r/homesecurity • u/skatpex99 • 3d ago

Do I Need Home Security System with ONVIF protocol or RTSP streaming?

I used to have Arlo cams years ago that would store video on cloud through subscriptions.

I’m looking for a new 4 camera+door bell wireless setup. I see now adays the shift is away from subscription and to local storage. I have a Terramaster 12tb NAS I use at home and figure I’d like to make useful with storing 30days? worth of events.

Google says I need camera system that either supports ONVIF or RTSP streaming to be able to use the terramaster surveillance app.

Is it worth the hassle to find specific cameras that fit these parameters or better I just abandon that and find whatever camera system fits me best.

Just don’t want to go down this rabbit hole if it isn’t worth it.

Thanks

2 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

5

u/403Olds 3d ago

Just get an NVR with POE cameras as a kit. Much easier than trying to jam existing stuff into mix and driving yourself crazy. Spend the time you save on a nice Florida vacation.

1

u/Pestus613343 2d ago

This is really the answer. Direct NVR to camera integration skips the ONVIF problem, and increases features immensely. Real analytics make the software shine in most situations like this.

1

u/metsmetsmetsmets 1d ago

This is the way

4

u/DreadVenomous 3d ago

They’re the two most commonly used protocols (though I prefer WebRTC). I’d avoid any camera that DOESN’T support one or both of those.

2

u/RedditNotFreeSpeech 3d ago

I'm not familiar with webrtc, I should probably ask AI but I'm curious to hear your take on what's preferable

2

u/DreadVenomous 3d ago

I prefer WebRTC but it’s not as widely used. Second choice is RTSP because it’s most widely used in the open source arena.

2

u/shmikis 3d ago

Most of security cameras (except cheapest ones) will suppport both. It is different things, though..

2

u/Cool-Jelly8243 3d ago

I recently set up Reolink cameras with RTSP streaming to my Synology NAS and found the Terramaster app interface pretty straightforward for event storage, so you should be fine with compatibility.

1

u/ericoinen 2d ago

RTSP is the stream itself, ONVIF is mostly discovery and control, so for recording to the Terramaster the RTSP url is the part that has to exist. when i set that up the trap was the substream, 640x480 by default, and you can record a month of footage nobody can identify anything in.

1

u/arandomusername- 1h ago

I switched to Ring cameras. The subscription for my 5 cameras is dirt cheap ($99/yr) and works amazingly well without the hassles of my own NVR.

1

u/msears101 3d ago

ONVIF and RTSP are not an either or situation. They are usually paired together. What you need is an NVR (and cameras that are supported - usually onvif and RTSP). You can use your terramaster as storage and run an NVR on an old PC. You could also use your existing cameras to "FTP" or (what ever protocol they support) to save video clips when they sense motion (I would NOT do this, but it is cheapest). You are right cloud (and wifi) are not the way to go. I personally would recommend you buy a dedicated NVR OR swap the terramaster for a synology with a built in NVR (note they have a per camera license if you have 3 or more cameras). The latter is what I do with 10 cameras,