Make sure there is a warranty/decent return policy and test obviously as others have said…but I’ve bought more 3 and 4TB HGST drives than I care to admit and have very rarely had any issues. At the price you can find even larger TB sizes for I personally consider it worth the gamble for certain use cases.

Personally I purchased some cheap 10" Lenovo tabs for my new place. Haven’t moved in quite yet, but some PoE to USB-C adapters and 3D printed wall mount cases outta get me out for ~$150/unit. Not the cheapest, but far from the most expensive. Should work well enough for what I need.

I think you’re on the right track considering those factors and others (integrations with HA is another big one for me). IMO it’s always a balance though - a perfect example for me personally is I still use Nest Protect devices because they just freaking work, and work well. Same with a smart display I have and some minimal smart speaker usage. So sure, there’s a little bit of “lock in” there, but as long as your risk tolerance is ok with that (mine is) then you’re golden.

The factors you mentioned, among others like HA integrations (preferably official), company reputation (I’m personally ok with some minimal lock in if the cost/benefit calculation works out), etc. are my first considerations when looking at new products. Wherever possible local first control is a great plus and can be an absolutely huge factor to be sure.

Lmao this is impressive even puts my pile to shame 😂

These are all pretty good suggestions…a few points I’d add based solely on my personal experiences:

• A lot of Amcrest’s cameras are pretty solid for the price too. I’ve recently ordered some rebadged Dahuas from empire tech and haven’t used them a ton but so far I’m thinking I’ll really like them.
• Check out night color cameras. They’re not as “discreet” potentially as they generate their own visible light if it’s pitch black out, but to me that’s actually another security benefit…and the night time performance can be amazing.
• Blue Iris is another pretty great piece of software. Super cheap for what it offers, and while it’s a little more resource heavy being a full fledged NVR, you can pair it with things like Codeproject.ai and get some amazing results.
• Double down on getting rid of wifi, if at all possible, and through any and every means possible. I too was initially pretty set on the convenience of wifi, but mixing wifi and cameras just never ends up in a great experience from everything I’ve ever had experience with. The absolute best I’ve ever seen is just “ok”, and usually it’s substantially worse.

Good luck!!

This 1000% lmao

This is the way. Love OPNsense!

Ditto! I’d also appreciate a normal nginx example as well!