Home security POE camera system?

[PearlWhiteGT]

Few people I know have Lorex cameras and the picture quality is great. I plan on getting some soon for my house.

[Samson]

Thanks for the info, Rob. Dream Machine specs say the same about temps. Local networking shop says they have lots of them running in spray foam attics with no issues.

I ran Blue Iris on a Dell 9020 i5 SFF in my uninsulated attic for 3 years, no problems, just keep it dusted every 6 months.

If you are staying with 8 cameras, Milestone has a free product for up to 8 cameras, see here It is a much better product than Blue Iris, but the price reflects that. I manage Milestone with 450 cameras at work, and run Blue Iris at home. If you have any application specific questions, post them up.

[Shane]

Señor Shane how do you like/rate the Dream machine SE? Curious about what your thoughts are on the ubiquity cameras? Obviously price point would be a huge consideration for everyone. Curious if you are seeing better price points in the other systems you mentioned? I am in the process of researching security/surveillance camera systems myself.

They just put the Dream Machine in our new house that isn't quite finished. Right now, all it's running is 4 access points on the wifi network. That is working fine.

I have a buddy who is in the access/control business. He like Ubiquiti for network stuff, but he likes other camera systems better than Unifi. Prices and camera features are fairly similar between the brands I'm looking at. Some are a little cheaper or a little higher, but just a few dollars here or there is what I'm seeing so far.

[Shane]

Don't buy any POS no name system off amazon. That stuff is cheap and garbage. Get some stuff with somewhat of a "reputation". I have a full ubiquiti setup at home and it has been nearly flawless. I can log in from anywhere near instantly and view my cameras. I have a ubiquiti cloud key gen 2 with the standard 1tb drive and it holds all my data for 7 cameras for about 2 weeks.

It is absolutely worth spending more for them. Just buy a few cameras at a time until you get what you want. I wouldn't get the bullet cameras if your view is close, use the dome cameras and it will be a much cleaner look and better image. I have bullet cameras on my long driveway and one overlooking my backyard. If you want any specifics or help, I am and IT guy and can help you figure out what you need exactly.

Also I don't want to sound conspiracy theoryish but don't buy ubiquiti off amazon and any of those chinese products can be running code on your network to send that video elsewhere without you knowing. Buy straight from ubiquiti and if it has an issue work directly with them. They may get a poor rap for customer service sometimes but their RMA process is nearly no questions asked.

Good info. Thanks!

I'd like good cameras, ease of use and all of that, but I'm also concerned about network security. I am NOT an IT guy at all. I know just enough about all of that to know that I should pay attention to network security and do what I can to keep bad guys out of all the potential doorways into my network. What Rob is doing sounds very effective. I don't have the know-how to do that though.

Fast forward to 14:45 in this video. What he talks about with using a VPN to connect your camera system to your network sounds like it might be a fairly simple solution. Do you guys agree, or is that flawed? He says that Ubiquiti stuff won't work through a VPN.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOAm8YZSRa4"]TOP 3 AI Person Detection NVR Camera Systems - UniFi Protect vs Blue Iris vs Reolink RLK8-810B4-A - YouTube[/ame]

[Grayson]

I spent some time looking at retail products at Nebraska Furniture Mart recently (Ring, etc.). I assume you folks will say I'd be a fool for buying one of the 6 or 7 systems available there, huh? What's the cliff's notes of all of the above discussion?

[Pedernal]

They just put the Dream Machine in our new house that isn't quite finished. Right now, all it's running is 4 access points on the wifi network. That is working fine.

I have a buddy who is in the access/control business. He like Ubiquiti for network stuff, but he likes other camera systems better than Unifi. Prices and camera features are fairly similar between the brands I'm looking at. Some are a little cheaper or a little higher, but just a few dollars here or there is what I'm seeing so far.

Thank you for the reply and info

[Shane]

I spent some time looking at retail products at Nebraska Furniture Mart recently (Ring, etc.). I assume you folks will say I'd be a fool for buying one of the 6 or 7 systems available there, huh? What's the cliff's notes of all of the above discussion?

Having a system that's self-contained means you don't have your videos stored on Ring's or other provider's cloud storage network that requires you to keep paying a subscription fee to access.

[Samson]

Good info. Thanks!

I'd like good cameras, ease of use and all of that, but I'm also concerned about network security. I am NOT an IT guy at all. I know just enough about all of that to know that I should pay attention to network security and do what I can to keep bad guys out of all the potential doorways into my network. What Rob is doing sounds very effective. I don't have the know-how to do that though.

Fast forward to 14:45 in this video. What he talks about with using a VPN to connect your camera system to your network sounds like it might be a fairly simple solution. Do you guys agree, or is that flawed? He says that Ubiquiti stuff won't work through a VPN.

TOP 3 AI Person Detection NVR Camera Systems - UniFi Protect vs Blue Iris vs Reolink RLK8-810B4-A - YouTube

It looks like they force Unifi Protect Controller to connect to Unfi Cloud Connect. And that part breaks when you try to access it via the app over vpn. Seems they know about it, but have no interest in adding that feature. All the more reason to not use that Dream machine for your storage, and go with something that you have full control over and does not require internet access to work.

[Grayson]

Having a system that's self-contained means you don't have your videos stored on Ring's or other provider's cloud storage network that requires you to keep paying a subscription fee to access.

That makes sense. On the self-contained systems, can you still view from your phone? Do they have two-way audio? Can you view from the phone live?

[Shane]

That makes sense. On the self-contained systems, can you still view from your phone? Do they have two-way audio? Can you view from the phone live?

Yes, but only if you give the system access to your internet network. That's where the potential vulnerabilities come in. That's why Rob is doing all of that IT kung fu on his system to keep his camera stuff private and to keep bad guys out of his network.