Home interior camera

Gazwould

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Thinking about some kind of stealthy interior home camera , happy to sit on floor or shelf covering some vulnerable patio doors , an on / functioning led to the rear , SD card memory with WiFi to pull the recording from to smartphone , motion detection recording only , infrared that doesn't glow disclosing it's position , battery or mains powered .

Like so many dashcams on the market I'm bamboozled .

What do you recommend ?
 
Thinking about some kind of stealthy interior home camera , happy to sit on floor or shelf covering some vulnerable patio doors , an on / functioning led to the rear , SD card memory with WiFi to pull the recording from to smartphone , motion detection recording only , infrared that doesn't glow disclosing it's position , battery or mains powered .

Like so many dashcams on the market I'm bamboozled .

What do you recommend ?

Several years ago I re-purposed old dash cams for surveillance use a few times and it worked pretty well. In fact, I used them to monitor a patio door on the back of my house where a burglar once smashed the glass on a sliding door to gain entry.
The problem with dash cams for full time surveillance work is that they were never really intended to operate full time and they will fail eventually. The Mobius action camera is probably the best of the lot in terms of stealth and the ability to run for very long periods without harm. Of course, you won't have any WiFi or IR.

For what you have in mind I would HIGHLY recommend the WyzeCam. It's an amazing bargain at 20 dollars (plus shipping). It's tiny, versatile and will pretty much do everything you want (and more) such as WiFi, live streaming, time lapse, two way audio, motion tagging, infrared, MicroSD etc., although it does require a 5V power source such as a wall wart (included) or a power bank. It even comes with basic 14 day cloud storage for FREE. Also, you can stack them or otherwise link up several of them. Another feature is that it will alert you to an event or even to the sound of a smoke detector or other alarm going off. For twenty dollars you get a camera that will perform as well or better than other IP cameras costing many times more.

https://www.wyzecam.com/

The WyzeCam is an American version of the Xiaomi Xiaofang but with proprietary firmware and a proprietary smartphone app (which they update regularly). Up until recently the Xiaomi Xiaofang was only available to the Chinese market but not in America or Europe. I believe that may have changed (or be in the process of changing) and you can find them in stores like GearBest and Banggood, sometimes at a good discount. I still recommend the WyzeCam for their firmware and App though. If the WyzeCam won't work for you in the UK, then definitely look into the Xiaomi.

Another cool thing, if you should happen to be feeling geeky is that there is open source firmware available specifically for the WyzeCam/Xiaomi Xiaofang which allows you to incorporate it into any existing IP network instead of WyzeCams and the Xiaomi Clouds and offers other customization..

https://openip.cam/

wyzecam2.jpg

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There are quite a few of these, but myself i only know of the prosumer ones.
No matter which one i would never use cameras pointed inwards in my apartment.
 
Here is the European version of the Xiaomi Xiaofang from GearBest - https://www.gearbest.com/ip-cameras/pp_620813.html


That's astonishing value , thanks , love it when you find the ultimate bang for buck .

Same situation with some vulnerable rear patio doors , if they're gonna come in it's there as big entry point .

Power socket not an issue . So this will record on motion detection only if selected ? to a sd micro card and I can pull the footage WiFi to WiFi like I can with my Ddpai dashcam ? ( Ddpai sets up as it's own WiFi , smartphone then links to the camera WiFi via Ddpai app , No home WiFi or phone data contract required )

?
 
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That's astonishing value , thanks , love it when you find the ultimate bang for buck .

Same situation with some vulnerable rear patio doors , if they're gonna come in it's there as big entry point .

Power socket not an issue . So this will record on motion detection only if selected ? to a sd micro card and I can pull the footage WiFi to WiFi like I can with my Ddpai dashcam ? ( Ddpai sets up as it's own WiFi , smartphone then links to the camera WiFi via Ddpai app , No home WiFi or phone data contract required )

?

Please be advised that the European version of the Xiaomi Xiaofang on Gearbest suddenly appears to be unavailable again. On Banggod the camera has completely disappeared. I'm not sure if this is a temporary situation but if you decide to order one make sure first that it is in fact available and that it is compatible for European use. (Such as an English language app, for example).

Link shows camera as "discontinued".

https://www.gearbest.com/ip-cameras/pp_487830.html

The similar Xiaomi MIjia Dafang smart IP camera may be a viable alternative.

 
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For me the Xiaofang Smart 1080p cam would have been a viable option if not the text concluded

"Note: New edition camera has been arriving. The products both editions of the new and old we send are random. And the needle will not be attached again in the new. "..

Dang...

Will probably be trying out the Mija 1080p instead. The price is not that huge of a deal so maybe it's better with some kind of english language to refer to in the settings, instead of korean (?) ;-)
 
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