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Ask HN: Self-hosted open source IP security cameras?

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Re: Ask HN: Self-hosted open source IP security cameras?

#11

Post by wojciii »

larsla wrote: post #7

I use Frigate ( https://frigate.video/ ) on a rPI for recording and doing person detection for 3 Reolink cameras. Connecting that to HomeAssistant for dashboard and notifications. It works great! I boot the rPI (model 4 with 8gb RAM) from a USB-SSD to not worry about SD-cards. I connected a Coral USB device for the person detection since the rPI itself can only manage about 2 frames/s.

Thanks for mentioning this. I had no idea it existed.

I have a bunch of hikvision cameras which are not capable of detecting people which is really all I care about. I don't care about birds or cats. :D

Re: Ask HN: Self-hosted open source IP security cameras?

#13

Post by mindslight »

I had been planning to make security cameras with RPi, HQ Camera, and a 3d-printed case. But that was back when Pi 4's were $30, rather than unobtainable. I hadn't really figured out the software story, but my previous attempts with Pi Zero and basic camera left me wanting more horsepower.

Re: Ask HN: Self-hosted open source IP security cameras?

#14

Post by dervjd »

Once you step up from consumer level (Nest/Ring/Wyze) cameras, you'll find that nearly every IP camera supports the standard RTSP/ONVIF format. They don't need any internet access to function. Standard practice is to secure them by using a dedicated VLAN (so they can't talk to anything else on your network) and default deny firewall rules (so they can't get to the Internet or other parts of your network). It's definitely not plug-and-play, but if you have experience setting up networks it's pretty straightforward. If you want remote access to the cameras while off your local network, you'll need to set up a VPN.

I have a bunch of Hikvision cameras (DS-2CD2342WD-I) that were about $120/each that I'm happy with. I don't have any security concerns about them phoning home or doing anything nefarious, because they're completely segregated on their own locked down network.

If you want to record, you'll need to set up an NVR. You can buy one (i.e. https://amzn.to/3HFNEWw) or run software on your own server. I use Milestone XProtect's free license at one site, and Synology's Surveillance Station at another. You could also look for cameras that have an SD card slot built in, and configure recording directly on the camera.

Re: Ask HN: Self-hosted open source IP security cameras?

#15

Post by boxingrock »

Shinobi is another option to consider. Besides the typical web gui, it gives you a decent "REST" API, so I ended up building a little flutter app for android which runs on top of a wireguard tunnel back to the site.

The only thing not open source is the cameras and don't hold your breath waiting on something to come out at a decent price. There's only like 5 MFGs that make the actual hardware so most consumer products are rebranded, software locked and sold at a loss to hook you into the subscription. I know Pine64 had some dev kits but nothing you could buy in quantity.

Re: Ask HN: Self-hosted open source IP security cameras?

#16

Post by arwineap »

My goals were mostly the same, and I realized I needed RTSP/ONVIF cameras with poe links

Started using kerberos.io but got frustrated with their licensing. I had thought using their hooks would be enough for my use case.

In the end I wrote some code that uses opencv to monitor the stream, look for motion, then I isolate the motion and use yolov3 to classify what is in the motion area. The motion isolation ended up being required because I didn't want the car in my driveway to be classified on every video.

Then some simple rules to control how things get saved and if I get alerted. If I am alerted the video gets uploaded to an s3 bucket, and a presigned link gets sent over telegram. Of course, I keep a local copy for some time as well :)

My cameras are all on an isolated network. The server monitoring them has two nics so it's able to route to the cameras and externally. The server consumes a lot of CPU, but I hope to eventually get a minor gpu for it to offload some of the work

It's been a very fun and rewarding project, and I hope to keep iterating.

Re: Ask HN: Self-hosted open source IP security cameras?

#18

Post by peterhadlaw »

dervjd wrote: post #14

Once you step up from consumer level (Nest/Ring/Wyze) cameras, you'll find that nearly every IP camera supports the standard RTSP/ONVIF format. They don't need any internet access to function. Standard practice is to secure them by using a dedicated VLAN (so they can't talk to anything else on your network) and default deny firewall rules (so they can't get to the Internet or other parts of your network). It's defini…

I've been trying for a long time to learn how to setup this "separate VLAN" stuff. Do you have a resource you could recommend? :)

Re: Ask HN: Self-hosted open source IP security cameras?

#20

Post by nonamechicken »

peterhadlaw wrote: post #18
dervjd wrote: post #14

Once you step up from consumer level (Nest/Ring/Wyze) cameras, you'll find that nearly every IP camera supports the standard RTSP/ONVIF format. They don't need any internet access to function. Standard practice is to secure them by using a dedicated VLAN (so they can't talk to anything else on your network) and default deny firewall rules (so they can't get to the Internet or other parts of your network). It's defini…

I've been trying for a long time to learn how to setup this "separate VLAN" stuff. Do you have a resource you could recommend? :)

pfsense supports VLANs. Lawrence Systems in YouTube covers pfsense a lot. This is one video where they talk about setting up VLAN in pfsense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2w1Ywt081o

On the wifi side, TPLink EAP245 access point allows you to configure multiple SSIDs, each with separate VLANs so that you can have one set of devices connect to one SSID, another group of devices to another SSID and so on. pfsense firewall rules can be configured to prevent the devices on separate VLANs from seeing each other. You can also block internet to access for one VLAN, and have the wireless IP cameras connect to it.

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