I've looked around in posts and seen a lot of different things. I'm not really even sure if any product in this category even works well in the real world.
Anyway, does anybody have a working doorbell cam ...or even a cam that is good at this (facial recognition) and integrates well with Hubitat? I already have a lot of Amcrest cams and an Amcrest NVR. I'd like to not spend a ton and replace them, but if there's something really solid I would.
I use a Eufy Security S220 Indoor Cam, 2K, Pan & Tilt. It’s mounted under my eaves and has been in use for three years. Zero problems, and while it doesn’t have face recognition unless you upgrade to their Home Base, it does have very good person recognition for free.
The camera is inexpensive and automatically pans to track when a human is identified. I record to a high endurance micro SD designed for video cameras. It automatically cleans up the space so I don’t have to do anything for it.
There’s no integration on my camera that I’m using, but it does support HomeKit secure video, RTSP, and there are custom integrations for Eufy cameras (including this one). Was using the Alexa integration to turn on lights out front, but it’s slow, so I’ve added a Hue outdoor monitor sensor to take care of that instead.
My doorbell button is wired to an IKEA button and that triggers a voice notification from Alexa and Hubitat notifications on our phones instantly. However, if someone presses the doorbell button when we’re not home, by the time we open the Eufy app, they are usually walking away or already gone. I personally have decided that a doorbell cam is not worth the money and ugly box at the front door.
This isn’t typically a feature built into the camera, it’s usually off loaded in some way.
The Eufy cam @SmartHomePrimer mentioned uses the same brand’s HomeBase device, for example.
If you use iOS, the Apple Home app can do this, which means any doorbell that supports HKSV could work.
I can even do this with my reolink doorbell, since I also run Scrypted on a local server, which enables integration for many more types of IP cameras with the Home app.
Other options for any doorbell might include Blue Iris and its Deepstack AI integration. Blue Iris runs on Windows and is compatible with many, many IP cams and doorbells.
I would guess that some other doorbells that can do face recognition offload the task to a cloud-based service, probably for a subscription fee. But I haven’t looked into those options much.
