*** Official Ubiquiti Discussion Thread ***
- Thread starter RoyMi6
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Yeah when I look at the quality of my neighbours 4k cameras as well, which he paid less than half the price for... well yeah its hard to justify.
No chinese spyware (ok you can and should vlan stuff off) is good, but the main reason I went unifi was the completely offline option, and no subscriptions.
I’ve got a G4 door bell and 4 G5 cameras (2 dome, 2 bullet) all running off a cloud key gen2+.
From my perspective the protect app is very good and has come a long way since I started with the door bell a few years ago. You also have local control via web browser.
For a plug and play setup that runs fully locally if needed, you’ll be hard pushed for better.
Do you actually need 4K cameras? The picture quality on the G5 is good enough for what is designed to do if the correct camera is selected.
Even the proper CCTV people recommend 5mp over 8mp cameras these days.
From my perspective the protect app is very good and has come a long way since I started with the door bell a few years ago. You also have local control via web browser.
For a plug and play setup that runs fully locally if needed, you’ll be hard pushed for better.
Do you actually need 4K cameras? The picture quality on the G5 is good enough for what is designed to do if the correct camera is selected.
Even the proper CCTV people recommend 5mp over 8mp cameras these days.
I'd agree, 4k is not really that necessary. UniFi cameras are not actually that expensive compared to the competition, and Protect has come along leaps and bounds. My mrs fathoms is out easy enough and she struggles with anything to do with technology.
Also the SE is expensive, yes, but it's not just an NVR. If you want an actual NVR, look at the UniFI NVR which at least has RAID.
One thing to bear in mind with UniFi Protect is that there is no native way to back up your recordings to anything really. You can use the RTSP streams to a NAS but then you may have to buy subsequent NAS camera licenses for more than a couple of cameras.
Also the SE is expensive, yes, but it's not just an NVR. If you want an actual NVR, look at the UniFI NVR which at least has RAID.
One thing to bear in mind with UniFi Protect is that there is no native way to back up your recordings to anything really. You can use the RTSP streams to a NAS but then you may have to buy subsequent NAS camera licenses for more than a couple of cameras.
If it’s a home/prosumer deployment, I can’t even fathom why you’d want or need to back up your recordings or even bother with redundant recordings.
Their main purpose is to act as a deterrent for opportunistic crime and getting recourse for accidents. As long as the quality is good enough, it’s fine and going further than good enough is a waste of cash. It’s also why you make cameras obvious and visible.
The actual crims know how to defeat CCTV and come equipped accordingly. A hat/hood/mask and false number plates are not exactly high tech equipment these days.
Their main purpose is to act as a deterrent for opportunistic crime and getting recourse for accidents. As long as the quality is good enough, it’s fine and going further than good enough is a waste of cash. It’s also why you make cameras obvious and visible.
The actual crims know how to defeat CCTV and come equipped accordingly. A hat/hood/mask and false number plates are not exactly high tech equipment these days.
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Perhaps the 4K is more of a want but not fussed about RAID/redundancy or backup, likely only going to have 2 or 3 cameras. A deterrent, coverage and ability to alert us whilst away will do nicely.
So a G5 Bullet or Dome then? I see the Dome says it's vandal resistant - how so? Leaning towards the Dome for the wide angle as it would be covering the whole front/off street parking.
Difference between a G4 and G5 Dome seems very minimal (SoC with the 4 having an older one but it's quad core and FPS).
So a G5 Bullet or Dome then? I see the Dome says it's vandal resistant - how so? Leaning towards the Dome for the wide angle as it would be covering the whole front/off street parking.
Difference between a G4 and G5 Dome seems very minimal (SoC with the 4 having an older one but it's quad core and FPS).
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I'm not impressed with the g5s night vision so far, but I wonder if I just need to tinker with the settings a bit or perhaps placement isn't great. It's ~5 metres from the door I'm trying to cover and it doesn't look that clear.
With a dome you will get more IR glow, think someone posted some comparison screenshots in the last page or so.
Only if the sensor sizes means the 8mp has in effect less size per pixel as this effects quality and especially low light use. I've posted about sensor size on the CCTV thread and I always factor that in when choosing cameras.
This means I don't use Ubiquiti cameras/system, but have a system mostly using one of the better Hikvision ranges and in that range the sensor sizes scales with resolution and on the range I use the 4K/8MP is in fact better than the 4 and 6MP versions. When I last looked Ubiquiti (as I use their APs and switches) they didn't always seem to list sensor size and those that did weren't up to what I would want and the price was very high for lower quality than Dahua and Hikvision costing a lot less.
Using dome models outside will also greatly impact quality (IR glow, rain, dirt) as turrets/bullets are best suited externally. Even the bullet Ubiquiti units have low IR power which really shows in some of the screenshots.
That was me, I’ve taken them down already though.
Yes - the picture from the bullets is better at night because of the IR glow.
What you couldn’t tell from the images is that there are 3 PIR security lights on the front of the garage and the IR range is not that relevant when they are triggered.
I’d be putting up security lights before buggering around with cameras if night time is the priority.
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The bullet is directly wall mountable, the dome will need a bracket if it’s going on a wall.
The domes have plastic caps that cover the camera which are replaceable should someone decide to attack the camera. That said, they do just twist off so it’s not exactly a perfect solution.
I would do some measuring and work out if you actually need the wider angle, if you don’t, go for the bullet as it’s more flexible and gives a better image. It’s also itself pretty wide.
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For most cases, an AC Lite will more than suffice. Easy to buy them used too. If buying new, it makes sense to go for a U6 Lite. As mentioned previously, if one AP doesn't provide the required coverage, then easy enough to add in a second.
Great thanks was thinking I’d go new as the chances are it’s going to be in my house for so long the investment will be worth it. Just need to add a POE switch now as it will be much easier than using injectors near the devices. I was looking at something like the TP-Link TL-SG108PE seems like it will do the job and will probably cover all the connections I need 99% of our stuff is wireless hence investing in that and just running cables to a couple of key positions (home office and TV locations)
Morning all, this has been broken since May time but not had the time or patience to sit down and fix it, some of the APs are in my loft space and would require me to crawl around up there but I really need to sort this now, I have auto configuration backups set so plenty of those to go back to April time, what’s the best steps please gents?
Ubiquiti Networks UC-CK Stand-Alone UniFi Cloud Key Controller - White
it’s showing as “offline” ?
Ah, have you tried to fix it? If it's the gen 1 I think they have SD card corruption issues or similar.
Either fix the device, or replace it. If you replace it, you can restore from your backup.
I’m not 100% sure it is fsilty? Maybe a firmware upgrade broke it? I’ve tried rebooting it, I did tried a backup restore but maybe I didn’t stop the service that I read about? the very last thing I want is to be crawling round the loft space with the heat we’ve had recently
Good point! So can I factory reset the device and upload a good configuration file? Would that mean the 4 x APLRs will be able to connect again? The wifi is working fine, it’s just the whole UniFi system is broke