That said, has anyone found any solid, fairly privacy-friendly solutions to this?
It seems like all the "convenient" ones require some sort of "cloud" account with fuzzy details on how your info is stored.
I would really prefer something wifi-powered and peer-to-peer if something like that exists so that I don't have to worry about how my footage is being stored.
Probably a pipe dream, but if there was anywhere to check, I figured it would be here.
Nothing goes out to the cloud. The cameras are blocked from the Internet. I have an alert set up and I've never seen the Reolink or Annke units try and reach out.
If you have a lot of money to blow, buy a complete Ubiquiti setup. It is fairly set and forget. I got burned by Ubiquiti with a previous NVR setup and premature obsoletion so I refuse to use their cameras anymore.
Having a phone app to instantly view the cameras quickly (late at night) made the difference.