bunch of cameras on sale and received a $30 off $100 spend. Sale ends in an hour… Just want a basic camera for monitoring in front of garage door or a front entrance camera. Area in front of garage door is the street, so have read about others triggering and reducing battery life. Brands are:
Connect home
eufy
Arlo
Uniden
Something easy to recharge is preferred but could go wired or solar if camera/features are better.
Missed the sale…. can open to options from ebay, amazon etc…
Reolink PoE
If you're an Apple/iPhone household you may want a camera that supports HomeKit Secure Video (HKSV)
or not…
I'm not hating on Reolink but have come to prefer HomeKit and HKSV cameras, mainly for accessibility when I'm away from home
mainly for accessibility when I'm away from home
I have no problem accessing my Reolink cameras on my iphone from the other end of the world.
@jv: My older cameras are Arlo which require port-forwarding, which my low-cost NBN plan/retailer doesn't allow - HKSV solves this for me. Worth understanding HKSV if you're a first-time purchaser seeking zero fees and using HomeKit.
@sumyungguy: I've no need for port forwarding.
I just installed the app, and everything just worked… It literally took a couple of minutes to setup.
@jv: I can see my cameras live but can’t access the recordings without port forwarding. HKSV stores footage in iCloud.
I can see my cameras live but can’t access the recordings
I can download my recording directly from the Reolink app from anywhere. I don't need to be on the same network.
I just playback the recording, select a time range and then download straight to my phone.
My footage is stored on my NVR, not the cloud.
I've no need for port forwarding.
I just installed the app, and everything just worked
Because you have let your pvr make a cloud connection to reolink and allowing reolink direct access to your home network.
For some, they might be a bit more cyber cautious than that. Plenty of qnap nas owners in the past doing similar things would be an example.
what is this "HomeKit" thingy ? I have seen it couple of times in the forum. I use Home assistant with Tuya/Tasmota + ZigBee devices anyway. Is it something similar to Home assistant ?
Homekit is the smart home platform for Apple devices. Home assistant can be used with a plugin to bridge to HomeKit.
so does it means there are apple devices like tuya devices ? like bulbs etc ? never knew that
@bazingaa: Not Apple branded. Just compatible with that platform. Same as Alexa is a platform, Google Home is a platform, and Control4 is a platform.
@Morien: Thanks, I have enabled "HomeKit Bridge" intergration in HA, probably I can use HomeKit compatible device if I come across such.
@bazingaa: If you have enabled HomeKit bridge into HA, then you can use all of the HA attached devices in HomeKit. No need for official support. (I use Homebridge myself, which is similar to HA).
Wired always better imo