Its been a while since I last posted on here but since getting Blue Iris up and running the way I wanted was giving me fits I had decided to try Unifi Protect since it recently allowed 3rd party camera adoption. The result just blew me away. I ended up purchasing a Cloud Key Gen 2 Plus (controller) and a UNVR Pro (loaded with 3 WD Purple Pro 18TB drives configured in Raid 5) and once it was set up I've been super impressed with how it all works. Now there's no AI or ONVIF triggering at all on the cameras (hopefully they will in a future Protect update). Currently I have it recording my (9) T54IR-ZE-S3 cams, my B52IR-Z12E LPR cam, my (2) Reolink POE Doorbell Cams and a Ubiquiti G6 Instant continuously (13 cams total). I run the Reolink doorbell app on my phone separately as well so I can use the 2-way capability to talk with someone that's at the door. The doorbell cams are a bit more sluggish to load than the Dahua cams but we are talking like a second or two delay when first opening the app on your phone otherwise everything is realtime. With the amount of drive space I have in there now I'd say I have a solid 2-3 months of footage before the UNVR Pro begins to overwrite anything. Scrolling back and forth on your saved footage is super easy (mobile app, apple TV, browser, etc) and you can obviously screenshot whatever you need and download, save or archive clips as well. You can also backup your footage to the cloud (it's a bit taxing on your internet connection with continuous recording so that needs to be a consideration). You do have control of the PTZ portion of the 3rd party camera right in the app so that's a great feature if you need to adjust anything on the fly. Camera details are all available in the app as well (IP address, Bitrate, Mac address, FPS, etc). The mobile app blows the doors off anything I've used before with viewing cameras. I'd call it the Apple of the security software world due to it's ease of configuration and use. It's so easy my wife can use it if she wants to watch the dogs around the property or check for skunks/bears/etc before going outside. She loves it and that's saying alot because shes not the least bit tech savvy. Now while Protect may not be as granular as Blue Iris I have to say the the usability of it (especially on mobile devices) is WAY more pleasant than dealing with Blue Iris. It also requires alot less technical skill to setup and use so this was a real game changer for me (I don't want fiddling with security cameras to use up all my free time). Cost is likely higher especially if you need to purchase their AI cams to work with Protect but I've been very happy with what I get from my 3rd party cams given how I use the system.
I'm still waiting to see what Ubiquiti comes up with for AI on 3rd party stuff (not sold on the AI port or AI Key yet, both need more horsepower IMHO). There's also the ability to mix cameras so if I wanted AI in a certain place I can always add a Ubiquiti AI camera for that specific location (yes, the AI cams are crazy expesnive for what you get). I got a G6 instant for indoor use to allow me to play around with the AI and it works extremely well (perhaps too well) so you need to really tune it down so you don't get blasted with alerts everytime it sees anything. I suspect there's alot of development to be done in this area so the updates for this stuff in the next year or two will definitely be fast and furious.
Anwyay just thought I would share in case others were on the fence about it as well.
I'm still waiting to see what Ubiquiti comes up with for AI on 3rd party stuff (not sold on the AI port or AI Key yet, both need more horsepower IMHO). There's also the ability to mix cameras so if I wanted AI in a certain place I can always add a Ubiquiti AI camera for that specific location (yes, the AI cams are crazy expesnive for what you get). I got a G6 instant for indoor use to allow me to play around with the AI and it works extremely well (perhaps too well) so you need to really tune it down so you don't get blasted with alerts everytime it sees anything. I suspect there's alot of development to be done in this area so the updates for this stuff in the next year or two will definitely be fast and furious.
Anwyay just thought I would share in case others were on the fence about it as well.
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