4d ago

Which private (no cloud requirement) wireless home security cameras save footage locally without monthly subscription?

I tried wyze and find it silly how video clips are limited to 5 seconds unless you give them money every month. I want something where the footage is saved on a local sdcard/hdd without any cloud reliance.

Even better if I don't have to be locked into using the manufacturer's app, but I'm flexible on that.

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If you want a local camera system you need a NVR (Networked Video Recorder). These have Ethernet ports and’s you connect security cameras to them over Ethernet, they record, store and allow you to view the footage.
A DVR does the same thing but will use a video signal to record, maybe coax or component. These are getting a bit old and also have lower limits on how far the video signal can travel than an NVR but work and are cheaper, many offer network access to view the cameras and recordings.
If you are looking at budget options you can use the software FrigateNVR. It is an open source NVR software designed to work with any camera that uses standard protocols (and many that don’t thanks to the active community). Including wireless cameras although everyone in the community recommends avoiding wireless cameras unless have no other options.
You will be able to use your wyze cameras will frigate.
Almost all IP Cameras, especially the cheap one are considered compromised and open to easy hacking. It is important to isolate them on their own VLAN, if you really care about privacy so they can only talk to your NVR.
It is important to remember security cameras are cameras and need light to perform, especially in the dark. If you need a camera to perform in no light situations you either rely on its own lights which will illuminate maybe 5-10m, and external light source like a flood light or you have a larger camera sensor that can drink in the ambient light for decent quality (this last option will only come from a camera that costs 200-300USD.
A cheap 4k (8mp) camera will perform worse in low light than a cheap 6mp as they often have the same size sensor.
- This is very helpful information. Thank you. I'll go with NVR/FrigateNVR in that case. Unfortunately, I need to stick with wireless cameras because there are next to no power sources available outside the building. Good to know my wyze cameras don't have to be e-waste in the case of FrigateNVR.
  
  If you get a PoE switch many cameras are designed to be run off of the power it can supply over an Ethernet cable. So you just have to run the Ethernet cable (pretty easy).
  Also you can get splitters that will break that PoE cable into one Ethernet and a 12v barrel jack for cameras that are not designed to use PoE directly.
  I can’t stress enough how much better a direct connection is than wifi, but understand that sometimes it is the only option.
  Other benefits include simply unplugging the camera from the switch if it freezes up as this effectively switches it off (this can be done remotely if you have a managed switch.) and obviously higher quality, more stable streams.
  Have a look through the frigate documentation before buying a device to run it. It needs some kind of gpu to process the frames for object identification. The most economical one in my opinion is a something intel 8th gen or higher like a hp elite desk mini pc that has a 2.5in sata slot with the igpu and ideally a proper spinning hdd for the recording as it is constantly being written to and an ssd will burn out faster.
  
  I second the wired camera recommendation, at least for a few critical cameras.
  WiFi cameras are vulnerable to a de-auth attack. It's fairly trivial now to make a device that will kick all WiFi devices off of a particular network. It's not so bad if they record internally and are inaccessible. If they can be reached, once someone is inside, or if they don't record, they can be bypassed completely, or stolen.
  This does all depend on the level of protection required. Basically, are you worth the effort of targeting, or is it just to dissuade opportunistic attempts.
  
  For wyze to work with frigate you will need the wyze docker bridge running. It's a PITA to have them stable. Better option is to install Thingino on the wyze cams and then add them to Frigate with the rtsp feed
- Do you know why wireless cameras are so discouraged? I tried doing some research yesterday and there really are not many onvif wireless cameras available but unfortunately I need to use one because it's not feasible for me to run cables outside. Also, it seems wyze decided to delete the RTSP firmware from their website because it was insecure, so that's why I need to buy new cameras.
  
  Wireless cameras offer an easier vector for people to get into your camera feeds. Biggest risk to this is a poorly secured network in the first place, but the risk is still there.
  Also, wireless is going to be inherently a worse quality video stream, and constant video traffic being sent over your Wi-Fi bogs down your entire network.
  All that being said Wi-Fi cameras are just fine and as long as you have strong Wi-Fi security you're really not at a real risk unless someone very savvy is specifically targeting you, in which case you've got bigger problems.
  I have probably a dozen cheap wireless cameras in my house (to keep an eye on pets) and I have them spaced over two access points and honestly I don't notice a difference on my Wi-Fi at all, but I'm sure it's worse than if I didn't have them. All my exterior cameras are wired, but that's more because I want better quality streams and I'm running a wire anyways so might as well be PoE. Only exterior wireless camera I have is my doorbell but that's because I didn't want to run a new wire to it.
  Overall wired cameras are much better quality, but they're not as convenient. Make the decision for yourself based off of your priorities. Real tough to get a wireless camera with the fidelity needed to capture license plates clearly, but if you don't need that then why worry about whether your gear can achieve it or not?
  
  This is a guide for getting the rstp back for some of the wyse cameras. I haven’t used it myself https://houndhillhomestead.com/using-wyze-cam-v3s-with-frigate/. Someone else recommended thingno which I have read works but also haven’t tried.
  One of the reasons wifi is discouraged is for anyone who lives in an apartments or even units, the wifi channels often very crowded. If you live in your own house it’s less of an issue but they still generate continual traffic. Having to punch through a few walls, as they will probably have to do if you are sitting them up outside, will have an effect too. As will the weather.
  There are many tricks to running cable between floors. If you have down lights you can pop them out then use a bit of yellow tongue to poke between the holes, running the cable from light to light. most modern houses use pozi trusses for floor support and they have many openings for running services.
  Or if you own the house just cut a few holes in the plaster. Patching and painting one ceiling not that big of a job and you’ll be able to use the same cameras for years and years instead of replacing when the battery dies.
  
