I live in a semi-rural suburb of a (getting too large) city. I have never worried about security before beyond a Rem 870 and a good flashlight. Like most places, we are seeing a lot of new development and folks moving in from other places. There is a lot more traffic and it is no longer unusual to see unfamiliar cars and trucks going down our little dirt road even at night. I am also building a workshop next to my house.

So I want to educate myself on home monitoring systems and am hoping someone will share their experience or a website that is informative without just selling me their line of products. I understand basic networking and Wifi but know zip about cameras, coverage, alerts, apps. I'd like my system to be as self contained as possible in the sense that I don't want Google, or any other "service", involved if possible. I understand that will limit my video storage options. I want to spend what I need for a good system but this isn't the Wuhan Lab (oh maybe a bad example) so I don't want to spend like a government project.

Please help. What am I in for?

https://simplisafe.com/

Ive used one from them for the last 10 years. ADT, Vivent etc you only lease the system till its out of contract for monitoring. Yes I said monitored as my insurance guy once stated “if it isnt monitored then it doesnt protect you or the insurance company when your not at home.”

With these folks you own it right off, their monitoring service is great and cheaper than the big boys. Easily installed and very few issues.

Tag...

Another Simplisafe user, going on for about 10 years now. No issues, easy to use, works.

Simplisafe here too. Any issues I've had were quickly addressed over the phone. I had a keypad go bad that was not current or available......they sent me a whole new updated system no charge. Only thing I'm not too keen on is the smoke detector is a bit sensitive and if you don't cancel or answer their phone call in time, they will call the fire department. Good if you're not home but not if you just burn the toast.

IP cameras and Blue Iris.

Tag

I also have simply safe, going on two years now. I've had only one issue with an outdoor camera that they resolved with a quick phone call. I have tripped the smoke alarm twice. They texted first then called when I didn't respond. Had I not responded they would have contacted the fire dept. I would say their outdoor cameras aren't as good as some others. Mine is rechargeable but you could buy a solar charger or an ac adaptor. The system automatically arms at a scheduled time that I select. I like that in case I forget. This is located in my shop. I have motion, glass break and door and window sensors. Easy self install.

IP cameras?

As in internet protocol? Is that a specific brand?

Basically a camera that connects to something that records video over ones network. Dahua produced most of my cameras.
Blue Iris https://blueirissoftware.com/ to monitor the cameras, archive data, and send out alerts.

Thanks.

I'm looking for something similar to what the OP suggested. Not going through googler or any other data gathering entity.

Not sure how well the simplisafe deal would work out here either. They might send an alert and I'd be sitting next to the phone and the call would go to voicemail with no notification of having done so. Service is "poor" out here and that's giving it a good grade.

blink cameras...several of them along with the doorbell option. free cloud storage at startup, and the main hub accepts a usb storage device if you don't wanna pay for long term. app let's you monitor when away from home. cheap and quick.

They did the same for us when our Cell Phone chip was outdated and no longer supported, whole new system arrived in a few days.

We just moved out to the country on 13 acres mostly wooded. We use Eufy cameras. They run on wireless internet. No monthly fee. We have 2 of their doorbells which show people at the door as well as the stoop so you can see packages dropped off. We get notified almost immediately on our phones when movement is detected. We also have 5 Eufy cameras on the outside of our home.
I live in Central Wisconsin. The cameras have built in batteries and we had to charged them only 1 time this winter
We are VERY SATISFIED. I also have 6 Tactacam game cameras which also notify you when.motion is picked up. There is a bit of a lag with those.
I definitely recommend EUFY and Tactacam cameras.
They also have great pics at night. I would have to look at specs to see if it is IR.

The good thing is that the individual sensors can be programmed to send notifications however you wish. Example, when I'm around the house I have the smoke detector set to just notify me. When I'm gone for a few days, and no one's there making toast, I set it to notify the authorities.