Server/Client DIY Home Surveillance

stevenkan

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Probably the biggest plus for me using Luxriot is the negligible PC load. I thought Xprotect was minimal but I run 2 4MP and 4 2MP IP cameras 24/7 and the EVO monitor and my CPU load is between 5-10% on an i5-3570K with built in graphics on the motherboard. This allows me to run Homeseer and 12TB of storage all together without breaking a sweat. I know BI keeps improving its CPU load but what I have read it still isn't that good.

I was just about to pay for BI license, but this might steer me back into trying out Luxriot. I have an HP Microserver Gen10 with an AMD X3418 Quad-Core CPU, and I was getting really high CPU utilization in BI with 9-10 cameras running. BI has some support for GPU decode, but it requires a bunch of manual fiddling and trial and error.

And I just remembered that the "save direct to disc" (e.g. without decoding/transcoding) in BI was allegedly limited to the paid edition, and unsupported in the free trial, despite that option being selectable in the GUI :facepalm:

Do any of y'all BI users know if this is still true? e.g. will my CPU utilization magically drop once I drop $60 for a license?

Seems like a really weird limitation for a trial edition attempting to induce you to pay for a product.

Here's a follow-up on this. Based on some discussion over on https://ipcamtalk.com, I bought myself a BI license and a $400 refribbed Core i7-6700 PC, including a Win10 Pro license, 16 GB, and a 512 GB SSD. I then added a $100 (at the time) external 4-bay USB drive bay, threw in a bunch of leftovers HDDs from the office, and set it up as a ReFS JBOD Storage Space.

It works pretty well, especially the web interface from any PC/Mac on the network. With 12 cameras saving direct-to-disk and QuickSync enabled for all, CPU usage is hovering around 18% if I'm just passively watching it. I currently have 9 of the cameras recording 24/7, and my rolling 7 days' worth of footage is taking up 3.78 of my 7.26 TiB (52%) of storage space on my Storage Space :D

I haven't set it up for iOS app access, but I'm going to spend the $12 and do that pretty soon.

Overall I will endorse this as a solution.

I'm up to 14 cameras at my house, with 3 more to be added soon, and now I have a second site at my parents' house with 4 cameras (on a separate PC), and it's all working pretty well. I did buy the $12 app, and I can switch back and forth between the 2 sites any time. I likely will add a 3rd site at my office once we move buildings.
 

ptweasel

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Yeah, Blue Iris is what I'm going back to for our "other house".

At our current house, I'm really happy with Luxriot. I have 9 cameras and it's been super stable, and as I'm sure I've said before, I really like a nice timeline view. For anyone that used older video editing equipment, the jog-dial that lets you move back and forth on a timeline while viewing synced video from all cameras at once is my absolute favorite. Blue Iris sort of has that functionality, but not to the extent that Luxriot does.

But, we inherited my FIL's house when he passed away from COVID. It's 2.5 hours away and I like to be able to keep an eye on things.

Right now, I have four Wyze Cam v3s there. I didn't want to pay $5/month per camera for cloud recording, so I tried getting away with putting sd cards in each camera. At first I thought it was great. Each camera records continuously and you can view the footage, but the limitations on notifications without subscribing are horrible. When a camera detects motion, it sends a push notification to my phone with a 12 second clip. Then, that camera keeps recording to the sd card but can't send another notification for 5 freaking minutes.

I've had the situation multiple times where a car went by and set off the notification. Then, within the 5 minute "timeout" period, someone came to the door and knocked and I had no idea until I randomly saw it when looking through the recordings. A lot can happen in 5 full minutes.

So, I have a computer set up and ready to deploy next time we go to that house. I tested Blue Iris's push notifications and was pretty surprised at how well they work. And, I was also really happy to see how quickly the dev added the Wyze Cam v3 RTSP cameras to the wizard for easy setup. Even with ONVIF and RTSP, getting audio to work, especially two-way audio, can be a pain if not impossible, but they seem to work out of the box.
 

ptweasel

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Ok, so my first experience with setting up four Wyze Cam v3s with the new beta RTSP firmware.

