Security Cameras Simplified: Wired vs Wireless

Are PoE cameras like Reolink worth the hassle or should you just go wireless? Let me explain…

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0:00 Intro
0:32 Why choose wired over wireless?
1:46 Set up process
3:43 How easy is it to use?
5:18 Live View & Recording
6:08 Smart home compatibility
6:34 Cost
7:54 Who should buy what?
9:12 Crap...

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Disclaimer: Smart Home Solver was sent the Reolink camera kit for review. As always, our opinions are 100% our own and not influenced.

[SmartHomeSolver]

Are wired cameras worth the extra hassle? What do you guys think?

[kf]

I'm a low voltage project manager so this is my daily life explaining this stuff. This video is increble man! You hit all the important point without making it sound too techy. Great work

[smintiefresh]

In your recent poll - you asked which video type we most enjoy. I’m not sure which “type” this video would fall under :-) but this is one of my favorite video types that you do: what are the pros/cons of different approaches to product types or automations. Thank you for all you do for the home automation community!

[aquiveal]

Can you talk more about Unifi Protect Cameras into the home assistant? That's what I have been looking for all my life.

[MarkS]

IBEW low voltage technician here. Wired is the best way to go. You don't want loading or any latency on wireless. Also Reed, just from a commercial installer point of view, your cameras are at risk of being vandalized because of the faceplate. I'm sure it's probably 10ft off the ground but people are crazy...😬

Good video!

[keith]

I have two Reolink Argus2 wireless cameras with the solar panels at my lake place. Mounted them to a board then screwed them to trees. I live in Minnesota and the winters can be cold. They have been up for two years and running great. When spring comes they are 100% charge. Caught lots of deer eating my flowers. Now we make Wanted Posters with the screen shots!😂😂🦌🦌💐💐

[truthandlove]

I got 5 Wyze cams, went into my attic and wired up the outlets for each, connected the transformers and USB, used extensions from the outlet to whatever part of the home, and taped them down to the outlet. It's been a couple of months and it's been working great, not conventional but it works 👌

[johnwang]

The thing to remember is that most modern wired cameras use POE which means an ethernet connection so you should set up a DMZ network so people can't access your internal WiFi devices. Unfortunately, most of these camera systems expect the subnet to be the same as your internal devices such as your Alexa Echo's or Google Home's instead of routing through a firewall so you have to set up an old fashion "screen" (that's what the public domain software to do it was called) to firewall off the external wired connections. I haven't seen a screen install since the early 90's from before firewalls routers became everywhere.

Note, wired installs are easy though uncomfortable to do if your attic is still undeveloped, and you could always just run conduits on the outside of your house (cable, satellite tv, roof tv antennas, phone lines and even those split air conditioner coolant lines are often just run externally when a house is retrofitted, they just get covered when the house is resided)

[lp]

I have to say that wired security is more reliable and durable if installed properly.
On the other hand, battery powered wireless security camera is easy to install and easy to troubleshoot (you just have to take it down for services.) But you might have to deal with it often such as replacing battery.

[shubinternet]

You actually need at least three definitions here:

1. Wired cameras using Ethernet for data, and possibly also power (PoE)
2. Wireless cameras using Wi-Fi for data, but also plugged into an external power source, usually via micro-USB
3. Wire-free cameras that connect via Wi-Fi for data and are battery-powered

Then there’s the issue of whether it’s a camera that records primarily to the cloud, or if it is used to record to a local Network Video Recorder (NVR).

Many modern wireless and wireless-free cameras record to the cloud, and there is no local NVR. Wired cameras typically don’t record to the cloud, but to a local NVR or other device. Some wireless and wire-free cameras would also record to a local NVR or other device.

It’s also possible to have small solar panels that are used to charge wire-free cameras without removing them from their mountings, but functionally they are the same.

[allenrogers]

I personally think wired cameras are the way to go for me as I own my home, If I lived in an apartment or condo I may consider wifi. The 24/7 footage did it for me. I like the idea of having a monitor set up to quickly see what's going on. I just purchased the Reolink 8ch 5mp 4k camera/NVR kit. I also like the way your home was cabled with a low voltage box up high on the outside of the home. I think I will go that route as well for wiring. Great video, thank you.

