re: General security camera discussion (was "Unifi Protect security cameras")

quote:

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I probably won't opt for the lowest level, but knowing "even if you got whatever baseline package he's offering with those you'd have a reasonable decent system" would give me some peace of mind. Brand new to the POE stuff.

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The best part about PoE cameras is the bulk of the cost is going to be installation. Once the cables are run it's relatively cheap to swap cameras out for better models in the future. You can do it yourself with basic tools. It's best to keep the camera/nvr manufacturer matched to take advantage of some features, but most are cross-compatible via ONVIF standards which most companies follow at least loosely (hik is pretty good here, reolink alright but they don't strictly follow the standards, and ubiquiti is a notable company that does *not* follow the standards). At minimum you'll get video and probably basic motion detection, but more advanced stuff like person/vehicle detection, crossline, etc are hit or miss via ONVIF. So again best to stick with a manufacturer. Almost everyone with Reolink has been pleased, hik and dahua (and all their white label brands) are good (though some take issue with their ethics/etc), but I'm partial to UNV (Uniview) when ONVIF is required. UNV has some really, really high quality cameras at decent prices (and there are many white label resellers here too).