First off, the switch from the normal firmware to the beta firmware is pretty painless, but can't be done through the app. You have to put the beta firmware on an sdcard, reboot the camera while holding down the setup button, and then wait until the upgrade is done. Once the camera reboots, you can take out the sdcard. It wasn't a hard process, but kind of annoying with cameras in hard to reach places. And, I wonder if I'll ever receive firmware updates through the app again.

I had initially planned to use LuxRiot, but I had a valid Blue Iris license not being used, so I decided to see how it has progressed since the last time I tried it. Apparently, a lot has changed for the better. For one, the main reason I hadn't stuck with BI was the lack of a timeline view in the client apps. The main BI console has had timeline view for a while, but not if you were viewing remotely through the web UI. But, because the ipcamtalk user that creates the web UI is freaking awesome, timeline is now available.

I do have to say that Blue Iris is an amazing piece of software. Any possible option you can think of is somewhere in the settings. And the "help" pdf is 251 pages long and includes in-depth details of every one of those options.

Anyway, got all of the Wyze cams set up and they seem to work pretty well. I've seen a couple of instances where BI said the rtsp feed had gone offline but I could pull up the camera just fine in the Wyze app, so I'm not sure what that's about. It usually recovers within a few seconds anyway.

Overall, I'm pretty happy. I wish the Wyze cams offered a substream, but for $30 each, I really can't complain.
 

ptweasel

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Overall, I'm pretty happy. I wish the Wyze cams offered a substream, but for $30 each, I really can't complain.

Yeah, but my Wyze main streams are only 80 - 120 kB/sec, vs. the ~600 - 900 KBps of my "big" cameras' main streams, so it's not a big deal.

True, the Wyze cams seem to make really agressive use of p-frames, to the point that it can be annoying.
 

ptweasel

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Aaaannndd......

Two months later they've removed the RTSP firmware from their site.

[url=https://support.wyze.com/hc/en-us/articles/360051619871-Does-Wyze-Cam-v3-support-RTSP-:r85gmf72 said:
Wyze FAQ[/url]":r85gmf72]
RTSP was considered a beta feature and we are currently assessing the path forward as the firmware versions have aged quite a bit. We have removed the firmware files for these versions for now and we’ll update the pages when plans are finalized. Please note that firmware files take a while to work on and test so you may not see an update in the near future. We apologize for the inconvenience.

There's nothing wrong with the firmware, it works just fine, so their statement that it had "aged quite a bit" is pretty hollow. My assumption is that RTSP didn't really work with their business model of selling well engineered cams for super cheap and then restricting all of the good features to the $1.25/month per camera Cam Plus plan.

The link to the firmware file still works HERE, they just removed it from the FAQ, and I'll be mirroring it elsewhere as well.
 

stevenkan

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Here's the smallest POE camera I could find, for about $40:

61iXru5M7fS.__AC_SX300_SY300_QL70_ML2_.jpg


The particular model I bought (there are 9 choices on the amazon page) has no audio, but I don't need it for this particular application (detecting when my mailbox gets opened).

Image quality is acceptable for $40:

Revotech3.6mm.jpg


I'll deploy it as soon as I can get a trench dug out to the mailbox.
 

ptweasel

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Yeah, I had the same thought. From the screenshots I looked at in the amazon reviews, it doesn't look like low light performance is very good.

In the past I tried a really cheap IR floodlight next to a camera without night vision and the result wasn't very good. The amazon listing says some of them have IR cut filters and some don't, so I wonder if it would be worth trying.

For now, for super low cost cams I'm sticking with Wyze Cam v3 with the RTSP firmware. As long as the wifi signal is really strong, mine have been very stable. But, put one in an area where the wifi is spotty and it seems to drop a lot and only recover if the NVR software you're using knows how to handle it.

