Security Cameras

General Discussion
1

I live far from my home and have no immediate plans to return, but I want to keep an eye on the house and all My Stuff that’s in it. I would like to get some PoE IP cameras to record things on my FreeNAS system there…

Looking at camera, PoE switch, NVR software options melted my brain. There are far too many. I considered Ubiquiti for the ease of use, quality, and pretty equipment – but I’ve always preferred to suffer up front to save some dollars.

Wants:

  • Full, high def coverage of the perimeter of my home. 1080p minimum
  • Privacy screening to ‘censor’ neighbors homes that might be in view
  • Quality, day or night. Colorized night video preferred, but IR is fine (whichever is clearer)
  • Modern codecs, h.265 preferred
  • PoE, weather resistant
  • Quality motion detection
  • AI blockchain nanotechnology object detection would be nice
  • Home Assistant integration would be nice, so I can get notifications on my smartphone about movement
  • NVR software that is either free or a one-time purchase, and supported on Linsux as a VM or container, and I can depend on to not miss something important
  • Either a mobile app, or web app, or both.

Brands I’m considering:

  • ReoLink
  • HikVision
  • Dahua

Any advice on switches, cameras, and software?

2

So far, I can only endorse BlueIris for all the above, which runs on Windows. Put it on a NUC running windows and every feature you’re after can be implmented, especially if you buy a inexpensive Coral tensor unit. It will take a while to set up, like all NVR solutions that do not use dedicated hardware.

I have found frigate a nightmare to set up. It’ll function normally until it inexplicably decides its previously good config file is evil and stops working.

In my experience, branded NVRs are super easy to set up but harder to interface with a NAS. Do not expect super AI on the less expensive models and always buy a more capable NVR than the channels you want to get recorded - so a 8-outlet model for a 4-camera system if the resolution / FPS / etc. is supposed to be high.