What security camera(s) and software should I use?

January 9, 2020 10:31 AM

I would like to set up a security system for the house, but the whole area seems filled with small, sketchy vendors and bright-shiny-probably-not-great consumer friendly cloud-based privacy killers like Arlo / Ring.

Goals:

1. High resolution images so that distant features / license plates can be captured
2. Something I can install on the exterior of my house myself -- I'm assuming IP cameras with PoE are the standard?
3. Works well in low light, possibly even via multiple mechanisms in the same camera (is that a thing?)

All of the cameras will be outdoors.

I found some things that make me think Blue Iris is the leading/most capable security camera software, but I don't know that I'm looking in the right place.

I have vague plans on archiving the video offsite on S3 or a VPN I control somewhere, and would like to be able to use a VPN or similar to remotely access live video, stored footage, etc. in a safe and secure manner.

What should I look for? What should I purchase? Where should I go for reliable information / reviews / context?

posted by Number Used Once to Technology (5 answers total)

I set up a Foscam FI9900P for my buddy.
posted by humboldt32 at 10:35 AM on January 9, 2020

MotionEye is an open source alternative to Blue Iris, if that matters to you. I've used both and they're both good.

I store the footage on my NAS and use it's VPN function to access from the internet. I have a Synology server, which also has it's own (very good) software called Surveilance Station as well.
posted by bradbane at 11:33 AM on January 9, 2020

I bought one of the Costco 12-camera rigs with local hard drive recording four years ago. Its brand is Lorex, but that doesn't matter much --- apparently the guts of all of those systems come from the same Chinese manufacturer, which is why all basically look the same. In the years since, I would expect the specs of new systems have improved, but the weird experience is probably still very much the same for this class of product.

Miscellaneous thoughts about this thing:

• It does not interface with cloud storage. The only network upload options are (1) upload chunks of video to your own FTP server and (2) email yourself still images. Both of these can be configured to be triggered by motion events or to be periodically scheduled.
• I rigged this to back up to S3 through a Rube Goldberg FTP server running on my LAN, which writes to a directory that is really an s3fs-mounted S3 bucket. It uses lots of bandwidth. It took about a day. But it uses a lot of bandwidth and is expensive on S3, so I only turn this on when I'm on vacation.
• There's a pretty good smartphone app (FLIRCloud or something?) that lets you view live and archive video feeds. It works as follows: You open a port in your NAT so that the DVR can be reached from the outside world. The app connects directly to this port. Security is sketchy. I'm not sure if the transit is encrypted, and it silently truncates your password to six characters, which is really shitty security from a security product.
• The company offers a free dynamic DNS solution, which allows the mobile app to resolve your address with DNS. This is optional and it takes some fiddly setup on your router.
• I like the fact that my video is not stored unencrypted on anybody else's cloud. My S3 solution uses encryption at rest.
• I do not like the sketchy security of the DVR.
• The biggest problem with this setup is that a burglar could just steal the DVR unit. The FTP backups lag by a few minutes. I have used it to good effect in a few episodes of neighborhood package theft and car break-ins.
• Motion detection is very basic. Forget about fancy AI or fancy video processing.

Next time I do this, I'd love to use open source NAS stuff instead, so I can have more control over what's going on.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 12:08 PM on January 9, 2020

My personal channel markers are:

1. Don't put a camera anywhere it might see something you wouldn't want your mom, your boss, your spouse, your business rivals, the corrupt local cops and/or 4chan to have immediate, irrevocable access to.
2. Don't put a microphone where it might hear ditto.
3. No wireless cameras.
4. Don't record anywhere that isn't your own property. (Dash-cams might be a reasonable exception.)
5. Camera feeds go to a local DVR which is never connected to *any* network. If you want to get footage out or software updates in, you use sneakernet. (If IP cameras: cameras and DVR have their own isolated network, not connected to anything else.)
6. Stuff that is password protected gets a non-default, strong password that you have never used (and will never use) anywhere else.
7. Open source is good, but is not a magic wand.
8. Have a policy for disclosure and retention of surveillance data. Follow it.

A shorter version: Ask "how can this be used to hurt me?" and "how can this be used to hurt other innocent people?" before you set it up.
posted by sourcequench at 12:42 PM on January 9, 2020 [3 favorites]

Unifi cameras and DVR. Variety of options for storage, remote access, etc. Very scaleable, excellent video. I have used them personally and professionally. They are enterprise quality/functionality but not ridiculously expensive.
posted by iamabot at 2:11 PM on January 9, 2020