Ask Slashdot: What Are the Best Locally-Hosted Wireless Security Cameras? 45
Longtime Slashdot reader Randseed writes: With the likes of Google Nest, Ring, and others cooperating with law enforcement, I started to look for affordable wireless IP security cameras that I can put around my house. Unfortunately, it looks like almost every thing now incorporates some kind of cloud-based slop. All I really want is to put up some cameras, hook them up to my LAN, and install something like ZoneMinder. What are the most economical, wireless IP security cameras that I can set up with my server?
WiFi cameras are not recommended (Score:3)
Check out the Frigate hardware recommendations: https://docs.frigate.video/fri... [docs.frigate.video]
For those who don't want to click through it says "WiFi cameras are not recommended as their streams are less reliable and cause connection loss and/or lost video data, especially when more than a few WiFi cameras will be used at the same time." and they link to a discussion about it here https://ipcamtalk.com/threads/... [ipcamtalk.com]
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Are you using an external detector with your setup?
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Re: WiFi cameras are not recommended (Score:4, Informative)
For the quick version of why you donâ(TM)t want WiFi security cameras - itâ(TM)s a very common approach already for burglars to use to fire up a WiFi jammer as they go in. You end up with your security cameras dropping out exactly when you need them.
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Research specs carefully first. (Score:3)
I've previously used Amcrest and Uniview wifi cameras with decent results. Hikvision and Lorex/Dahua are good bets too. All of these are Chinese and some are various levels of banned in Western countries. If you run your own NVR/analysis software and manage your own remote access this may not matter to you.
I have mostly Hikvision POE cameras. You can get them at good prices because of the ban. I keep them on a dedicated vlan with no internet access except for the NVR. I'm also currently replacing my EOL Windows box with Zoneminder myself and am very happy with it so far. Have fun!
ReoLink (Score:3, Insightful)
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your experience was better than mine it seems. the false positives on our reolink setup just resulted in a crushing avalanche of garbage. no matter what the sensitivity was set to, or trying to massage the capture area seemed to help.
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Reolink here too. They support open protocols and work locally with no internet access. Picture quality is decent. You can record to your own server, or fit an SD card, or both.
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get poe ones adn just need 1 wire no battrys at (Score:2)
get poe ones and just need 1 wire no battery at each Camera.
Lorex at least the older ones work (don't use their shit dvr) with ZoneMinder
downgraded TP Link/Tapo (Score:1)
Re: downgraded TP Link/Tapo (Score:1)
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Seconded on the Tapo line. I got a Tapo C120 earlier this year and they are surprisingly cheap (currently $28 at B&H) and fairly easy to work with. I found that I needed to initially connect it to their cloud service to get their app working with it, but once that worked, I removed its ability to phone home by blocking the MAC address from the internet on my router. I can still connect to it with RTSP and stream with VLC, replay video with their app, etc. with no need for internet connectivity. Just be
Honest question (Score:2)
Why is "cooperating with law enforcement" a problem? Isn't the whole point of putting up a security camera so you can give evidence to the cops if someone is messing with your property?
Realistically, if you're doing anything illegal (now I'm imagining security cameras for your cocaine factory) it's probably not a good idea to be documenting it with your own cameras, regardless of whether they're connected to the cloud.
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Re:Honest question (Score:5, Insightful)
It's more that they can legally get the footage without your explicit permission and then use it as a fishing expedition to implicate you in all sorts of other stuff. Obviously, if someone is committing property crime against me or my neighbors, is breaking into houses, or anything like that, I'd turn over the footage. I just object to them sidestepping the Fourth Amendment.
Re:Honest question (Score:5)
Why is "cooperating with law enforcement" a problem? Isn't the whole point of putting up a security camera so you can give evidence to the cops if someone is messing with your property?
I prefer to cooperate voluntarily than have everything done opaquely behind my back, just as a matter of principle. That anyone can access your footage beside you and do so without your knowledge is a basic security failure to begin with.
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The key here is so that I can give evidence. I don't want 3rd parties providing my data without my explicit consent and I want to personally be served by a warrant and not find out 3rd hand.
My data under my control.
Re: Honest question (Score:2)
You are hinting at the nothing to hide position which states that law enforcement should be an all knowing panopticon because the honest have nothing to hide. But given the rise of authoritarianism worldwide, you need to be more vigilant than ever to prevent government from surveilling you.
https://youtu.be/3e62270w7LI [youtu.be]
Re: Honest question (Score:2)
You should never provide any information to law enforcement without legal council. It doesn't matter if you don't see how it can be used against you. People have gone to prison just for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Unless you called the police, they should be treated as potential adversaries.
You said "cheap" and "Wifi", but... (Score:3)
So this isn't at all what you asked for, but I'm going to throw it out there anyway: Ubiquiti. You'll pay more and they're all PoE rather than wireless, but if you spend the money and run the wires (hey, you have to run a wire for power anyway, might as well use it for data, too) you won't regret the results.
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So this isn't at all what you asked for, but I'm going to throw it out there anyway: Ubiquiti. You'll pay more and they're all PoE rather than wireless, but if you spend the money and run the wires (hey, you have to run a wire for power anyway, might as well use it for data, too) you won't regret the results.
Axis and Avigilon if $ is no object.
Law enforcement (Score:1)
I would cooperate with law enforcement if they're investigating serious (violent) crime. All stupid "omg, privacy" excuses are pathetic. If it was your family member that would be victimized you'll be angry at everyone who didn't help.
