No one has mentioned Frigate. It has taken the "homelab"/selfhosted world by storm & utterly dominates. Open source, works great, & by far some of the most sophisticated detection/triggering schemes one can acquire, period. https://frigate.video/
I have two Hanwha units I never got around to using at my last place. H.265 IP streaming out. Onvif is the main standard everyone seems to use for streaming out.
From a DIY relatively easy perspective most NAS box (Synology & QNAP) come with "Surveillance Station" type software that handles network cameras and ring buffer storage of footage with addons for { motion detection | face recognition | alerts ( SMS | text | email ) | etc. }
The consumer boxes typically have something like Two Cameras Free (flat rate one time fee for each extra camera ($50 each for Synology)).
I believe (but haven't recently checked) that FreeNAS | TrueNAS setup's likely come with open source camera software .. YMMV.
The NAS advantage is you can have a single central home NAS box doing home storage and camera footage storage - disadvantage (of single box) is having camera footage "seized" by police or intruders in event of incident, yada yada ya.
I should know more but I still use software I wrote years back for handling images & footage from exploration geophysics craft ( cars | boats | airframes ) because "it was sitting about and worked".
Reolink is fairly inexpensive but their apps are pretty lacking.
Unifi Protect is my go-to because of usability but does (somewhat) rely on their SSO cloud login. All stored locally though on purchased NVRs and their app is soooo much better than Reolink's.
Reolink outside camera’s are too cheaply build. I have several and most have been replaced within a year. I am looking for alternatives that are built better.
Depends on how much you want to spend, though some low price units often hit well above their weight, it seems.
It also depends where you stand ethically - for example, Hikvision often makes great stuff, but they also literally built a camera with an AI built-in that identifies Uyghur people and triggers an alarm if it does.
The Hook Up does reviews heavily focused on image quality, and setup/installation, both physically and network/software wise. He often covers a wide range of price points instead of just focusing on cheap stuff or expensive stuff, and does image tests in daylight, nighttime, stationary, moving, license plate and person, etc. Even does edge-of-the-lens tests to find cameras that have crappy lenses.
The current 'hotness' would be low-light color cameras; sensors have gotten good enough that some ambient light will do, and the color helps with IDing people's clothing, and cars. Potentially license plates, too.
jauntywundrkind|1 year ago
I have two Hanwha units I never got around to using at my last place. H.265 IP streaming out. Onvif is the main standard everyone seems to use for streaming out.
defrost|1 year ago
The consumer boxes typically have something like Two Cameras Free (flat rate one time fee for each extra camera ($50 each for Synology)).
I believe (but haven't recently checked) that FreeNAS | TrueNAS setup's likely come with open source camera software .. YMMV.
eg: (first hit) https://dongknows.com/synology-surveillance-station-review/
The NAS advantage is you can have a single central home NAS box doing home storage and camera footage storage - disadvantage (of single box) is having camera footage "seized" by police or intruders in event of incident, yada yada ya.
I should know more but I still use software I wrote years back for handling images & footage from exploration geophysics craft ( cars | boats | airframes ) because "it was sitting about and worked".
darknavi|1 year ago
Unifi Protect is my go-to because of usability but does (somewhat) rely on their SSO cloud login. All stored locally though on purchased NVRs and their app is soooo much better than Reolink's.
Gys|1 year ago
egberts1|1 year ago
para_parolu|1 year ago
KennyBlanken|1 year ago
It also depends where you stand ethically - for example, Hikvision often makes great stuff, but they also literally built a camera with an AI built-in that identifies Uyghur people and triggers an alarm if it does.
The Hook Up does reviews heavily focused on image quality, and setup/installation, both physically and network/software wise. He often covers a wide range of price points instead of just focusing on cheap stuff or expensive stuff, and does image tests in daylight, nighttime, stationary, moving, license plate and person, etc. Even does edge-of-the-lens tests to find cameras that have crappy lenses.
The current 'hotness' would be low-light color cameras; sensors have gotten good enough that some ambient light will do, and the color helps with IDing people's clothing, and cars. Potentially license plates, too.
Most current review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3G_2zVu3cU
He's also done probably one of the most technically competent reviews of LED light bulbs I've seen in ages.