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What cheap cameras for home security that dont force you to use their proprietary software/account
I looking at cameras, maybe a pack of 2 or 3, that dont force you to use their garbage chinese backdoor spyware software. What brands/models just work as wifi cameras that you can access yourself directly with open source “ring” type software? By cheap, I mean about 50-100 for a pack of 2 or 3. I have one that I bought for like $25 that works well as far as quality, but it ONLY works if you use their proprietary crap (their own garbage app, and you need to make an account on their website and login in order to use it on a local network. Yea, no thanks.)
I have a Ubiquity Dream Machine in case there are non-uniquity devices that “just work” (uniquity cameras are expensive).
Maybe there are cameras that simply work with some protocol (and no software) where I can handle the rest (whip up a frontend to view the feeds, or use open source software that handles the “motion alert”, “record the past 2 weeks” etc)?
So far, it unfortunately seems like there is no straightforward option. The suggestions involve hacking firmware, or things like "it does phone home and require internet, but it also lets you do local network stuff". Lots to think about as far as which route to take.
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I use reolink for that, they have pretty cheap options with okay image quality. They usually phone home and come with an app, but you can set them up with a local web frontend running on the camera.
They have an open rtsp stream you can grab with something like frigate or BlueIris, or even straight from home assistant as someone already mentioned.
What I also did was put them in a separate vlan so they can't access the internet nor can they be accessed from outside without using a VPN. That way they also can't see anything on the network but can be accessed by the server running frigate in my case.
I have the exact same setup. Reolink cameras in a locked down subnet and vlan. Run my own pi-hole (dns & dhcp), ntpd to support the cameras. Shinobi for recording, motion detection, etc.
Wyze cameras start with their proprietary software, but it can be flashed to a firmware with RTSP. The firmware is from wyze, but can't be flashed back once installed. That protocol allows local support and recording with whatever software supports it.
The folks at r/homeassistant may have some insights as well (and the software may be partially what you're looking for too!).
Amcrest cameras. Even the smarthome versions which appear app dependent can be configured and managed all locally without making and account.
Also many amcrest are just rebranded Dahua. All Dahua cams can be managed without a cloud account.
I also have a a couple cams that required a cloud account to setup, but after configuring I was able to neuter their network connectivity. Example is my Eufy floodlight camera.
Ring is 100% phone home isn’t it?
Yes, it “needs” an Amazon account, and I believe you also have to pay a monthly fee so that Bezos can see your nudes.
ESP32-Cams? 6€ a pop, lenses can be exchanged according to requirements, runs at 3.3V. The chips and firmware are not open-source but everything beyond that can be done yourself with the Arduino IDE and home assistant if need be.
https://github.com/EliasKotlyar/Xiaomi-Dafang-Hacks
Motion detection, send motion to telegram, ftp server and many many more
But you need to flash new software on those cheap cams
Reolink, Eufy
onvif/rtsp cameras will work, you can configure with any onvif software.
I have some chinese, all onvif and work good enough for the price, some have "his cloud shit"
I configure through onvif (local) and block in firewall all input/output connection from their ips (for remote you can expose zoneminder or nvr hardware port)
I would like any with web interface for configure and completely "cloud clean" but i never found one in that range of that prices. (most Chinese cam have web interface but need a old internet explorer)
You going to need or nvr hardware or software like zoneminder for have all together. I use zoneminder but a nvr hardware will make the installation simple and eat less resources. Probably if you haven't a good spare computer for install zoneminder or similar a nvr hardware is better for you. In this case probably your better option is buy some NVR pack with the cameras included
Frigate is a good option but in my case i use pan/til cameras and haven't support for that.
Hikvision. Just do not follow instruction and do not use their app. They fine as standalone.
We bought a night owl system. It’s very old school, snd while we didn’t, we could’ve used our own operating system. It had an app but you connected it via an open port on your router and that was optional - in fact, connecting to the internet at was a bit of a pain. It was like $100 and it came with 8 cameras. To be clear, it was not super fancy and the cameras were not wireless.
For the past 6 years I have been using Foscam C1 camera's. During installation I had to fiddle a bit with a prehistoric web interface based on Internet Explorer but that was just once, in order to password protect their feed and setup the network. Since then they were switched-on (with IR led's permanently on), have been very reliable and I never turned them off. I view their feed via rtsp clients and they are compatible with Onvier for mobile (it requires a manual setup). Connectivity can be wired or wify (I use both) and they can be setup with static IP to have their feed accessible through the router if you so wish. I am not using motion detection and micro-sd local recording but they are capable.
Reolink and Dahua Imou