4 ms·

This is exactly what I've been looking for. There's plenty of cheap RTSP and ONVIF compliant cameras coming out of china, but I trust them exactly 0%. I also do

by fusslo 2y ago

This is exactly what I've been looking for. There's plenty of cheap RTSP and ONVIF compliant cameras coming out of china, but I trust them exactly 0%. I also don't trust us-based companies with remote access via their services. So I'm learning how to partition my home network to not allow the cameras on a vlan to not access the outside world. But then I need to figure out how to access the video streams.. from the network my computer is on that does have access to the outside world. I'm a firmware engineer, so I haven't touched networking since my IT job in college.

mv4 2y ago
Mine are ONVIF-discoverable and will expose RTSP (H264 and H265) URLs and a snapshot URL. As I mentioned, they are 'dumb' (video and snapshots are their main purpose), and it's the security hub that makes them smart. No cloud-based remote access, your data stays on your device. If you decide to check it out, and feel free to ping me (email in profile). I am proud of these things, for the reasons you mentioned :) https://monitoreal.com/pro/monitoreal-camera/ https://monitoreal.com/pro/monitoreal-camera/ https://monitoreal.com/pro/security-assistant-spartan-i/ https://monitoreal.com/pro/security-assistant-spartan-i/ https://monitoreal.com/pro/monitoreal-relay/ https://monitoreal.com/pro/monitoreal-relay/
- cbsks 2y ago
  I’m interested! I have a few cheap Poe cameras but the rtsp connection is always flaky on them. Your email is not in your profile by the way.
  - mv4 2y ago
    Thanks, just added email (+LinkedIn). Happy to chat. Not selling direct-to-consumer yet (going through installers and integrators) but that's coming.
    - cbsks 2y ago
      Ah bummer. I’m just a lowly consumer.
      - mv4 2y ago
        Q4 of this year, I think.
    - mv4 2y ago
      What I meant we don't have a "click here to buy" just yet. We can still figure out how you can evaluate if you're interested.
mv4 2y ago
If your cameras are PoE, you can use an NVR that doubles as a PoE switch and can create a separate network for the cameras. Some NVRs will also relay RTSP from them so it will be accessible on your LAN. Alternatively, adding static routes to devices will allow them to see the cameras locally. Unfortunately, the NVR will probably have the same type of vulnerabilities as the cameras in question (they come from same manufacturers). Or, use something we've built :)
lormayna 2y ago
This is exactly the role for a firewall.
ww520 2y ago
Here's a setup that works. Get POE cameras. Get a powered switch with sufficient power to power the cameras. The cameras and the switch form their own subnet. Get a PC with two Ethernet jacks (or an Ethernet and a WIFI). Install NVR software, Blue Iris, iSpy, ZoneMinder, etc, on the PC to record and process the videos from the cameras. These softwares are all good with RTSP and ONVIF, with easy camera detection via port scanning. Connect the PC to the switch on one Ehternet jack and connect it to your general network with the other one (or WIFI). The cameras are running in their little isolated subnet. The NVR PC sits between the camera subnet and the general subnet. Access from outside reaches the NVR PC only, not the cameras. You can even open the WAN firewall to reach the PC's WIFI side to access the videos from Internet. Some of these NVR software can stream videos to outside phone apps or web apps.
- mv4 2y ago
  This will absolutely work if you know what you're doing. Similar to what I proposed with the NVR+PoE. Also, this feels like my Dropbox moment (the infamous comment below) :) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224 I am trying to remove this complexity.
  - ww520 2y ago
    Sorry if I came off negatively. I was responding to OP. Your products look good. Here's a bit of my experience on using NVR if that helps in better product design. Most NVR's are PC + powered switch built into one. I found them to be running very hot most of the times since they need a fairly beefy power supply to power the cameras and the PC itself. The WIFI only NVR's are much better and the only power drawn is video processing on the PC. Blink Module is a good example. Another problem is the tight integration of hardware. When I have more cameras than the PoE jacks on the NVR, it becomes obsolete. When some hardware fails on the NVR, the whole thing fails. My last integrated NVR developed a problem in the disk controller and the whole thing couldn't be salvaged. In the next round of setting the system up, I decided to de-couple all the pieces for better maintenance and upgradibility. The sweet spot I found is: cameras + powered switch + PC + NVR software + external USB storage. It has work great so far. The old PC was underpowered and I swapped it out without impacting the other pieces. I added more disks as needed with minimum fuss. I replaced some of the cameras without much problem. You're right in that ordinary customers probably won't do all those. For a customer product, a NVR that works with WIFI cameras makes the easiest sales. It has much lower hardware requirement thus keeping the cost down. WIFI cameras are easier to set up and thus plentiful. If it has an Ethernet jack, you can sell a separate powered switch to make it work with the PoE cameras. Basically it's a souped up Blink Module that works with other cameras, with storage, and can stream to apps and web. I mean you can sell a whole package of the pieces, plus phone apps and cloud storage, to offer a complete solution. Most of the pieces are off the shelf, but you can still offer a complete solution with some critical proprietary pieces like your NVR software. Of course you can offer piece by piece as needed, as long as all the pieces can fit together. There're a lot of cross selling opportunities.

