Understanding Home Automation friendly Camera technologies - RTSP, ONVIF, POE and more!

2020 Security Camera Primer - Learn about RTSP, ONVIF, POE, AI Technologies and more
As part of my home automation series I am working on, I realized that there are a ton of terms that get thrown around that didn't make a ton of sense to me. For instance, what is an RTSP Camera? How do I pick out a camera that will work best for the home automation system of my choice? How do I pick out something that is flexible?
I had picked out Arlo cameras, and really have regretted it...they're cloud dependent, have awful reliability for live streams, are all wireless, expensive, required a monthly fee, locked me into an ecosystem I didn't like, and a number of other issues. So I decided to research, learn, and share what I believe are the things to understand when picking out a camera.
This video should be great for the person that is a beginner with these technologies and is trying to sort what ONVIF, RTSP, POE and so on are. I talk about the basics of each to give you a framework of what you may want to research more, or at least to be able to understand where each technology fits. My next video will be how to actually get these cameras into Home Assistant, and that video will be shorter because I can refer back to this one :)
One bonus at the end is I talk a bit about what an NVR is, and about AI technologies like Deepstack. I believe these technologies are what put a DIY system well over a commercial one as they allow for local processing of video to detect objects or people. No cloud service, subscription fees, or other services are required.

[@marcusstephens2517]

Great information, great delivery. Appreciate all the time you put into these videos.

[@geektoolkit]

Thankyou! I’m excited for the next two in the camera series because I’m hoping to get deep stack working in HA with my cameras. I also have an automation one planned for this series. I’m glad you’re liking them it makes the time worth it

[@billparsons7732]

Clear and concise with no background music or flashy introduction - Joe gets it. To really know, you must teach!

[@geektoolkit]

Thankyou so much!!! Glad this approach is appreciated!

[@iAmTheSquidThing]

Blimey. I'm not sure I've ever learned so much key information about a topic so quickly! This deserves an instant Subscribe.

[@geektoolkit]

Aw Thankyou!!! I’ll continue not work hard and make great content!!

[@flaco111]

Fantastic video! Very thorough and easy to understand!!

[@geektoolkit]

Glad to hear it!!!

[@danstahlberg]

Really good overview of surveillance camera/video concepts. As a newbie I truly appreciated it. Thanks!

[@geektoolkit]

Glad it helped!!

[@slj3458]

Thank you for the illumination! My head has been spinning as I've tried to get familiar with the types of cameras. I did not have to spend the majority of the viewing time deciding if information was important or interesting--it was as though you made this video for me.

[@geektoolkit]

Glad it helped! I work hard to try to keep a fast pace that gives a lot of info (though I’m seeing feedback that sometimes I’m too fast).

[@wilraps]

Much appreciated ... finally content for lay people who try to understand below the surface before purchasing ✔️👌

[@geektoolkit]

Yay glad you liked it! I just found so many tutorials to have so much Jargon I thought maybe if I took a second to break it down someone would appreciate it...so getting feedback makes my day on this! I did a lighbulb video that's very similar...I wasn't sure smart lights would be that interesting but wow...turns out there was a lot to talk about there!

[@MrGatya2]

This was very useful info. Especially the h264/265 one :)

[@vincestechshop]

Thank you for putting all this information together Joe! It will help speed up my home automation camera selection. I love the cultural references

[@geektoolkit]

Thanks! Im always trying to add entertainment to my channel, and that’s inspired by yours! Your channels amazing!!

[@claudiataylor8019]

Thanks for putting this together, super helpful!

[@geektoolkit]

Glad it helped! It took me a while to figure that stuff all out so hoped that a video would help others. Super glad to hear it’s helping!

[@RoyD2]

Great video for in-depth information around the Profiles

[@geektoolkit]

Thankyou! I’ll get some links added in the description for ONVIF also there’s a ton of neat info on what’s supported and such, and it’s cool to see what all they work to certify

[@sonicloud3149]

Great video, it taught me a lot. Thanks.

[@geektoolkit]

Yay perfect!! I do them to share with others because that’s how I learned so glad to pay it forward!

[@norriemckinley2850]

Excellent. Thanks

[@geektoolkit]

Glad it helped! I wasn't sure if this would be useful to people, but I didn't want to put this into every camera review I'd end up doing, so thought it'd be nice to have out there. Glad it's helping others!

[@latrace1986]

Excellent video sir -- thank you!

[@geektoolkit]

You’re welcome!!

[@tizzschnitzel2711]

Awesome video

[@geektoolkit]

ThankyoU!

[@pascalbergeron1186]

Thank you for this video.

[@geektoolkit]

Your welcome glad it was helpful!

[@GorkemYildirim]

Great info, thanks.

[@geektoolkit]

Glad it was helpful!

