Security Cameras for Home or Small Business

Security cameras are necessary to monitor the area for peace of mind.  Cameras will create a perception of security for buildings.  A home security system allows you to see who is at your home, walking around your house and see what people are doing when they are there.  High quality audio and video are available, coupled with access to the recording can be reviewed from any computer or smartphone with access to the NVR or camera.  There are many brands and options available.  I will discuss the benefits of the types of cameras.  I believe there will be a product line that shines above the majority of offerings available.  My journey to find the best option for my application meets the following requirements.

1. Compatibility with apps and NVR systems supporting a standard protocol rtsp connection strings and h.264 or h.265 codec.
2. Ability to record video onto an open source NVR system.
3. Record video onto a local storage device in the camera.
4. Does not require a subscription to keep and review video recordings.
5. Supports wireless and wired POE installation.
6. Doorbell camera wired POE installation.
7. Support and maintenace does not require an expert level technician.
8. Software updates can be applied without physical access to cameras.
9. Compatibility with a smart home hub, Home Assistant, Google, Amazon Echo, and Apple Homekit.

This is not an exhaustive list, but it will help determine if a product is a good fit for my application.  Let’s look at the popular products and consider which ones meet the above requirements.  The features offered in these popular systems will be comparable to many others which are not mentioned here.

1. Ring Cameras and Doorbell – The first and most popular doorbell and smarthome camera products.  Ring offers cameras and doorbells.  Ring offers doorbell cameras with “wired” installation, but this means to connect to doorbell wiring for power, and uses WiFi for network access.  All of ring cameras require WiFi for network access, but some cameras are powered by a connected power supply, solar panel, or battery.  Ring also offers a subscription based cloud NVR.
2. Arlo Cameras and Doorbell – Wireless cameras that can be easily installed and work for months without needing to be charged.  Among the offerings, extended battery life, 2K cameras, subscription based cloud NVR, and offers wireless doorbell cameras.
3. Night Owl Cameras and Doorbell – Offers wired and wireless cameras and a local NVR with no monthly fees.  The doorbell offering is connected to doorbell transformer for power and connects to WiFi for network access.  System works with google and Amazon Echo.
4. Blink – An Amazon product with seamless integration with Amazon Echo.  Wireless camera system for easy installation.  These cameras operate on batteries, but can be positioned anywhere there is WiFi network access.  Optional subscription based NVR.  Blink Doorbell operates on a battery.
5. Nest – A Google product with seamless integration with Google Home.  Much like blink these cameras operate on WiFi for network access and offer battery powered or power outlet connected cameras.  Subscription based cloud NVR is available with a subscription to Nest Aware.
6. Eufy – Wireless camera system with a variety of battery, plugin and solar powered cameras.  Local NVR with no subscription fees.  Eufy doorbell offerings are wired or battery, both require a WiFi connection for network access.  An additional product offering is a video door lock, which includes a doorbell and keypad, and the door lock can be operated by the Eufy app.
7. Reolink – Offers all of the above featured cameras as well as the cameras that made Reolink the best choice for business and home camera system installations.  The cameras range from POE to wireless, solar rechargable battery operated cameras, power outlet connected.  Doorbell cameras with POE and wireless while using the doorbell transformer for power.  Cameras with 180 degree views, spotlight cameras, wireless or POE indoor and outdoor PTZ cameras.  Local NVR for 8-36 Channels with 2TB up to 16TB storage.  All of these cameras are less expensive than the comparable options above.

Things to cosider when planning a camera system for a home or business.

• Do you mind charging the cameras every month or ever few months?
• Do you mind paying for a subscription instead of maintaing an NVR in your home or business?
• Do you mind running power wires to the indoor and outdoor wireless cameras?
• Do you think a wireless camera system will be stable enough along with all other wireless devices on the same network?
• Will a wirless camera system be reliable enough for the application?
• Will cameras be mounted in accessible locations?
• Do you want to secure the video recording in a local NVR vs cloud NVR vs camera SDcard?

All of these are worth considering and can be alleviated by selecting the right system or camera for the application.  I first started with a doorbell camera.  The Ring Doorbell Pro seemed to be a nice doorbell based on the features.  I liked that it didn’t require a battery, which will need to be routinely charged to keep the doorbell camera operating.  The recordings are available within an app and I am able to keept the recordings with a subscription for $30/year.  Since this was my only device from Ring, I was ok with that.  I decided that I wanted to see more than the area around my front door.  I looked into other cameras that would not require a subscription.  I was having problems with my Ring Doorbell Pro not having clear audio.  It was not possible for me or the visitor to communicate because of a delay and distortion.  I then decided I needed a new doorbell camera and I didn’t want it to be wireless.  As I set out to find a camera system for my house and looked at all the available offerings, I came accross Reolink cameras.  They didn’t offer a doorbell camera at the time, but the cameras were affordable, and compatible with standard rtsp connection strings.  I was able to set up an Open Source NVR and stream the video from these cameras.  Later cameras offered the sdcard for local storage in the camera.  I found the sdcard recordings offered better recordings, but they would fill up when using high quality video.  I installed Reolink cameras at a school with the Reolink NVR RLN16-410.  I found this being more simple than configuring each camera individually.  All I did was run the CAT6 cable terminate the end with RJ45 and then connect the camera to the NVR.  The NVR did the configuring and the system started working.  After that, I decided to buy the NVR RLN16-410 for my house.  I have been using it for 2 years and haven’t had any issues.  I have 8 cameras and a Reolink POE Doorbell.  I have the ideal system at my house.  I have wireless indoor PTZ cameras for baby cameras and outdoor cameras on the house which record in 4k high quality video.  There are cameras with 2 way audio for voice communication at the camera.

As you shop for the camera system that meets the requirements for your application, consider Reolink for the reliability, ease of maintenance, variety of cameras and features among the products.  The shop menu will have some of my recommended cameras.  The limited offerings from other brands will likely have a comparable counterpart within the Reolink brand.  I recommend using POE cameras where ever possible.  If you have an outdoor location that is not on a building, and a wireless camera makes the most sense, the wireless camera with solar panel charger would be the next choice.  If you have a temporary camera setup to monitor a campsite or parked vehicle, then a battery camera that can be posted anywhere within WiFi coverage will work.  All of these cameras are compatible with the Reolink NVR systems.