We are currently in the process of remodeling a home and we are expecting to move in around Thanksgiving. During the remodel, I went ahead and ran Cat6 cable around the home all coming back to a media closet in the family room. It's now time to go ahead and purchase the security camera system and I'm looking for a little advice.
I currently have a Dell XPS 8300 desktop (Core i5 2nd gen @ 3.0 GHz, 16GB RAM, 256GB system SSD, 3TB first media drive, 6TB second media drive) that used to be used for Windows Media Center/Extenders and is now used as a Plex server. All the TVs in the home will be either Roku TVs or have a Roku device connected to run the Plex app and they will also have Chromecast devices connected. In addition, we will have Google Home devices in each room, being a mixture of OG Home, Home Mini, Home Hub, or Lenovo Smart Display. We also have a Samsung Smartthings hub with ZWave doorlocks, light switches, etc. setup for some home automation.
I am looking to have 4 cameras and a video doorbell, with the possibility of adding a few more cameras later. I looked at the Nest ecosystem because I like the integration with Google Home/Home Hub/Lenovo Smart Display and Chromecast. However, there were some major drawbacks to it. These include WiFi only with no way of doing PoE, cloud only recording which makes it dependent on the Internet and eats upstream bandwidth, and (of course) the necessary monthly service fee.
I was looking at the Swann systems with their NVR-8580 because they have recently added Google Assistant support. It looks like this would give me full Ethernet connectivity with PoE, local recordings, and Google Home support (albeit less integrated than the Nest as it would require me to ask Google to display the camera while it looks like the Google Home Hub will be able to be automatically set to display the Nest Hello video feed upon someone ringing the bell). However, it does not appear Swann offers a video doorbell. Would I be able to connect a third party ONVIF compatible video doorbell to the Swann NVR, such as a Doorbird? Or is there another NVR system that would be recommended?
Alternatively, I was considering Blue Iris or Sighthound software in conjuntion with either my current media computer (or an upgrade if it isn't fast enough). I would then purchase a standalone PoE switch to power the cameras. Can either of those software systems be integrated with Google Assistant and the Google Home/Home Hub/Smart Display/Chromecast system?
One final thing I'm considering is to simply get the Swann system for the cameras and a Nest Hello for the doorbell. This would give me local recording using Ethernet connected PoE powered cameras with no monthly fee and some Google Assistant compatibility for the the majority of cameras and full Google Home Hub/Lenovo Smart Display compatibility for the doorbell.
Thoughts?
I currently have a Dell XPS 8300 desktop (Core i5 2nd gen @ 3.0 GHz, 16GB RAM, 256GB system SSD, 3TB first media drive, 6TB second media drive) that used to be used for Windows Media Center/Extenders and is now used as a Plex server. All the TVs in the home will be either Roku TVs or have a Roku device connected to run the Plex app and they will also have Chromecast devices connected. In addition, we will have Google Home devices in each room, being a mixture of OG Home, Home Mini, Home Hub, or Lenovo Smart Display. We also have a Samsung Smartthings hub with ZWave doorlocks, light switches, etc. setup for some home automation.
I am looking to have 4 cameras and a video doorbell, with the possibility of adding a few more cameras later. I looked at the Nest ecosystem because I like the integration with Google Home/Home Hub/Lenovo Smart Display and Chromecast. However, there were some major drawbacks to it. These include WiFi only with no way of doing PoE, cloud only recording which makes it dependent on the Internet and eats upstream bandwidth, and (of course) the necessary monthly service fee.
I was looking at the Swann systems with their NVR-8580 because they have recently added Google Assistant support. It looks like this would give me full Ethernet connectivity with PoE, local recordings, and Google Home support (albeit less integrated than the Nest as it would require me to ask Google to display the camera while it looks like the Google Home Hub will be able to be automatically set to display the Nest Hello video feed upon someone ringing the bell). However, it does not appear Swann offers a video doorbell. Would I be able to connect a third party ONVIF compatible video doorbell to the Swann NVR, such as a Doorbird? Or is there another NVR system that would be recommended?
Alternatively, I was considering Blue Iris or Sighthound software in conjuntion with either my current media computer (or an upgrade if it isn't fast enough). I would then purchase a standalone PoE switch to power the cameras. Can either of those software systems be integrated with Google Assistant and the Google Home/Home Hub/Smart Display/Chromecast system?
One final thing I'm considering is to simply get the Swann system for the cameras and a Nest Hello for the doorbell. This would give me local recording using Ethernet connected PoE powered cameras with no monthly fee and some Google Assistant compatibility for the the majority of cameras and full Google Home Hub/Lenovo Smart Display compatibility for the doorbell.
Thoughts?
