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I've been searching for a wireless (i.e. it has an internal battery) video doorbell which has the ability to save recordings onto a local server. All the ones I could find seem to only offer cloud storage (which I don't want to use due to privacy concerns, and also that if the company were to disappear, then so would the functionality of my doorbell).

The battery feature I consider secondary, so if anyone could find a video doorbell which can save its video feed locally I would be interested. I essentially want to use the doorbell as an intercom and as CCTV which I will save to my server and then delete on a rolling basis over a certain number of hours. I'm also open to more creative solutions to this goal if anyone has one.

Helmar
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mrnovice
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1 Answers1

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This sort of product may not be popular because it doesn't offer the consumer level features that permit the manufacturer to charge a premium. If it doesn't appeal to the tech press (i.e. conform mostly to existing convention) then it won't sell, certainly not at a good price. Remote operation would come high up on the 'necessary feature' list, and that implies a cloud based server if it is going to be reliable.

Relying on a local server storage adds a big barrier of operator competence. It also effectively removes any hope of being secure since consumer home networks can safely be assumed to be incorrectly secured.

You will probably have more success looking for a wireless camera for a single board computer - even that is reasonably niche (and severely compromised by battery life - as an example my dashcam runs for maybe 6 hours from 3x4Ah lipo cells).

Realistically, a Raspberry Pi with a camera module on a long (1 metre) extension is going to be as good as any existing product.

Sean Houlihane
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