UNIFI—The Best Option...?

[ShawnB]

Right it's the AI Port. I don't need LPR but would like to know if the motion is: human, vehicle or animal... I would like to test this for another install I have that has 5231s using SecuritySpy as an NVR. One problem I have is that when it rains the gutter splashes over with water and the SecuritySpy AI triggers many many events of rain... I'm expecting other NVRs like BI or UNIFI or Synology to do better than Security Spy but this is untested.

I have a T54IR-ZE-S3 on an AI port. For my layout, the daytime human/animal/vehicle SMD is decent within 50 ft, but can be spotty in the 50-100 ft range compared to the camera SMD. Night SMD seems to have serious issues -- at first, I thought it was completely non-functional, but I do get some human/animal detections if close (20-ish ft).

I would pay $200/camera to pull my Dahua cameras into a Protect NVR (that one tab to scroll through all recent events is amazing), but at this point the AI Port smart detections just don't work well enough for my setup (not even considering LPR / face recognition).

I plan on getting a G6 turret to test, but generally watching YT videos of various Unifi camera reviews (G5, G6, AI), it looks to me like the night SMD doesn't pick up until relatively close, so I'm wondering if that is just a weakness across the entire current platform.

 

[Frostbytes]

Hear me out... drop the pitch-fork!

For people like me that don't have the time to fiddle with things and need them to work for years on end and with remote management and remote firmware updates that work out of the box... it seems like UNIFI protect is the way to go. Yes, my Dahua Turret (Dahua-5231ZE) has a handsome look and I like the large glass on the front and this looks better to me than the UNIFI cams, I hate the G6 Turret (Eye Ball Look). But I like the software end ecosystem and that they are rapidly improving. I bought a Dahua NVR and was not impressed with anything about it. It was seemingly like something out the early 90s... The hardware was super basic and rudimentary and the software was worse, there was nothing polished or impressive about it.

So, my use-case is that I have a rental home that is 350 miles from me and I want something that works and that would be rock-solid and that could be remotely administered and that would be feature rich.

Issues with other systems:
-Most people here are afraid to update the firmware on their Dahua cams... they can be bricked.
-Windows based NVR is less reliable than an purpose built appliance
-Dahua based systems at our level are not innovating. As an example, we are encouraged to not update our firmware.... Why is this accepted, because almost certainly, there is no new feature for you to enjoy anyway... no progress.
-You have to be more technical and enjoy tinkering to have a reliable system.
-The cams we want are not sold and supported in the US.... most of us are dependent on one guy....
-We have to go through one guy to get firmware so that we will not brick our cams and even then we are encouraged not to do so unless you really have to.
-We are shopping on Ebay for the right computer.... I'm not a a Windoze guy...

I do like the picture quality and the look of the hardware for Dahua 5231 and newer cams... but the price was not cheap.more than

EmpireTech 4K 8MP 1/1.8" Turret Smart AI IP Camera, IPC-T58IR-ZE S3 sells for $240 on Amazon.
UNIFI 4K 8MPa 1/1.8" Turret Smart AI (Multi-TOPS AI Engine) Camera, UVC-G6-Turret-W sells for $199

Camera G6 Turret - Ubiquiti Store

All-weather, tamper-resistant 4K PoE camera with a 1/1.8" 8MP image sensor, Multi-TOPS AI Engine, and 3-axis manual adjustment for flexible installation.

store.ui.com

So the G6 camera is $41 cheaper and has: Face Recognition, License Plate Recognition, Smart Detections (People, Vehicles, Animals). Has Quad-core Arm® Cortex®-A53 based chip that does the AI on the camera. And, the software (UNIFI Protect) seems much more powerful and polished and user-friendly and where the product line is constantly improving.

Am I missing something? It seems like UNIFI is on fire right now and the value is undeniable even with a technical user like myself with a career in software development. Sometimes you want things to just work.

I invite your replay and welcome any insight you have. I'm about to go hog-wild in to the UNIFI Protect world, I already have extensive experience with their routers, switches and access points.

Thanks,

Rob

Hi Rob

PSA: Stay Away from the AI PORT. It does not support LPR on ONVIF cameras at night; complete waste of money and time; the fact that they are not addressing this is absurd; past the buyer's remorse period.

Ubiquiti support had me remove the AI Port from the G4 Doorbell Pro to enable the LPR and Speech-to-Text features with the AI Key. They explained that the AI Port wasn’t necessary since the AI Key handles all of the AI functions. I thought Ai key relied on Ai port to capture smart event/Ai features that may be missing from older camera such as G4 Doorbell and then Ai key process those events. I don't know but I did as Ubiquiti support advised, and it worked.

My first experience with Unifi protect Ui and cameras was when I started installing G3 Flex models for my customers, which I thought was phenomenal. Then recently I installed the G6 for a client, that sealed it—I had to get them for myself.

Anyways, Rob, I’ve upgraded all my ~4-year-old Lorex PoE cameras to G6 Turrets to match my G6 PTZ with an in-ceiling mount, and I think it looks great—almost futuristic. My current setup includes a UNVR, 8 G6 Turrets, 1 G6 PTZ, 1 G4 Doorbell Pro, the AI Port, and the AI Key. They’re definitely more expensive, but I’m absolutely thrilled with the upgrade. I think you'll really like them too.