Security camera recommendation

Playground Hardware
#1

I've had Wyze cameras for several years and lately the quality has degraded. Playback from SD card keeps freezing and my wife has been nagging me about it. I've looked and posted on the Wyze forums and it turns out that I'm not the only one complaining about the same thing. Wyze has done nothing about it.

It was great in the beginning but I guess you get what you pay for and since those Wyze cameras are cheap, you can't expect great things.

Anyway, I'm at the point where I'm seriously considering replacing them with cameras that can be integrated into Channels (via custom channels) and record the video feeds.

I searched these forums and found some threads from a few years ago.
Here we are now in 2023 and I'm looking for advice on camera brands and models that will work nicely with Channels DVR. Preferably cameras that work locally on the LAN directly but I'm open to a solution that would involve a server as long as it's reliable.

Please advise.

#2

What kind of Wyze Cameras do you have the V3 are great and there is a docker to get them into Channels through rtsp.

Interesting Docker for Wyze Cameras ... HLS + RTSP - Playground / Hacks - Channels Community (getchannels.com)

#3

I have V3 cameras and I did try the Docker solution that you mentioned but it didn't work for me: it would detect only 2 or 3 of my 9 cameras.

Even when I go to view.wyze.com, I can get 1, maybe 2 cameras to work, at best. All others are just black screens.

Maybe it is because my low upload speed from my ISP that is 10 Mb/s if I'm lucky. I would think this should be enough to work.

Ideally, a local solution would be best, obviously. :slightly_smiling_face:

#4

I use Ubiquiti Unifi Protect cams. They have a nice Apple TV app.(android tv forget it).
But, the RTSP stream for the cams works fine as a custom channel in Channels.

Wyze cams...you get what you pay for. Cheap crap that is the best crap out there at that level. Even their new more expensive V3 Pro is still garbage useless mic, and every motion clip any of their cams captures, the video freezes for several secs...an issue that has plagued Wyze cam users for nearly 2yrs now. I can't stand their cams anymore.

1 Like
#5

Thank you for the suggestion, I will look into it.

#6

I spent a bit reading about the Unifi Protect system this afternoon - they've always made great network hardware. Apparently, the company only provides support for their cameras if you purchase a separate piece of hardware (from them) to manage the security system. I also noticed some folks in the Blue Iris forums lamenting about some of the later camera security upgrades force SRTSP exclusively making for difficult workarounds for those who want to use anything other than Ubiquiti's own management hardware. To add to the fun, the SRTSP issue can vary by camera model. I was really looking for a Unify application that would act as a server that I could run on a PC, but it seems like that's not an option.

Have you run in to any of this? Which camera(s) are you running?

1 Like
#7

Unifi Protect runs on Ubiquiti hardware and that is required, as it should be for the best experience and security. You can not self host Protect Controller. You need to buy one of their NVR's or Dream Machines products, etc. Depends on what you want or use. They have a full line of Network hardware, wired routing, switches, Wifi APs, and NVR's. Since my network hardware is already all Ubiquiti, it works out well. You can get one of their Dream Machine or core routers that can have drives in it to also not only the network controller but also Protect.

I use the Cloud Key Gen2 + as my Unifi Network Controller and Unifi Protect Controller, but it can also handle their other products, like Access, Talk, Connect, UID. It can handle up to around 20 cams, depending on resolution, they have cam model from 1080p, 2K, and 4K.

Unifi is not a cheap solution, but it is very well priced compared to more enterprise offerings like Cisco etc.

RTSP is still there, you just have to modify the URL and port number. SRTSP is now the default option in the GUI to use though. I view the cams local and remotely via VLC with RTSP all the time.

I have 3x G3 Flex, and 2x G3 Instant cams at my home.
But have other installations setup at friends/family's homes, as well as much larger deployments that i manage at some businesses and schools in my area.

If you are looking to go the "Open source" or third party software route, and cameras that support that well, then you are pretty much on your own and have to deal with only other user/community style support....and many hours of manual configuration, and things often breaking. I have have messed with software's like Blue Iris, with various hardware, and found it too unreliable and finicky. First party purpose buit hardware just works and works well in its own ecosystem. That being said, there are users i have seen use Unifi cams on third party software fine, but it is pretty pointless, when the native system does everything you need and more.
It also very easy to integrate Unifi Protect into Apple Homekit, via Homebridge and a plugin.

#8

Wow. Yeah. Okay thanks.