this post was submitted on 13 Feb 2026
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Without getting into too many revealing details, my wife and I have a handful of Ring cameras that we are looking to replace, especially with the bullshit they've been trying to pull lately. They are used often, indoor and outdoor.

Last year, I tried rolling my own replacement with a standalone Frigate machine and the HA integration, but that ended up falling flat on it's face. I am not looking to troubleshoot that setup - that ship has sailed. Moving on.

Enter Unifi Protect. I'm already familiar with Unifi, my network has been running fantastically on the OG ~~trash can~~ UDM since it came out, plus a U7 Lite AP for extra coverage in our tall-ish 3-story duplex. The place is wired with Cat5, but since we rent, some areas will have to be handled with wifi-only units - the G4 instant looks suitable for this.

Questions:

  1. Ring has a very "wife-friendly" interface. How does the Unifi Protect UI fare in comparison?
  2. I'm looking at the NVR Instant to handle about 6x FHD cameras. Would a 1TB WD Purple be suitable for that?
  3. Motion detection - How is Unifi Protect with this compared to Ring? Better, worse, or equivalent? How flexible is it?
  4. (less important) I'm reasonably certain I can set up a doorbell replacement via HA, zigbee button, and a G4 Instant. No Cat5 to the front door unfortunately, just the usual pair of wires to the wall-mounted ringer inside. POE is not an option here. Viable? Or should I do something else?
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[–] lka1988@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 hour ago

Regarding the doorbell, one option you have is to try finding a second-hand Unifi G4 Doorbell (non-pro). It can be wired with only the two wires you already have. Just make sure you have relatively good 5GHz WiFi reception near your front door, because the 2.4GHz antennas on this model are notably bad.

I've been watching the wifi G4 doorbell like a hawk, it's just perpetually sold out 😂 eBay listings aren't any better, being even more expensive...