What home security camera setup do you use?

I use Zoneminder currently with ~$50 PoE cameras (I have an assortment based on what was on sale but most are 4K with audio). I block the MAC addresses of the cameras so they have no internet access at all. You could accomplish this also by putting them on their on VLAN that doesn't have access but I didn't have a good way to do that when I first set it up. My plan is to switch to a Reolink NVR in the near future so that my camera setup can be all-in-one instead of running in docker on my NAS.

Zoneminder can be a bit a of bear to deal with but I'll be forever grateful to it for helping me get my foot in the door seeing how I would not have bought a Reolink NVR without first proving how valuable a security camera system would be.

As with all my "Smart Home" stuff I want it all to run locally and I abhor smart wifi devices (Z-wave and Zigbee only). Zoneminder is ideal for this setup and the zmninja [1] desktop/mobile app is pretty decent as well. I run the desktop app 24/7 on a monitor above my main monitor and it's so nice to just glace up to see if there is a package, someone at the door, etc. I was never able to get ZM's detection working reliably enough (too many false positives) so I just record 24/7 and go back and check footage if needed (Older than 30 days or if the disk is low triggers a cleanup/delete).

[0] https://zoneminder.com/

[1] https://pliablepixels.github.io/

I use UniFi Protect but I wouldn’t recommend it.

It took me multiple days to figure out how to give another person in my house access to the doorbell camera because the UI isn’t great and in a constant state of flux. (https://community.ui.com/questions/Add-user-to-UniFi-Protect...)

Also, everything relies on enabling remote access to my UniFi router (a Dream Machine Pro) which I thought was something the on-premises UniFi stuff was supposed to help me get away from. Accounts have to be UniFi cloud accounts and not local ones. Protect is totally dependent on the UniFi cloud but they’re offloading the hardware costs onto you.

If you want plug-and-play and you're not averse to internet-enabled cameras, I use the Hive Indoor/Outdoor cameras and find them reliable, high quality and well-integrated in the app with push/email notifications and IFTTT. The fact they can tie into the home alarm system, smart lamps/plugs etc is a big win for me. Night vision works well over short distances.

I would say that it's worth trying to see some test video on whatever you go for before purchasing. I tried out a Ring Indoor Cam which is supposedly 1080p but only 15fps - it suffered from quite bad motion blur if you walked through a room at a good pace, as well as being visibly much lower bitrate than the Hive 1080p so I returned it.

Just in case it needs to be said, I use Nest, and do not recommend.

A similar question was asked last year on HN; Raspberry Pi seems to be the center of their DIY solutions:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22411717

I have setup 4 (with 5 more in boxes waiting to be setup) cheap Chinese PoE cameras using a Mac nvr app called SecuritySpy to record + provide real-time streaming to companion iOS app. Also offers secure access over https when we’re not home, notifications for detections etc.

I wouldn’t go anything other than PoE these days. The benefits of single cable + the ability to run a ups so the cameras don’t go dark during power outages is a winning combo.

I use blueiris for the recording and viewing (including their mobile apps), works really well. I have ~15 PoE cameras on it, adding a few more soon.

Camera's I use are all inexpensive sv3c camera's off Amazon and they have been great overall. The one exception is I do run a different brand of dome cameras. I run all the cameras on a separate lan that is isolated and can't communicate to anything but the blueiris box.

I roll my own. Cheapo PoE cameras, with a Ubiq PoE switch. Custom written app to display the RTSP streams on a web page. Only accessible over VPN and zero outbound internet access. I don't have anything doing motion detection or anything fancy, just 24/7 recording and live view playback.

I run Blueiris (https://blueirissoftware.com/). The beauty is you can run a mix of cameras, so I have decent Hikvision ones outside and whatever cheap PTZ I find at a good price inside.

Annke cameras to a Windows box running Blue Iris.

Blue Iris has a steep learning curve, but there's helpful YouTube videos. You can do anything with Blue Iris. The only bummer is that it requires Windows.

Netatmo outdoor cameras. Have been totally reliable since late 2018, can save videos to local NAS, work with HomeKit and do not need a subscription. Require wifi.

Unifi Protect https://unifi-network.ui.com/camera-security

What do you all use the security cameras for? Are burglaries common in your areas? I have a house alarm but never considered a security camera setup.

Synology with Dahua cameras.

https://ipcamtalk.com is the place to go for good info.

Was going to create my own in Python on a RPi because I don’t trust “the cloud” with access to a camera in my house

Anyone knows how feasible would be to hack one with a raspberry pi 4 and a logitech c920 something webcam?