All of our pfsense tutorials are curated here lawrence.technology/pfsense/

they didn't go to a subscription base method.

I am looking at switching away from my UniFi camera installation and after looking at the numbers with the cheaper cameras (with better resolution) + plus the license cost I am still coming out ahead for a 9 camera installation. I believe UBNT just includes the "license" cost in the camera cost making the software "free"

its still overpriced. blue iris beats the costs by a mile.

@@ScottWinterringer Yep, but as Tom talked about in a live chat, you have to run a computer in order to run Blue Iris. I have three BlueIris servers running and will most likely continue.

@@charlesr.9414 I don't know a lot about synology -- is it possible to virtualize a Windows Install on Synology and run Blue Iris on top of that?

I always put them at the bottom

@@LAWRENCESYSTEMS Thanks, I've seen it. Maybe you can put it at the top so that it is easier to find. I'm sure there are others who get confused because the link is lost among the affiliate links. Thanks for being helpful in the community.

I just went the other way. I was using synology for years, and got sick of paying them money every time I had to add a new camera, and I prefer Protect's way to review past events and videos better than Synology Surv Station. The only thing I hate about protect is the lack of PTZ cameras, and of course no ONVIF support. So if someone wants to use any camera, UI protect is obviously not a good option.

@@jason3fc I had issues with Unifi protect when the CloudKey Gen2+ came out. They would randomly shut off using POE and kill the hard drive. I ended up replacing that client with Unifi video and I kept the replacement cloud key for my house. But I think anything larger than 8 cameras, a different solution is needed.

James Briggs wow. I use 13 cameras at my own site and no issues on the Gen2+ been running it for 8 months now with no outages on any cameras.

@@jason3fcI bought the original one within the first month or two of being released. But the one I have now has been reliable for the last 6 months.

What's you use case for using analog? Are you trying to meld with an existing installation, or looking for greater physical security of your video feed? Analog does impose certain limitations. There are some very nice cameras available that support hdcvi at up to 4k with the general features you're looking for, but I'm not seeing auto tracking as a listed feature. If that's a required, rather than a desired feature, I would get thee to a specialist. Trying to get advanced features in an analog world limits the selection greatly, and jacks the cost way up. Auto tracking is an odd beast in any event - it relies on the vendor successfully melding together several features, and it's hard to know in advance how well it will work in the field due to all the variables. It would be a shame to shell out top dollar for a camera that *almost* does what you need. If you can incorporate an ip camera into your design, it does open up a much wider selection of cameras with more advanced features at lower cost, so if you are trying to work around a minor hassle combining ip and analog, you might be better served just dealing with a mixed system. But do talk to a pro if you're serious - you don't want bad info from a sales guy who means well but rarely runs into your specific use case and is relying on sales collateral.

You dont need HDMI connections on a device like this.

The lack of HDMI is a minor issue, but the DS series are NAS devices, not dedicated NVR's. I just setup a mini computer connected to a screen via HDMI to run the Surveillance Station client on the PC and output it to screen. Synology do have dedicated viewer devices, but I just found the mini computer was a little cheaper in my situation.

Synology www.synology.com/en-us/support/nvr_selector

@@LAWRENCESYSTEMS can you help recommend a system to me? Most important features are human motion recognition and a external alarm on my receiver or port for one for inside notification for motion This always is a issue for me is a alarm that can actually wake me up on the inside of the house not on the camera Nothing else much matters I’m fine with wired and a4 cam system It’s for instant notification of motion Any recommendations would be great, are you in Canada?

Ipx6 ratings definition is "Water projected in powerful jets (12.5 mm (0.49 in)) against the enclosure from any direction shall have no harmful effects." Test duration: 1 minute per square meter for at least 3 minutes Water volume: 100 liters per minute (0.37 impgal/s) Pressure: 100 kPa (15 psi) at distance of 3 meters (9.8 ft) Vs ipx7 which is defined "Ingress of water in harmful quantity shall not be possible when the enclosure is immersed in water under defined conditions of pressure and time (up to 1 meter (3 ft 3 in) of submersion).Test duration: 30 minutes." Tested with the lowest point of the enclosure 1,000 mm (39 in) below the surface of the water, or the highest point 150 mm (5.9 in) below the surface, whichever is deeper. Ipx6 is fine for most anything nature can throw at it.

Martin Zeuner In my opinion it would be compatibility with thousands of other camera models as well as being a nice well optioned general purpose storage device.

Synology you setup the drives as RAID. and u still can use it as NAS. Reolink NVR is just and NVR.

UniFi video, they moved on to protect. Networking software has nothing to do with this :)

Not sure why he said required cloud... I have udm pro. And gonna get expansion none requires cloud

No, they don't charge for UniFi Protect, but they charge you for the device it runs on. With its predecessor, UniFi Video, you could install it on your own hardware. So you're now left with the devices UBNT offers and those are anemic and limited to only a handful of cameras with no redundancy whatsoever. For most people UniFi Video is out of the question, even though it's still usable-how would you recommend something to a client that is already EOL? TL;DR: UBNT really managed to shoot themselves in both feet with this one, but they've gotten pretty good at that. Maybe they've got some competition going on which executive can make the most self-damaging decisions, I don't see any other way to explain it.

@@Noodles.FreeUkraine no I wouldn't want to sell something to customer that was EOL but the UDM Pro was just released advertising unifi protect built in so that's why I was confused

@@michaelrousseau4373 Exactly, there are exactly 2 options for Protect, Cloud Key+ or UDM (Pro), that's it. And even the Pro has only one HDD even though there'd be enough room for another, the whole case is basically empty. They made a nice mess with once more fixing what wasn't broke in the first place. All they had to do was improve UniFi Video.

