On 1/1/19 12:46 PM, Elias M. Mariani wrote: > Hi list, > I'm thinking in installing some cameras in my private home, I have > been looking for solutions, my concern is that I wish to be able to > look the videos from outside the house and I'm a little paranoid about > the quality of the software that the different vendors use.
you've seen any sign of quality in those things? :) > I have > seen clusters of camaras that only work over ActiveX... > I know that is a little off-topic but maybe someone knows about a good > brand of cameras. > Of-course one can always set a VPN tunnel trough OpenBSD for the > security matter, OpenVPN works on Android so is easy to access from a > smartphone. But I would prefer to have a single secure service running > that adding a layer of complexity with the VPN. > > I'm looking for: > - Not overpriced cameras. > - They don't need to be "external cameras", they will be covered under a roof. > - I need to set at least 4, so I need them to be accessible from a > single platform. > - Android / Browser friendly (not only IE plz...) > - WiFi is not needed, I have a 12v supply and Ethernet connections for > each camera. > - Good video quality but I'm not looking for anything super great... > - the ability to centralize recording and access to view the cameras is a > must. Bringing it back to OpenBSD, ... just use SSH and port forwarding and an otherwise off-the-shelf solution. No add-on SW needed. Did this with a friend's business. Little OpenBSD box in their office as a gateway, the DVR on one port (don't trust the security of the damn things, so keep it off the business network) and the owner can click on a PuTTY icon on their Windows desktop (or android or ...) to establish the SSH connection (key, no PW to enter, yes I set this up for them, took just a few minutes in their house), and a second click to bring up the bookmarked browser-based app the thing used. Neat thing is you don't have to change the default PWs on the DVR now, so that's one less thing to worry about. Very non-computer-person user friendly -- "Click here to connect to your office, then connect here to view the cameras". Yes, I'd suggest an OpenBSD gateway to a commercial DVR security system rather than rolling your own, if it is really to be a security system (as opposed to maybe a, "who's at my front door?" or "what are the local wildlife doing when I'm asleep?" cameras). The police may need to extract the video from it without your assistance if you are unavailable (or worse) as part of whatever they are investigating and maintain a chain of custody; this won't happen if you roll your own. I'll admit I hadn't thought of that until a police officer friend of mine started telling me about the training he was taking on exactly this topic -- *they* need to be able to get the video out of the device in a timely manner, and they have to explain to the judge and jury how it was done. Nick.
