Welcome to Incremental Social! Learn more about this project here!
Check out lemmyverse to find more communities to join from here!

Self hosted security cameras?

My girlfriend is be very interested in putting Blink (Amazon) cameras up around our property. I am not interested in paying Amazon to keep our security footage.

What I'd like to do is have motion activated internet connected cameras around the property that somehow send footage to a server (I don't know if that's the correct term, I'm kind of an idiot) that I keep on the property.

So I have three questions:

  1. is this the right forum to be asking about self hosting security footage?
  2. does anyone here have experience doing this and would they be willing to send some pointers my way?
  3. is this a feasible DIY project or am I better served paying for a service?

I've done a little digging into self hosting and it's not cheap, but I think it will be cheaper than paying a subscription. And safer too, which is rad.

Thank you all!

buzz ,
@buzz@lemmy.world avatar

The only good NVR I found is paid xeoma NVR.
I just pay for 4 cameras and its nice and light

tired_n_bored ,

First of all, you can operate a fully FOSS firmware on your cameras: see OpenIPC (it needs some soldering tho).
Second, you can try Frigate or ZoneMinder as NVR.

jetsetdorito ,

I've tried a few (MotionEye, Zomeminder, Shinobi) but after all that I have been loving Frigate

fellowmortal , (edited )

I have thought about this from time to time. I want good surveillance, but I also don't want to lose control of the video.

I think that the solution that I favor right now is a Wyze cam V2 or similar flashed with openmiko. edit:(I had to buy wyze v2 cameras from the US on ebay to get v2 versions, user:@ashok36@ashok36 suggests in this comment to use v3 and Wyzemini firmware - this might do the job. clarification: the point is to replace the manufacturer's firmware which will phone home with something open source that you could audit)

These can be attached via USB or wifi interface to a server with zoneminder (https://zoneminder.com/) From there you could think about offsite records too and motion detection etc. [edit: wifi is useful as I don't want to rewire the house - though could be blocked (or the router could be unplugged!) if you are expecting technically savvy criminals. A solution here would be to use an old router on a separate wifi network, put somewhere where most of the property would have been traversed before it could be accessed (e.g. upstairs).]

Having said this, the setup is just fiddly enough that I keep to finding myself finding other stuff to do. [edit: 'Fiddly' is the wrong word, I think its pretty simple, I just find myself wanting more features until the project doesn't happen at all. I'd be clear that this is a feasible DIY project, so long as you accept that 'done' is better than 'perfect']

[edit: One last note - if you host the video yourself, you take responsibility for the security - this means keeping zoneminder and the OS up to date and offsite backups/networks/cameras secure. This is possibly something that a company is better at (but don't bet on it!). However, you are also a smaller attack target (because bad actors only get your video) so blackmailing you with whatever you do in your surveilled place is less valuable than having the same data for 1000s of people. Also, if someone has access to your home network - they can set up man-in-the-middle attacks and steal your bank details - you have to be doing something interesting in front of those cameras for it to be worth more than the contents of your bank account.]

edit:clarity/details

BreakDecks ,

I wanted to add that while Zoneminder isn't going to be as easy or feature-rich as some of the commercial solutions recommended in this thread, this is the only solution that you can trust will remain privacy-respecting. GPL software isn't going to sell you out.

All that can be said about the rest is that they haven't sold their customers out yet.

Psiczar ,

Ubiquiti is good, if you have the money. I have an 8TB HDD in my UDM-PRO recording 24/7 the footage from 6 cameras. It isn’t a cheap solution but it works and it’s local.

jeremyparker ,

How long does it take to fill that storage?

AppearanceBoring9229 ,

Depends on your setup, I used to have 4 cameras that only saved when motion was detected and they filled 1tb in about a month.

DeuxChevaux ,
@DeuxChevaux@lemmy.world avatar

My cheap and cheerful, but not very secure homebrew solution is a used smartphone, then load any of the motion-detection apps onto it, plus an FTP server app. Then place the phone anywhere within Wi-Fi reach. Run a script once a day on my home server that downloads and deletes the videos from the phone via FTP, and also deletes that footage after 30 days. So the "system" can run indefinitely without running out of memory. The old phones just need to be rebooted once in a while for some odd reason.