Noodles I strongly agree

There is no license to use the phone app and it can use the Synology quick connect or you can configure port forwarding manually

@@LAWRENCESYSTEMS Ahhhhh... OK, got it. I didn't see any information on 'quickconnect' directly mentioned. The lack of (or at least my knowledge of) an obvious mobile app was one of the few things keeping me from quoting these guys for this NVR purpose. I have been using Protect NVRs from Ubiquiti, but recently have had a LOT of problems with their cameras surviving the adoption/firmware upgrade process without getting bricked. As much as I like the Unifi product line, this whole walled garden approach is just killing them for me because you can't get stock anywhere outside of scalping prices, etc., and the ability to use just about any IP camera on the market with the Synology stuff is really nice. Your video pretty much nailed that down for me, and it was really nicely done. Thanks for all the info, and for replying so quickly to my question!

You can configure it either way

I have my cameras on there own Subnet with no access to the internet.

Jon @GeekiTek Great I understand that but every installation is different. Without the overpriced box how would one do this? Netgate sg1100 opt port with a dedicated Poe switch for cameras? With a firewall rule blocking internet access? ✌️

Firstname Lastname Yes, with firewall rules block all ports on the cameras IPs, maybe keep NTP (port 123) open to let them sync time and date!

Look into Synology QuickConnect. It uses a Synology server as a middleman to establish the connection.

I don't understand the question.

@Lawrence Systems I must be using completely incorrect terminology, sorry. I've been trying to get this configuration working and I'm not able to get this lan 2 network to talk. Seeming like I'm missing some dhcp/dns connectivity without the router but a steeper learning curve than I was expecting haha. Really appreciate your content mate 👍

Okay, I was able to find the IP address of the ReoLink IP camera with a workaround. I plugged my PoE switch into a router. The ReoLink Client immediately found the Camera, which allowed my to Set it up & then change the IP address to a static IP. The first few times I changed the IP address to Static & clicked save, I just got a message saying it failed but then after waiting a wile it saved it and gave me a succeeded message. ⚠I still would prefer not doing it this way if possible because I don't normally have a PoE switch plugged into my router but at least I can test out this ReoLink camera. I do love the 4x optical zoom 🔎. I see what you mean about that.

Yes, wire is better but i love wireless to!

No

@@LAWRENCESYSTEMS May want to double check that. Just trying to look out for you. :) SECURITY ALARM SYSTEMS ACT Act 580 of 2012. Keep up the good videos.

The built in licences are not transferable.

@@LAWRENCESYSTEMS That is disappointing but thank you for the quick reply.

​@@Shibu11229 built in ones are free on all supported surveillance station app Synology systems (4 free on nvr/dva models)

They are not listed on the current 3rd Party compatibility guide for LUMA. www.snapav.com/wcsstore/ExtendedSitesCatalogAssetStore/attachments/documents/Surveillance/SupportDocuments/Luma_3rd_Party_Compatibility.pdf

cant find the debian download anymore

You mean Unifi Video?

solomon w no

@@Tntdruid must be the one that leaked a while back then, so totally unsupported...

It's not necessary. Synology offers the quickconnect service that connects without port forwards, though it is discouraged for camera viewing (it works, just discouraged for viewing cameras).

@@gianluca2075 why is it discouraged?

I don't understand the question

Generally, many of the purpose built dedicated NVR units have poorly done software and a lack of flexibility when it comes to storage.

@@LAWRENCESYSTEMS I have that same synology unit (for different uses), but I use Uniview cameras coupled with a Uniview NVR. Any reason why you use a Synology NAS for recording vs 1 job in life appliance based Camera Recorder (NVR)?

@@LAWRENCESYSTEMS Thanks for the response! Always curious of how/why others do things.

11 11 don’t waste your life with a traditional NVR.

I use them with BlueIris, they work fine and the image quality is very good. I have the 6MP and 8MP ones. If you decided to use them, please put them on a separate VLAN completely isolated and with no access to the internet. If you cannot put them on a VLAN, you can give them a false gateway IP so that they cant talk to the internet but I wouldn't recommend that over the VLAN solution. I do that (VLAN Isolation) with all IoT devices and surveillance stuff. And especially devices you don't trust, like, chinese cameras for example. As I only have

I have a Hikvision NVR with two 6TB drives & 7 4K Cameras, 1 4MP PTZ and a 4MP WiFi Camera. Very great! I haven’t had a problem at all with the system. Sub to DVSLTD on KZfaq for Hikvision Product Reviews, Setup, & Installation

I use Synlolgy, I have no interest in running a Windows system for Blue Iris.

@@LAWRENCESYSTEMS Thanks for the reply. Might be interesting to make a video discussing your reasons why.

The free licenses are not transferable as they are built in.

I ended up just temporarily plugging in the ReoLink into a router temporarily. The app then found the camera right away. I was able to log into the camera and change the IP address.

Going from Blue Iris to Synology sounds like a downgrade to me.

How do you know that Dahua are not just re-branded Reloink?

That's the small 4 port 10 gigabit sfp+ switch

@@davidg4512 ahhhh. Love mikrotik stuff. Nice to see it out there

Thanks for sharing. What NVR do you recommend?

@@llg.208 not sure about China sanctions at the moment, but I use Uniview. Works with all new Onvif 2.1 cameras easy and has million features on Uniview cameras. Not too expensive. Standard 1 HDD nvr for up to 8 poe cameras was about 120€. For small installs i try to use nvr with integrated poe switch.