Why? (Context)

Currently our front [external] gate uses a simple latch (lock) which can be opened by anyone.
e.g. the postman (person) opens the gate to enter the property and place mail in the box.
This has been OK while the house has been in development, but it's not "secure".
It means anyone can enter the front gate and access the garden/outside of the house.
Once we have the door entry system dwyl/smart-home-security-system#1 working,
we will implement secure access for the front gate by upgrading the existing latch to be electronic.
However having a more secure access system on the external gate is merely a deterrent.
It discourages unwanted access to the property, but it does not prevent it.
The only way to prevent access is higher walls covered in razor blade wire, but that would make our house a prison! 🤦

Obviously none of us wants to have high walls or razor wire. We don't want to live in a dystopian "walled garden".
So instead we want to monitor if people attempt to access the property using a camera system.

What?

A security camera and recording system for the outside of the property so we can monitor attempted access.
A basic alerting system that should send a message to the house master and display the captured images on "info" screens in the house. If nobody attends to the intrusion/alert within 30 seconds, sound a loud alarm both inside and outside the house.

We can approach this in two ways:

1. Build our own system from scratch using off-the-shelf components (Raspberry Pi, Pi Cam (or USB WebCam) + 3D Printed enclosure)

https://youtu.be/og-zI0CozLs

2. Buy a high quality security monitoring solution from a reputable brand (€800+ up-front)

The company/products I would considering is UniFi Protect from Ubiquiti: https://unifi-network.ui.com/video-security

We have already invested in UniFi Switches and Access Points (APs) so I think this is a fairly logical choice. 💭
I would never consider a "Cloud" based camera system because (a) I don't want my movements tracked by a random Faceless corporation (and neither should you!!) and (b) I don't want to pay anyone a monthly rent for my security. I want a one-off payment and then to own the system even if that one-off up-front payment seems higher on the surface. I consider the useful life of the system to be 5 years. There's no reason it should not continue working for longer than that.

Further research required. 🔍

# Todo

• avoid this: https://www.insecam.org 🤦