KonekoSalem ,

Phones and their batteries aren't made for this. Trying to run a phone 24/7 will likely result in the phone dying very quickly and raise the chances of it exploding.

DeuxChevaux , (edited )
@DeuxChevaux@lemmy.world avatar

My oldest "security camera" of this type has been online 24/7 since June 2019 and permanently connected to a charger of the smallest type I could find at that time. The battery still holds a charge when I take the phone down for cleaning. Not sure how old the phone itself is (a small Kyocera), probably a 2014 or 2015 model. So, for my requirements, I'd say, it's reasonably reliable.

OTOH, you may be right, and they don't make them like they used to in the olden days, haha.

KonekoSalem ,

Some or maybe even most phones will survive, but there's a reasonable chance of the device going up in flames.
Older batteries are even more likely to catch fire, depending on the type.

Gooey0210 ,

Esp-32(or some more appropriate esp)
+
RPI Camera
+
Home assistant/Openhab

ashok36 ,

I'm using a bunch of wyze cam 3 cameras with the wzmini custom firmware installed and outside connections turned off. They took a while to figure out how to set up since I'd never had to deal with ssh keys before but after set up they are pretty bulletproof.

hperrin ,

Yo I was just thinking about writing something like this. I want to use WebDAV as a backend, so you can just download whatever segment you want. And I think it would be possible to put videos of events in a different directory that it doesn’t purge.

WhiteHotaru ,

Synology has a whole ecosystem with the option to host the footage on their core NAS Products. It is pricey, thou.

s3rvant ,
@s3rvant@lemmy.ml avatar

Came to recommend Synology; I've worked on small systems (4 cameras) and large (30+ cameras). For home use you can probably get away with their smallest NAS which includes free CCTV software (Surveillance Station) which itself includes 2 camera licenses. Adding more cameras beyond those will require a one-time license purchase. While this is not the cheapest route they are easy to setup, manage and use.

pixxelkick ,

I have been using Reolink RC-522s outside in the harsh Canadian cold winters. Even at -40 they kept working and their quality hasn't degraded.

I tried out q few options for NVR software, and I've settled on Frigate NVR, it was pretty painless to setup and "just worked".

Shinobi I found worked at first but three times it shit the bed, silently failed one day, and just stopped working. I'd wipe and re-install and it'd just fail after awhile. Frigate has never had this issue so far.

I use Power over Ethernet for the cameras, so i only had to run 1 single cable (ethernet) to each camera outside, no need to run high voltage which makes it way easier to install.

I use a small mini itx PC as the NVR with a 960ti installed in it for transcoding.

I have a fancy managed 48 port gigabit poe switch which is overkill for just cameras (I have tonnes of other PoE devices on my network as well justifying it), but any "dumb" gigabit poe switch will work for you, as long as you have enough ports for your cameras.

I personally use kubernetes for my machines running self hosted apps, but for most folks that's overkill abd you can just use docker compose!

pacoboyd ,
@pacoboyd@lemm.ee avatar

Second for Reolink. I'm just using local SDcard storage atm, but might consider something like Frigate, just hasn't been needed yet. Got 3 cameras and 2 doorbells, all hooked into Home Assistant.

timbuck2themoon ,

Reolink or amcrest cameras paired with (software) frigate, blue iris, motioneye, shinobi, etc etc works fine.

Catsrules ,

Yeah i am using Blue Iris paired with Amcrest, Reolink and a few random other cameras. Works really well.

InternetCitizen2 ,

Going to bookmark some answers here.

Charger8232 ,

On a related topic, Insecam is a website that shows live streams from insecure cameras. It's a great example on why privacy matters in every aspect of your life, even if you don't think it affects you personally.

TCB13 ,
@TCB13@lemmy.world avatar

Cameras in general aren't as easy as cheap plugs to deal with. There's the OpenIPC project but it seems only to support very specific chips that are sometimes older, hard to find or not price/feature competitive like something such as what TP-Link offers.

