I'm a recent convert from SmartThings and have begun my transition to Hubitat. I currently have 12 Arlo Camera's and 1 Arlo Doorbell. With my move to Hubitat my goal is to completely remove myself from the reliance on internet and go 100% local. In doing so I will also be disconnecting the internet and saving $1000+ dollars per year.
I'm looking for a NVR hardwired camera system that would allow for integration into Hubitat. A bonus would be one that pairs with some type of doorbell as well.
Nvr's are generally separate from HE as there is no real function for them to trigger. Now the cameras have their own motion sensing and what not and integrate into HE....Search arlo cameras. Personally I use Xeoma for my NVR and it works well, but my cams go to the HE dashboards...
Take a moment and search this topic if you would, I think you'll find some excellent posts. I posted in the past about how strong my environment was with a BlueIris Server, which allowed me lots of functions/integration. I can trigger both directions, use RTSP streams regardless of camera type, Virtual cameras, image overlays... It even works as a web server to hold files/icons/etc so you don't have to use the FileManager in HE. so give a quick search!
As others have said there are a few threads on these forums that discuss this at length so search will be your friend.
One thing to be clear on though is that HE doesn't really have any kind of native support for cameras. You can have some custom device drivers that kind of emulate cameras and you program to use them accordingly, but Hubitat doesn't really support cameras as a device.
If you want to be completely off the cloud kiss the Arlo cameras goodbye. You will probably need something that is POE and wired. Blue Iris is fatastic for it's features.
I still have Arlo on Hubitat using Node-red to interface with Smartthings as a cloud aggregator.
Some good points mentioned already I think are worth highlighting.
Blue Iris is a great option for local IP cameras, and can be integrated with Hubitat.
But Hubitat isn’t exactly designed to be a part of a camera system, so think carefully about what you would like to do with it. Some things are simple, like trigger automations based on camera motion or doorbell events. However it doesn’t excel as an interface to view live streams or recordings.
My plan/goal is to have the feed displayed via the hubitat dashboard even if its a jpeg updated every 1 second. I would also like to use motion triggers to have a TTS notification play when the cameras detect motion. All this seems possible via hubitat and blue iris. I was just looking for some recommendations on camera nvrs.
I did some research yesterday and im very keen on the Lorex 12x Fusion NVR with their wirless doorbell. It all appears to work locally without any need for an active internet connection.
I have a few hikvision cameras that I’m happy with, they make a wifi doorbell as well, although I don’t have one. Dahua is another solid brand of IP cameras with a doorbell too.
I’m running blue Iris on a windows server and I record to its hard drives. No real need for a separate NVR device.
I would take any camera recommendations Rob has with a grain of salt. I was burned once by following his suggestions. Just make sure you do your own research before you waste your money.
His Ubiquiti suggestions have worked out well for me though. His knowledge and presentation/testing seem fairly legit but maybe I'm not paying enough attention..
That second video I posted has a response to some of the criticism he's faced... I agree though more research should be done before committing the $$$.
He does a nice walkthrough on configuring blue Iris to work with deepstack for AI-based confirmation of motion detection.
Since OP is planning to set up TTS alerts triggered by camera motion, I would definitely consider using deepstack and configuring other ways to limit the frequency of TTS alerts. That could get annoying real fast if they occur repeatedly or frequently.
Hubitat C7 can send HTTP GET commands to control some aspects of an IP camera. Use the hub to change camera modes at sunup and sundown using the RM. You will need to know the API HTTP calls.
The setup here uses Dahua cameras along with a Dahua NVR, Sample statements would be as follows:
I do exactly what you described in your post. I run BlueIris and DeepStack. When motion is detected (that is a person) it sends a TTS notification to a tablet in our kitchen "A visitor is approaching" (via FullyKiosk's api). The tablet displays a Hubitat dashboard that has 4 different camera views using jpeg feeds that refresh every one second. Works perfectly...
Some very good suggestions everyone! Thank you. Now ive gotta purchase and implement. Im still un the process of shedding all my devices from SmartThings and bringing them over too Hubitat.
