Wi-fi home camera

monaymadlol

Hi I live in a flat and looking for one of those small home cameras to put on a shelf that I can connect and view if anything occurs whilst on my phone at work..I have a few valuables so it's just for added protection/peace of mind.

There's a plethora out there but just want something easy to use on my android (Samsung) without messing around too much with techy software but of decent quality, though not hundreds.

Any recommendations please?

531063

Tapo C cameras get good reviews

Ant555

A friend bought one of these last year to keep an eye on his dog when he was in work - he raves about it and uses any opportunity to bring it up on his phone for people to view the puppy - picture seems really clear and there is 2-way sound also.  He can pan/tilt the camera to point in different places from his phone.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-Security-Rotational-Required-Storage/dp/B07XR2NWZC

I guess if you are using it for footage in the event of a break in then you would need to consider if you could hide it somewhere as I believe it saves footage to a built in SD card so if someone steals the camera then the footage is gone too.

Ben1989

As Ant said, if it's for security you'll need a cloud based service such as Ring/Simplisafe etc if you want movement notifications and recordings.

monaymadlol

Thank you. I was under the impression I could save all footages to my phone and delete daily.
So this is only for SD card ones?
Do the ones using cloud software also require sd card?
I'm not sure where to hide it so ideally I want something that records and saves not in the camera if the burglar destroyed the camera

Chickereeeee

You have four options for saving footage, really (depending on which camera you get):

1) sd card in the camera
2) in the cloud
3) on a hard disc/ssd in a central recorder somewhere in your home
4) alerts and short video sent to your phone, and stored on reception.

Or a combination thereof.

For a single indoor camera, with very few false alarms, and set to record/send a clip only if movement is detected,  just number 4, or 3 + 4, should be fine.

Ben1989

You can have a camera that records to an SD card and everything is local. As has been mentioned, if a burglar takes the camera or destroys it they destroy all evidence too. However, these are generally cheaper as there is no chip for wifi.

Wifi cameras however will save what they record to a cloud server which is what you'd want for a flat, in my opinion. This footage can never be destroyed unless you're hacked. Some cameras even let you know that they've detected motion such as this Ring one which (for only £50) is the whole point of a security based camera isn't it?

Indoor Cam – Ring

Carrot007

Ben1989 said:

You can have a camera that records to an SD card and everything is local. As has been mentioned, if a burglar takes the camera or destroys it they destroy all evidence too. However, these are generally cheaper as there is no chip for wifi.

Since they all tend to do remote viewing and wifi is of negigable cost, I think you will find they all do wifi (and wired, removing that one might save more these days).

Ben1989 said:

Wifi cameras however will save what they record to a cloud server which is what you'd want for a flat, in my opinion. This footage can never be destroyed unless you're hacked. Some cameras even let you know that they've detected motion such as this Ring one which (for only £50) is the whole point of a security based camera isn't it?

You negated to mention the could costs. Which are certainly above zero. But cheap enough, especially with multiple devices.

Though only cheap if you go with the same provider. Amazon bought both ring and blink and appear to be shifting the tech either way but they are still seperate subscriptions.

monaymadlol

Chickereeeee said:

You have four options for saving footage, really (depending on which camera you get):

1) sd card in the camera
2) in the cloud
3) on a hard disc/ssd in a central recorder somewhere in your home
4) alerts and short video sent to your phone, and stored on reception.

Or a combination thereof.

For a single indoor camera, with very few false alarms, and set to record/send a clip only if movement is detected,  just number 4, or 3 + 4, should be fine.

Thank you for your explanation.

I agree, 3 or 4 sound likely best.

Been here nearly 7 years and touchwood, no issues so far but a neighbor below me in floor 1 did get burglarized a couple years ago.

So with option 4, it starts recording on sensing movement / sound? (for how long) and stored to my phone memory which I can then download?

Forgive my ignorance also, if I connect the camera to My home broadband WiFi, how is this then connected to my phone far away? 

Ant555

Forgive my ignorance also, if I connect the camera to My home broadband WiFi, how is this then connected to my phone far away? 

The mobile app will know all the details about your camera -  Essentially its a one time set up using the phone app when you receive the device on your home wifi to talk to the camera and set it up (its a consumer item so very straightforward) then you can access it from almost anywhere in the world. 

 Once your camera is connected to and accessible on the internet using your home wifi  - using the app on your phone you can then use your mobile data or wifi if your phone is on wifi somewhere/anywhere to access the camera and/or the cloud storage. 

Important to set decent passwords as you can see how easily peoples internet connected home cameras could get hacked if they dont set a password or leave it set to the default.

Alias_Omega

Tapo Camera. Set the camera to "alarm mode". It will make a noise when it detects someone (including you) in the property. That should at least startle anyone in the property into leaving. 

If you've not been burgled in 7 years, the risk of being burgled could be assessed as "Low". What you are currently undertaking, is probably working.