They’re affordable and ubiquitous, but homeowners shouldn’t be able to act as vigilantes.

  • Em Adespoton@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    They don’t recommend them because of what the homeowners can do with them?

    I’m much more worried about the fact that they’re a constant feed of activity accessible by anyone who can bypass or be let through Amazon’s access controls.

    • techno156@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Or shut them down, given the recent debacle with Amazon shutting down someone’s account, disabling their devices in the process.

    • Altima NEO@lemmy.zip
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      1 year ago

      And here I am with my Eufy cameras…

      In fairness is JUST bought the damned things right as all the drama was happening.

      • Kindajustlikewhat@beehaw.org
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        1 year ago

        Saying this as an ethnically Chinese person who is not being racist… I had a eufy robovac and when I discovered it was Chinese-owned and had a video camera installed on it… I immediately got rid of that thing. I don’t trust any technology company owned by China to be able to see into my home.

  • Moonrise2473@feddit.it
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    1 year ago

    Reading only the headline I assumed “not recommended because of the invasive Amazon tracking”, instead it was “because some owners become vigilantes”…

    I am searching also for a camera but I’m not finding it, can someone help me?

    What it must be:

    1. Not battery powered

    2. 100% offline

    3. No cloud support at all

    4. No subscription

    5. To replace the door peephole

    6. Onvif support or similar so I can use a generic NVR in my own network for recording

    7. A screen on the inside of the door so I can see who’s outside (because now the door peephole is replaced by the camera)

    Seems impossible to find

    • nothacking@discuss.tchncs.de
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      1 year ago

      I just grabbef a generic IP camera, connected it over ethernet, and firewalled it so it could not make connections out to my home network or the internet. Turns out it just uses an mpeg stream for the video, so recording it is just a matter of running curl on a server. Any network camera that does not depend on a server should work fine for this type of stuff.

      • Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 year ago

        Could I do this with an RPi 4 B 4GB, I wonder? I’m just About to have mine arrive and I would love to have a couple CCTV cameras in my place.

        • 0110010001100010@beehaw.org
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          1 year ago

          As long as you are just doing capture and aren’t attempting to do anything where a re-encode of the video stream is needed then absolutely. You’ll need something other than a microSD card though to write the video too.

          • Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            1 year ago

            Brilliant, yah I’d just want it captured and stored on like a WD NAS HDD attached to a computer in the basement.

            Or if I ever get my ass in gear and set up my GSA…

        • nothacking@discuss.tchncs.de
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          1 year ago

          Yes, elit does take some messing around to get working though, so I wouldn’t recommend unless you want to spend a bit messing around with configuring a server. (Make sure to back up the pi’s SD card so if it fails you can easily replace it)

      • DeltaTangoLima@reddrefuge.com
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        1 year ago

        Yeah, this. I do the same with my Reolink cameras - block all external access and I use a Frigate docker container to record footage to my storage. Bonus is I have Frigate using a Coral TPU, so it’s got some really accurate, and fast, inferencing/recognition baked in.

      • Moonrise2473@feddit.it
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        1 year ago

        i’m also thinking to just take a cheap reolink and put over the door - but it would be cooler if there was a screen inside that turns on when someone is detected outside (even by an ultra cheap PIR sensor, don’t need sophisticated AI recognition stuff)

    • dan@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      I’m looking at Ubiquiti’s UniFi doorbell. It’s not cheap, nor really intended for home installation (it’s more like office grade stuff), but I already use their networking kit and run their software.

    • Justin@lemmy.jlh.name
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      1 year ago

      I heard some people on Lemmy talking about foscam for non-cloud cameras. They support onvif. Not sure if they have any in a “door monitor” form factor, though.

    • GiantBasil@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      Look up the brand Intelbras they have a few residential intercoms that might work for you, I don’t know where you are , but i know they exist the US and some parts of Europe and they might be cheaper there since they’re a brazillian company (they’re the best one we have I think?)

      I have their regular câmeras and they fit all our criteria. Ours are online, buy ots by choice it’s not a system requirement. At least a few years back a few of those intercoms with screens were compatible with the nvrs i believe.

  • idle@158436977.xyz
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    1 year ago

    Besides the privacy aspect of it all, I just know in 5 years they will declare the camera a security problem and shut it off. I want a porch camera that lasts for 20 years.

  • FiniteLooper@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    So what is a good camera system to own? I currently have ADT and I’m really not happy with it. It’s expensive and the cameras only record 30 second clips. It can detect motion, it records 30 seconds and that’s it, regardless of how long the motion event actually takes.

    Example: someone drops off a package and they hang out on my porch - I have no idea what happens after the 30 second mark! It’s insane. No way to change this either. The only option is for how long to wait between 30 second clips, and the lowest option is 2 minutes.

    • ainakine@lemmy.sdf.org
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      1 year ago

      As a live DIY system we use Jami (free), laptops, and webcams to monitor our property. We haven’t tried recording for extended periods but with enough disk space extended recording could be accomplished.

    • lemming007@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Reolink or Amcrest or any other Ethernet hardwired ones with NVR that you can host in your house. No WiFi and no third-party/cloud storage ones like Ring or Nest.

      • jabib (he/him)@beehaw.org
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        1 year ago

        Amcrest is what I inherited when I purchases my house. Just know they really don’t support their older stuff at all. My NVR is inaccessible from any modern web browser, and Amcrest has no plans to update the firmware (latest version from 2018) AND ignored my questions in email when I wanted to verify the latest firmware for my model number since it didn’t appear on their site at all.

        That said, the cameras are great and the system works well, its just not as simple compared to newer solutions.

      • FiniteLooper@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        I had looked into Reolink a while back and that seemed like a great option to me. Upfront cost and setup seems like the biggest hurdles, but probably worth it in the long run. Thanks for the recommendation!

    • bumblebrainbee@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      I have Kuna cameras (previous owners installed them) and I hate them. They require a subscription to use security cameras in the way you’d normally use them. For no subscription, any recording only stays for 2 hours then gets deleted. What is the point of cameras if my recording is gone by the time I realize I have that notification? I refuse to pay a subscription to cameras I allegedly bought with the home.

    • socsa@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      I have blink cameras on solar panels that work pretty well as a mostly “no wires” solution. The motion detection can be a bit slow, but they do everything I need.

    • PCH@geddit.social
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      1 year ago

      ADT is the worst. I have a Ring camera, I know, I know. It as before I knew of all this. But it works and keeps my house safer.

  • HeartyBeast@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    If you’re in the Apple ecosystem, a HomeKit camera would get you nearly all the way. Everything processed locally, no need to turn on iCloud if you don’t want. Your phone would be your peephole.