I couldn’t find a post in this community about cameras so I figured I’d make one. Requirements:
- No “sign up” required to record video
- Video is stored locally
- Video is in a non-propriatary format
- Can work offline
Optional/Discussion Points:
- Can wireless connectivity be hardware disabled
- Can auto-update be disabled
- Does the device try to “phone home” if it is connected to wifi
- Disk encryption would be nice but I doubt that’ll be an option for anything other than self-hosted stuff
Does anyone know about Lorex (it seems more privacy centered)?
I’m highly technical, so feel free to mention self hosted raspberry pi soltuions as well.
if you’re this concerned about the privacy of your doorbell camera then make your own solution with a raspberry pi. then you’re in full control of the device and data.
anything else can be updated to send video elsewhere, promise privacy features it doesn’t have, be bought out and shareholders demand data mining, or be hacked.
I mean I can and I agree, I was kinda curious if there was a kit or a software stack for it (kinda like next cloud). I did also want this post to have a list of options+tradeoffs but I probably should’ve done a better job communicating that.
I guess maybe the raspberry pi question would be a better for the self hosted community.
Which is once again, the reason why understanding your threat surface properly so that you set up security enclaves which let you get value from cloud services without sacrificing privacy is more important than ever. Honestly, these posts frustrate me a bit. People are going to give up real, tangible security benefits of these modern security services over the spectre of relatively minor privacy issues which can be almost entirely mitigated with some pretty simple best practices that anyone interested in security should be doing anyway.
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Relatively minor from the perspective that the actual information which will leak from a Nest camera isn’t really that unique. And as a network device, it’s fairly simple to isolate and secure. The video a doorbell camera shoots is generally of “in view” public space, already visible to any camera. Your identity is already likely tied to the installation address where you’ve paid for the account with your credit card, which is also probably tied to that same address. If these things are not true, then you should obviously defer to your individual threat profile and disregard what I say.
The worst part of it is that these doorbell cameras could provide a state actor with a daily face shot database, but if you control it, then it can also be an adversarial source to that end.
But “minor” for me, is different from “minor” for you. For me, petty crime, and maybe some local cops with beef are a much bigger deal than hiding from the feds. That’s my whole point here. Know your own threat profile. If officer Barbrady kicks down your door and violates your rights, he’s going to take your local video server, but he’s much less likely to get access to some random silicon valley colo farm. Don’t fear the cloud, understand how to use it as a tool within your own threat profile.
Alerts, notifications, person recognition, object recognition, motion detection, two way audio, automated lights, event based video storage, 24/7 video storage, automated deletion of stale recorded video, and more can all be accomplished 100% locally.
Granted, much of this functionality is not easily accomplished without some technical knowledge and additional hardware. However, these posts typically are made by people who state to at least have an interest in making that a reality (as this one does).
What security benefits does a cloud service provide?
Reolink has a doorbell camera that works even with no internet, and can record locally both to SD or to an NVR. No sign up is required.
This. I went reolink specifically for this reason. Everything is local only on the SD card and quality is great.
This is what I went with. For those reading who don’t know how to disable the Internet for their device but still bring able to access it, look into setting up a VLAN to accomplish this.
https://smartsolutions4home.com/ss4h-sd-smart-doorbell/
There is a really cool looking diy one using a ESP32. You would need a server to go with it though. But using your own small HA server would give you way more control about storage / encryption.
You could just get a doorbell and have a local camera with an ‘on’ event.
I’m trying to get some aspects of the smart home built out but its a lot of doing it myself.
I always recommend Amcrest for anything related to cameras. Idk about the doorbell since I don’t have that specifically, but the cameras are completely local (no cloud server acting as the relay) and no sign up required unless you use their home app (I use the view pro app to avoid signups).
Reolink doesn’t require signups, but their cameras generally require internet from my experience, as they use their own cloud servers as relays, which would mean they can’t work offline like you’re wanting.
Your options will depend on how much effort you are willing to put in and what other services you have access to (or are willing to run).
For example, do you have a Network Video Recorder (NVR) or something like Home Assistant that can consume a Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP) or Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) video feed? Can you modify your network to block all internet traffic to/from the doorbell? Are you comfortable using a closed source, proprietary app to setup the doorbell? Is creating your own doorbell feasible?
I’m not aware of a doorbell that you can buy which meets all of your requirements without at least one of the items I mentioned above. Additionally, I believe the only doorbell that meets all your requirements is building your own doorbell. However, some other brands that will get close to meeting your requirements are Reolink and Amcrest.
As a tangent, for me the entire utility for this stuff is cloud integration and alerts. Otherwise the only use of the camera is sending your insurance company videos of the break-in. This is one of those places where I am willing to give up a bit of privacy in a controlled way for the ability to get alerts in real time in case I need to call emergency services while away from home. Or tell my wife the delivery driver left the gate open and to close it so the dog doesn’t get out.
To be honest, if you have a good security framework to begin with, there’s no reason why a ring camera is super dangerous.
