Hi all,
Does anybody have a recommendation for a openhab compatible security 4k PTZ camera which I can stream to the openhab web interface?
Thank you,
Ramon
I use frigate and stream its mjpeg. You can use any camera that it supports (rtsp). Dahua, Hikvision, etc.
Whilst you can use an basic camera that has rtsp, you gain a lot more functionality if you buy certain brands.
The best place to read to learn the difference is here, which since this was last updated Reolink API has been added.
If you want to be able to move the PTZ camera you will need to choose a camera that has working and correctly implemented ONVIF functions. Not all cameras that advertise ONVIF will actually move via correctly formed ONVIF and some will only move when 1 of the 4 different ONVIF methods are sent.
A quick google on the camera to see if people are moving the camera or at least that brand in ONVIF software not just openhab is a good idea to check with. The two brands @JimT should be a good choice, with Hikvision you need to create and enable a ONVIF user before it will work.
ok thank you both. I do want to be able to move them, so I guess RTSP and ONVIF should be both supported. I will have a look at those two brands. I was also looking at reolink. Are they any good?
Just to be sure, i can run the cameras then without the “cloud”? I strife to have everything as local as possible!
Thank you
AFAIK reolink has some disadvantages when it comes to specifying key frames.
I buy my white labelled Dahua cameras from “EmpireTechAndy”. He has shops on aliexpress and amazon. You can find out more from here: EmpireTech Andy | IP Cam Talk - I have bought multiple cameras from him.
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I have no idea as I have only used their solar powered cameras which are good value for people that do not care about home automation as they have no ONVIF. Their non battery models do have onvif, but I do not know how good the PTZ features are in their cameras.
I like to stay as vendor neutral as I can, and comparing brands is also hard due to complex plus and minuses between brands. I would recommend you ask on the ipcamtalk forum as their blue iris software needs a decent ONVIF implementation in the camera to unlock their software and most of this will apply to openhab. I have an Amcrest camera and it is a rebranded Dahua so it moves well.
If you only care about PTZ I would go with Dahua or Amcrest as they support onvif absolute movement, and also onvif preset movement methods from what I have seen. A lot of other brands do not implement absolute movement to an exact and repeatable X Y and Z location.
Some cameras will only move no stop aka continuous mode and you have to send the Stop command when the camera is pointing in the direction you want. If the network drops out or you have lag because your in another country this means it is useless trying to move the camera.
I would ensure your camera has good support for absolute and preset ONVIF methods and the only way is going to be asking on a forum to users that have onvif software.
Sadly onvif logo on the website or box does not mean the camera has all features working. I really wish onvif meant everything worked, but it does not as vendor like to try and force you to buy all the one brand of gear if you want a working setup.
ok thank you for your pointers. I agree it is a bit of a mess, hence the reason I am asking for some advice. Very difficult to figure out what camera supports what exactly, and on top of that how good is the image quality. Also so many different versions for each brand. More research for me I guess 
Please post your final decision here, maybe I‘ll just tag along. 
@matt1 Do you think this one https://www.dahuasecurity.com/ceen/products/All-Products/Network-Cameras/WizSense-Series/2-Series/Smart-Dual-Illuminators/IPC-HDW2849T-ZS-IL would be a good choice?
I have no idea what your full requirements are, but yes it appears to have pan tilt and zoom features and this brand should work with ABSOLUTE ONVIF movements. Disclaimer, i have no idea, never used the camera and you need to do your own research if it does if that is important to you, or buy one to try…
The only thing I see as limiting for my use case is it does 2 streams only…
Main stream: Max 3840 × 2160@(1–20 fps) for recording in high res.
sub stream: Max resolution is 704 × 576@(1–25 fps) which can be in mjpeg if you want it. Too low a resolution to use for anything serious above mjpeg to mobile devices anyway IMHO but good to have the choice of the second.
I use a 3rd stream on my cameras to give video feeds in 1080p to cast to google devices that can not display 4k. However I rarely do this anymore since I moved to sending overlays onto my TV screen with this binding.
Thank you, I ended up ordering this one (slightly better version with 3 streams): https://www.dahuasecurity.com/ceen/products/All-Products/Network-Cameras/WizSense-Series/3-Series/8MP/IPC-HDW3842T-ZS on ali epxpress (shipping takes 2 weeks). I will report back once I have it going.
Thx again!
Please report back whether you can get/do firmware updates on those cameras.
yeah will do. But it looks like they do offer them give these release notes
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Ok I installed the camera, works pretty well. Image looks good, the only thing is that it does not actually pan and tilt… The ranges that the website listed are manual pan/tilt range. I guess I should have looked at it slightly better before ordering. It does have a fairly wideangle when fully zoomed out. The IPcamera binding seems to work ok with it. The zoom control seems to work with rather a delay, not sure what is happening there.
On a slightly different note, i did find out that the camera I was trying to replace actually was not broken but it was the power supply what was broken. So now im trying to get the ONVIF controls to work on that.