Home security cameras and self hosted storage

Conan257

Conan257

Conan257

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Joined
8 Nov 2008
Posts
1,121
Location
Lincoln
So we're in the market for a couple of cameras. I'm looking for great value with decent resolution and have eyes on the 12mp reolink stuff at the moment.

Must have:

24/7 recording
Local (within home, not on device) storage
Access over the internet via wife-friendly setup
Possibility of number plate recognition from one of the cameras (range 6-10m from road. but I'm happy to not guarantee this for cost purposes)

I have an Unraid server and proxmox box (router etc), and would be happy hosting frigate as I could put a module in there for AI stuff.... But frigate isn't wife friendly in terms of an app, I don't believe, so I'm at either home assistant or a supplier NVR/Hub?

Happy to take any thoughts, but with reolink I'm at £270 for 2 cameras and a doorbell... I'll need any hub stuff and PPE injectors on top of that, but unfortunately it's £200 ish for their hub. Any other supplier feels like more cost for no more gain.
 

Spec me a CCTV System

What's a good CCTV system to go for, I need a couple of cameras outside the house with good IR coverage and up to 14 days storage capacity. I've seen systems from Securix, Swann and Storage Options and they all look pretty similar but range from around £150-£250. Would one of these be the...
forums.overclockers.co.uk forums.overclockers.co.uk

Huge thread, lots of active users/info etc.
 
Conan257 said:
I have an Unraid server and proxmox box (router etc), and would be happy hosting frigate as I could put a module in there for AI stuff.... But frigate isn't wife friendly in terms of an app, I don't believe, so I'm at either home assistant or a supplier NVR/Hub?
Click to expand...
To expand on my quick response earlier. If you’ve already got Unraid and Proxmox available to you then Frigate combined with Home Assistant is a great option. I run Frigate with a Coral accelerator on my Unraid box, with Home Assistant on my Proxmox box. Frigate has very good integration with Home Assistant. Frigate is used to handle all the recordings, detections, etc and HA can display them in a wife friendly way.

As an aside, HA can be as complex or as simple as you want it to be. It can be happily used just as a GUI for your Frigate cameras so don’t be put off my the complex setups you’ll see on your research
 
Bluecube said:
To expand on my quick response earlier. If you’ve already got Unraid and Proxmox available to you then Frigate combined with Home Assistant is a great option. I run Frigate with a Coral accelerator on my Unraid box, with Home Assistant on my Proxmox box. Frigate has very good integration with Home Assistant. Frigate is used to handle all the recordings, detections, etc and HA can display them in a wife friendly way.

As an aside, HA can be as complex or as simple as you want it to be. It can be happily used just as a GUI for your Frigate cameras so don’t be put off my the complex setups you’ll see on your research
Click to expand...
Nice one, my setup is the opposite of yours with HA on Unraid and Frigate intended to be on my proxmox box as it has a spare A+E socket for a coral card if I go that way.... Maybe I can set up a simple HA interface for her to view the cameras and ignore everything else (it's not doing a huge amount at the moment). Aside from the coral card that's a free option which I can start off with on day one till she hates me.....
 
Bluecube said:
The Frigate website that’s used to access camera streams and recordings isn’t too bad all these days. It’s had quite an update over the years and is much easier to use now
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I'm digging through their website now, but I'm assuming I'll need a dns to access frigate over the internet?
 
Conan257 said:
I'm digging through their website now, but I'm assuming I'll need a dns to access frigate over the internet?
Click to expand...
Yes. I use a Wireguard VPN. Your router may have that as an option.

I've just noticed you're thinking about Reolink cameras. In the pics I posted in the other NVR camera thread, the doorbell and the driveway videos are from Reolink cameras. Reolink is well supported by HA so you can display video feeds directly in HA without Frigate and also access recordings stored on the cameras SD cards if they have them. Accessing recordings isn't the smoothest of processes on HA and Frigate is preferable here.
 
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I have a feeling i'll be going down the "get the cameras and see whether I can make it work" route... I have openvpn setup already, but not a fan of having multiple interactions needed for the wife to view the live and recorded footage.... Can give it a go and see if she's content to go with it or spend another 200-300 to get their NVR
 
Conan257 said:
I have a feeling i'll be going down the "get the cameras and see whether I can make it work" route... I have openvpn setup already, but not a fan of having multiple interactions needed for the wife to view the live and recorded footage.... Can give it a go and see if she's content to go with it or spend another 200-300 to get their NVR
Click to expand...
Remember that VPN access is only needed if she's out and about. From a purely personal perspective, I rarely try to access my cameras outside my home network
 
ChrisD. said:
Sure, if you don’t value security. They’ve had more security issues than anyone should be comfortable with over the years.
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Only by those who expose their device instead of using a VPN server and that applies to any NAS or camera including Synology. I’m not defending Qnap’s failure to issue good advice and warnings but they have finally got their act together.
 
spile said:
Only by those who expose their device instead of using a VPN server and that applies to any NAS or camera including Synology. I’m not defending Qnap’s failure to issue good advice and warnings but they have finally got their act together.
Click to expand...
That doesn’t stop lateral movement within your network if another device is compromised. Stopping internet exposure does not negate threat. All it takes is someone unknowingly clicking one malicious link as an example, and it’s over.
 
Bluecube said:
Remember that VPN access is only needed if she's out and about. From a purely personal perspective, I rarely try to access my cameras outside my home network
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Surely being out is a prime example of when you want to check cameras?

If i'm using a door cam, i'm going to use it when I'm out and almost never want to look at it when i'm at home.....

Edit: Just seen that I can use Nabu Casa to access HA easily and I'm paying for that since I wasn't able to get HA setup to use google without it :(
 
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ChrisD. said:
Why pay a subscription for something when setting up a VPN to connect home is free on any half decent router, or inexpensive on a Pi?
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I suggested that but the fella has the subscription already. Plus it’s more wife friendly which is a major bonus. No need to clutter up pretty little heads with things like VPNs
 
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