Ask HN: What is the best privacy-focused video doorbell?

Bonus: You can build the device to your local privacy regulation. Where I am, doorbells in shared living spaces can't have audio recording, but good luck finding a decent doorbell that does not also record audio.

Works with HomeKit. No need to deal with Logitech except for initial set up as far as I can tell.

But the big decision point is whether you want to get stuck in the Unifi Protect walled garden. A lot of people understandably don't want that.

Back in the days of Unifi Video, you could create your own NVR using Unifi's software, but you can't with Unifi Protect. I've already outgrown my Unifi Cloud Key Gen 2+ (which is only doing NVR duties). Scrubbing through footage in a browser or mobile device can be a royal pain.

If you have a significant number of cameras, you need to invest in one of the more powerful Unifi NVRs to get better performance.

Wot?!? It appears you've never experienced the feeling that someone was in your house, your bedroom and went through your stuff - perhaps even while you were home... Money cannot fix everything. It can help, but the creepy feeling that your home is no longer private cannot be repaired...

It’s also useful if we are out of town and need a neighbor to grab a delivery.

"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety" - Ben Franklin (yeah, I know this quote is misused but it has been co-opted into a new meaning that is relevant)

I’m not purely worried about a break in. It’s a peace of mind thing when something weird happens outside your house, you can find out what it was without having to worry.

Small and simple example: one morning my wife went to leave for work and the side door was open to her minivan. We’ve had cars broken into before when traveling and this definitely put us on alert. We had to check and see what was missing, wonder how they got in, wonder if the car was safe to drive or if they’d taken the garage door opener.

Then we checked the cameras and the door opened by itself about 30 minutes before she walked outside. One of us must have bumped the keys in our pockets. :)

Seeing that on video took something that would have had us worried into something that was no longer a big deal.

I appreciate your honesty, but whoa is this a loaded comment. A few things to note:

- Crime is deterred greatly by the probability of getting caught. If a criminal were to see that video is constantly be recorder it would likely lessen the chance of crime happening. In theory your crime rate in your neighbor could be low due to other people having this security on their houses (and thus providing an overall deterrent of "this is a bad place to try to burglarize someone because there are cameras everywhere!")

- Insurance premiums are tied to probabilities of crime. Often times insurance companies will offer discounts if you have security mechanisms. Also, lets say someone does burglarize your house, your insurance premiums will go up in the future.

- Lastly and probably the most simple. Why on earth would you ever want to simply rely on insurance as a remediation to your possessions? Can you replace that unique piece of art with money? What if you were injured by a burglar? etc. etc.

Anecdotal but investigative effort and interest from local police departments feels like it's at an all time low for low level crime like vandalism, package theft, etc. Not really passing judgement, perhaps those departments simply have more important things to do for society, but we might as well fill the gap with technology for now.

1. Because I want to know when a delivery occurs so I can promptly retrieve the package.

Most of the time delivery staff don't ring/knock or I may not hear in my office, a simple motion detection camera would do this just as well, but a combined device is simply more convenient.

2. To record who enters and leaves my house and when.

Whether it's friends visiting or a home invader, it's important that I have a record of this in case I find myself in a situation where I need this evidence in the future. For better or for worse (and I think for the worse), the mere existence of these devices means lacking this evidence can be incriminating against yourself, so having evidence to support your own case in the future is simply prudent.

3. So I can respond to people without needing to open the door.

There are all sorts of solicitors and others who go around ringing doorbells, and in general I don't want to speak to them at all, but I also find it more expedient to respond. By doing so through the doorbell I don't have to open the door and expose myself to forced entry risk (which unfortunately is commonplace).

The funny thing about insurance is, that there's no insurance that reasonably covers your packages once a confirmed delivery has been made but prior to you retrieving it, and there is also no insurance that covers the results of a home invasion or incorrect (possibly malicious) prosecution, other than possibly replacing non-unique property (after deductible). An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Psychological coddling. The same reason people put take over their webcams, even though an attacker than has remote code execution on your machine to access it can already steal all your files, records audio and otherwise own you.

It's the old there's a bear chasing you and another person - you don't have to be faster than the bear, just faster than the other person.

Many criminals avoid houses with cameras, dogs, security systems, etc. Why go to the extra trouble of dealing with the defenses when some other house doesn't have any? Low hanging fruit...

Also I find it hilarious that Amazon deliveries don't even ring the doorbell, they just knock the door, drop the package on the door step, and vanish before you even unlock the door.

Just subscribed to your blog in the hope you do another write-up about the Amcrest camera!