Government belated ban on Chinese CCTV

[Swwils]

Price not really an issue, the UK gear just not as good. Stagnant improvement, service even worse.

[Oldgreybeard]

Price not really an issue, the UK gear just not as good. Stagnant improvement, service even worse.

I think price must have been a key issue, mustn't it? I remember we bought some Pye CCTV cameras years ago and they were stupidly expensive, hundreds of pounds each, even then. The Hikvision cameras I bought a couple of years ago were a fraction of that price and far better image quality and night vision capability. Just a pity that they were set by default to send data back to China.

[Tinbum]

I have all my cameras set in the router not to be able to communicate outside the LAN.

I use Blue Iris software which is absolutely brilliant to record the feeds and for remote operation. I have AiTool set up on the same computer that analyses all the captured images and then turns on outside lights, sends Alexa alerts and sends images to me using Telegram or Pushover.

I cant recommend Blue Iris software highly enough. It's brilliant and cheap.

[Tinbum]

Not many people seem to be playing with the Elfin modules yet, which is a pity, as it means there's not much knowledge available within the HA community yet. I've just bought an Elfin EW11A (the WiFi version) and will start playing around with it soon to see how easy it is to get data from the Sofar.

I'd be interested to know how you get on with that as I bought some, both the WiFi and the Lan versions, but have not got round to using them yet.

[Mr Gus]

Interesting (positive) privacy policy in plain english

https://blueirissoftware.com/privacy-policy/

[Tinbum]

Interesting (positive) privacy policy in plain english

https://blueirissoftware.com/privacy-policy/

Yes, I think it is basically an individual that is behind the software. Support can be a little slow if needed but their are forums available. It's basically a small one off payment unless you want to get updates and support after the first year. It does regularly update with new features and now includes its own AI. I use AiTool as it offers more features and was the precursor designed by another individual.
https://github.com/VorlonCD/bi-aidetection

[Jinx]

Another fan of blue iris here, I also block my Dahua’s, done via the router. I was going to create a separate LAN with a separate dedicated network card in the PC but the router blocking internet access seems to work well enough. Little work around to get a time server but easy to do.
I also access the blue iris server with VPN, made easy with ASUS routers.

Most large commercial sites and/or sensitive sites avoid Hik/Dahua already, you will generally see Axis or Sony products and the security will be nailed down where it really matters. Local governments are always useful to find out how to not do things however.

[AGT]

We use avigilon at work, also Meraki cctv good stuff!