Trying to determine which is the best camera solution, would welcome views/help.
I'm looking for either a video doorbell and 3 cameras or 4 cameras. I have an iPhone.
I've researched and looked at the different functionality. Key features:
ability to view locally & remotely (fast)
capture images and be able to send for FR to Sighthound API
storage of video (ideally locally) and the ability to save it if needed
recognition of People/Animals/Cars for alert differentiation
ability to disable alerts based on time & proximity (ie if we're at home and in the garden)
ability to work at night (either with flashlight or request for lighting controlled by Fibaro switches to be turned on)
integrated into a future smart display on a tablet
if someone presses doorbell then ability to bring up feed on smart screen / TV
(possibly use video doorbell separately for FR)
integration into Hubitat
Power wise, I'd vastly prefer 2 of the cameras to work on PoE as there is 1 existing cat5 wiring (no cameras) for each of those positions.
Video doorbell will be away from the house (end of driveway) so around 15 metres, so any options for ethernet or would I be best putting a google wifi unit there as got a GoGoGate controller also to install with the new gate when it comes.
Thoughts are Netamo gives a lot of this functionality without the subscription of a Nest but isn't PoE but that could be overcome. Doesn't seem to integrate into Hubitat.
Not sure though if anyone just runs simple IP Cameras then uses software to control them? I have a QNAP Nas which could be used or happy to pop a Pi if the Hubitat can't do it?
I'm only going to comment on the IP cam route. First a good site is ipcamtalk. Second, after learning more about cameras the ones listed above aren't even in the same league as good IP cameras. However...they have their place.
Where the IP cameras generally lack is good integration with other system. You generally need to write/mod piece together your own system based on what you want. Most cameras can be controlled via http/telnet as can the systems that record. A very popular one in our HA world is BlueIris. There is a great BlueIris app for ST. However I've slowly been integrating here in HE using the Maker API. Which allows me to use cameras as motion sensors (well switches right now, but hopefully motion sensor soon) as well as trigger PTZ cameras from here using HTTP and trigger cameras based on say doors opening. Personally I run about 16 cameras recording 24/7. I will never go back to cameras that ONLY record on motion as I've found that they rarely really work in real life situations.
However the above systems because of their nice built in integrations offer something the advanced systems don't...ease of use. To me a doorbell camera that you are just using to see who's at your door...is really just that. A fancy doorbell with a really nice interface to be able to ask a smart display to bring it up and even talk with the person. That's a great function. But to me it's a whole different sort of security camera.
Over on the ipcamtalk site and the webcore forum you will find some posts about using BlueIris with sighthound....and my name. I put together for me an integration using BlueIris and a python script that used the sighthound API then filtered that information into webcore so I could make some pretty cool decisions about alerts/etc. based on the information in those pictures...all while having the full video there as backup.
I didn't answer much...but thought I'd throw in some more information.
Netatmo has an API, if you are willing to spend some time with it you should be able to do the integration. HomeKit support is there too (or upcoming for their Presence model).
On the software side of things...I am running an app called MotionEye on my Raspberry Pi. Basically it performs the following functions:
Provides a dashboard so i can view all cams at once.
Converts RTSP feeds to HTML5 for viewing in any browser
Records (some 24/7 some on motion) and uploads to my server (FTP)
Motion on some cameras triggers an HTTP call to activate motion sensors in HE and then shuts them off when motion is inactive.
On demand record all through an HTTP call (have to enable the HTTP interface for non-local config)
It's totally free. Now, since it runs on a Raspberry Pi, I'm not cranking any of my cams up to max resolution. But if we're talking surveillance cams, why would you need 1080p video? So far it has been running great. There's also a version called MotionEyeOS which is everything you need all in one download.
Because all of the functions I need are in this software, I have a combination of different IP cams. But I don't use any of their native functionality anymore. So, if you're going this route, anything with a RTSP local stream works.
Exactly why I suggest heading over to an actual surveillance cam site. Plenty of reasons. The BIGGEST being you want/need the most detailed resolution possible if you ever intend to use that video to identify a person. Most people have this real false sense of security because they have a camera...vs when they actually need the camera to provide footage of an incident. Which most likely doesn't occur in broad daylight, with perfect lighting/etc. I learned a lot over there and junked most of my old cameras. I can tell you what i have now vs what I had then...are night and day for actual usage.
Again, that's true surv video. If you are just looking for a doorbell cam to talk to your UPS guy...whole different story and the above solutions offer the integrations that are perfect for those scenarios.
Yes, in that use case, I would agree. If you're trying to make sure your neighbor doesn't take your garden hose or you want to know when someone has pulled into your driveway, then it's a totally different story. You have to decide what's right for you and your budget.
jrfarrar - sounds like you have a lot of what I'm looking to do, are you able to detect/block different types of motion with the scripts?
