FOSS server logic I can deploy on my server. I’ve got one camera now that sorta does what I want, except the software isn’t FOSS and I’ve been unable to add the features that are missing.

My ideal requirements are:

  • Good camera quality
  • Direct powered (no battery)
  • Connects via wifi to my network
  • Records to remote nas (no cloud “subscription” requirement)
  • Highly configurable via FOSS software
  • Monitoring software runs on server with local web access
  • QOL features like 2-way audio, audio recording, motion sensing, night vision, etc.

Does anyone have suggestions that meat what I’m looking for or close?

  • infinitevalence@discuss.onlineEnglish
    9·
    1 year ago
    1. this is a huge topic, I find Reolink a good balance of cost/performance but their ONVIF support is not great. You will need to research each individual camera to see if it will work. Otherwise AXIS/BOSH, or get Chinese cameras and make sure they dont have a way to call home. If you go Chinese Dahua and Hikvision.
    2. Get POE cameras!
    3. NO wifi, WIFI is crap for cameras as they need a constant stream of video to be recorded. If they only write a file when triggered it means you will miss lots of events. Most NVR software, even FOSS records constantly but overwrites files until an event is triggered and then it locks the previous 10 seconds until the event ends.
    4. Any non “consumer” solution should record to local storage. Consumer solution like Ring/Arlo are all built around subscriptions.
    5. Frigate/Shinobi are decent NVR FOSS solutions, and any ONVIF compatible camera should work fine with FOSS.
    6. again Frigate/Shinobi, and I think frigate even has HASS integration.
    7. most good quality professional cameras have built in tracking, detection, and other neat tools. But in addition Frigate has more features you can apply on top of the built in ones. 2 way audio IDK about never looked into it.
    • d_ohlin@lemmy.world
      3·
      1 year ago

      These are all pretty good suggestions…a few points I’d add based solely on my personal experiences:

      • A lot of Amcrest’s cameras are pretty solid for the price too. I’ve recently ordered some rebadged Dahuas from empire tech and haven’t used them a ton but so far I’m thinking I’ll really like them.
      • Check out night color cameras. They’re not as “discreet” potentially as they generate their own visible light if it’s pitch black out, but to me that’s actually another security benefit…and the night time performance can be amazing.
      • Blue Iris is another pretty great piece of software. Super cheap for what it offers, and while it’s a little more resource heavy being a full fledged NVR, you can pair it with things like Codeproject.ai and get some amazing results.
      • Double down on getting rid of wifi, if at all possible, and through any and every means possible. I too was initially pretty set on the convenience of wifi, but mixing wifi and cameras just never ends up in a great experience from everything I’ve ever had experience with. The absolute best I’ve ever seen is just “ok”, and usually it’s substantially worse.

      Good luck!!

    • DarkBug@lemmy.oneEnglish
      2·
      1 year ago

      I just ran into a problem with the cheaper reolink cameras. I didn’t realize that some don’t support rtsp or ONVIF. I was able to solve this with a github project neolink: https://github.com/QuantumEntangledAndy/neolink In less than 10min I was able to install neolink and get my $30 reolink camera working with my NVR.