gedaliyahSep 3, 2025

Best camera and doorbell setup for home security?

https://lemmy.world/post/35371410

Best camera and doorbell setup for home security? - Lemmy.World

I’m looking into adding a video doorbell and some security cameras and want to integrate with HA. I have some cameras that came with the house, but I don’t think they will work. The system has been discontinued [https://www.firstalertstore.com/store/products/digital-wired-indoor-outdoor-camera-cmos-color-and-night-vision-cm420.htm] and I don’t have the “base unit” that connects them. If there is a way to use them, I’d be happy to find out if they are operational and use them. Web search has not helped. My first priority is a video doorbell. I don’t really understand much about how it works, and there is a lot of conflicting information out there. I have a wired doorbell, and I could probably manage to figure out how to run a data line if needed. I want it to play nicely with any future system. The current camera system is wired, and I’m happy to run new wires if needed. I have plenty of storage on my home PC server, and I’d prefer to use it. Any guides out there that really cover the overall process?

Show threadWhyJiffieSep 3, 2025

why do you want a camera doorbell? in any case I’m interested in your response.

but personally I hate doorbell cameras. who the fuck knows where will the recordings end up, but it’s almost 100 percent they won’t stay locally.
old ones that don’t involve modern tech, even a network cable, are… fine? but again, how do you tell them apart.

these are cameras that record public area, even if just those who pass by on the street. owners of these are basically letting tech companies snitch on their neighborhoods. where I live these are illegal, but of course lots of houses use either cameras disguised as doorbells, or even install their fucking cameras on the outside of the buildings and being pointed to the didewalk and the road.

Show threadgedaliyahSep 4, 2025
The point of self hosting is that it all stays local.
Show threadWhyJiffieSep 4, 2025
Nobody but you can verify it. also others who commented implied that they control the cameras with the manufacturer’s app, and that the camera has not been blocked from the internet, so selfhosting brings almost no benefits in that cadse, but definitely not any for privacy
Show threadPappabosleySep 4, 2025
I have ubiquiti cameras and doorbell at home, all stored locally and i can access them through home assistant.
Show threadWhyJiffie
and did you take measures so that ubiquiti does not access them?
Sep 4, 2025 at 6:40pmWeb
Show threadPappabosleySep 5, 2025

I chose to enable cloud access cause my home assistant died and I wanted to continue having external access, but it was not mandatory.

I agree with your point for most providers, like ring and eufy, but I don’t think it’s impossible to achieve.

Show threadWhyJiffieSep 5, 2025
the question is not whether it’s possible, but whether people subject the public near them to online surveillance systems. sorry, but other than being accessible from HA (which is something too) this is not better than how most people do it. at least to me it is more important than convenience to not leak strangers lives to whoever.