Blue Iris and LuxRiot, for example, seem to handle the rtsp stream dropping periodically and then pick it back up. I don't know enough about rtsp keep_alive and how it works, but I know that some NVR software I've tried just gives up and I either have to reboot the camera or disable/enable the cam in the NVR software which is super annoying if I'm away.
 

ptweasel

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Just for something to do, I tried out Synology Surveillance System in a VM. It's fine, but no better than Luxriot or Blue Iris or any other top-tier NVR software.

I guess if I had a Synology NAS it would be an option so that I'm not running a full instance of Windows just for an NVR. But, I can't imagine paying $50 for a license for the privilege to connect a camera I own to a NAS that I own. And that's per camera.
 

Carhole

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I will admit that Ubiquiti Protect looks really nice. Are you using it personally?

I’ve installed a few dozen Ubiquiti networks including complete NVR solutions on top of their enterprise networking solutions and it can be good equipment with crippling bugs in software, or in at least one case their enterprise switches had faulty power supplies that tended to blow approximately three days after warranty expiration. The company grew very quickly just up to the pandemic, and seems to still be reeling from the effects of said plague.

I use UniFi Protect in a few spots still, and would like to buy more cameras. They’ve been basically gone from the market since early 2020 yet continue to introduce new vaporware upgrades. All of my cams are various G3 series. The last three that I had in my inventory were G3 Bullets far past warranty but brand new units, and when I went to initialize them they pulled a firmware upgrade that bricked their IR circuits. Pretty weird there, as otherwise UniFi Protect is a good option if you’re OK with POE installs and locking into their NVR ecosystem. I used to just build Linux servers for their service but everything seems to have migrated from UniFi Video to UniFi Protect meaning you need to buy their hardware for the whole setup …except for switching. You can still get away with using cheap switching and routing, but dare say that their AIO systems are very nice. They really do need to fix their supply chain issues before I’d recommend UniFi Anything to a customer.
 

Xelas

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What the hell is going on with Ubiquiti’s supply lines? They virtually never have their common components in stock anymore and worse, there’s a huge scalper market on eBay for the stuff as a result.

LOL - have you tried buying any network equipment lately? You can still mostly get really basic dumb switches, but managed switches and APs are huge problem right now from almost any vendor. Lead times are 9+ months for many things. It's crazy. Lead times really blew up in a big way starting about 9-12 months ago.

Hell, I was quoted May 2023 from several supply houses for a friggen dishwasher just 2 weeks ago.

For our corporate network equipment purchases, I'll happily pay 50% over MSRP just to get stuff (clue-less upper management didn't head my requests to stockpile a 12-month inventory last Fall, so now we don't have network equipment for site openings), but the problem is that almost all manufacturers don't have a transferable warranty.
 

ptweasel

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Well, Carhole and a few others in the Networking forum, I definitely won't be buying any Ubiquiti gear anytime soon. I mean, not that I was seriously considering it anyway as I started this thread more about cobbling crap together to make a working setup. That said, the gear looks nice and Protect looks fairly modern, but not more so than some of the free or low cost options that run on Windows or Linux these days.
 

ptweasel

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On a separate note, but stemming from my quest to try every available NVR software I can find - if you're a developer of software that has a web-based management/viewer on the desktop, please don't tell me you have a "universal web-UI that works on all platforms, no need for a mobile app!"

It most likely doesn't, and I will probably immediately stop using it if there isn't a dedicated app.
 

Carhole

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What the hell is going on with Ubiquiti’s supply lines? They virtually never have their common components in stock anymore and worse, there’s a huge scalper market on eBay for the stuff as a result.

LOL - have you tried buying any network equipment lately? You can still mostly get really basic dumb switches, but managed switches and APs are huge problem right now from almost any vendor. Lead times are 9+ months for many things. It's crazy. Lead times really blew up in a big way starting about 9-12 months ago.