The choice should be yours Re:Law enforcement (Score:3)
>I would cooperate with law enforcement if they're investigating serious (violent) crime.
The choice to cooperate or not should be yours, not the camera vendor's.
Re: Law enforcement (Score:2)
Talk to your lawyer and see what they think of this idea.
Your Data - That's where the money is (Score:3)
It;s getting harder and harder to find any camera which doesn't attempt to connect to the cloud in some form or another.
They want to monetize your data.
You'll have more luck going with wired cameras as these tend to have more features.
Interoperability of security cameras is also a mess, and will probably never be truly standardized. There's just too much business [profit] pressure to keep things different between vendors for vendor lock-in purposes.
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They want to monetize your data.
Ring is owned by Amazon, and they never sell customer data, ever. Nest on the other hand is an Alphabet company, and that's their entire business model.
Decent quality security cameras like Axis, Pelco, Bosch, GE, and the like, will always follow standards because they're designed to be installed in a wide variety of professional installations. Yeah, they cost more than $20.
Axis or Pelco (Score:2)
Speaking with 16 years of experience in the physical security industry I've only seen two manufacturers who really understand that security cameras should actually be secure, Axis and Pelco. Yes, they cost an arm and a leg, but this is one case where you really do get what you pay for. Neither one has much of a selection of wireless cameras, but for security you really should wire them in anyway and both have a large selection of POE cameras.
One thing that is generally left out of amateur installs is to s
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Does the Pelco brand still exist?
eBay (Score:2)
Just search for "Axis Network Dome Camera" on eBay. There's tons of cheap IP cameras for sale there that'll do exactly what you need them to do, no cloud necessary.
+1 for Reolink (Score:2)
I was using Blue Iris for monitoring, am now using Synology, both work fine.
Relatively inexpensive cameras, but much better image quality than the more-expensive Hikvision cameras that they replaced. Their Duo camera is nice for a 180 view.
All but one of mine are wired, but the one on wifi works as well as the others.
They have a simple Windows app, which I use on my laptop when I'm at home.
Away from home I use Synology's phone app, but I'm sure there are other options, they're just standard onvif cameras.
What about Aqara? (Score:2)
They would like to sell you a cloud storage subscription, but they do give you the option to use local physical storage (or iCloud) instead.
One word - ONVIF (Score:2)
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Look for ONVIF support in the specs. No ONVIF, then ignore it and keep looking. ONVIF doesn't guarantee things will be great but the lack of it is a huge warning flag.
In my experience ONVIF is most useful for cameras that also support PTZ and/or 2-way audio. If you don't need/have those features RTSP support is probably sufficient.
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eufy (Score:2)
eufy is the way to go for that. I'll say this upfront, I was given several of their cameras for free. But they've turned out to be nice.
While they do have a cloud service, you don't need to use it (I don't). With their basestation, not only is the battery life better, but I have an external hard drive connected to it, which records events locally.
The cameras are cheap and they've been reliable (haven't had any issues with the 6 of them in 6+ months). Have only needed to charge one of them so far, though it
This is a tough one (Score:2)
I've been using Wyze cameras and the Wyze Bridge (https://github.com/mrlt8/docker-wyze-bridge) in a container to stream standards-based traffic to NVR software. Sadly, the project appears to be abandoned and Wyze instituted some changes that made it difficult to use if the cameras weren't all on the same network as the container. There are forks but I've yet to try them and would appreciate feedback from others. Wyze reps claimed (on Reddit) that the change that broke things was a "back-end issue" and that
Also, use 5 (or 6) Ghz (Score:2)
ZoneMinder Dev Here (Score:1)
I enjoy TP-Link Tapo cameras. They are onvif compliant (mostly) and actually put out firmware updates.
HIkVIsion clones are great.
Amcrest are the only manufacturer that has actually sent cameras to us to support.
Reolink work well.
We have recently begun crowd sourcing a camera database so you can see what others are using successfully. https://cloud.zoneminder.com/c... [zoneminder.com]
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Ubiquiti are actually ok too.. I think once put in rtsp mode you can't use them with the Ubiquiti dvr but that's ok.
ReoLink (Score:1)
I've tested many of the PoE and WiFi models and they all work well with an internal Micro-SD card and ReoLink's RLN36 NVR (Network Video Recorder), with on-device human/animal/vehicle detection. I don't care for the battery-powered or solar-powered models because of the power drop-outs and they don't survive cold weather well. I love ReoLink for its "Cost-to-Value" ratio, which is much more affordable and reliable than the Amcrest, HIKVision, and Rando-Brand Chineseum variants that cost $400-800 or more p
I rolled my own (Score:2)
I use a Raspberry Pi 4 running motion [github.io] and this USB camera [webcamerausb.com]. The camera uses visible light when there's enough light and switches to IR automatically when there isn't.
This setup also lets me use wired Ethernet (though you could still use WiFi if you prefer that route.) I have a post-motion-detection script that automatically copies the footage to an off-site server so even if a burglar destroys my pi4, the pictures are safely preserved.
Wifi is not actually optimal (Score:1)
ZoneMinder Dev Here...
Someone in my neighborhood has either an old cordless phone or microwave that totally kills all 2.4GHz wifi. I live in the middle of nowhere.
Most cams don't have 5GHz.
So if at all possible, go wired. POE is great.