r/UnifiProtect

I am still quite new with UniFi, only got it last year. My setup is very simple. No issues with UniFi so far and when offsite archive backup option appeared and I connect it to OneDrive (NOT continuous) and it worked for about 3 months and now it stopped working. I did delete it off UniFi protect and reconnect, it only added 3 extra days then stopped working, so I delete it off again and this time I deleted UniFi folder off OneDrive and reconnect again and unfortunately this time even worse, no folder appear and no files saved at all etc.

I was hoping to avoid buy NAS just for UniFi protect backup cos hard drives and stupidly expensive because of AI buying them all up. I don’t have space for this on my current NAS.

I have UNVR instant, 2 G5 flex camera and only installed doorbell lite few days ago. Everything UniFi side is working perfectly.

So what is everyone else using offsite backup option? NAS I assume?

Hey all,

So I got a question, situation, I don’t know what to do about it.

When I access protect to look at my doorbell cam (from Reolink), the video plays for about 20 seconds and then buffers, and it buffers BAAAAD!!! Like insanely bad, for video stored on an SSD in the UCG Max, this is brutal! It will typically buffer upwards of 5 minutes before MAYBE playing again for about 20 seconds.

My homelab is pretty solid (I’d like to think? lol), have a USW Pro Max 16 PoE, 3 AP’s (U7 Pro Wall). So I don’t understand why it buffers so badly.
I’d really like to figure this out before the wife starts giving me side eye..

Any idea on how to resolve that??

Oh small update:
This is basically when I’m trying to watch back what’s already been recorded.
Is it possible the SSD is full and needs better settings to control space for recording and playback?

I'm running a POC of Unifi Protect (7.1.87- Latest EA release) on a UDR. I've tried earlier builds and had the same issue. I'm using a couple of cheap Tapo C100 cameras connected via ONVIF just to verify basic functionality. I'm able to manually add the cameras to Unifi Protect (Advanced Adoption) and get basic recording and event detection working with no issue. But I can't get any audio recorded. I know that Unifi originally didn't support recording audio, but then included it in recent builds. I've deleted and re-added the cameras to no avail.

This article states:
"Motion detections, PTZ control, and Audio are supported on third party cameras. Other advanced features are not supported... Enabling audio on third party cameras requires transcoding and may use additional console resources."

Am I doing something wrong?

We already self manage most of our hardware but our team is not big enough to do a refit at scale alone. We also have not tried the access control system and are considering it.

Any good experiences with installers / consultants in Canada?

In short: I'm looking for the cheapest camera for monitoring the state of the garage.

Hi all. I'm currently setting up all the cameras, and I'm trying to find the cheapest option for the garage. This will only be used for seeing if the door is open, if a car is in it, or if the light is on. 720p would be overkill for this. What cameras, 3rd party or otherwise, would work with the Protect environment?

PoE preferred but not required, used is just fine.

Thank you!

Just throwing this out here in case this is some weird known issue or bug with a G6 dome as I'm new to Unifi Protect. Working on a new install with a few G6 dome cameras. One goes offline after any disruption to POE power. There are Unifi POE switches. I cannot get it back online by swapping cables, POE switches, or switch ports at the MDF side. The cabling run itself has been tested OK with a basic tester. The only thing that seems to work is re-seating the cable in the dome camera which is a pain to get to.

When the dome camera loses connection, the switch port has the orange LED indicating POE power to a device but the Unifi controller interface shows no connected device on that port. I saw the cameras auto negotiate to FE so tried to set the switch port connected to this camera to manual 100 FDX but that didn't help.

Do I have a busted camera? Not sure what else to try. Thanks

The AI Key is expensive and you can never actually buy one anyway, so a few months back I got annoyed enough to build my own version. Runs alongside Protect, doesn't replace it.

What it does right now, on my own setup:

• Natural language search — "person in a blue shirt," "white truck in the driveway," actually returns the right hit
• Weapon/threat/behavior flags — and it looks at multiple frames across a clip, not just one snapshot, so it catches loitering/casing instead of just going "huh, motion happened"
• License plate OCR + vehicle make/model/color/type
• Face recognition against an enrolled gallery
• Audio transcription on clips
• All local. Nothing leaves my network.

Reads from Protect over the API, doesn't touch anything you've already got running.

Right now it's Docker Compose and a pile of env vars — not something I'd hand my mom. Been going back and forth on cleaning it up and putting it out there. Core stuff would stay free, probably gate the heavier pieces (face rec, hooking into cloud LLMs for people without a local AI box) behind something small later to keep it maintained.

Before I burn more weekends on this — is it actually useful to people here, or a "neat, would never set it up" kind of thing? What would actually move the needle for you — easier install, specific detections, notifications (Telegram/Discord are on the list)?

