How best to setup cameras for use with HA and Frigate for event triggers/notifications?

Configuration
1

I have a slew of cameras (Eufy, Reolink, and Amcrest). Right now they all record to SD cards. I can’t stand their onboard event detection because it misses so much.

I’m thinking of putting Frigate on my HA box (running Debian + containers).

What I’m not sure about is how I’d configure the cameras?

  • Would the cameras continue to record to the camera’s SD card or would I need to send to a NAS?
  • Would I configure the cameras to do continuous recording or event based recording?

My assumption is to do continuous recording to a NAS that Frigate picks up and actions?

2

You have a whole lot of options here for some cameras, maybe not so many for others, e.g. you can determine event vs. continuous recording per camera, including how long you want to keep the records for.

But … the most important consideration is, at least from my point of view:
Does your HA machine have to power to run multiple cameras with or without a Coral device and does it provide enough storage for 1, 2, 3, or even 12 months of recorded video events?

The Frigate manual is a good option to look at the details.

3

You can do both. SD card short term backup with longer term storage on NAS/frigate.

These are seperate and unrelated function. Frigate uses rtsp stream from camera which is note either/or function with sd card recording on camera

I would do event based since continuous will age the sd card faster. In frigate I do continuous as I use hdd and don’t worry about failure