Frigate is one of those things I couldn’t see myself running my smart home without. It’s the very reason having a dedicated home server is well worth the time, effort, and small running cost. I’ve got the software running on an old small form factor (SFF) business system from Fujitsu Seimens with an Intel Core i5-7400 CPU, 16 GB of gold RAM, and an Nvidia T1000 GPU. It runs like a dream and handles four HD remote streams from IP cameras. If I had to choose one service to run on a home server, it would be this.
Frigate takes security seriously
Protecting my home from the outside world
We’re relatively safe, generally speaking. But there’s still a good reason to run your own home security system. This could be in the form of a professionally installed setup, a DIY kit from the likes of Ring, or a completely custom solution using your own hardware and software. I transitioned from Ring to a full DIY setup and haven’t looked back since, relying on Home Assistant and Frigate to manage everything security-related, but it’s the latter that allows us to extend vision around the home.
The best part about Frigate is that it runs on almost anything. You’ll need a somewhat capable CPU to handle transcoding of video and object detection, but if you’re simply continuously recording everything and have ample storage space, Frigate can be a lenient security platform. I’m using object detection on the four connected cameras, and as such, we needed a dedicated GPU to offload the workload. It handles it effortlessly, leaving the CPU to perform other tasks and manage stored clips on the 2TB drive.
Being able to see all live feeds, browse through saved events, and provide access to the wider household and integrate it within Home Assistant makes Frigate my go-to home security solution. As far as network video recorders (NVRs) go, it’s great to save money in the long run too. We don’t have to pay for expensive hardware since a used desktop has ample performance. The only issue is the cost of hard drives, but they’re still relatively affordable when considering cost per GB (or TB).
We love reusing old hardware here at XDA. If you happen to have an old PC with a fairly sizable hard drive collecting dust, it could become the perfect NVR to create the ultimate home security platform.
It’s a powerful piece of kit
Frigate allows you to bring your own camera (BYOC), supporting hundreds of models from various brands. The best part of Frigate for me, however, is the open-source smart detection. Most NVRs one can purchase from a reputable electronics store are just straight-up recorders. Some modern solutions offer smart detections, but Frigate does this already and then some. It can be configured to only record when a person or vehicle is detected, store a minute’s footage before the detection, and mark those events on the timeline.
This makes reviewing footage significantly faster and ensures the connected drives aren’t full within a few hours. As aforementioned, we’re running four IP cameras recording footage to a single 2 TB drive. It’s never full, allowing for expansion. And there’s full support for go2RTC, which makes streaming live footage easy through WebRTC. Throw in integration with Home Assistant and you’ve got the ultimate solution to capturing and storing footage from around the home.
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4 things I wish I knew before setting up Frigate for home security
Some things I wish I knew before using Frigate
A rewarding steep learning curve
Getting up and running can take some time
I started with just one IP camera when toying around with Frigate. This was back when I used a Synology NAS to run my entire home lab and smart home stack. Synology’s Surveillance Station was brilliantly simple and powerful, but it required a camera license. I wanted to save as much as I could with the home lab, which took me to GitHub to search for an NVR project I could use and support. I was already aware of ZoneMinder, but Frigate looked intriguing, and so I gave it a go.
It’s not as easy as other solutions to add cameras and get everything working properly. It’s all based on YAML Ain’t Markup Language (YAML). This is one language I cannot stand with all the precise indentation, but once you get the config file loading all the IP cameras and everything is streaming reliably, it’s then time to hone in on some optimizations and the like, which is much more enjoyable. Thankfully, there are plenty of guides around when starting from scratch, and I bet an LLM could handle it.
I first started running Frigate on a Dell PowerEdge R210 II, which utilized the T1000 with the available Intel Xeon E3-1245 V2. A beefy old chip that draws considerable amounts of power. Using a separate system just for the NVR may seem redundant, but I find it’s better to have our security platform running on its own hardware. That way, should something go wrong on the primary home lab server running all our other services, the cameras are unaffected.
But depending on how advanced you wish to make your home surveillance operation, a locally hosted LLM could even be used to enhance the capabilities of object detection, ensuring only actual events worth watching through are recorded. It has become a pivotal part of our security strategy, and if there was one LXC I’d take with me on a house move, it would be Frigate.