How to organize cheap video surveillance in a bunch of Wi-Fi points?

Question

Computer networks

There are more than 50 apartments in which there are different provider SOHO routers. The task is to record visits to apartments, that is, to see who enters and leaves. The data must be stored on a remote server, there is a server. Cameras should be located in the entrance and fix the apartment only from the outside. It is impossible to throw a wire from the apartment to the entrance, therefore, only Wi-Fi.
Because especially the quality is not needed, even 640x480 should be enough, the cheapest solution that I found: https://www.ulmart.ru/goods/3774502 - it says that the camera works via FTP, from the protocols given, this is the only one that can to run to the server and leave data, unlike onvif and rtsp, where, in theory, the server should see and interrogate the camera, but with our routers like dlink dir-615 this is not possible.
What other options are there?

Answer 1

It is necessary to take a camera with an SD card so that the file with the required number of minutes is transferred via FTP. Without a card, they can only throw pictures.

Answer 2

From shit and branches, you can attach door opening sensors to each apartment and a camera to the intercom and at the elevator.
You will know the time of opening, closing the doors and the cameras will see who entered and left.
Crutches-bicycles from dlinks, ftp, wi-fi - at best, you will save a lot of time to bring it to at least some working state.
And to automatically connect to the server, people either use vpn (that your cameras and the server will not be extended), or write complex and expensive code to modify the camera’s firmware so that it knows where to go.
Sheet on the topic.
Although the first option I proposed is more suitable for you, at the same time you will push it under the sauce of a smart entrance.

Answer 3

There is no such thing as porridge from an ax! Let's say you need cameras on Wi-Fi, but in any case, they will require constant power supply. The solution is to pull from the apartment to the entrance and nothing else.
Secondly, you need a dedicated server or network registrar, you need a router like Mikrotik.

Answer 4

In the best case, your cameras will sag ... well, for a month at most, then someone will break or break it (if you do not make a metal box with glass and attach it tightly).
We have different people, but in the elevator the camera was unscrewed a month later.

Answer 5

1. The camera at the entrance should be directed ONLY to the apartment that you can legally watch, everything else is a violation of privacy. ( Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, Article 137 ). In fact, it is almost impossible to do ...
2. Still, the final goal is not clear, do you just log arrivals / departures or even understand people?
640x480 is not suitable for face recognition in poor lighting conditions.
3. Most cameras capture millet movement in a certain area (some, however, can recognize faces ..), which means that a neighbor passing by will trigger a trigger.
4. Yes, sending to FTP or photo images to mail is the most common option.
In other words, the devil is in the details....

Answer 6

Hikvision cameras with fresh firmware can write to a network folder or Nas drive, well, it’s better to install the free ivms program from Hikvision on the server and configure access to cameras through port forwarding on routers. There are models with wifi.