[TechTutorialsDavidMcKone]

If you want cameras for security then wired is the only option
Wireless cameras delay the initial recording as they need to wake up after detecting motion but more importantly they have a security flaw
It's been known of for a long time, but check that warning CBS raised earlier in the year about a ring doorbell losing its video feed
After key fobs become popular for cars, we started to see more cars being stolen because it was easy to relay the signal
Signal jammers are cheap, so as cameras become more popular, expect to see more video blackouts because thieves don't want to be identified
The problem is that a WiFi signal can be jammed, so spend the extra money now and choose wired cameras
But try to factor in smart home compatibility so for instance lights will be turned on if a person is detected using object recognition and you get notified
Recording is all well and good but a deterrent is what we want
Throw in a fake dog barking and a verbal warning and the thief will likely run away
Otherwise they may think they've jammed the camera signal and commit the crime anyway

[PoisonWaffle]

Welcome to the world of hardwired! I'm sure you'll love it here!

The 24 runs in our current house turned out to be nowhere near enough. I'm going more than a little overkill and running enough cat6 to fill 6x 24 patch panels, and picked up 3x 48 port gig/PoE switches. Cameras, access points, and 2 or 3 wall plates with 4 jacks in every room.

Also, reolink and other wired cameras work well with 3rd party NVR software like BlueIris, which has a fairly good mobile experience.

[xAF]

Since gadgets can be and often are abandoned by the companies that manufactured them, with support dropped as the devices get left behind, I oped for the "roll your own" style setup with a mix of writing to SD cards, streaming to remote web servers and local storage, along with other non-security home IoT stuff. Unlike my two dozen original (and very expensive in 2014) TCP "smart bulbs", and the "Smart Things" Wifi/Zigbee/Zwave hub that I used back then to tie everything together, I don't have to worry about any of my IoT and security gadgets getting dropped from the manufacturer's support, potentially becoming more useful as door stops. One way or another I can fix whatever happens. Doing it DIY can require a lot of patience and maintenance to keep it going long term. Any changes to parts where you don't completely control the software/firmware, or any API changes to web services you rely on can completely kill parts of your system. Sometimes the debugging effort to get it working 100% again really sucks - the creative work is so much more fun than fixing random crap that happens down the road. It's still rewarding, though! Open Source solutions often have very helpful communities. Try to keep all control local as much as possible - use web to supplement but not as primary. Nothing sucks like not being able to turn your lights on because the internet is out, or the lighting brand's own server is down. If you aren't already, you really gotta be willing to become a serious tinkering hobbiest or engineering type to go that route, but I love the ability to build or customize the system to my imagination's content! You can make your system generally more reliable and redundant than commercial products in many ways, however, because DIY setups are inherently experimental, moment-by-moment they're unlikely to ever be as trustworthy or easy to use as a solidly developed and supported commercial security/cam system can be.

[Dhi-feeu]

For someone like me who doesn’t know anything about security cameras and is wanting to purchase one. Great video. You spoke very clear. I had no idea that wired cameras need to be connected to that box you mention. I thought you wore it to an existing outlet and that it.

[richardberryhill]

Based on this review, the wired systems are far superior, the UniFi system the better of the two. But wired systems require running Ethernet cables and that cannot be done in apartments or rented homes. Of the wireless systems the Eufy seems far superior, and with local storage instead of a monthly fee, much less expensive. Certainly the best choice in a apartment, and for our rental home, really the only choice—I can’t go making holes or running wires in someone else’s property, and even if I were allowed, I would not want the liability issues if the homeowner felt I had damaged something. Not to mention that when I move I would lose the investment. Wireless systems are portable enough that they would seem to make a great choice for serious RV traveling, too, if the metal exteriors on some RV did not cause too much of a problem.

[Will-tmbj]

I'm so glad there weren't cameras everywhere when I was a young hoodlum

[koiphish]

Dahua cameras and NVR's are the best route. I worked for a large alarm company and they installed the OEM versions (no branding) of these. They are PoE and are amazing quality for the pricing. I have 4k Dahua cameras all around my house and they are amazing, even in low light.

[HookEmNBookEm]

I have a Glock 17 9m, sig sauer p226 40 cal, ar15, and a Remington 870. Those are pretty good.

[MR-prtp]

Your videos keep getting better and better! Your REOLINK pros and cons are spot on! And thanks for introducing an alternative (UNIFY) (though more expensive) as I don't care for the REOLINK interface at all. Have experienced within the 2 years many issues with their upgrades, NVR and lost some valuable video to show police. Great customer service though, great resolution, great audio for their cameras.