Rakuten has the original 720P Ring doorbell for $62. Is this compatible with HA? Is it a waste of money?
It will integrate with HA. You’ll get access to the camera as well as get a motion binary_sensor that you can act on. Ring is currently easier to integrate with than Nest (Google) since Google’s stopped giving out Nest API access.
Ring doorbells, since Ring is owned by Amazon, will display on an Echo Show if you have one, but you can’t (yet?) get the camera to display on a Show automatically - it requires a voice command.
Ring is OK if
-only need a few cams (cost gets high after 4)
-willing to pay subscription
-3-5yr install(they will stop supporting/bug fix eventually)
If using HA you can get cheap cams and simulate or improve in most ring function using those.
Anyway…they’re nice
Ring = Cloud = not fully local HA < fully local HA
So maybe these are better options:
2.4ghz: Amcrest AD110
5ghz: RCA HSDB2A
https://www.rcaaudiovideo.com/home-security/?sku=HSDB2A
POE: Dahua VTO3211D-P-S1
https://www.dahuasecurity.com/products/productDetail/37537
Armcrest requires app for initial setup. But I like it over ring.
I would look for something that allows setup on PC/phone from web
Interesting, I haven’t looked much into the workflow with any of these cameras. I just know they are popular among security cam guys.
I have some shelly wifi dimmers for my lights that have browser setup. I block them from the internet, but it’s still a good idea to connect them to the internet at first so they can get the latest firmware. After firmware update and initial setup, router blocking gets turned on, and afterwards these kinds of devices stay local. If the amcrest setup is something like that, then I’d be game for it… ie install app on phone, configure camera for the application, block access, uninstall app, access from rtsp… that would work for me.
Since I’ve been pretty unhappy with my Amcrest camera, this concludes my consideration for the cheap Ring.
Over the past couple of years, I have had various successes and more failures with cameras on Home Assistant. My most reliable, always works camera is on a Raspberry Pi Zero. The Amcrest was the most difficult to set up, but it works 80% of the time.
I tried doing a poll here about cameras a couple of years ago, but only got a couple of responses. Maybe I should try again.
What happens the other 20% of the time?
I don’t rely on HA for view/record
I use HA for Notify/data capture/object detection(doods)
I need camera for 2 reason.
-situational awareness(why sensor trip notification)
-review of past event
Camera for security is false hope unless 24)7 monitor
I use doods to capture 100% of object passing camera(people, car, animal) as image. This play back like time lapse and is great for review past
I use HA for send notification with image when things occur, like doorbell ring.
I use motioneye to record and review images captured by doods. The motioneye motion detect miss some object but doods still capture the image.
This work perfect for my use. Must Taylor system for your application/useage/needa
Late to the party, but I wouldn’t recommend Ring products to my worst enemy. I loathe the cloud model, (and making consumers pay is even worse). Their products have degraded tremendously since Amazon’s acquisition.
There are better alternatives.
If you already purchased it, return it.
Nope- didn’t buy it.
Thanks to all for the input.