IP Camera brand for compatibility with Surveillance Station

[AzureMurph]

Hi all,

Looking to start fiddling around with home security and IP cameras.
Going to see if I can make use of my synology NAS 412+ and the survelliance station application.

There is a long list of compatible cameras.
Being a novice when it comes to IP camera's, was hoping you could all detail which brands of camera you have used, and what your experience is.
Doesn't matter whether it is indoor or outdoor or what the features are, just trying to get an idea of which brands most people go with.

I've ordered a couple of FOSCAM camera's to start with. One indoor, one outdoor.

Thanks all.

 

[WST16]

Hi,

From the threads in this section, it seems that Hikvision, Axis and Amcrest are popular brands.
FWIW, I’m using 5 Hikvision cameras and I find them to be good value.

 

[AzureMurph]

Hey,

Will add Hikvision to the list of recommendations.

Cheers.

 

[chenks]

are there any cheap cameras primary to just play about with and be used to get familiar with the platform?
footnote, any such camera would need to not stick out like a sore thumb if place in the main living area (ie not ceiling mounted).

 

[WST16]

I have a cute and cheap indoors Hikvision that I picked up while traveling in SEA (remember when we used to travel ).

It was on sale for about $35. Reminds me of R2-D2 and to my surprise it worked well with Surveillance Station. I’ve only used it wired. Recommended if you can find it (make sure it’s the English version). The rest are outdoors “sticking like a sore thumb”

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[fredbert]

Is there a Synology LiveCam app for Android? You can play with that as a starter.

@tekguru posted that Eufy camera works

eufy Security 2K Indoor Cam

Well I treated myself to a 'eufy Security 2K Indoor Cam', cheap as chips at £39. A top piece of camera kit which works with Apple Homekit Secure Video. But it also works natively with Surveillance Station on Synology NAS's! So if you fancy a cheap camera with loads of features then there you...

www.synoforum.com

 

[chenks]

Do any of these have the nasty habit of phoning home to a Chinese overlord?

 

[fredbert]

Synology is from Taiwan, which China vociferously complains when it is left off maps of China. Just saying and in no way suggesting anything, only that at some point you have to decide to trust things... or not.

You could assign reserved IP addresses to the cameras and then block any Internet bound traffic from them.

 

[AzureMurph]

Synology is from Taiwan, which China vociferously complains when it is left off maps of China. Just saying and in no way suggesting anything, only that at some point you have to decide to trust things... or not.

You could assign reserved IP addresses to the cameras and then block any Internet bound traffic from them.

Some IP camera's require internet connectivity to register, configure, setup.
Which ends up with a catch 22 situation.

I guess it will be worth trying to lock it down once the camera is up and running.
Fair point though.
It is difficult to achieve unless you have a lot of time on your hands and enjoy writing firewall rulesets, but ideally I wouldn't want anything on my home network accessible from externally, inbound or outbound unless I have specifically created a rule to allow it.
Easier said than done.

Prime example of the outcome of the Carna Botnet analysis.

Carna botnet - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[WST16]

Do any of these have the nasty habit of phoning home to a Chinese overlord?

Not that I know of (for my Hikvisions). Anyway, I restrict them to the local subnet and don’t input any gateway or DNS information. I configure them to sync the time from the DiskStation. And if you have a firewall you can block them too. I access the DS (SS) remotely over VPN if I need to.

@AzureMurph, you should avoid those cameras that require internet access to setup and operate. Usually they’re cloud based using a stupid phone app that was designed by a blind hedgehog with no way to access them by their IP address.

 

[AzureMurph]

Not that I know of (for my Hikvisions). Anyway, I restrict them to the local subnet and don’t input any gateway or DNS information. I configure them to sync the time from the DiskStation. And if you have a firewall you can block them too. I access the DS (SS) remotely over VPN if I need to.