[@FrankGraffagnino]

super useful. at some point i'm going to have to start playing with deepstack.

[@geektoolkit]

I’ve been really impressed with it! I run it on an i5 3rd gen Intel NUC in docker and it’s been great. What amazes me is that it often recognizes people that are mostly off camera. Very cool

[@MrR3KK]

Great 🤩

[@nmummau]

Hi Joe great video! Are you aware of any comprehensive list of cameras that support RTSP? It seems that RTSP is not a selling point for manufacturers since it's more technical than the average consumer cares about. Years ago I bought an EZVIZ CS-CV206 to be used as a baby monitor, and that is actually when I learned about RTSP. And I've been using the RTSP stream from that camera ever since. I'm not overly satisfied with the quality of the picture, so now I'm hunting/shopping for a new indoor WIFI camera that supports RTSP. However it's extremely time consuming to sift through Amazon questions of WIFI cameras to find ones that support RTSP. I think it would be a great video idea to review/showcase cameras that do support RTSP. In my case I prefer ones that are not bulky like the Reolink is. Reolink is fine for outdoor use, and indoor in some cases. But for me trying to amuse my wife in the cute baby room, I cannot get away with mounting a larger Reolink camera. I'm planning on going with the EZVIZ C1C since by the looks of it, it supports RTSP just like my current EZVIZ camera does.

[@geektoolkit]

Neal that’s a great question, and one I’m actually trying to find a better answer to myself. I believe that the business model for cameras has shifted to subscriptions, and so they’re hiding the RTSP layer. Aarlo even encrypts it from what I understand. The best thing I can say is that ONVIF support exposes the RTSP layer so that cameras can work with NVR devices, and so the ONVIF list may be where to start. The challenge there is you’ll find a list of cameras and then have to cross check them against amazon and such for price/design/availability. But it may get you started, and if you find a good solution please share it because my daughter could use a new camera too :) www.onvif.org/conformant-products/

[@cyrusho2797]

Thank you for your video! Just a quick question, i wanted to setup a home automation system for my new home(using Home Assistant), which cameras protocols do you suggest? there are tons of cameras i have difficulties on choosing the right ones

[@geektoolkit]

Glad you liked the video! I definitely look for an RTSP based camera. ONVIF if possible to help even more, but RTSP at a minimum. Note most cameras out there that are cloud based will not support RTSP, but they also integrate terribly into home assistant (ring and arlo are good examples). The Reolinks i've had really good success with

[@honoriohizon3535]

hi, is there a way i can hook up wifi cameras to a PoE NVR ? i have Poe cameras outside house but for inside house, i wan to use wifi cameras then view them in the same monitor via the same software as if they were all PoE Cameras.

[@geektoolkit]

The NVR would have to support wifi cameras for that to work.

[@honoriohizon3535]

@@geektoolkit are there realy nvr models for that? what feature should i look for? thank you for your prompt reply.

[@geektoolkit]

ONVIF on the cameras so they can be found, and then an NVR designed for it. This one supports wifi for instance, but only reolink wifi cameras m.reolink.com/us/product/rln8-410/

[@MyName-mo7fw]

Sometimes you just want to drive a car without knowing how to rebuild the automatic transmission :) Could someone please tell me a decent outdoor cam that will work on iSpy connects? One that won't break the bank.

[@vonries]

Is this part of your Home Assistant intro, part 2B?

[@geektoolkit]

Sorry just seeing this. This is like Part 3B...it was a side video to help people that didn't have the camera lingo down. I originally had it in the same video, but it made the video quite long, and I want to make the most of people's time. so I split it off and made it generic to help anyone that wanted to learn security cameras, and then make the home assistant specific security camera video

[@ma-jt2cz]

Divulge info, thanks. When you get a chance, can you make a video that how to use this AI with BlueIris please?

[@geektoolkit]

The hook up has that exact video, so I'll likely not remake it. I do have one coming about using this with just home assistant and no NVR however that I Plan on doing. After that I'll revisit

[@ma-jt2cz]

@@geektoolkit Thank you

[@RACETOY101]

Great video... can please direct me to the Ai demo page you use in this Video...thank you

[@geektoolkit]

That’s using a deepstack install and deepstack UI. I have integrated it into my cameras and will release a video of that soon

[@RACETOY101]

@@geektoolkit thank you

[@mrxmry3264]

19:59 but it didn't detect worf.

[@geektoolkit]

OMG you have a good eye! I had to stare at the video a second...you're absolutely right I missed that (and so did it!). When I do a followup I'll have to test that again with Worf, and maybe Drax and see if it sees them

[@mrxmry3264]

@@geektoolkit things like that kinda jump out at me. And who's drax?

[@geektoolkit]

@@mrxmry3264 Character from Guardians of the Galaxy, who believes when he's motionless he can't be seen. :)