Unifi Protect

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I'm just starting to go down this rabbit hole...so I don't have the pieces to play with yet.

My Q is for outdoor cameras at the corners of my house. Is it possible to place a single turret camera and have it change direction based on a change in Hubitat...like say a motion sensor?

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You’d need one of their PTZ cameras, not all of the turret cams can move.

ETA: would you use only the built-in unifi integration or would you consider the community-made integration?

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Right...I guess I misused the turret description...

And I have no idea which...my Hubitat Package Manager didn't match on Unify? So, I was not aware yet...thanks!

Can Hubitat control PTZ functions with either of those?

THANKS!

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The integration you decide to use makes a big difference.

The built-in Unifi Protect Integration is mainly just to use the cameras as motion sensors. Then you have Unifi Protect integrations like @snell's that can do pretty much anything you can do in the web ui like control the camera position i believe.

There is also the Unifi Integration Manager that will help manage Snell's community integrations for Protect, Network, and Connect. It also enables the ability for webhooks both directions between the Unifi apps and hubitat.

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Make sure you spell "UniFi" correctly (no 'y', just another 'i' at the end) - just a guess as to why your search may have come up with no results.

Here is a link to @snell's community integration.

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FWIW I have dug deep into this rabbit hole in the past year so here are my thoughts so you can make informed decisions:

  • I started with a camera mounted on the front corner of my house to get the front yard and culdesac I live on. Started out with a G4 Pro bullet, upgraded it to a AI Pro bullet, and finally settled on a G6 PTZ. The PTZ is nice because it will follow people walking in the culdesac and has a nice zoom.
  • Relocated the other mentioned cameras to different spots like my back yard.
  • Really like the AI Turrets because they have an LED light on them. They are perfect at corner of my garage and my patio to illuminate those areas at night when walking out or towards the house. Not the brightest light but it is useful to see better. Smaller footprint under soffit too.
  • Started with the G4 Pro doorbell WiFi version and will say it’s struggled to keep a good connection. We had replaced our front door last year so I had Ethernet run. Given age of the G4 I anticipated that UniFi would release new doorbells and they did in December! I recently upgraded to the G6 Entry doorbell a PoE device. Camera is so much better though the package camera on the G4 Pro is much wider and got my entire front porch where G6 Entry does not. But the fact that the G6 Entry is also an UniFi Access device I can use my Apple watch and phone to unlock and lock my Level Bolt front door lock via HE integration, it’s a matter based lock.
  • If you plan to have several cameras bite the bullet and get the NVR. Ran into a few issues migrating from my UDM SE to the NVR but support helped solve it. It runs both the Protect and Access apps on my network.

Anyway hope this information helps. I will warn you it’s an expensive rabbit hole but one that’s worth it. I don’t miss Ring one bit!

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Duh...thx.

Can Hubitat trigger PTZ changes? I'm only asking to save buying TWO cameras on each corner of my house.

I realize the ideal deployment is two permanently aimed cameras. Just looking at an acceptable phase 1.

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Generally the PTZ camera cost more then the bulllets or turrets of the same line. What cameras are you going between. I doubt you will save by going with a PTZ over two of the same line.

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Hubitat's built-in UniFi Protect integration is focused on using the cameras as motion detectors. There are no commands available for my G6 PTZ camera. @bertabcd1234 would know for sure if there is a way to control the camera's position.

You may want to post in @snell's thread I linked above to see if his UniFi Protect integration exposes more features. I have never used that one, so no first-hand experience.

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A question for the OP...

What is your expectation of these cameras? If you are just looking to "keep an eye" on things, it may work for you, but if you are looking to be able to do more (such as identify people), you're going to need a lot more.

If you are interested, do a web search for DORI as it relates to cameras. And if you want more, I suggest you go down the rabbit hole at ipcamtalk.com; lots of good info there (although a bit Blue Iris-centric).

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The U6 line of cameras has AI built into them. Those functions include face and license plate recognition. Unifi also has their AI port and AI key to bring those features to other cameras that even include third party cameras. My point is it may not be as hard as you are thinking

Even using the built in Hubitat integration depends on Unifi Protect on Unifi gear.

That said the point of understanding expectations is conpletely valid and probably would be good to understand.

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Understood... but based on reading, that are expensive for what you get, compared to other options out there (Dahua/Hikvision), and the performance is not quite as good. I haven't really gone down the Unifi camera route since I already have a number of Axis and Dahua cameras in a system with Blue Iris.

My main point is that depending on what the user is looking for, plus the user's budget, there may be better options out there, and one of the beginner mistakes is to try to do too much with too few cameras.

