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.

[billparsons]

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

[marcusstephens]

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

[iAmTheSquidThing]

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

[danstahlberg]

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

[flaco]

Fantastic video! Very thorough and easy to understand!!

[slj]

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.

[wilraps]

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

[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

[MrGatya]

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

[claudiataylor]

Thanks for putting this together, super helpful!

[RoyD]

Great video for in-depth information around the Profiles

[honoriohizon]

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.

[sonicloud]

Great video, it taught me a lot. Thanks.

[cyrusho]

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

[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.

[RACETOY]

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

[ma-jtcz]

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

[FrankGraffagnino]

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

[vonries]

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

[MyName-mofw]

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.