For example its a shared driveway so I want to have a small trigger area for cars and be able to exclude some based on ANPR or peoples faces (neighbours)
Also lots of neighbourhood cats and squirrels which currently set of the PIR lights all the time so would rather that be integrated to reduce
For the doorbell, yes would like to be able to do speech both ways, show it up on a smart display etc, but also use it to open the gate when returning home in either car or by foot. I know can Geofence but thought this would be more reliable and can also then add say my parents cars etc.
Yes those could all be options. Possibilities are pretty much endless with the right tools.
Lots of good information about ANPR here: IPCAMTALK
Check out this thread:
Mine has progressed a lot since then but that should get you going in the right direction. I've stuck with sighthound as google/aws while good. Don't give the specifics I want as far as vehicles. I like to know WHAT kind of car it is. Make/model. That way I can exclude the ones I own.
The doorbell...just get one that's designed to do that. My opinion is don't even try to integrate that with a real camera system. It's too much of a PITA to get them to work together.
So I've now got an IP Cam set up, thanks for the advice so far, went for the IP camera route rather than anything specific.
I'm looking at now doing the next steps - do you have your updated code?
Also where do you host Blue Iris? I have a qnap nas not sure if that can be used?
I presume the python is hosted on Hubitat by using WebCore?
I have a dedicated BlueIris server. With 1 camera you can get away with it running on any PC. If you start scaling up to 10-15 cameras you might find you'll need the processing power of a dedicated computer.
The python script will run locally on the same machine as BlueIris.
Also with Maker API on Hubitat, I use almost all my BI cameras as motion sensors. Works a treat and easy to setup.
I'd appreciate some help in setting this up - got 3 cameras so far, but will be adding a 4th (these are all for general surviellience)
Then I want to add a specific camera to do the FR/ANPR on the front of the gate which is the one where I wanted to get the BI to Sighthound integration correct.
Not sure on the right camera / doorbell for this - would like a starlight camera to be able to use properly at night - but also (either in the same or different) ability to see and speak.
Any thoughts? Have started a thread in IPCAMTALK but not got much assistance yet but need to do ASAP.
Pictures below - Camera will need to be part of the Post Box
Camera will face the rest of the driveway which is where the turning for the road is. On the pictures shown, traffic will come in past the garage towards where the camera is shown.
Restrictions I have is WiFi won't work at that location so needs to be able to be hardwired. I will have plugs there so that or PoE would be fine.
Whilst I own the drive, 2 others have right of access over it. So ideally I want to be able to do a couple of things.
VEHICLE:
Identify number plates which are 'friendly' and then use into the GoGoGate2 controller to open the gate
Identify number plates which are the neighbours and mute alerts (but record)
Identify number plates where someone is stopped in front of the gate to then send alert ideally via sighthound API you'd mentioned to get some more detail
PERSON
Facial recognition of 'friendly faces' to open gate (if we're home - have a TADO system to connect which hopefully can do the processing part of the home/away) and announce
FR of neighbours to ignore (and record)
FR of people who anyone who presses a trigger (possibly a switch or doorbell style device, depends on the camera chosen) and announce/snapshot/video to devices (iPhone, GoogleHome Mini, GoogleHub, TV?)
Ok, pretty much any of the Dahua starlight cams should work for this. You will need to figure out Field Of View because LRP and FACE recognition really need tight close up of faces/plates. So you might realistically want more than one camera in that location..possibly even 3 if you want a general overview, once focused tight for a face at the gate and one pointing to pick up LPRs in an appropriate spot.
Any of these do full colour night vision or is that likely to run to many $$$$?
For the LPR - any reason for the bullets v turret? Just visually (important to wife) would be neater to have 1 or 2 turrets mounted next to each other)
Which I have one of for testing (you can see my photos on that site) but you give up the IR capability and I don't know if I'd do that for an "only" camera. At night you either need a lot of white (regular) lighting to use a color camera. Which if that's not a problem that's your best bet. But most don't want to leave lights on all night. I use some pretty powerful IR flood lights around my driveway and other areas of the house. These light up IR cameras as if there are flood lights but I don't have "visible" lights on all night.
Mostly because you can get longer zooms with them. These guys are generally my go to all around:
Thanks - send Andy a message around those as helpfully they come in black as well.
Whats your thoughts on how best to get alert/talk back to function as a doorbell? I could just get a video doorbell but seems pointless if the cameras could help with hubitat to get the same solution?
quite honestly...if it was me...I'd just do both. Meaning a dedicated doorbell/camera talk back system. That way you get complete integration of the system you want (there are many) and you aren't trying to tie that system into BI or something else. Lots of threads on that site with people wanting to do that and it never really working out. Basically the cameras in those doorbell type cameras don't typically play well with IP cam DVRs and they are usually wifi.