Quick screenshot:

https://preview.redd.it/d1dvbejq2iah1.png?width=1962&format=png&auto=webp&s=7563644310b8052d30a51ec16881472c40b12429

My cameras are set to detect animals, but my chickens roam the yard most of the day. If I purchase an AI Key, would I be able to have the system ignore the detections that it identifies as chickens? TIA

I had to migrate 5 cameras to a UNVR from a UDM7. I got the UNVR setup and it saw the cameras and on the protect app on my phone, it allowed me to move the cameras to the UNVR. All was good. Then, following ubiquiti docs, I uploaded a backup of my protect app from the UDM7 And now all the cameras are showing as offline.
Am I effed? Do I have to factory reset each one? All of them are 20ft up and I’d have to rent a scissor lift and really hoping I don’t have to do that.

I see all the cameras connected still to my udm7 in the network I just can’t access them on protect.

Anyone deal with this?

Hey there,

We are moving our home security from Google to UniFi!

I am about to have new vinyl siding installed on my house.

I am hoping that the crew is going to be chill enough for me to drop a flat Cat6 cable down the front of the wall for our door bell camera. Walls are unfortunately not able to have a cable run down the inside.

My big question is - what is going to be the best way to have the camera mounted on the siding without punching holes in it and voiding the warranty? I’ve seen some 3D printed no drill clips, but those don’t inspire confidence. I own the house and would like a more permanent, non warranty-voiding solution.

Hey yall. My system consists of a UNVR with a bunch of G6 cameras, I bought the UPS Tower to protect against short power outages (rare, but i also needed more outlet space so it made sense to buy it).

Only thing is i'm not sure it can communicate with the UNVR without another device like a gateway. I have the UPS and the UNVR connected to the same switch, but i can't adopt it so i assume that since it won't adopt it also won't gracefully shutdown the UNVR when it's on battery. Am i doing something wrong or does the UPS need a gateway device for it to do the graceful shutdown?

Update: Was told in the replies about UniFi OS self hosting so I don't need to purchase any network-enabled devices I won't need outside of adopting the UPS. surprisingly, self hosting is supported on macOS so I'll be installing it onto our Mac on site and go from there!!

What are your favorites for reliabilty for Cat6a outdoor rated shielded ethernet cables?

TIA

Ditching Synology Surveillance for UniFi — does this setup work?

Hello all. I have decided to ditch Synology Surveillance (and some other Synology services), but I'll keep the NAS (923+) for now. Just ordered my first piece of UniFi gear for my home — could someone sanity-check this setup?

Home network — almost no in-wall ethernet

• 2-3 cameras (will likely replace with UniFi cameras eventually)
• Cloud Gateway Fiber with 2TB SSD (on order)
• 1-2 additional access points — both need to connect to the Cloud Gateway Fiber via wireless mesh, since I have no ethernet cabling and no clean way to add any
• Gateway will need a free ethernet port for the camera (can add a PoE injector if needed)
• Leaning toward Unifi Express 7 (UX7) for the access points, but open to suggestions

Many thanks.

I'd probably bite the bullet and buy the G4 Pro wifi if it were in stock, but I'm curious if anyone has had any luck getting a smart doorbell working with Unifi Protect? I can live without notifications if Protect NVR worked. I have a standard 2 wire doorbell I'd like to upgrade but would prefer something with a smaller footprint then the G4. The doorbell lite would be perfect if I could run ethernet to the front door which I cannot.

Hi, does anyone else have any issues with a full room of people that's recording yet it seems to be missing minutes from the recording?

I have multiple sites with variety of lighting and camera heights, I can't seems to figure out the issue. Camera sensitivity is set to 100 and movement recording is set as auto 10 seconds before and after detection.

Right now I’m pretty invested in the UniFi ecosystem as a non tech professional, simply like good WiFi and getting full speed that I pay for:
UDR7
U7 AP
8-port PoE switch
16-port switch
A few SuperLink temperature/humidity sensors
Currently one G6 Turret (about all the UDR7 can comfortably handle and I wanted to test it out under my eaves and it’s performed well)

I’d eventually like to end up with another 1–3 cameras (probably G6 Bullets and/or Turrets), but I’ll likely add them in phases due to both cost and finding the time to run Ethernet.

I’m getting pretty tired of my Wyze outdoor cameras. They’ve been unreliable, and I’m not a huge fan of relying on the Wyze cloud platform from both a security and reliability standpoint.

A few questions:
Is the UNVR as reliable as people say? I’ve seen a handful of reviews claiming UniFi cameras die after 2 years, but I’m not sure if that’s actually common or just the usual internet bias where people only post when something breaks.

Can I start with just one hard drive and add more later? This is just for my house, not Fort Knox, so I’m okay without RAID initially if it saves some money.

Where’s the best place to buy drives? UniFi Store? B&H? Somewhere else? Looking for the best bang for the buck.
Any recommendations on drive models? WD Purple, Purple Pro, Toshiba MG series, Seagate Exos, etc.?

Anything you’d do differently if you were building a 4–6 camera UniFi Protect system today?
Appreciate any advice or things you wish you knew before buying a UNVR.