  Don't you need power?

It seems like you are looking for a DVR. I have one with 1tb HDD and eight 1080p cameras, because they only record when there is movement I can save over a month of footage before it starts rewriting.
- For OP. Reolink has a DVR and wireless type cameras.
  However be careful on which cameras you get as not all the wireless versions work with the DVR. Think this is mostly the battery powered ones. Also not sure if this has changed since original purchase a few years back.
- That sounds like exactly what I need, thank you. I will research them.
  
  Sorry that I can't recommend you any brand, mine is old and bought from a local security company that bundles it with their own software - if you connect it to the internet you can get a live feed through their ddns https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_DNS#DDNS_for_security_appliance_manufacturers but the security is probably shit :P
  I hope someone here shows up with good modern options.

I would recommend PoE security cameras. You probably want support for RTSP / ONVIF.
I have some Amcrest cameras talking to Frigate. It is completely local---cameras on a separate VLAN that can't talk to the Internet, footage is recorded on a server running Frigate. Works very well for me. No vendor lock-in is also nice!
- I'd love PoE but unfortunately have to get wireless because I can't run ethernet to the outside it's just too much work for a big building and involves drilling holes, etc.

As others advice, frigate is great. You can set this up under home assistant, which is a smart home open source OS/software and even if you have no plan of doing smart home, it is very handy as you can easily create automation which can send you notification with pics, will trigger an alarm, turn on lights... If you don't already have device powerful enough to run frigate, I would advise to look for a mini pc with n100 or n150 processors, they are not very expensive (around 150€) and don't consume much electricity (close to raspberry pi 5 while being more powerful).
- And add some Thingino liberated camera's to it!
  
  Had to search as I never heard about thingino, seems helpful for a few cameras. Alternatively blocking internet access to camera would work just as good

I tried a few, I ended up with a Reolink.. great quality image, records to an ftp folder on my nas. Though some sort of magic, I can access the camera when I am away from home via the app
- I have multiple Reolink cameras at this point and just have them recording to a SD card and blocked from the internet.
  They have local ML models for human, animal and vehicle detection, so something like Frigate isn’t strictly necessary, though I haven’t bothered setting them up with Home Assistant yet and mainly use them with the Reolink app and VLC with RTSP. Sometimes, I unblock them from the internet temporarily if I’m going to need to access them remotely.

i have setup a zoneminder setup on a linux server. https://zoneminder.com/ combined with a camera that supports onvif . Takes bit of setup, but works well and 100% in your own control
- Thanks for the tip. It looks like zoneminder might support wyze cams via RTSP. I like that it's open source and already in the distro repositories.

How has UniFi not been suggested yet?
- Fear. While this is technically true and by far the best option there's a lot of caveats to meeting the no cloud requirements.

Since nobody else has mentioned it yet, you can install a version of the firmware that enabled RTSP streaming, which you could point at a Linux server with an NVR application on it, or any consumer/commercial NVR with RTSP streaming enabled
https://support.wyze.com/hc/en-us/articles/360026245231-Wyze-Cam-RTSP

Wyze cameras offer sd storage as well. Check your camera it should have it already

I have blink outdoor cameras, not the best out there, but very usable video, indoor work the same, you can put a USB flash drive in the sync module and use it on the local network, i use my 2.4 band for that and my home automation. Recorded clips stay on my flash drive locally, and I just say no to the subscription if it asks. All cameras connect to the same sync module. Have no complaints.

I haven't seen it mentioned yet, but Lorex has options for wired and wireless cameras that store footage on the camera itself via sd card, or to a local NVR.

Eufy

https://thingino.com/

You can also use any WiFi cameras (maybe even your existing ones) and connect them with Frigate (DVR software you can run on any computer in your house)
- This sounds great. Thank you very much for the tip. Software DVR would be even better.

Safemo is a wireless camera system that saves files locally to the hub, and even allows you to upgrade the drive for more storage. Cameras can be battery powered only, or use a solar panel for continual recharging or the battery. The only flaw is the flaw with any wireless camera, that there is a delay from activity recognition to the record time. So you might miss something depending on your camera positioning.

I use TP Link C100 cameras in local network mode and a Reolink doorbell in a similar manner. Standard RTSP feeds and an internal mini web server, plus plenty of privacy controls.
Both of these products are pretty cheap considering their configurability — they do both provide the option to do the whole cloud subscription thing, but work fine for me without it. I have Home Assistant on the back end to manage live streams, but find I usually just read data off the internal SD card instead.

Tapo

Also after the same thing. Watching

I'm looking for this also, but just to watch wildlife outside the house live. Lots of good info here.

Been using Wyze camera's (Cam OG) for 2+ years. If you load an sdcard into the camera it does store locally, overwriting the oldest footage as it goes. You can then browse the footage on the sdcard and save as a video file via the app. I've done 20+ minute captures of the local wildlife and uploaded to YouTube without issue.

Hikvision with a local NVR. And if your scared because their Chinese (like everything else almost these days....) Put it all in a clan without internet access.

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