I know there is an old thread for this, but instead of necroing that old topic, I want to start fresh. What’s the current consensus on the camera you should buy for use with HA?
What I want, ideally, is something that can locally detect movement and classify it as vehicle/pet/person. Possibly using Frigate, but I’m not sure how much processing is needed for that.
Main reason: I am now fed up with the Wyze camera. It stops detecting events occasionally and needs a reboot, and wyze-bridge has just stopped working properly with HA. I’m not going to waste more time on it. I want something that works and keeps working.
I use Unify G4 bullet and G3 flex cameras in HA…
They have the capability to detect “person”, “car”, “animal” and “speech” (G4’s only)…not all other items that are on the integration…also I integrated them with the alarm system (paradox) that is also in HA.
Can definitely recommend Reolink, work well with Home Assistant and Frigate, pulls a lot of configurable sensors into HA and the pet / human / vehicle detection works well.
If you’re using Frigate you’ll need to add a Coral TPU otherwise the processor is going to be maxed out.
Ubiquiti Unifi is nice but a lot more expensive and personally don’t think the additional cost is justifiable.
Disclaimer, I’m a distributor for both brands and with the choice being mind I have gone with Reolink for my old house and now in my newly moved into house as well.
I noticed also online (HA group on Facebook) that the recommendations is either Reolink, or Unifi (aka Ubiquity). Since the latter is based in Michigan USA, and voted red in 2024… that tips the choice towards Reolink I think. Thanks for all the responses.
Yes, I also have a normal mg5050 and IP150 (with the old firmware - pre Swann thing). I then wired one zone to Sonoff Self Inching module and created that zone as a 24 hour burglary zone.
That zone is also then used as panic button as it will trip the alarm the moment its opened.
Then we go to unifi and home assistant automations. When outside alarm zone is armed and any camera detect human - panic button goes off which triggers the alarm.
Also, on my phone in HA app there is a panic button just in case kids or wife needs to activate it quick.
The TP-Link Vigi cameras are very cheap compared to similar ones from other manufacturers. You don’t need a cloud login/connection for them to work - mine are on a VLAN that does not have internet access. They also work well with Frigate - if you are concerned about detection resource usage, you can always get a Coral TPU from RS components or Mouser.
If you want to use the local detect features, you most likely would want a NVR, the TP-Link 8 channel NVR was R1100 last I checked, so also quite cheap.
On the TP link. Just make sure you get the 8port unit that support poe. You get 2 versions. One with and without POE. One thing i dont like about the tp link, as that you can only playback one screen/camera at a time.
I currently have that. And looking for a way to integrate it with HA. I have 2 Dahua poe cameras connected to it. It records well.