@AzureMurph, you should avoid those cameras that require internet access to setup and operate. Usually they’re cloud based using a stupid phone app that was designed by a blind hedgehog with no way to access them by their IP address.

Couldn't agree more.

Your point about not setting a default gateway has made me think.

Could be worth carving up a smaller subnet that the IP cameras can use, and create a network interface on the NAS within that subnet. /28 ?
Then assign all the IP cameras static addresses within the /28 subnet.

I hadn't considered that.

Cheers.

 

[WST16]

Yes that’s one way. Or if you have a managed switch, have them on their own VLAN.

 

[AzureMurph]

Yes that’s one way. Or if you have a managed switch, have them on their own VLAN.

True. But this is a home setup.
Looking for minimal admin overhead, I get enough of that at work.
For a home network, if I can get away with securing it enough, without having to buy equipment such as layer 3 managed switches, then I will.
But yes in an ideal world I would have managed switches, physical firewalls.
Or I would just outsource it and pay for a SaaS solution that has SLA's and contractual obligations.

 

[Rusty]

Personally I use Reolink cameras and have had no problems with them at all. Working great with latest version of SS.

 

[AzureMurph]

The two FOSCAM devices arrived today.
Easy to setup and integrate with the DSM.

https://foscam.uk.com/foscam-c2m

https://foscam.uk.com/foscam-fi9902p

Depending on your requirements, I'm happy with both so far.
Will keep you updated.

 

[AzureMurph]

Yes that’s one way. Or if you have a managed switch, have them on their own VLAN.

You've got me there.

I am now looking around for a physical firewall device as well as a syslog server.

After thinking about your point, I've reviewed my current setup, and you are right.
It's not up to scratch.

If I am going to start setting up CCTV/IP camera's, I will need to secure the traffic, which means getting a real firewall, with logging.

I'm going to have to start a new thread about using the DSM as a syslog target, and finding physical firewall devices to use.

 

[WST16]

Whatever you add security wise will be a bonus but not a must for home use as you said.
You can start without it, don’t go out of your way to implement it. It’s good to have but not a must, unless you know you’re being targeted by the evil powers

Take the precautions that were discussed, restrict the Ethernet traffic from each camera to its own MAC address too on the current switch if you can, use the DSM’s firewall with minimum exceptions (allows) and configure VPN for your own remote access and you should be fine. That’s how I’m running for now (all wired, no WiFi).

Four of my cameras are outdoors and the one inside is only activated if we are traveling. So far so good

 

[fredbert]

a syslog server

Log Center has a built in syslog server (see Log Receiving). Depends what you want to do with the logs once they are there.

 

[ilbarone87]

Hello guys, any suggestion for a Wifi Camera compatible with SS (possibly ONVIF support) that has also a spotlight? Unfortunately, the Reolink 511wa is still unavailable or I would have gone for that.

 

[Jan Janowski]

I have 12 HiKVision 2CD2042-WD1 cameras. No DVR, just cameras. These were one the famous ones with software back door in them, so you could get them new and used very cheaply. but new firmware fixes all that.
works fantastic with SS, even making video out of IP Stream. You can simultaneously store video via SS and ftp pics via camera, with two separate motion settings: ftp motion from camera, video motion from SS.

Those 12 all ftp pics to a NAS, then copy in background to others.. SS gives 2x free licenses per NAS. Local or POE, Day/Night Vision, Resolution Up to 3K, fixed lens, no audio, but also no problems inside or outside use! And price was right!
Setup menu takes some getting used to, but it’s a commercial camera.
You will find literally no support from factory. But UK User’s Group is marvelous.
Your biggest problem might be convincing Spiders not to be attracted to Night Vision LED’s! WD40 is best deterrent I’ve found so far!

PS. I’ve a trap in my router firewall to verify that no camera is phoning home, or accessing anything else on LAN except for one NAS for ftp, and the trap Has yet to log a ‘hit’ in nearly 2 years of ‘listening’