#cameras

Frigate + Coral cookbook — eight months of tuning

“The difference between a useful Frigate setup and a noise-fountain isn't the model. It's the masks and the thresholds. The model is the easy part; the YAML is the work.”

Wireless cameras and bandwidth — when WiFi cams work

“PoE is structurally better for cameras. WiFi cameras are a pragmatic 'good enough' when running Cat6 isn't an option. The bandwidth math is the constraint that decides.”

Doorbell camera on the Google Home Hub display

“Seven local systems — camera, person detection, hub, displays, voice, phones, NAS — all triggered by one button press, none of them phoning a vendor cloud. That's the smart-home magic that justifies all the YAML.”

PoE cameras + Frigate NVR — local object detection

“Cloud camera services charge $5-15/mo per camera. Frigate + a Coral USB does the same object detection locally for $75 of one-time hardware. The cost-per-camera-month asymptote is zero.”

Amazon buys Ring — what a surveillance doorbell does to the threat model

“A cloud camera is a camera you've agreed to let someone else watch. The footage is useful exactly because it's always recording — which is also precisely the problem. The threat model isn't the burglar; it's the terms of service.”