Dahua and Hikvision are the largest manufactures, with most companies rebranding them.
Even if you don't use Synology, this is a handy list. https://www.synology.com/en-us/compatibility/camera
Ask HN: IP cameras that don't require an app or internet?
21–30 of 204 posts
Re: Ask HN: IP cameras that don't require an app or internet?
#22I have similar needs, but aldo need them to be outdoor/waterproof and PoE capable.
I looked at DIY with Raspberry Pi high quality cameras, but the outdoor requirements mean I really need a manufactured housing. (Camera will be in an area very hard to reach for servicing.)
I wonder if there is any project to hack the generic chinese camera makes and install custom firmware?
Re: Ask HN: IP cameras that don't require an app or internet?
#23For my apartment, I run rtsp-simple-server[1] on my home server and use Raspberry Pis with generic USB webcams running ffmpeg to stream the audio/video to the RTSP server. Then I run camera.ui[2] separately for a nicer interface on top of all the cameras, HomeKit integration, etc.
The only downside hardware-wise is I don't get any indoor IR night vision with these, which some of the nicer "smart home" account-locked ones do.
It's honestly not too bad to set up if you run [1] and [2] in Docker. I've done disaster recovery scenarios of my home infra where I straight up disconnect the modem's uplink and everything works without any issues.
Re: Ask HN: IP cameras that don't require an app or internet?
#24UniFi Protect cameras can all be set up in standalone mode by visiting the camera's IP address in a web browser — they will obtain an address from DHCP by default. From there you can set up the RTSP streams which become accessible from the camera IP directly. You do not need to use a UniFi Protect app or console in this configuration.
You can also get a console and not connect it to the internet for central management.
Re: Ask HN: IP cameras that don't require an app or internet?
#25This is a very disturbing trend for sure. Given that these new cameras that need accounts sure aren’t showing ads on the feeds either, meanwhile an account being required must be important to the manufacturers in some way. I can only conclude that they must be selling access to feeds, because even the most incompetent agile product delivery manager type person isn’t going to simply suggest every camera needs an accou…
This is happening with routers, too. Just recently had someone give me a new Netgear Nighthawk for free, and I was stoked until it wanted me to download an app and create an account to manage my network. Straight to the garbage.
Re: Ask HN: IP cameras that don't require an app or internet?
#26This is a very disturbing trend for sure. Given that these new cameras that need accounts sure aren’t showing ads on the feeds either, meanwhile an account being required must be important to the manufacturers in some way. I can only conclude that they must be selling access to feeds, because even the most incompetent agile product delivery manager type person isn’t going to simply suggest every camera needs an accou…
This is happening with routers, too. Just recently had someone give me a new Netgear Nighthawk for free, and I was stoked until it wanted me to download an app and create an account to manage my network. Straight to the garbage.
Decent consumer hardware, in the future I'd suggest trying out something like OpenWRT rather than binning it.
Re: Ask HN: IP cameras that don't require an app or internet?
#27Not exactly the ask, but a user friendly alternative is HomeKit cameras with a HomePod mini as a hub for local processing. Some can be paired without any app, and once paired you can block internet access at the router level. You can access them through the local network. If you trust apples e2e encryption you can access remotely through the homepod.
Re: Ask HN: IP cameras that don't require an app or internet?
#28I have worked professionally with access control and surveillance. I can give you two manufacturer recommendations: Axis and Geovision. Axis cameras are high end and expensive, but they will, in my experience, do anything an IP camera could reasonably be expected to do, and they will do it well. They are European in origin and are available from various retail outlets to ship this week. Geovision cameras are low end…
I can second this. I have several Axis M1065-LW cameras inside (running on wall plugs and wifi) and several Axis P1447-LE externally (running on PoE).
Would recommend both of them. Notably, I had one exterior camera fail (wouldn’t run off PoE), and the Axis support/RMA process was smooth and fast.
Re: Ask HN: IP cameras that don't require an app or internet?
#29IP cams are an interesting animal. On one side, very versatile but on the other side a huge waist:
Most IP cameras use 3W just creating a RTSP stream. add another 5W for IR LEDs that come on in the evening.
If i was shopping, i'd look for sensors with very high sensitivity that don't need 5W of IR to get good night images.
I have a few where i've physically disconnected the IR array and the shutter will adapt and still get very good static images and a little bit of smearing when something moves. It all depends of your use case though.
Re: Ask HN: IP cameras that don't require an app or internet?
#30Take a look at https://openipc.org/ and choose a camera from their supported list.