Hell, I was quoted May 2023 from several supply houses for a friggen dishwasher just 2 weeks ago.

For our corporate network equipment purchases, I'll happily pay 50% over MSRP just to get stuff (clue-less upper management didn't head my requests to stockpile a 12-month inventory last Fall, so now we don't have network equipment for site openings), but the problem is that almost all manufacturers don't have a transferable warranty.

No, because it’s been unavailable since early 2020. As have the cameras, hence my comment. It’s otherwise a very good product overall but you’re dedicated to a product ecosystem that can no longer build or provide its products, so current buildouts are facing attrition. I don’t do scalpers for networking or surveillance gear but more power to ya on that point. I suppose if your job requires it…eh?

Basically if the company survives the last throes of the pandemic or at least can dump a little bit more inventory for my home install I will continue to give them a few bucks, then go for one of the more popular roll yer own solutions from this thread. I’m hoping to delay that for five years or so. Don’t need more functionality from the products when they exist. They are good enough when available.

Maybe down the line something fancier will be worth the hassle of buying all new cams and building the NVR for it. The licensing schemes all tend to piss me off but there’d be far better cameras to play with which is something that has traditionally been a weakness of the closed Ubiquiti ecosystems.
 

stevenkan

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On a separate note, but stemming from my quest to try every available NVR software I can find - if you're a developer of software that has a web-based management/viewer on the desktop, please don't tell me you have a "universal web-UI that works on all platforms, no need for a mobile app!"

It most likely doesn't, and I will probably immediately stop using it if there isn't a dedicated app.

I have the BlueIris iOS app, and I like it a lot, but their Chrome interface actually works surprisingly well on my iPhone, and has some features that aren't available in the app (yet) such as Timeline view.
 

ptweasel

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Not trying to derail this any more, but I have been very unhappy with my networking setup for the past few months. Before anyone says anything, yes I know that using a mesh system with wifi backhaul is probably a bad idea for IP cameras. But, I'm in a situation where wiring everything directly is a major expense.

So after months of dealing with issues, I finally just temporarily connected my Orbi system with a wired backhaul to see if the wireless backhaul was the issue. At that point, they're basically just switches with APs in each satellite.

And... god I still hate them. Why is satellite #1 offline? Guess I'll reboot it. Oh, now satellite #2 is offline. Rebooted that one also. Now the main router just dropped offline and I can't connect to it even from the computer wired directly to it. About 10 minutes later, it's back up and the logs show that nothing happened. I will fire this Orbi system into the sun, which actually means I'll sell it on ebay. That's basically the same thing.

So anyway, I know several people have said they wouldn't buy into Unifi stuff. I definitely wouldn't want to buy into the camera ecosystem with Protect, but I was offered a deal from a work partner of a Dream Router and 3 managed switches for well below retail, so I think I might try it out.
 

Xelas

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I am one of those people who loved Unify a few years back but have been totally alienated by them over the last 2-3 years. Their devices have been vulnerable to dozens of security issues that they cover up instead of rapidly fixing. Their controllers are spyware that transmit user data to Unify. They document how to set up cloud-keys with Layer 3 functionality to allow it to control multiple networks from a single device, but covered up for years that the communication between devices and cloudkey was not encrypted. Their firmware updates routinely break things. Their devices routinely run hot and suck power prodigiously - power management is totally missing on their devices. I still have a 16-port PoE switch running at one site that I can;t get around to replacing supplying about about 15 watts of PoE power total, and it's sucking down 50-55W with almost no traffic. Their USG routers ran hot all the time for no reason - you could use the original USG 3-port router as a coffee warmer until it inevitably dies of overheating. It's all crap.

Their lack of ethics as a business and lack of QA in their hardware and firmware has totally turned me off. I'd suggest almost anything else at this point. Get a Cisco SMB switch (that has a fantastic, easy-to-understand web gui). Get Aruba. Get Meraki Go. Heck, I'd even recommend Netgear over Ubiquity.

