Best Indoor Monitoring/Pet Cameras

lawrele on 06/10/2023 - 09:48
Last edited 06/10/2023 - 09:58

Hi all,

Looking for recommendations please for the best indoor camera system for monitoring pets when not home.

Features I think that'd be important:
- recording for reasonable lengths of time after motion detection e.g. 1min+ (i think this is most important)
- ideally cloud storage but flexible
- diverse ecosystem so I can expand to outside my house as well (I have CAT6 cables provisioned outside) but this is not essential

So far I've tried Reolink E1 Zooms (seem to only record for around 10-15s which isn't helpful), Wyze and Xioami

Maybe I wasn't using the ones I tried correctly so it'd be great to get feedback if you've used any of the above successfully as well.

Thanks in advance

Home & Garden

Comments

  • GG57 on 06/10/2023 - 09:50

    An indoor camera won't help with security, as in it won't prevent anything from happening.
    At best you will know about it earlier, and might have some footage that might be useful to the police.

    • lawrele on 06/10/2023 - 09:57

      yeah maybe 'monitoring' is the better word. I will have a proper camera security system outside

  • theMoebius on 06/10/2023 - 10:05

    I'm just starting out with Reolink but quite like their ecosystem so far - particularly that the Cloud storage/subscription is optional, so I'm using local SD card storage and about to connect them to my Synology NAS via its Surveillance Station app for longer retention.

    On your 'recording for reasonable lengths of time after motion detection' point, in the 'Record' section of the settings you can change the duration: there's a toggle for 'pre-motion record' and then 'post-motion record' has options for 15/30/60 seconds.

    • deme on 06/10/2023 - 11:02

      Reolink but quite like their ecosystem so far

      ecosystem is code for vendor lockin

      • theMoebius on 06/10/2023 - 11:10
        +2

        ecosystem is code for vendor lockin

        In some cases, sure, but I don't believe you're locked-in with Reolink as the cameras support industry standard protocols and therefore can be used with third-party apps like Synology Surveillance Station, BlueIris, etc. - pretty sure there's no ongoing requirement to use Reolink's apps, cloud subscription, etc.

    • lawrele on 06/10/2023 - 15:49

      Does this only work if you have a microSD card inside? or will this work with one of the Cloud plans too?

      • theMoebius on 07/10/2023 - 13:36

        Sorry, I've only tried with microSD cards so far and don't use Reolink Cloud but Google suggests you can use their cloud storage without a card.

  • AustriaBargain on 06/10/2023 - 10:07

    Wyze will record up to five minutes to the cloud with their super duper premium plan. Though it also records to SD so you can scrobble back to that timestamp even with their free offer that just sends you stills of motion. The standard premium plan has pet detection, though it frequently detects my cat as a person.

    • deme on 06/10/2023 - 11:02

      five minutes to the cloud with their super duper premium plan

      Five?

      • AustriaBargain on 06/10/2023 - 14:08

        That's what the ad says that comes up in the Wyze ad. I don't know how long videos are in the regular premium version. Nothing much really happens that I want to look at. One time a random fat guy sat on the porch holding blocks of chocolate. He looked like he was running from someone, he hid for a few minutes, then started looking around, saw the camera and just about shit himself, before jogging on. Pet detector picks up neighbour cat milling around the door at 3am.

        • bargain huntress on 06/10/2023 - 20:27

          Had he just robbed a chocolatier? Did he look like Augustus Gloop?

          • AustriaBargain on 06/10/2023 - 20:56
            +1

            @bargain huntress: He actually did look a bit like Augustus Gloop. Maybe he did steal it actually. I thought he was being chased. Maybe he was just so fat that he needed a rest. I wish I noticed when it happened so I could ask him through the camera speaker.

  • Ocker on 06/10/2023 - 10:16

    We have a couple of these and they work very well
    https://www.amazon.com.au/Eufy-T8410C24-Indoor-Security-Came…

    • Cherry12 on 06/10/2023 - 12:22

      Do they really sound the alarm remotely?
      Does it have a good app?

    • Domingo on 06/10/2023 - 14:30

      Also have 2 of these, great for keeping an eye on pup when we're out and telling her to stop barking if she's unsettled.

      • Protractor on 06/10/2023 - 15:23

        Does simply telling your pup (remotely) to stop barking actually work?

        • Domingo on 06/10/2023 - 16:50
          +1

          We're capable of settling her down over the camera. I won't claim that she will stop barking after a single no through the camera, although I wish she would!

        • sisko on 07/10/2023 - 08:19

          Try using a dog whistle over the cam.
          Dogs barking is soothing for them & becomes habitual, the dog whistle interupts this cycle & theyre more likely to settle.

  • phbk on 06/10/2023 - 14:36

    I've got a few of these and I'm very happy with the quality and app.

    https://www.tapo.com/au/product/smart-camera/tapo-c220/

    https://www.tapo.com/au/product/smart-camera/tapo-c320ws/

    Waiting for this one to come on sale.

    https://www.tapo.com/au/product/smart-camera/tapo-c325wb/

  • tallkid123 on 06/10/2023 - 14:52

    I currently use an Eufy D605 camera/treat dispenser.

    My dogs are in Sydney for time being and I'm overseas and its worked very well so far.

    • bargain huntress on 06/10/2023 - 20:24

      But they cant see you back i assume? I wish there was a 2 way solution.

      • tallkid123 on 09/10/2023 - 19:12

        They're dogs…

        They can't see you back regardless through a camera lens.

        • bargain huntress on 09/10/2023 - 19:46

          My current dog can see people and dogs on a high def tv.

  • bargain huntress on 06/10/2023 - 15:19

    What is the risk of people hacking into these and spying on you when you are home?

    • Domingo on 06/10/2023 - 16:57
      +3

      My views as an owner of some of these cameras:

      1) they are in living areas/looking out windows. Not in bathrooms/bedrooms, so little risk of a perverted person seeing anything.
      2) there are thousands to millions of these things out there. The odds of someone hacking into my specific device and watching it is pretty low
      3) if someone wants to watch me watch dinner or sit on the couch and watch tv, good for them. They're going to get bored hella quick by our inane conversation.
      4) actual risk is that if someone knows where I live and can get onto my camera/s, then they could know that I'm not home. However, the same information could be gleaned by simply watching us leave and/or looking in the windows, checking for lights turned on etc, so the risk exposure isn't that much more.

      I'm not going to delude myself that it is an impossibility, but the impact on my life would be pretty minimal. If someone started talking to me over my cameras then I'd probably get rid of them and go for a more secure system, but I don't think there's much risk of sensitive information being leaked etc. It's not like I wander around my house showing my credit card numbers to my cameras etc.

      • bargain huntress on 06/10/2023 - 20:23

        That makes a lot sense.
        Thank you very much.

  • BatsRule on 06/10/2023 - 20:49

    Maybe you could check out what ozspy has

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