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Unifi certainly isn't the cheapest option for cameras. But that hasn't been part of the conversation at all so far.

This thread was started about Unifi protect integration. I was speaking about that. Even if a user wanted to use a different brand camera they would need to use a AI port or AI Key to add those features if not already present.

If we started talking about third party PTZ cameras things get more complicated to. Last i heard Unifi Protect didn't have the option to do PTZ for third party devices.

I was staying focused on Unifi Protect since it was the subject of thread.

I can also say that my AI Port linked to a G4 Doorbell hasn't missed much if anything for AI functions. So not sure what you are referencing with performance not being as good. They work great for what they.

There is certainly a premium to be 100% unifi. But it is hard to beat the convenience of a all unifi environment.

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If the UniFi cameras are anywhere as nice and integrated as my dream seven router… I don’t mind paying for premium interfaces.

I’m new to the UniFi stuff but geez it is sweet.

I already have about 130 devices between IP and Z wave and Zigbee… And a nice simple single interface is well worth the money to me… I can understand how other people might not feel that way.

Basically, it’s an enterprise level interface for the Consumer.

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This is a important item to know. How many cameras are you thinking you will need.

Unifi Protect runs on a variety of unifi hardware. The Unifi dream 7 uses Micro SD card for its Protect camera storage. Probably ok for limited devices depending on your record settings and retention. But you may find it isn't sufficient after you add a few devices.

There is the unifi UNVR Instant that would give you a 3.5 inch hdd for storage in Protect and is still a desktop setup. It also includes 8 ports with POE.

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Think I mentioned that but definitely going to replace my Amcrest NVR

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I am on my phone so maybe I’m missing the post but I’m really only looking for one answer. Can Hubitat control a unifi camera and send it directional commands for PTZ functions

That impacts what I need to buy more than anything else so I’m really looking for that answer

If it’s a G4 to G6 question that’s valid too

00

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That has been answered in a way. It depends on what integration you use.

If you use the built-in integration from hubitat no it does not. It just enables the cameras for motion detection.

If you use @snell's integration yes it does.

I still question the cost value of a PTZ over two G5 or G6 cameras. Atleast if you are buying them from Ubiquity it isn't cheaper.

Third Party PTZ cameras will likely not work, but that isn't a limitation of hubitat, but Unifi Protects implementation for third party cameras.

If you want all the AI functions you either need G6 cameras or plan on getting a AI Port. To add the functionality.

Make sure you know how many cameras you want to operate so you know if your hardware can support the quantity.

My comment about the UDR7 and the UNVR instant is because Unifi Protect Runs on many pieces of hardware. The UDR7 is probably the most basic setup now with Micro SD as storage. The UCG-Max and UCG-Fiber use a NVME drive but that has limited capacity. Both of those will go through storage fast if you use Continuous Video Recording. Then you get into the unifi NVR's with the unvr instant being a desktop nvr with a large single drive. Everything else is rack mounted with expanding capacities. The big thing though is they all support different numbers of cameras so it is important to know how many cameras you will be using before picking a solution.

For reference I run a g4 doorbell and a G4 instant on a UCG Max. The g4 doorbell is inbetween a hd and 2k camera. I do CVR with the G4 doorbell abd motion based events on the G4 instant. I get about 3 weeks of recording history on a 512GB drive.

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Just to chime in... My Unifi Protect drivers do allow controlling the PTZ functions of Ubiquiti cameras. PTZ-capable 3rd party cameras are not able to be controlled (at this time, I regularly test this as I have a 3rd party PTZ camera also) via the API or controller's Protect interface (which I replicate for my drivers rather limited public API they are now offering).

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All... 3rd Party PTZ support should be implemented soon within my driver. I have it working now with my camera... but it also appears that they broke the Snapshot capability for the 3rd party cameras (even within the Protect webpages it gets an internal server error when I try to capture one, but still saves the file, which Hubitat does not like).

Moving the camera is great... not being able to take a picture? Not so much, defeats the purpose. So I want to get that solved before posting the update to enable the PTZ.

Update
Initial support has been added into my drivers. PTZ works fine on my 3rd party PTZ camera (I only have one though) but it appears that other issues have cropped up on Ubiquiti's Protect side of it (it does not properly take snapshots anymore, unrelated to whether it has the PTZ or plain Camera driver, and gets the error in the Protect app itself also). My non-PTZ 3rd party camera (and Ubiquiti cameras) are continuing to work fine, so it appears to be something with either the model I have or a new bug on Ubiquiti's side.

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