more surveillance

content/log/2025/construction-site-surveillance.md

@@ -4,9 +4,9 @@ date: 2025-02-24T22:01:14+02:00
 draft: true
 ---
 
-I am building a house, for which I decided I need a webcam. I have never set up
-a security camera, so have zero knowledge before starting; one good thing — I
-knew the requirements pretty well:
+I am building a house, for which I decided I need a surveilance cameras. I have
+never set up a security camera, so have zero knowledge before starting. Here
+are the prelminary requirements *before I started*:
 
 - 24/7 on-demand live view, plus some recording: 7 days 24/7, plus some time
   for when and around "motion" is detected.
@@ -17,7 +17,10 @@ knew the requirements pretty well:
 - Use off-the-shelf hardware, so I am only minimally required to maintain the
   setup (so no DYI webcams or routers).
 
-# The Setup
+This post highlights some things I wish I knew before buying & setting it all
+up.
+
+# The Components
 
 Since the building site is "remote" (there is no existing infrastructure
 besides electricity), networking needs to be self-contained. This is the setup:
@@ -39,7 +42,8 @@ besides electricity), networking needs to be self-contained. This is the setup:
   and why it matters.
 * One can easily "live view" directly in the camera stream. Cameras can usually
   record video into a builtin SD card. However, that's not very useful if it
-  gets vandalized or stolen, so better push that video somewhere safe.
+  gets vandalized or stolen, so better continuously push that video somewhere
+  safe.
 * *NVR* is a Network Video Recorder. Besides the camera, this is the *second
   most important component*. NVR captures a video stream from the camera,
   (optionally) detects people and vehicles, and records everything. Since NVR
@@ -47,6 +51,21 @@ besides electricity), networking needs to be self-contained. This is the setup:
   important NVR has a good UX. You don't care about the camera UX after it's
   set up.
 
+# Video codecs
+
+There are two codec choices, mostly:
+
+- *H.264* is a royalty-free video codec from 2003. According to a [reference I
+  found in Wikipedia][14], it was used by 91% of video industry developers as
+  of September 2019. Every screen-equipped device that I tried can play it.
+- *H.265* (a.k.a. _HEVC_) is a royalty- and patent-ridden codec which offers
+  25-50% better compression ratios[15]. In my experience, the compression ratio
+  was over 50%. It is amazing for transfer, un-playable on everything I've
+  tried except Google Chrome browser on Android[^1].
+- Footnote: *H.264+*, *H.264B*, *H.264H* and similar. They are "close"
+  derivatives of H.264. Software support is hit-or-miss, so I mostly ignore
+  those.
+
 # Picking the camera
 
 [A friend of a friend](https://jpg.lt/), who has been setting up security
@@ -57,25 +76,27 @@ There are a few variables you may want to check:
 - Pan, Tilt, Zoom (*PTZ*). Some cameras can change the viewing position
   remotely. I picked one with PTZ, but more out of curiosity than necessity.
   Turns out, ONVIF (the "open" protocol to control PTZ cameras) is very poorly
-  supported with the NVRs I've tried.
+  supported, or not at all, with the NVRs I've tried.
 - Resolution versus visibility in low light. [ipcamtalk.com][2] has decent
   recommendations, start there.
 - Do your research in the [website][2], there are some great tips. I wish I had
   known about it, or at least read the Dahua part, before purchasing mine.
 
-Note that being surveillance companies, they unsurprisingly have [bad
-reputation in the Chinese-controlled areas][1]. I also found out about it only
-while researching open-source NVRs.
+Note that most cameras are designed and manufactured in China. Which,
+unsurprisingly, have [bad reputation in the Chinese-controlled areas][1]. I
+also found out about it only while researching open-source NVRs.
 
 # Network Video Recorder
 
 Once you've settled on the camera (and the number of cameras), there are mostly
-two NVR options:
+two options for an NVR:
 - A dedicated set-top-box-sized device from the camera manufacturer. These are
-  completely hands-off. A hard drive is usually purchased separately, depending
-  on how much should be recorded. The UX experience is "it is what it is". I.e.
-  camera manufacturers may or may not be the best NVR UX designers, especially
-  when it comes to viewing the recordings or live stream remotely.
+  completely hands-off in terms of maintenance. A hard drive is usually
+  purchased separately, depending on how much should be recorded. The UX
+  experience is "it is what it is". I.e. camera manufacturers may or may not be
+  the best NVR UX designers, especially when it comes to viewing the recordings
+  or live stream remotely. However, they will for sure create the best Camera ⇔
+  NVR integration.
 - Open source NVRs, which you can install to your existing home server. I
   considered [frigate][3], [Moonfire NVR][4] and [ZoneMinder][5]. Since I use a
   [home server]({{< ref "log/2023/nixos-subjective" >}}), I am self-hosting my
@@ -87,8 +108,8 @@ detection, not even "in theory". I have relatively powerful hardware in the
 closet and want object detection for it.
 
 *Frigate* seems to be what the kids use these days. Documentation is extensive,
-but sometimes not very accurate. It took a few evenings to get it to work, and
-it works.
+though sometimes not very accurate, but [their forums][13] compensate for it.
+It took a few evenings to get it to work, and it works.
 
 *ZoneMinder* is the oldest and most established. I learned about it only after
 having set up Frigate.
@@ -153,3 +174,8 @@ locally.
 [10]: https://mikrotik.com/product/mant_lte_5o
 [11]: https://teltonika-networks.com/products/accessories/antenna-options/wi-fi-dual-band-magnetic-sma-antenna
 [12]: https://headscale.net/stable/
+[13]: https://github.com/blakeblackshear/frigate/discussions
+[14]: https://go.bitmovin.com/hubfs/Bitmovin-Video-Developer-Report-2018.pdf
+[15]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Efficiency_Video_Coding
+
+[^1]: or vlc. Thanks to the French who make a point about not caring about royalties