Why is cloud based video surveillance?

Jul 11, 2016
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Why is the correct word. Let me try to articulate this correctly.

A friend was telling me about his IT guy that doesn't want a DVR or nvr system because of security concerns of having a on site device. He is looking into a cloud based security system.

He states that it would be cloud based but wouldn't send video to the cloud(to help bandwidth), that means their would still have to be local storage which contradict his first statements of not wanting a on site device.

I could see if you had a ton of bandwidth and used qos or even a dedicated internet connection for cameras to record to online servers. Even then I can see lots of problems with this.

Has anyone dealt with a cloud based system like this? Pros and cons? Also from reading some vendors pages the spout nothing but pros of course, even low pricing but don't state pricing at all.
 
Why is the correct word. Let me try to articulate this correctly.

A friend was telling me about his IT guy that doesn't want a DVR or nvr system because of security concerns of having a on site device. He is looking into a cloud based security system.

He states that it would be cloud based but wouldn't send video to the cloud(to help bandwidth), that means their would still have to be local storage which contradict his first statements of not wanting a on site device.

I could see if you had a ton of bandwidth and used qos or even a dedicated internet connection for cameras to record to online servers. Even then I can see lots of problems with this.

Has anyone dealt with a cloud based system like this? Pros and cons? Also from reading some vendors pages the spout nothing but pros of course, even low pricing but don't state pricing at all.

Couple of things to think about:
- cloud-based does indeed not always mean: 100% cloud. Like you said, there might be "local" storage (eg on an SD card)
- cloud-based might mean that the cams are "phoning home" through that cloud-based service to "add functionality": eg push notifications/alerting etc
- what about privacy (footage/images/analysis)

Are these arguments advantages?
- in the first argument: you might be "lucky" if your cams are even ONVIF compatible (many cloud-based are not!), so when the cloud service disappears/internet goes down: will you ever be able to "login" into your system? That's for me a huge plus for having "island" mode capable onsite system. Best is to have an open system!
- in the second argument: that "phoning home" tunnen could potentially save you the hassle for having to deploy an openVPN server instance yourself, however I would not trust to have an OUTBOUND phoning home system (or even worse: having to set port forwarding to enable INBOUND traffic). So is this truly a 100% disadvantage? No, as other systems (even Dahua) rely on third party systems for push notifications - however these are one-off's and purely outbound fire & forget.

And that's even without considering "price", as security & privacy are already to me a no-fly-zone.

Hope this helps!
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  • Just say 'NO" to clouds and P2P. Next to using wireless cams, that's your weakest link.
  • For decent video and bandwidth in a cloud-based system, the upload speed needs to at least 4.0 MBps in many cases. If you live in a populated urban or metro environment, you may not have that.
  • Just install a NVR and mount it covertly in a limited access or locked location, not in plain sight.
Just my 2 cents.
 
I have 5Mbps up and it can't even reliably handle my single 1280x720 UI3 stream. Usually it's fine. At least once a day it's 0-300Kbps (yes, a K) for about ten minutes. You can't rely on your internet to reliably do anything 24/7. If anything, run a fully local system and back it up to somewhere hidden onsite or offsite (thru a VPN or other secure method) if you're paranoid but there's really no need. There's a reason the standard way of doing things around here is the standard way.

Another thing to think about is ISP bandwidth caps. Most plans are not unlimited, and you will RIP thru your data allotment in no time with a good number of cams all uploading full res streams.

All signs point to "no". :D
 
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