For what's worth TP-Link Tapo cameras (TC70, 71 etc.) aren't that bad when it comes to privacy, there isn't much "cloud". They do require you to use their mobile app and cloud to setup the camera but afterwards you can just run them on an isolated VLAN / firewall them from the internet completely and you'll still be able to use all of the camera's features. Those cameras provide a generic rtsp stream that even VLC can play and there's also a good HA integration that provides all features of the TP-Link Tapo application like pan / move / download recordings from the camera's SD card and whatnot 100% locally / offline.

I particularly like their cameras because they're really cheap and decent, while not perfect in terms of privacy they've a good trade off when it comes to price but require initial cloud setup. They also have wireless versions, ethernet versions and a cheap PoE splitter will be good for those.

iturnedintoanewt ,

Thanks! I bought a few tapos because of what i understood would be easy integration (with shinobi) but left them a bit abandoned since. The speaker function (to use the camera to talk) isn't implemented, right?

TCB13 ,
@TCB13@lemmy.world avatar

It seems to be possible to stream audio to the camara and there's some discussion about getting 2-way audio using WebRTC but it isn't going anywhere: https://github.com/JurajNyiri/HomeAssistant-Tapo-Control/issues/99

iturnedintoanewt ,

Thanks! I'll look it up.

illi ,

They do require you to use their mobile app and cloud to setup the camera but afterwards you can just run them on an isolated VLAN / firewall them from the internet completely

Do you have any good guides or articles diving deeper on this? I was also pondering Home Assistant - it supports tapo devices, but I don't know much about it. Would that be a possible solution?

and you'll still be able to use all of the camera's features

would this include a live cam feed?

TCB13 ,
@TCB13@lemmy.world avatar

Home Assistant - it supports tapo devices, but I don’t know much about it. Would that be a possible solution?

I just told you it works fine under Home Assistant and provided a link to the integration. https://github.com/JurajNyiri/HomeAssistant-Tapo-Control

would this include a live cam feed?

Yes. It includes, live feed, the ability to move the camera, ring the bell, turn on privacy mode, enable patrol mode... and use the camera's sensors. There's also an option to automatically download recorded video on the camera's SD card every x hours or days. Here's the full list of entities available under HA for those cameras (note that your camera must support the feature):

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/02385cfc-325b-4bc8-8523-df71955dfb75.png

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/6976f468-28b1-4cbe-9840-111a924cda15.png

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/2fd43230-fbb8-4e18-9145-b26ecccdcc93.png

illi ,

Sorry, didn't click the link, didn't realize HA stands for Home Assistance there. As you can tell, pretty new to this. Thanks for the answer!

TCB13 ,
@TCB13@lemmy.world avatar

Sure, no problem. The bottom line is that it works very well for the low price of those cameras and I couldn't be happier.

illi ,

If you wouldn't mind, could you share how you managed to make the Tapo cameras work with Home Assistant? I finally got it set up and while I had no isse with bulbs, cameras just can't be adde through the TP Link integration. There are no Tapo cameras listed as supported on the Home Assistant web eithet

TCB13 ,
@TCB13@lemmy.world avatar

As I said before, you've to install this: https://github.com/JurajNyiri/HomeAssistant-Tapo-Control then go to Settings > Devices > Add and search for Tapo.

illi ,

I guess that's the issue - I assume this needs to be installed on the hardware running the Home Assistant. I went with the easy option of getting the Home Assistant Green hub, so I don't assume there is a way for me to make it work... or it's just beyond my capabilities

Thanks anyway for your patience with me, unknowingly asking the same damn thing over and over like a dummy.

TCB13 ,
@TCB13@lemmy.world avatar

I assume this needs to be installed on the hardware running the Home Assistant

Yes, and why would that be an issue? After you've HACS on your HA you can just search for "Tapo Control" and click install.

illi ,

If there is a way to do this on the Home Assistant Green hub I bought I have no idea how is the issue. But oh well, looking into workarounds. I at least figured out how to add it as a simple IP cam for now.

TCB13 ,
@TCB13@lemmy.world avatar

Home Assistant Green hub

I believe it has an "advanced mode" somewhere in the profile that can be used to enable SSH access to the thing and then it will behave like any other HA installation on generic hardware. You can go there install HACS using SSH and then use the UI to install the tapo thing.

illi ,

Will try to look into that, thanks!

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • privacy@lemmy.ml
  • incremental_games
  • meta
  • All magazines
    •