I bought a house, and need some security cameras (probably 4 for each side of the house), but internet here is over a mobile network, with monthly limit of 600 GB, and no better options any time soon. So the cameras must not depend on cloud (which most stuff seems to do).
My father did have a camera to monitor his 3D printer many years back, but it was using cloud for free (like 3 days or so of video history), until one day, it was no longer free, and camera stopped working….
If it would happen today, I would probably open the camera, and checked, if it runs Linux, that I can replace, but back then I did not care enough about his camera, he got in some crazy Chinese sale.
So apart from traffic concern I want to own the security infrastructure myself.
I will have a PC with enough storage there, so saving locally is not an issue.
So I am looking for both camera HW (can be partially DIY, but must be something for outside), and software to handle “alerts”.
I will probably make an VPN, to always be in local network on my phone.
Interesting, that on tp-link website, there is no mention of them, seems like they are completely separated sub division with own website. (At least for Czech Republic)
So TP-Link VIGI NVR1004H-4P + 4x TP-Link VIGI C240(2.8mm) seems like a good combination?
Or maybe TP-Link VIGI C340 (2.8mm), or TP-Link VIGI C440(2.8mm)? Can not really find many differences between them.
4 Mpx and 2.8mm lens looks like good combination of resolution, and viewing angle, if I would put it on the corners of the house.
But I have really no idea, tell me if that looks like a good choice.
They use cheap Chinese cameras with a common chipset and then you flash the open source Thingino firmware on them. The firmware itself offers recording, remote viewing over a HTTP/HTTPS webinterface and a few other features. It also offers ONVIF so you can stream to any open source recording/surveillance software.
A note though, some of the cameras can be flashed easily with a modified SDCard and other need a hardware flash with opening the camera up and using a external flash hardware. Do your research and some reading before you buy anything to do this.
By clicking on maybe 30 of 166 supported not a single one of them did have Ethernet, which I would significantly prefer over WiFi, and there was not much spec…
So from these 2 options I am more inclined to choose Vigi (by TP-Link).
Well i guess the price depends on your location. But most of their cameras are 4k or higher so they are priced higher. But they focus on budget 4k cameras. I don’t know of any Reolink cloud features but local storage is one of their selling points. So any cloud features are optional.
I believe Reolink has better wireless and cellular camera’s. Which isn’t what you are looking for. But other than that their offering appear to be similar.
The C240 is for wall or ceiling mounting. Has 1 way audio.
The C340 is for wall mounting. Has a strobe light and siren and 2 way audio.
The C440 is for overhang mounting/ceiling mounting. Has a strobe light and siren and 2 way audio. Semi-outdoor not as waterproof.
I believe the C340 and C440 offer more advanced smart detection features and better colored night vision. Compared to the C240.
I use Amcrest cameras and Frigate. 30+ of them. I have a bunch of different models of the cameras over the years, but the latest model I use is the “Amcrest UltraHD 4K (8MP) IP PoE AI Camera”. About $100 USD on Amazon. Great night vision and even have audio. No cloud required at any point. I don’t use any of the AI features of the cameras as Frigate does that. But you can have them just save the video to an local FTP server/NAS for local storage and send an email on alerts.
I have two Amcrest IP8M-2796EW-AI, two IP8M-TD2685EW-AI, and a Reolink PoE Doorbell camera.
They are all connected to a Cisco POE CBS350 8 port switch and that feeds into a Synology DVA1622, which is loaded with two Seagate ST10000VE001-3BX101drives.
I have it configured to capture at maximum resolution and store 30 days of recordings per camera.
I have vlan and firewall configurations keeping everything but the UI from the Synology device restricted.
I’ve found that I don’t use all of the features that the IP8M-TD2685EW-AI has, but I don’t have any complaints about image quality or reliability for the Amcrest cameras.
The Synology DVA1622 also does everything I need it to do. They are designed so they can be ran air gapped. You can download updates locally then move them over to the device through the UI or via USB.
The Reolink Doorbell camera picture quality is good but it does on occasion drop signal and then I have to power cycle it.
I have been running this setup for about 4 years.
I love my IP8M-2796EW-AI for the image quality and features, but out of 10 in service, I have had 2 of them fail. Just stop responding. It’s the highest failure rate in the fleet.
Install tip. Don’t screw the camera directly into the building. Mount a single or double gang outdoor box on the outside of the structure, then get a flat blank cover and mount the camera to the cover, then screw the cover to the box. This keeps the electrical connections outside in the box (no crawling around in an attic to disconnect stuff) and if the camera is replaced and it has a new screw pattern, the box cover can be replaced. No new screw holes in the building.
I can replace anyone of my cameras in less then 5 minutes, and I need to climb the ladder once.
UniFi records all locally, and you can either use local only accounts (no cloud) or enable cloud access so that you can still get notifications and things when away but all video is still done locally and so it wont take a lot of your bandwidth unless you are actively watching a video stream remotely.
I would get a UNVR Pro as their NVRs start getting a bit laggy after you pass 50% camera capacity. Or a UNVR G2 if you want to add some AI natual language searching for footage.
And you get stick with G5 Turret Ultra and G5 bullet cameras which have nice picture and are relatively cheap cameras, or step up to G6 Turrets if you want higher resolution and AI facial detection for your alerts. You may want to use a single G6 in certain areas like a driveway, near the front door, near the back door to make use of facial recognition alerts (so and so is home, etc) and then G5 Turret Ultras everywhere else to save money.
I’ve been pretty happy with the Amcrest hardware, software is not the best, but frankly you should be running frigate anyway so it doesn’t matter as long as it supports RTSP.
Do I actually need (something like) VIGI NVR1004H-4P?
Or just PoE switch, and frigate will take care of everything else? (I think this is the right answer, but just want to be sure, before I start ordering.)
For cameras, is it good, or stupid idea, to order 4 different cameras?
My plan is to have each side be in view from 2 corners, so it will not be catastrophic, if one of them will have worse image…
My reasoning, I am not sure, which one would be best for my use case, and having options seems good, and they will likely still be useful at least for some angle, and maybe I will end up with more than 4 in the end.
