Wireless cameras that don't spy on you like Ring?

3 years ago by Sowatee to c/asklemmy

I rent so I cannot set up a wired system. I need two of them and preferably they'd be okay in severe weather. Thunderstorms are common in spring / autumn as is severe weather including tornadoes. In fact my house nearly got hit by one two months ago. Fun times. Summers are hot and sometimes humid. Currently 90s. Triple digits probably late this month or next.

We don't typically get snow in the winter but it can get cold. Reached zero degrees last December. Supposed to be "rare" but climate is changing and whatnot.

Would prefer to keep it under $300 for both cameras but I'm willing to bump it up a little for better quality if necessary.

raccoon 6 points 3 years ago

You could make your own with a raspberry pi zero

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jurrasicjonn 5 points 3 years ago

All my cameras are cheap wireless webcams with absolutely no ability to communicate outside the local network. They connect to a home built Linux system that I vetted personally.

Honestly, it's not that hard. But most folks don't know that or care. They just want to buy, plug in, and go. That the device they brought into their home and just attached to the same network that has all their photos, access to bank accounts, etc might be a spy device doesn't even occur to them.

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bigbox 2 points 3 years ago

I would love to set something like this up. Are there any online tutorials you would recommend?

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CMDR_Horn 5 points 3 years ago

You could go Ubiquiti. 200 for a dream router and 100 each for g4 instants. I think your recordings would go to an SD card, but I’m not sure, I have a dream machine pro, so it’s a bit different. No monthly charges since it’s all hosted at home. Camera quality is better than all of my neighbors with rings

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Sowatee 1 point 3 years ago

Thanks. I'll check them out.

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perkele 5 points 3 years ago

Honestly, a Lorex/Dahua/Hikvision IP camera, or even a no-name amazon IP camera should work. They all support ONVIF and can generally be watched over HTTP. They don't require a NVR or anything and certainly don't require anything more than a network connection. They're not wireless, however.

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teruma 2 points 3 years ago

I use Wyze cameras. Super cheap, and possible to keep offline.

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andrew 1 point 3 years ago

If you’re technical and have a spare windows license and machine sitting around, you could hook up cameras to a local Blue Iris instance and block direct internet access for whatever cameras are on your network.

BI is a pain to use though, and finding cameras that work well and support rtsp (or other supported protocols) can be tricky. I run a few wyze mini v3’s with a custom firmware in this configuration and they work great.

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Wolfric82 0 points 3 years ago

Look into Amazon blink. It's what I use.

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Solaris1789 11 points 3 years ago

Isnt amazon a champion when it comes to spying?

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Wolfric82 -2 points 3 years ago

With the echo sure. But in that regard what isn't spying on us? Our phones are always listening lol. As far as the cameras though they are on their own self contained system. Saved footage as far as I know doesn't even get uploaded to any of their servers. It's all just saved to your personal hub on an SD card.

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bigbox 2 points 3 years ago

I don't really like the argument "what isn't spying on us?". I'd rather avoid anything that spies on its users and doesn't respect privacy as much as possible. It's not completely unavoidable.

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Wolfric82 0 points 3 years ago

I understand what you are saying but it's is inescapable I feel if we want to continue to use these personal assistant devices. Hey Google and Siri are the same. They all have to be constantly listening in order to be able to pickup when we are talking to them. The level of interconnectability we want as a society and personal recommendations when using those systems inherently come with a need to be tracked both physically and on the internet. Just by agreeing to use an app like find my phone you agree to be tracked by having location services turned on. We all signed away our privacy a long time ago willingly

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