by fusslo 2y ago

mv4 2y ago

Mine are ONVIF-discoverable and will expose RTSP (H264 and H265) URLs and a snapshot URL. As I mentioned, they are 'dumb' (video and snapshots are their main purpose), and it's the security hub that makes them smart. No cloud-based remote access, your data stays on your device. If you decide to check it out, and feel free to ping me (email in profile). I am proud of these things, for the reasons you mentioned :) https://monitoreal.com/pro/monitoreal-camera/ https://monitoreal.com/pro/monitoreal-camera/ https://monitoreal.com/pro/security-assistant-spartan-i/ https://monitoreal.com/pro/security-assistant-spartan-i/ https://monitoreal.com/pro/monitoreal-relay/ https://monitoreal.com/pro/monitoreal-relay/

cbsks 2y ago
I’m interested! I have a few cheap Poe cameras but the rtsp connection is always flaky on them. Your email is not in your profile by the way.
- mv4 2y ago
  Thanks, just added email (+LinkedIn). Happy to chat. Not selling direct-to-consumer yet (going through installers and integrators) but that's coming.
  - cbsks 2y ago
    Ah bummer. I’m just a lowly consumer.
    - mv4 2y ago
      Q4 of this year, I think.
  - mv4 2y ago
    What I meant we don't have a "click here to buy" just yet. We can still figure out how you can evaluate if you're interested.

mv4 2y ago

If your cameras are PoE, you can use an NVR that doubles as a PoE switch and can create a separate network for the cameras. Some NVRs will also relay RTSP from them so it will be accessible on your LAN. Alternatively, adding static routes to devices will allow them to see the cameras locally. Unfortunately, the NVR will probably have the same type of vulnerabilities as the cameras in question (they come from same manufacturers). Or, use something we've built :)

lormayna 2y ago

This is exactly the role for a firewall.

ww520 2y ago

Here's a setup that works. Get POE cameras. Get a powered switch with sufficient power to power the cameras. The cameras and the switch form their own subnet. Get a PC with two Ethernet jacks (or an Ethernet and a WIFI). Install NVR software, Blue Iris, iSpy, ZoneMinder, etc, on the PC to record and process the videos from the cameras. These softwares are all good with RTSP and ONVIF, with easy camera detection via port scanning. Connect the PC to the switch on one Ehternet jack and connect it to your general network with the other one (or WIFI). The cameras are running in their little isolated subnet. The NVR PC sits between the camera subnet and the general subnet. Access from outside reaches the NVR PC only, not the cameras. You can even open the WAN firewall to reach the PC's WIFI side to access the videos from Internet. Some of these NVR software can stream videos to outside phone apps or web apps.

mv4 2y ago
This will absolutely work if you know what you're doing. Similar to what I proposed with the NVR+PoE. Also, this feels like my Dropbox moment (the infamous comment below) :) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224 I am trying to remove this complexity.
- ww520 2y ago
  Sorry if I came off negatively. I was responding to OP. Your products look good. Here's a bit of my experience on using NVR if that helps in better product design. Most NVR's are PC + powered switch built into one. I found them to be running very hot most of the times since they need a fairly beefy power supply to power the cameras and the PC itself. The WIFI only NVR's are much better and the only power drawn is video processing on the PC. Blink Module is a good example. Another problem is the tight integration of hardware. When I have more cameras than the PoE jacks on the NVR, it becomes obsolete. When some hardware fails on the NVR, the whole thing fails. My last integrated NVR developed a problem in the disk controller and the whole thing couldn't be salvaged. In the next round of setting the system up, I decided to de-couple all the pieces for better maintenance and upgradibility. The sweet spot I found is: cameras + powered switch + PC + NVR software + external USB storage. It has work great so far. The old PC was underpowered and I swapped it out without impacting the other pieces. I added more disks as needed with minimum fuss. I replaced some of the cameras without much problem. You're right in that ordinary customers probably won't do all those. For a customer product, a NVR that works with WIFI cameras makes the easiest sales. It has much lower hardware requirement thus keeping the cost down. WIFI cameras are easier to set up and thus plentiful. If it has an Ethernet jack, you can sell a separate powered switch to make it work with the PoE cameras. Basically it's a souped up Blink Module that works with other cameras, with storage, and can stream to apps and web. I mean you can sell a whole package of the pieces, plus phone apps and cloud storage, to offer a complete solution. Most of the pieces are off the shelf, but you can still offer a complete solution with some critical proprietary pieces like your NVR software. Of course you can offer piece by piece as needed, as long as all the pieces can fit together. There're a lot of cross selling opportunities.