Sorry, rant over.
 

ptweasel

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No, the rant is appreciated. But, that said, it sounds like both you and Carhole are speaking from enterprise experience rather than as a home user. Not that that in any way discounts what you've said, and maybe you've both used it both in enterprise and personally.

In my case as a home user, but with a setup that's definitely more advanced than most normal consumers, my experience with consumer grade stuff has been awful. The Orbi system I'm on now was reviewed as top of the line when I bought it, and I'm sure it's great for people that just need seamless wifi coverage in a large house. I doubt those people notice when an AP or two just dies for a few hours and then comes back online with no logs.

Or, they may not care that the Netgear UI seems like it's running on Pi Zero. Want to add a port forwarding rule? Great, just hit apply and it works. Want to add another? Oh, now the entire system needs to reboot and the APs won't reconnect unless I physically power cycle them. I have Wyze wifi smart outlets just so I can reboot the satellites without having to do it manually.

I would never plan on using Protect because I don't want to be stuck with their cameras. The only thing I'm interested in trying is the Dream Router and some managed 4 port flex switches if I can get a really good deal on them. And, my understanding is that you can use them without actually connecting to a unifi cloud account, correct?
 

Drizzt321

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And, my understanding is that you can use them without actually connecting to a unifi cloud account, correct?

Not certain, but AFAIK you still need a local controller at a minimum. I've got a Unifi AP and some 8-port PoE switches. Pretty solid for my use case in general, but I'm probably going to look around for when I decide to upgrade my AP to 6E or 7, whenever that is.
 

Xelas

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No, the rant is appreciated. But, that said, it sounds like both you and Carhole are speaking from enterprise experience rather than as a home user. Not that that in any way discounts what you've said, and maybe you've both used it both in enterprise and personally.

In my case as a home user, but with a setup that's definitely more advanced than most normal consumers, my experience with consumer grade stuff has been awful. The Orbi system I'm on now was reviewed as top of the line when I bought it, and I'm sure it's great for people that just need seamless wifi coverage in a large house. I doubt those people notice when an AP or two just dies for a few hours and then comes back online with no logs.

Or, they may not care that the Netgear UI seems like it's running on Pi Zero. Want to add a port forwarding rule? Great, just hit apply and it works. Want to add another? Oh, now the entire system needs to reboot and the APs won't reconnect unless I physically power cycle them. I have Wyze wifi smart outlets just so I can reboot the satellites without having to do it manually.

I would never plan on using Protect because I don't want to be stuck with their cameras. The only thing I'm interested in trying is the Dream Router and some managed 4 port flex switches if I can get a really good deal on them. And, my understanding is that you can use them without actually connecting to a unifi cloud account, correct?

I actually never deployed them commercially - it started with my home network (USG, 16-port switch, 2 or 3 WAPs), then I got it for my parents and in-Laws. I was considering them as a vendor to use for some of our smaller sites, but the lack of reliability and breaking bugs (DHCP broke at times, WiFi would stop connecting new devices until rebooted, devices would disappear from the controller after firmware updates or firmware updates would just randomly fail, etc) kept them out of the running for corporate/commercial use.
 

ptweasel

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And, my understanding is that you can use them without actually connecting to a unifi cloud account, correct?

Not certain, but AFAIK you still need a local controller at a minimum. I've got a Unifi AP and some 8-port PoE switches. Pretty solid for my use case in general, but I'm probably going to look around for when I decide to upgrade my AP to 6E or 7, whenever that is.

That was my understanding, that you have to a controller somewhere, but that it can be self-hosted on non-unifi hardware if you're willing to go an unsupported route.
 

Drizzt321

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And, my understanding is that you can use them without actually connecting to a unifi cloud account, correct?

Not certain, but AFAIK you still need a local controller at a minimum. I've got a Unifi AP and some 8-port PoE switches. Pretty solid for my use case in general, but I'm probably going to look around for when I decide to upgrade my AP to 6E or 7, whenever that is.

