Privastead
Security and privacy
home security cameras
SHOW HN2024
551points
165comments
#53of 3,515 in 2024
Top 2%of 2024 by points
How HN took it
CuriousMostly questions and neutral comments
7 positive, 27 neutral or asking, 2 mixed, 13 critical, out of 49 comments about the project. Thread score -0.02.
Idea: 4 for, 7 againstPrivacy: 0 for, 4 againstDesign: 0 for, 1 againstExecution: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Privacy-focused design with end-to-end encryption and open source
From 2 comments
Wow!! Very cool project. The reasons you mentioned above are the exact reason that I have not setup security cameras at my house, but this makes me reconsider. Combined with the…
KetoManx64 on HNI completely agree that security cameras can be a disaster for one's privacy. That's why I decided to build Privastead for my own use in the first place. It's fully open source,…
arrdalan on HN
Rust choice and interest in the project
From 1 comment
I've been a happy user of frigate (https://frigate.video) with fully local isolated setup: multiple poe cameras on a dedicated network, coral to supplement on-camera recognition,…
VTimofeenko on HN
Objections
Only motion detection, no human detection
From 1 comment
Having had cameras and a couple of breakin attempts for a while now my biggest must-have for these sort of things is: - reliable human detection (not just motion) - integration…
mattlondon on HN
Only supports one camera model and one camera
From 2 comments
Certainly interesting project, but I do encourage people to do more thorough research before starting a new project and claiming they needed to fill a void. > However, I could…
0points on HNIf you use Home Assistant in an isolated local network with no Internet access, you will have good privacy. However, I needed to be able to use my camera remotely from my phone.…
arrdalan on HN
Camera-to-hub traffic is unencrypted
From 2 comments
I'd assume that end-to-end encryption would mean the traffic is encrypted between the camera and the app, which it isn't. That would require an app in the camera to support the…
SahAssar on HNI have mentioned the unencrypted traffic between the camera and hub here: https://github.com/privastead/privastead/blob/main/HOW_TO.md (Step 4, second paragraph)
arrdalan on HN
Existing alternatives like Frigate and moonfire-nvr already cover this
From 1 comment
Certainly interesting project, but I do encourage people to do more thorough research before starting a new project and claiming they needed to fill a void. > However, I could…
0points on HN
Requests
Human detection instead of motion only
From 1 comment
Having had cameras and a couple of breakin attempts for a while now my biggest must-have for these sort of things is: - reliable human detection (not just motion) - integration…
mattlondon on HN
APIs or MQTT integration
From 1 comment
Having had cameras and a couple of breakin attempts for a while now my biggest must-have for these sort of things is: - reliable human detection (not just motion) - integration…
mattlondon on HN
Support for multiple cameras
From 1 comment
A fully isolated setup on a dedicated network can certainly provide good privacy. A key benefit of Privastead is that it can send the videos to your smartphone remotely using a…
arrdalan on HN
Run the server as a Cloudflare worker
From 1 comment
Nifty. Have you considered trying to make the server be able to run as something like a Cloudflare worker?
amluto on HN
Questions
How it compares to Home Assistant and other self-hosted NVRs
From 2 comments
I'm deeply interested in this and it just so happens I only need one hardened IP camera for my home. Can you point out how your project provides a better security layout than…
nzeid on HNCertainly interesting project, but I do encourage people to do more thorough research before starting a new project and claiming they needed to fill a void. > However, I could…
0points on HN
Why an untrusted server component is needed
From 1 comment
What is the purpose of introducing the untrusted "server" component? Is it intended to run in a different place than the trusted "camera hub" component, such as on a cloud…
scottlamb on HN
Whether the camera hub could run inside the camera firmware
From 1 comment
Wow!! Very cool project. The reasons you mentioned above are the exact reason that I have not setup security cameras at my house, but this makes me reconsider. Combined with the…
KetoManx64 on HN
Alternatives named
Frigate
From 2 comments
Certainly interesting project, but I do encourage people to do more thorough research before starting a new project and claiming they needed to fill a void. > However, I could…
0points on HNI've been a happy user of frigate (https://frigate.video) with fully local isolated setup: multiple poe cameras on a dedicated network, coral to supplement on-camera recognition,…
VTimofeenko on HN
Home Assistant
From 1 comment
I'm deeply interested in this and it just so happens I only need one hardened IP camera for my home. Can you point out how your project provides a better security layout than…
nzeid on HN
moonfire-nvr
From 2 comments
Certainly interesting project, but I do encourage people to do more thorough research before starting a new project and claiming they needed to fill a void. > However, I could…
0points on HNWhat is the purpose of introducing the untrusted "server" component? Is it intended to run in a different place than the trusted "camera hub" component, such as on a cloud…
scottlamb on HN
Scrypted
From 1 comment
Did you look into Scrypted? It is OSS. With HomeKit (which is how I use it) it is also E2EE. I’m not sure if their app is E2EE though, I only use HomeKit. It’s pretty good and…
EthicalSimilar on HN
ZoneMinder
From 1 comment
ZoneMinder?
kkfx on HN