[00:01] cameras? To catch bad guys, of course. But 99% of the time, I'm just using the cameras to automate my smartome. So, I'll show you what cameras work well and don't work well with a smart home. You would think the most expensive camera
[00:17] system would have the best integration, but that's wrong. I can't wait to show you how good one of these relatively inexpensive new cameras is. It's my new with the cameras that have the worst Smartome integration, and this will save
[00:33] you some trouble so you know who to avoid. First, Wisecam. It's absolute garbage. I bought the V4 recently, and wow, I was so disappointed. You can't
[00:45] trigger Amazon routines unless you pay for a monthly subscription. There's no triggering Google routines and they got rid of RTSP, so it's a no for Home rid of RTSP, so it's a no for Home Assistant, too. So, the wise choice is
[00:58] just to skip for good smartome integration. Sorry, I I couldn't resist. Now, the next one, and this one pains me a little bit, cameras. I really like them as standalone cameras with tons of great features, but the smartome
[01:13] integration is extremely lacking. On the UI Cam 3, Amazon routines can only be triggered by motion, even though the camera is capable of person detection. And for Google, it can only trigger a routine if the camera turns on or off,
[01:27] and I don't know why I would need that. Plus, I haven't seen a good integration into Home Assistant. Another culprit is topo cameras. And to be fair, these are actually better since you can trigger Amazon routines with person detection.
[01:40] Google routines can be triggered by event detection, whatever that means. And I can pull in the live stream into Home Assistant, but there is no person detection triggers. You used to be able to, but now you can't. Bummer. All
[01:54] right, switching gears now. Let's talk about cameras that integrate well into your smart home. And right off the bat, my two favorites are Real Link and UniFi. Both integrate nicely into Home Assistant. Cameras with person detection
[02:07] Assistant. That way, you can trigger automations if a camera sees or doesn't see someone. Now, you might already know all that, but this is where it starts to get interesting because these cameras take it to a whole another level. If you
[02:22] want to really dial in how your camera integrates with your smartome, you'll want more specific detection options. Like here in my front yard, I don't want my smart home to detect people walking on the sidewalk. So, what I can do is
[02:37] create a separate zone or line crossing in the camera app. That way, I can have more accurate detections of people, animals, or cars. Now, I can catch the line. And I'm not talking about the neighbors pets. I'm talking about the
[02:52] havalina I saw in front of our house. Yeah, Arizona's wild. Okay, cool. These more specific detections are great, but how do you get them into your smart home? Well, with UniFi, there are lots of different alarms that you can set up
[03:06] using those custom detection zones or line crossings. And to link it all together, you create something called a web hook. That way, your cameras can talk to your smartome. With Home Assistant, you can create an automation
[03:19] that is triggered by a web hook. It will generate a unique ID automatically. And when you click copy, it gets the entire URL with everything you need. Then you And that's all you have to do to connect them. Pretty easy. Now, whenever I cross
[03:35] this line on my driveway, it will send a web hook request to Home Assistant and trigger that automation. But check this out. It gets even easier. With Real Link, I can do the same thing, but without the web hooks. With the new Real
[03:49] Link cameras that have AI detection, all those extra detections can be automatically pulled into Home Assistant. So, say you create a line crossing, loitering area, or a zone to detect people and animals. Reload the
[04:03] integration into Home Assistant and all those new detections just created in the RioLink app will show up in Home Assistant as their own separate sensor entities. How cool is that? No need for web hooks or any extra work. Now I can
[04:18] run an automation if an animal crosses a line or if someone is detected in a specific zone. It saves so much time and makes it so much easier. And it's crazy that Real Link is the cheaper option compared with UniFi. So props to them.
[04:33] So, now you know the best cameras to get working with your smartome. Let me show you why integrating your cameras can be so useful. Say my garage door is open. Maybe I'm out here working in the garage. You know, definitely definitely
[04:46] not watching football or the door just hasn't been closed yet after our family gets home. I can set up a line crossing detection on a camera right in the middle of the driveway like what I showed earlier. Then using an
[04:59] automation, I can be alerted if someone crosses that line and the garage door is while working in the garage and hopefully help prevent stuff from being stolen as well. I can also use that line detection on the camera in conjunction
[05:14] with the door on the side of my house. When I wheel out the trash cans, I open the driveway to put them on the curb. So, the night before trash day, if the door hasn't been opened, followed by
[05:26] someone crossing the line in the driveway, I know I haven't wheeled out the trash cans. Yeah, I'm being lazy, so my smart home will shame me. >> Hey, Reed, take out the trash, you lazy piece of trash.
[05:38] >> Sure, I could use AI to detect if the trash cans are still there, but this is so simple and easy to set up. I love it. Of course, there are so many other automations you can run. Like I get alerted if the cameras spot someone
[05:51] outside our house while our security alarm is armed. I even turn on smart flood lights for our basketball court if the sun is set and a camera detects a person. Also, all the backyard lights will turn off if no one is spotted on
[06:05] any of the backyard cameras for 10 minutes. So, my outdoor cameras are basically really accurate motion sensors for my smart home devices. It's extremely helpful. Which brings me to my new favorite camera I have on the
[06:17] outside of my house. It's this Real Link Elite Flood Light camera that combines two cameras in one. So, the field of view is about as wide as you can get at 180°. Perfect for viewing the entire backyard and running automations if
[06:31] someone is back here or not. Plus, the image quality is very clear during the day and at night. The flood light is extremely bright at 3,000 lumens, and I have the lights pointing away from my neighbor's yard. So, that's why they're
[06:45] kind of in a strange position. Since the lights are integrated in a home assistant, I only turn them on when the alarm is set. It's dark outside and the cameras spot someone. That way, it's not shining in our eyes while we're hanging
[06:58] out back here. It has all those AI detection features that get brought into Home Assistant automatically, and it can still record 247 to the Real Link NVR even though it's connected with Wi-Fi. It's about 200 bucks, and I think it's
[07:11] well priced for basically two cameras and very bright lights. But Real Link isn't the only ones with super wide field of view cameras that work well with your smartome. UniFi is about to release their G6 180 camera that I'm
[07:23] excited to try out. I'm curious if the UniFi G6 180 will be able to point down like the Real Link cameras can using their camera mount. I love that I can see everything on the side of my house by pointing the camera almost straight
[07:38] down. The field of view is insane. I'm also using another Real Link Elite camera in the front that isn't available yet, but should be soon. In between all these cameras around my house, it basically eliminates all the blind
[07:52] spots. As you can tell, I'm a huge fan of these 180 degree fieldof view cameras. And combine that with all the extra line crossings and detection zones that can be brought into Home Assistant. These Real Link Elite cameras are going
[08:06] to be tough to beat. I still really like UniFi, and some of the new updates are pretty sweet, like the AI key. It's crazy what it can do, but also crazy expensive. That's why I think Real Link's new cameras have the best balance
[08:19] between price, features, and really easy smartome integration. Overall, I feel all the automations that can run with outdoor cameras. If you have any cool ways you're automating your cameras, let
[08:32] me know in the comments. Thanks for watching. >> What again? That's it, kids. You've crossed the line one too many times. Sorry, Dad, but look what we made you.
[08:48] >> A That's cute. Wow. I can't believe they broke another one of my automations. broke another one of my automations. [Music]