[chime]

Not sure what I would recommend for non-technical people but if you are a bit tech savvy, rolling your own is very robust nowadays. Buy cameras that don't need to be setup using an app (I prefer DHCP/Ethernet with web console), block them from going out at the firewall level, stop all services like mDNS/uPnP on the cams, install Blue Iris or BlueCherry DVR on a $500 laptop with 8TB USB drive, install the iOS/Android apps on your phone, open the right firewall ports, and now you can remotely monitor and watch your house from anywhere, safely.

I have 30 days of footage for 16 cameras recording to a 4TB HDD. The entire setup cost me around $3k over 7 years (cameras were more expensive in 2013).

There is absolutely no way I will ever trust a camera that needs me enter my home wifi password using an app, which then sends the plaintext password to a .cn domain to generate a QR code that the camera scans to configure itself (looking at you MECO Wifi IP cams). Way too many people around the world are falling for these cheap cams.

[shostack]

Since most people lack your technical know-how or patience or budget to implement such a setup, do you have recommendations for alternative consumer solutions on the market that do it right?

[noja]

So would you go with something like https://github.com/ccrisan/motioneyeos/wiki with a Pi+camera+enclosure?

What hardware do you recommend?