That was my understanding, that you have to a controller somewhere, but that it can be self-hosted on non-unifi hardware if you're willing to go an unsupported route.

Not sure about the Dream Router, that might require the Cloud connection. Or maybe it's that it has a built-in controller software? Hm. Don't recall. Anyway, as another data point, I'm planning on eventually shifting away, at least somewhat if not entirely, off of Unifi/Ubiquiti at some point in time.
 

ptweasel

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I do have to say, from the perspective of my pretty simple network, that I can see the allure of Unifi stuff now after having replaced that horrible Netgear Orbi system. I'm a stats and graphs and visibility junkie.

The router didn't work OOTB, saying "No internet detected" but I just factory reset it and setup went fine. Replaced the Orbi satellites with Flex Mini switches. I'm down to only having wifi access from the router itself, whereas each Orbi satellite was it's own AP, so I may have to add a Unifi AP to extend wifi to the detached garage, but it's 104 degrees and I can't work out there without passing out anyway.

I've turned off automatic firmware updates, so I guess I'll just wait and see. For a DIY camera setup, I've been so unhappy with the Netgear, Asus, and TP-Link stuff I've tried. I was constantly manually rebooting things and not sure what would go offline while I was out of town. I know a lot of other things have been recommended like InstantOn and Mikrotek, but I took a shot on a low price.

Hopefully, I don't end up back here posting with my hat in my hand :D
 

Carhole

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You’d probably love the UDM. Note that it has no POE on the inbuilt switch so that single AC AP built into the top of it does illuminate a strong radius of coverage but anything else in the house will need to cascade off of your other switches or be pushed from injectors or core switch next to your UDM in the closet/desk/rack.

UniFi Network is excellent for home use. You can configure your entire system via a direct Bluetooth connection to the router/controller (all within the UDM), get there first AP illuminated and then tack on managed switches and dumb switches as needed. You will need a cloud account for some services Ubiquiti provides SSO-wise, but it can be avoided I believe with some local config. Their track record securing user credentials is NOT good, so locking down your UDM setup locally is actually a smart plan.

They’re quite nice to configure. Adoption of downstream APs is simple using your phone, iPad, laptop if needed (that’ll require SSO cress for the latter) and the real-time topology map generation can be rather helpful for keeping your clients targeting correct APs in case they don’t optimize correctly. Also handy for peeking for intrusive device connectivity.

Without the SSO you will lose live event reporting to your inbox, and this is far less of an issue without a security system active than it is to have APs broadcasting a solid bubble over your entire property.

I know some folks are waiting for the WiFi6 AP to become more available but unless you really need that theoretical speed and hundreds of clients shaking hands just go for the Nano HD to get started. It’ll get you half-gig speeds and they’re tiny (maybe 6” diameter disk, a touch larger than smoke detector).

The UI is very good.

Note: if running real-time threat deterrence and gathering traffic info is critical to you then your router will be running warm. It doesn’t have a ton of CPU and RAM but can still technically harvest traffic but you’ll see some speed loss on your network as a result. The UDM Pro solves a lot of the congestion issues but is probably impossible to find in stock, plus it doesn’t have an AP in it (designed for a rack mount).

TL;DR I’d still build out large home networking with UnFi products if I could find them in stock. They work flawlessly once setup.

Caveat: disable auto updating of firmwares, and read their forums for bugs which can occasionally make it into release channel updates as part of you annual updating routine.
 

ptweasel

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Yeah, turning off automatic firmware updates was one of the first things I did after updating everything to the latest (after checking that everything was now stable in the forums).

The UDR has to live in one corner of the house, but I was surprised at the quality of the wifi signal on the opposite side. The wifi no longer reaches the detached garage or driveway, so I'll probably have to add an AP to the switch at the far end of the chain. The UniFi6 Lite APs are in stock, so I might go that direction.

