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

soooooo do i put in order in for just a DMP or a DMP and a wifi6lite?

Finally have had it with my Nest setup.

I've got 3 Nest IQ Outdoors, and 4 IQ Indoors. I've got a complete unifi network at home already.


Ready to go full Unifi. I've set up a G3 Bullet on my UDMP before and I like the protect system.


Now, with this global shortage of everything. I think I picked the worst time possible to want to make this switch.


I've seen Streakwave and Baltic networks as places to purchase. Any other ideas? I'd like to pick up 5 G4 Pros and maybe 3-4 lesser cameras for indoor. I wish I could find some G3 micros to avoid making a mess with cable inside.

Any suggestions in our current day?

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Streakwave

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I've had an order in with them for some cameras since APRIL. Understandable that they were out of stock because UI didn't have any either, but now UI has had them in stock for several weeks and streakwave still hasn't gotten any. They're supposed to be a top tier distributor (one of only five), so I'm starting to get a little miffed.

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Any other ideas?

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Best bet is probably straight from Ubiquiti. With stocks so low they seem to be hoarding most of it. Can't really blame them.

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I'd like to pick up 5 G4 Pros and maybe 3-4 lesser cameras for indoor. I wish I could find some G3 micros to avoid making a mess with cable inside.

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FYI the micro has been discontinued, the replacement is the G3 Instant. Of course they are sold out as well and it still has a quantity limit of 1 per customer. For permanent installation though I still prefer the Flex or Dome for indoors. Cable is easier to hide in the walls, I find plug-in wifi cameras to be messier with their power cords.

Yeah I think I'm just going to have to keep watching the site like a hawk, Can anyone suggest any good in stock alert mechanism?

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Can anyone suggest any good in stock alert mechanism?

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I usually just use the "notify when available" box on ubiquiti's site.

Yeah I’ve got that checked. Just wasn’t sure if it was one of those things that alerts you by the time they’re cleaned out again.

You still liking the phones? I still haven't tested them, thinking about just getting it for my home office.

G3 Instants came back in stock with a 1 per customer limit. I bought 4 with different accounts. Shipped some to the office. One to my house as me. One to my house as my wife.


Hope they don’t catch on.

Trying to decide between Reolink and Unifi. I’m currently running Unifi for all my networking. I have a PoE switch but it looks like I’ll be 3 ports short of being able to run all 8 camera if I go UniFi versus a Reolink which if I am correct will come with PoE ports in the NVR. In other words, with UniFi would I need to buy a NVR and another PoE switch?

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Trying to decide between Reolink and Unifi.

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Don't know if you went through it but I posted some side by side stills comparing a few cameras on the first few pages of this thread.

The bottom line is as with most things you pretty much get what you pay for. Reolink is obviously dirt cheap, but honestly the performance is quite good IMO... in good lighting. If conditions are adverse (as in, it's night time) the reolinks may let you down. Maybe their newer models are better, but given the price I wouldn't count on it.

Amcrest is a step up from reolink, and for a budget system I would recommend that.

If UI/UX matters at all to you, then I would go UniFi. The mobile app is slick as hell. Also I find the video quality to be better than the cheaper brands, especially in low lighting.

Forget about megapixels when choosing cameras, price is a better indicator of the video quality you'll get out of it. "Full HD" is 1080p, and that's 2 megapixels. You will see a lot of 4/5MP cameras, and then 4K is 8MP. The problem with low end 8MP cameras is they use small (and low quality) sensors that are better suited for fewer pixels. When you squeeze 4X as many pixels onto the same physical area, each pixel gets 1/4 as much light. Again not a huge problem in sunlight, but quality suffers in low light scenes. And then it takes 2-3X as much storage space to store bad video.

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I’m currently running Unifi for all my networking. I have a PoE switch but it looks like I’ll be 3 ports short of being able to run all 8 camera if I go UniFi versus a Reolink which if I am correct will come with PoE ports in the NVR. In other words, with UniFi would I need to buy a NVR and another PoE switch?

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So yeah, "traditional" style NVRs have powered ports built in. Ubiquiti took a different approach and their NVRs don't have PoE ports. There are pros and cons, mainly trading simplicity for flexibility in setup.

As shawn pointed out, if you have enough non-PoE ports you can add injectors to power the cameras. Otherwise yes you will need another or a bigger PoE switch.


I see from your other thread that you have the USG. You might need a bit of a primer on what the different Ubiquiti gear can do, so here goes:

USG is a router and firewall, basically just like a standard consumer router minus wifi. I believe you found out that you need the UniFi Network controller software to configure it. To run UniFi Protect cameras, you need an NVR, and Protect controller software, and of course cameras and their power source (whether switch or injectors). Their NVRs run the Protect controller software, so you can get either the Cloud Key Plus or the UNVR and be good to go. In addition, though, the Cloud Key Plus can also run the UniFi Network controller software, so you wouldn't need that on another machine or in the cloud.

You have another option, though. You can sell the USG and replace it with the Dream Machine Pro. It does everything the USG does, but it also runs the Network controller and the Protect controller, and you can add a hard drive to make it your NVR, and it has (non-PoE) switch ports to boot. If you are going all UniFi, the UDM-Pro is the most cost-effective way to do it.