Howdy All, I just wanted to introduce myself as I continue down my security journey 
.
Currently I have a Wyze system consisting of their original floodlight cameras that I've added some of their V3 cameras as they have a USB port on it. I've got one at the set back detached garage looking straight down the driveway, One at the back door, and one at the Front door. I started with these because they were cheap and I really wanted smarter floodlights. I think I'm done investing in their system at this point because there isn't a way (good way at least I've found) to effectively attach them to an NVR while still keeping their capability to run the floodlights. I'm a bit different than many folks here I think where I see a large focus on low light performance and I've taken the approach of yes the image is shit in low light, so lets add a bunch of light. I also added a Wyze doorbell pro as I had a hardwired system and didn't get POE to that yet. Yet to be installed here is a Wyze Flood on the cottage, Already purchased a while back and just need to get there. Point of fact, the front and side yard are 4' chain-link fenced in with the gate toward the driveway, and on the far side of the hedges is a wooden fence that my neighbor has up.
I had a POE network switch I got a while back for some retired enterprise WIFI access points and I then used this to expand into the Reolink ecosystem. My first camera there was the Duo Floodlight POE to cover overview of my front yard and provide triggers to other floodlights I was getting. I've since added 3 more POE floodlights from Reolink covering the front of the driveway and my side yard. The Duo works well for getting the yard lights lit but doesn't do a great job on the driveway light so I then got a Trackmix PTX at the corner of my house where it basically sees straight down my driveway. This works as a great trigger and anyone entering the front of my property and good portions of the back are covered in light. I think I can pipe the Reolink feeds to an NVR via ONVIF. I also got a Reolink POE doorbell cam but haven't installed it yet for lack of wiring and capacity on my part.
As much as I'd love to throw out the Wyze system completely, that would cost money and take time. I know I'm going to get some flak for Reolink, but in my defense, I think I'm doing that part right because I really do just want them as overwatch and light triggers, I don't think anyone else is doing POE floods and it's nice they link to each other for triggers. My next purchases are going to be something Varifocal from @EMPIRETECANDY in order to get a better idea on what needs to go where. Specifically, in the long run I'd like to have something in the corner of the house away near where the current Reo Duo is looking toward the street with a tight FOV at an angle in order to collect vehicle info. I also need to do something about my alley/back yard which I imagine will also have a combination of vehicle tracking on one corner of my cottage along with better people tracking where folks are going to be coming in the back. I don't have the fencing up I'd like yet, and that will take a lot more time, but it will serve as a funnel. My big problem here is I have this cottage/AirBNB in the backyard that I'd like to use for camera placement but it's far away from my POE setup and I'm not sure how I want to handle POE out there. I'm thinking of running an ethernet cable from the accesspoint I have in my garage to the cottage attic space and run a powered POE switch from there, but I'm just not sure yet. I'd love to run everything back there from the garage but that would be longer cable lengths etc.
Most immediately I'm looking into an NVR solution. I currently am working on setting up a mini PC to use as a more secure router etc, and I've got a google coral TPU that I could put on there with Frigate, but I'm also liking the idea of something like a dedicated NVR solution that would handle most of the POE I've got going on a separate physical device (not just VLAN). I'd still need to use the Brocade switch for the Reolink Duo as I think it pulls more power than 25W at peak but I'm not positive at that. Either way, I'm working on securing my systems more as I go. Attached is a very rough outline of the property for ease of understanding the layout. I'm open to any suggestions or thoughts along the way!
~Wings
. Currently I have a Wyze system consisting of their original floodlight cameras that I've added some of their V3 cameras as they have a USB port on it. I've got one at the set back detached garage looking straight down the driveway, One at the back door, and one at the Front door. I started with these because they were cheap and I really wanted smarter floodlights. I think I'm done investing in their system at this point because there isn't a way (good way at least I've found) to effectively attach them to an NVR while still keeping their capability to run the floodlights. I'm a bit different than many folks here I think where I see a large focus on low light performance and I've taken the approach of yes the image is shit in low light, so lets add a bunch of light. I also added a Wyze doorbell pro as I had a hardwired system and didn't get POE to that yet. Yet to be installed here is a Wyze Flood on the cottage, Already purchased a while back and just need to get there. Point of fact, the front and side yard are 4' chain-link fenced in with the gate toward the driveway, and on the far side of the hedges is a wooden fence that my neighbor has up.
I had a POE network switch I got a while back for some retired enterprise WIFI access points and I then used this to expand into the Reolink ecosystem. My first camera there was the Duo Floodlight POE to cover overview of my front yard and provide triggers to other floodlights I was getting. I've since added 3 more POE floodlights from Reolink covering the front of the driveway and my side yard. The Duo works well for getting the yard lights lit but doesn't do a great job on the driveway light so I then got a Trackmix PTX at the corner of my house where it basically sees straight down my driveway. This works as a great trigger and anyone entering the front of my property and good portions of the back are covered in light. I think I can pipe the Reolink feeds to an NVR via ONVIF. I also got a Reolink POE doorbell cam but haven't installed it yet for lack of wiring and capacity on my part.
As much as I'd love to throw out the Wyze system completely, that would cost money and take time. I know I'm going to get some flak for Reolink, but in my defense, I think I'm doing that part right because I really do just want them as overwatch and light triggers, I don't think anyone else is doing POE floods and it's nice they link to each other for triggers. My next purchases are going to be something Varifocal from @EMPIRETECANDY in order to get a better idea on what needs to go where. Specifically, in the long run I'd like to have something in the corner of the house away near where the current Reo Duo is looking toward the street with a tight FOV at an angle in order to collect vehicle info. I also need to do something about my alley/back yard which I imagine will also have a combination of vehicle tracking on one corner of my cottage along with better people tracking where folks are going to be coming in the back. I don't have the fencing up I'd like yet, and that will take a lot more time, but it will serve as a funnel. My big problem here is I have this cottage/AirBNB in the backyard that I'd like to use for camera placement but it's far away from my POE setup and I'm not sure how I want to handle POE out there. I'm thinking of running an ethernet cable from the accesspoint I have in my garage to the cottage attic space and run a powered POE switch from there, but I'm just not sure yet. I'd love to run everything back there from the garage but that would be longer cable lengths etc.
Most immediately I'm looking into an NVR solution. I currently am working on setting up a mini PC to use as a more secure router etc, and I've got a google coral TPU that I could put on there with Frigate, but I'm also liking the idea of something like a dedicated NVR solution that would handle most of the POE I've got going on a separate physical device (not just VLAN). I'd still need to use the Brocade switch for the Reolink Duo as I think it pulls more power than 25W at peak but I'm not positive at that. Either way, I'm working on securing my systems more as I go. Attached is a very rough outline of the property for ease of understanding the layout. I'm open to any suggestions or thoughts along the way!
~Wings
In general I'm more than happy to eat my popcorn and watch people bicker about their preferred solutions, it's a great way to figure things out I want to do.
)