I haven't turned on threat detection. I'm in an older house where the AC can't keep up during this heatwave, so it's really warm in the room where the UDR is located. For some reason, they apparently removed temperature monitoring from the UI for the UDR, but through SSH and running sensors it says it's currently at 59C. Not a lot of headroom left, so maybe I'll try it out when it cools off a little.

To get somewhat back on topic, the entire reason I went this route was because having a security system that requires constant maintenance isn't much of a security system. I was literally physically rebooting multiple APs and cameras every single day to keep everything up and running.

Since installing this, haven't had to do a single thing, it has just worked so far.
 

ptweasel

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Yeah, that appears to be an existing request for the UDM SE in their forums that is still open.

On the UDR that I have, the entire top of the thing is a bright blue LED ring that can't be turned off either. Fortunately, it's in a room where I don't see it.

Someone correctly my if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that all of these run on top of some version of Debian, so I assume turning LEDs off is possible.
 

Carhole

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Huh, is the Unifi any good at routing / switching? I always stuck with the EdgeWhatever line there, they seem more admin friendly and can do everything over SSH.

But I guess for a prosumer the web ui has everything you need. The EdgeRouter had some gaps there with load balancing and routing protocols.

Yep, the UDM can handle L3 rules and I’ve forgotten the number of physical networks that a single site can have, but the APs were traditionally limited to four concurrent SSIDs assigned to whatever subnet and physical network that you created in the firewall, and so forth. I think that they are adding even more SSID broadcast capacity to newer APs unless that was just a beta feature that I saw a couple of years ago.

I would again caution use of a UDM Pro for advanced routing where speed matters. They can keep up gigabit LANs with a lot of rules and IPM, IPS and local harvesting if you need to spy on your clients for security reasons. The UDM can technically enable all of these features but may cap throughput and I’m not sure where event logging limits are reached.

LEDs should be controllable in the device AP config settings. “Use site settings” or manually dark it. Maybe I’m thinking of the regular flavor UDM and the SE has an outstanding bug.

My Protect install and NVR all work great running on a UniFi network using a different manufacturer’s router (this was basically legacy laziness). I have 100% uptime with exception of extended blackouts say with passing hurricanes, city power line maintenance, etc.

I have my network controller doing a lot, and the only problem that I’ve ever seen is that a new wireless client may take five seconds to negotiate instead of being granted access more snappily.
 

ptweasel

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Dragging this back up just to say that it looks like v1.21 is the last version of Luxriot Evo for me. This is in the patch notes for the 1.22 update:

Added Evo S 45-day “test drive” trial option (replaces Evo Complimentary edition)

And, even if I keep the v1.21 installer around, you've always had to have a free license, so I wonder if new installs of v1.21 will fail.

Looks like it's back to the grind of testing all of the NVRs out there. Hadn't done that in a while anwyay.
 

Drizzt321

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So finally went ahead and tried Frigate the Easy Way(TM) via HA Add-On (instead of standalone VM install). Yeah, that was easy. Mostly. Had to do some thinking/reconfiguring, get the CPU detector working on the sub-stream, record the 1080p main stream, tweaks like that. Add more objects for detection.

So leaving it alone for tomorrow, see what it turns up when I get home.

Also, anyone have a m.2 Coral TPU I could buy? I only seem to see the USB versions on ebay (can't find ANY of them elsewhere), and bhyve (FreeBSD VM stuff) can only do PCIe passthrough, not individual USB devices. So I'd rather not have to pass through entire USB controller(s) to get a Coral TPU connected. The Dual Edge would be awesome, I think I found a m.2 adapter that'll connect both PCIe lanes for each TPU so I could go dual.

Also thinking I might upgrade the CPU on the NAS to a 5700G. Get the iGPU with 8-cores and pass through the iGPU to the HA VM so I can get the decode blocks for HW acceleration of video decode/etc. Probably better way to handle the 2 or 3 (maybe 4?) cameras I'm thinking will be sufficient.