Hey all,
TLDR;
I have a stupid problem, I’m interested in seeing what other options are out there worth exploring in the NVR space. Is Frigate the best answer?
Long form;
It’s 2024, and I swear-to-god all the good, free NVR options are bolted onto software that was written in 2004. I managed about 100 Milestone servers at my last job, and a half dozen Genetec servers at the one before that. I’m very, painfully familiar with the exciting adventures of enterprise-scale security systems.
I don’t enjoy going through that pain at my house. UniFi NVR has been a god-send. I love the app, I get Homekit Video with Homebridge and everything works wonderfully. But I HATE that the cameras are marked up so much versus buying Hikvision or Amcrest. I shouldn’t have to pay $199 for a camera that’s got the same sensor as a $69 Amcrest. If I wanted to get robbed, I’d buy Axis, not Ubiquiti.
As far as I am aware, there is no way to integrate 3rd-party cameras into UniFi NVR… which is fine and isn’t surprising.
Those gripes aside, my in laws have a problem. About 2 years ago I built out a security system for them for Christmas. I bought all of the stuff, cabled, mounted 8 cameras, did all the software work, etc. For budgetary reasons, I got BlueIris going on an old HP Laptop with an old HP POE switch.
BlueIris’s IOS App looks like it was written when the iPhone 3G was still popular, the switch just died, and I’m planning on replacing that laptop.
Ideally, I plan to use TailScale to connect whatever I put there (a RasPi probably?) back to my network so I have more compute power to do all the fancy schmancy new AI face detection stuff. I have the compute. I think my two generations removed old Ryzen 3700x and GTX 1650 Super, plus maybe a PCI-E Coral when I can get one. But I’m not keeping the equipment on site with them, and will probably use it to run a few other sites as well, my house, and some other family members.
Doing it this way does present some challenges though, if I rely on Homekit/Homebridge I’m going to have to figure out a way to do L2/multicast over the VPN tunnel which may require a bit of finesse that I don’t really want to spend time on if I can avoid it.
CAPWAP over the internet?? LOLI’ll figure out the plumbing, I just need to figure out the software for the NVR side.
Home Assistant may help integrate name-your-NVR into a good mobile experience. It just seems wasteful to deploy Home Assistant JUST for something like Frigate (it does not have an IOS mobile app).
Am I the only one?