In prep for the American social credit program.
Any recommendations for a replacement?
Ubiquiti. Their cameras record to a local NVR. If you only need one or two cameras, they have excellent router + NVR combos for a good price that will run circles around your default ISP WiFi router. If you’re interested, I can tell you what my setup looks like, how much it cost, and what I would have done differently.
Please do. I have always been interested in the idea of setting up some cameras, but everything seems to be cloud based and I’m not touching that. If I can write directly to my NAS, that would be ideal.
If you have a NAS setup already, you might be DIY enough to setup something cheaper. Ubiquiti has been nice because it’s self hosted, but without having to do much work yourself. You buy the box that runs the software, the cameras, plug it in, and it just works. You pay a premium for that, but there are no monthly fees.
I have:
- Cloud Gateway Max. This is both the router and the NVR. I bought it for $200 with no bundled SSD. Instead I bought a separate nvme SSD and slotted it into the cloud gateway max.
- U7 Wall Pro. My apartment is small enough that I only need a single WiFi access point. This one supports WiFi 7.
- G4 Doorbell Pro (WiFi addition). Excellent quality, and records directly to the SSD I installed in the cloud gateway max
What I may have done differently.
- I would have considered the Cloud Gateway Fiber instead of the Cloud Gateway Max. The Max doesn’t have any POE outputs, so you need a POE injector to power the U7 Wall Pro. The Cloud Gateway Fiber however has a single POE port out. But I’m not sure that’s worth an extra $70 when you can get a POE injector for cheap.
- If you can run Ethernet to your door, the G4 Doorbell Pro wired will have a more stable connection. Though my WiFi version has been running very well.
If you want more than 2 cameras, or you have a house instead of an apartment, you might want to consider one of their dedicated NVRs, and either multiple U7 Wall Pros, or one of their bigger WiFi access points. You can spend a lot of money on ubiquity quickly, but I don’t think you should write off their entry level equipment because of that. I’m very happy with the ~$700 I spend on my small setup, and that setup will have plenty of headroom for years. And if you buy used or older models I bet you can get a router, access point, and doorbell for under $400. Or incrementally upgrade what you have.
I invested in a Reolink NVR and cameras over the summer. They’ve been an improvement over the Nest/Google cameras. Higher resolution, farther night vision, local storage, and I get notifications on my phone faster than I did with the Nest/Google. No annual/monthly fees which is also a bonus.
I’m replacing our ring doorbells with Reolink in the very near future.
Ubiquiti g4 doorbell maybe. It requires investment into the echo system but having its recordings locally stored is what I like about it.
Who could have predicted this?
It’s not shocking, but honestly surprised Amazon came late to the game. Surprise to no one, we already live in a heavy surveillance country. From our phones, to cars, TV’s, computers, to shopping; we are all being watched. Yet, certain people lose their minds because Ring? Give me a kit-kat.
They’ve probably been doing it all a long, they’re just making their data collection strategies public, in a political environment that won’t attack them, even if the citizens do.
Go trick or treating like rest of us!
Everyone i know?
I do not visit homes with this garbage installed. I’ve got a little blurb written that I give to friends who own one, explaining why they’re a problem and proposing some more privacy respecting alternatives. And before you ask, no, I don’t have a lot of friends left.
Send this to those friends.
You know it’s an opt-in for the owners right? What are you doing anyways that makes you so worried police will catch you anyways?
I’m transgender and my boyfriend is Latino. we’ve got plenty to worry about
I have no respect for the ‘nothing to hide, nothing to fear’ argument, and I will not be engaging with it. You can simply Google why this is drastically wrong. It’s not worth my energy to explain it.
Right? When people tell me this i ask if they have given their keys to the cops with permission to come look whenever they feel like it
Take 3 seconds to think about why this is a terrible way to think
While we’re getting rid of our rights, let’s just get rid of the entire justice system and democracy because people always do the right thing, especially cops who are never filmed all the time murdering people for their egos being hurt or just flagrant racism.
This HAS to be bait
Judging by all the pearl clutching, attacks and out of reality reactions going on, I’d say it was spot on.
Maybe be brown? Seems like an easy way to get in trouble nowadays.
Weird. I’m brown and have brown neighbors. None of us are worried. Maybe you need to touch grass.
Brown people are getting disappeared into unmarked vans all over the country but I’m glad you aren’t worried.
the US is literally in the midst of a nazi revival
you’re either not brown or a moron
I’m assuming that’s an inclusive “or” As in they may be both!
well given that the police don’t seem to need a reason anymore, literally anything?
It’s opt-in for now, but not if they don’t get as many options as they want. Also ring cameras often show a lot more than your property they show the street and other neighbors houses as well.
Well, at least my ex was smart enough to listen to me.
Still not smart enough to stay married to me, but good healthy decisions need to be praised for what they were.
There it is. Goddamn it took awhile for this shoe to drop.
I’m just going to leave this here:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=Pp9MwZkHiMQ
