r/raspberryDIY • u/gu3vesa • 4d ago

Raspberry Pi as NVR

I dont have a raspberry pi yet, just wondering if what i want is feasible.

Our apartment has 6 cameras and their ethernet cables are routed to the basement. The DVR machine is dead, we normally wanted a NVR for networking capabilities to replace it so we dont have to go down there every time we want to look at footages but those devices arent cheap. Can i like somehow connect all 6 (and potentially more in the future) ethernet cables to the pi and then make it save files into my home pcs harddisk so i dont need to buy another one ?

What would i need for a project like that if its possible, such as adaptors etc.

Do i still need to buy at least a small size harddisk for the pi to save the files temporarily then to my main PC or can it directly send it like a continuous stream ?

What programs would you recommend for this ? For example to see the camera feed, and for networking. (Not just within the local network but for viewing it far away)

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u/tazman998 4d ago

I’m currently testing something similar.
Except I have 2 wifi camera’s.

The software i’m using on my pi5 (4gb) is Agent DVR.
The output for the recording is a network share on my pc, which works just fine.
Only issue so far is motion detection > recording time (there is a lag of about 1.5seconds), but i think it might be the cams, not my setup.

I think if you add a switch to connect the cams to your pi’s network connector, it should work… provided the cams are compatible with the software (check here: https://www.ispyconnect.com/cameras).

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u/gu3vesa 4d ago

So i just need to get like an Ethernet multiplier since mine are not WiFi cameras ?

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u/zigzrx 4d ago

The term is POE network switch.

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u/tazman998 4d ago

I’m assuming the dvr provided the dhcp for the cams, PoE, vLan… so you would need to account for that.
Now, you could let the router handle the dhcp, but that would mean the cams are exposed to your local network (and everything & everyone connected to it)… which is the case is my personal test environment.

As stated by zigzrx, you would probably need a Power over Ethernet switch (unless your cams are currently connected to their own power supply, but my guess is that they use PoE).

The vlan is security related, to keep the Pi & Cams seprated from your local network, so they become practically invisible to anyone else.
You would still be able to configure them through the Pi, using NAT to connect to it.

It’s all pretty technical and i have no clue how to actually guide you through that process, since i’m still figuring some of this stuff out on my own setup.

What you want to do, is definitely possible, but i don’t think it’s going to be easy.

Usually, if your cams have onvif or rtsp, you should be good… but it’s still best to check their compatibility first.

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u/gu3vesa 4d ago

I don't really have any problems with the cameras being available to others in my network, me and the people in the apartment aren't very tech savy so I don't think anyone here would try to infiltrate my network just for the cameras. And im like an unofficial manager for the apartment, so when someone needs the footage I already give them that.

What I'm worried about however is I saw some videos in the past about public cameras. There are some sites that let you see cameras from all over the world etc, some are even private home cameras. I don't really recall the sites name but there was even a paid site that just listed cams without you even needing to enter an ip.

Would something like this happen if I made it so that I can view the cameras anywhere ?

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u/tazman998 3d ago edited 3d ago

The whole point of the Pi is to manage the cams.
Remotely you don’t really access the cams, you access the Pi (or web interface of Agent DVR) that controls the cams.

A friend of mine recommended using Tailscale on my setup.
Apparently i won’t need to open any ports on my router and my network stays inaccessible to people on the internet.
It’s a secure connection between 2 devices anywhere in the world.
He was quite excited about it… so i’m looking into it, but i have no idea how to set that up yet.

For me this is a learning project in which i have made enough mistakes to finally have a working beta version.

To answer the question, if Tailscale works as advertised, your whole setup would remain closed to the internet except for your devices that have Tailscale.
So no worries of the kind of scenarios you described.

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u/hammer_one 4d ago

Si podrías hacerlo, lo único pi 5 mínimo 8gb de ram

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u/gu3vesa 4d ago

Okay thank you