Is there a CCTV selfhosted "cloud" DVR?

[Jaster]

Hi everyone,

 

this isn't specific to unraid, but as I'm running it, I hope to get some ideas here.

I'd like to wire up some CCTV cameras in different locations and connect them to a single server. The cameras would have lan/wlan which would provide access to the internet. I would not have access to the network itself.

There are apps/services which allow you to connect a cameras via their app to a cloud hosted service which is basically a "cloud dvr" with all the bells and whistles. Is there a self hosted version of something like that?

[ChatNoir]

I think that I see regularly people talking about Blue Iris. Not sure how it works, though.

[Jaster]

It's a local thing from what I know

[Aran]

On 7/12/2024 at 1:35 PM, Jaster said:

The cameras would have lan/wlan which would provide access to the internet. I would not have access to the network itself.

They need to go through a local network at some point to get access to 'the internet' no?? I mean, a wireless camera needs a wifi network to connect with, the same as a wired camera needs to be plugged in a router to get access to www. Correct me if i'm wrong. I'm not an expert in these things and i'm also curious.

[Michael_P]

On 7/12/2024 at 7:35 AM, Jaster said:

connect them to a single server.

 

The cameras don't connect to the server, the server connects to them - each camera (generally speaking) is like its own video server, the security DVR just connects and downloads its video stream. 

 

If you have the cameras IP and port (and it's accessible), the 'DVR' can be anywhere

[2Piececombo]

I think the best option would be using a VPN to connect all remote cameras to wherever the NVR is. For NVR itself I highly recommend Blue Iris. It supports tons of cameras and has tons of options. It's a little complicated at first if you've never done much with NVR systems, but there's tons of YouTube video tutorials. 

 

If you don't have access to the network devices at the remote location(s) you could always add in your own router device that supports a VPN client and connect all the cams to that device. Then set up a VPN server where the NVR will live so the remote locations can connect back to the NVR. 

 

Hope I explained that well enough. I've never done CCTV cams over wan but I'm sure it's possible. The only concern id have is the amount of bandwidth. You'd have to configure the cams to be fairly low bandwidth probably, otherwise you'd destroy the upload speed

[Espressomatic]

You can probably do this with most any self-hosted NVR (not DVR) software. Frigate (getting really nice this year), Scrypted NVR, Shinobi, Blue Iris, etc. A hundred cameras, each one in a different country? Yeah.

Others have mentioned some particulars.  The NVR pulls the video from a URL. The cameras don't connect out to an NVR. So you need VPN sever running where the cameras are, not where the NVR is.

 

So something along the lines of... At each location you set up a firewall/router with Wireguard (or your favorite VPN of choice), whatever switching you need, VLAN, etc. and the camera(s).

At your NVR location you'll connect to all the VPN instances to pull the camera(s) video over RTMP, RTSP, RTC, etc. (dependent on your cams and NVR sw)

You can even put something in the middle (at either location or a different location) to massage and rebroadcast the streams as needed. For instance if cams have limited stream support and you need something different. go2rtc for example or even Scrypted (non-NVR) can do this very efficiently.

Edited August 17 by Espressomatic

[2Piececombo]

On 8/17/2024 at 2:18 PM, Espressomatic said:

Others have mentioned some particulars.  The NVR pulls the video from a URL. The cameras don't connect out to an NVR. So you need VPN sever running where the cameras are, not where the NVR is.

Hadn't really thought about it like that, but I believe you can get bidirectional tunnels working with OpenVPN. I use pfsense for all my firewalls and I'm pretty sure that's a thing. Though to be honest I've never had a need to do it. 

OP, if you happen to want to try this route and use Pfsense, take a look through this

 

https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/recipes/openvpn-s2s-route-internet-traffic.html

Edited August 19 by 2Piececombo

[Espressomatic]

17 hours ago, 2Piececombo said:

I believe you can get bidirectional tunnels working with OpenVPN.

 

I'm pretty sure that topology really only affects how you establish the tunnels, as you'll still need the software stack, openVPN in this case, running at each location. The difference is then that each location is a "client" rather than a "server" - which does make more sense. The hardware/software requirements are going to remain the same.

I've been thinking (a bit) about rolling this out for testing myself, as I'd like to deploy something similar for clients who don't have the capability, or desire, to run/manage their own systems. Still in the stage of considering logistics and potential for headaches on my end before looking at the specifics.

 

Edited August 19 by Espressomatic

[2Piececombo]

My biggest concern is still bandwidth. Trying to push streams over the Internet seems problematic. I can't imagine more than a few is possible without completely maxing out the upload. Especially if you have a high resolution camera and using a high bitrate.