SECURITY CAMERAS
Filled your home with cool, costly tech? you’ll want to keep an eye on it all. now’s the time to invest in a smart security cam to check in wherever you are
We’re a nation obsessed with our homes. It’s no wonder we’re so keen to build our own personal castles – we’ve been doing it for thousands of years – but instead of a moat and high walls, we’re turning to tech to make our homes safer and more secure.
Which is why we’re buying smart security cameras by the bucketload. When people think of creating a smart home, improved protection against unwanted miscreants is one of the biggest reasons to do so. These CCTV-like cameras can capture video and audio, inside or outside your home, and the real beauty here is that you can look through the eyes of your camera remotely, in real time, right from your smartphone. So, if you’re not at home, you can check up on your pad wherever you are, day or night.
Great news, then? Well, yes, but there’s a tiny setback: because of this insatiable appetite for smart security, the number of security cameras out there borders on the obscene. Take a quick peek on the internet and you’ll see what we mean – it’s a minefield. And, though competition is a good thing, this makes it hard to choose the one you need. That’s why T3 has donned its finest balaclava and is here to tell you exactly what you should be looking for when choosing a security camera, and what it all means.
First up, let’s take a look at what a smart security camera is, and how it works. As you may have already guessed, a smart security camera is a device that records video, either to the cloud or locally, enabling you to play back the footage later. Video recording is triggered through some kind of motion, though CCTV-type cameras tend to record all the time. Audio recording is also possible, thanks to a built-in mic, and some security cameras have loudspeakers inside, so you can actually speak through them via your phone.
These cameras are either freestanding or mounted on a wall, out of the way. Some cameras are mains powered, others use batteries. The majority are made smart by their ability to connect to a Wi-Fi network, enabling you to access the camera’s video and audio feed using an app on your phone. The big advantage of a smart security camera is that you can watch the video feed in real time, usually from anywhere in the world. Most security cameras have home and away modes, using your mobile’s location to determine whether your camera should be on or not.
Here’s looking at you…
Not all security cameras are equal, however – there are many types available for different purposes, including indoor cameras, outdoor cameras, all-in-one cameras and CCTV-style cameras.
Indoor security cameras are by far the most popular kind – understandable, given that the interior is where most of your worldly goods are kept. By installing one on the inside of your home, you get a satisfying sense of self-voyeurism; an indoor cam enables you to keep an eye
on a particular room and see what your pets or kids are up to. (No good, probably.)
Outdoor cameras are fast gaining in popularity, too. Similar to the indoor kind, an outdoor camera adds weatherproofing and, in some cases, better, more substantial mounting options, allowing you to easily attach one to an exterior location that you’d like to monitor. Otherwise, indoor and outdoor cameras are, essentially, the same thing. There are exceptions, though – the Ring video doorbell is an outdoor camera-cum-doorbell, so you can keep an eye on people who turn up at your front door and even converse with them; great for online shopping addicts.
The all-in-one camera is much less common than both indoor and outdoor cameras, but they’re arguably the most comprehensive type of security camera you can get. They have more advanced motion detection, environment-monitoring abilities (think temperature and air quality) and a built-in alarm – to scare the bejeezus out of anyone silly enough to break into your home.
Last, but not least, are the CCTV-style home cameras. These tend to be outdoor only, and eschew the wire-free joys of regular smart security cameras in favour of cables going from each camera straight to a DVR (digital video recorder), enabling you to record the action directly to a hard disk. CCTV doesn’t lose the important smarts, though – with Wi-Fi built into the DVR, so you can view live video remotely on your phone or tablet.
Lock it down
Now that you’ve figured out what type of camera (or cameras) you want to beef up your home’s security, let’s look at the sort of features that are important to have.
At the top of the list is the quality of the video capture. These days, the majority of security cameras are equipped with a 1080p sensor, meaning you get detailed visuals, though some still opt for 720p. It’s worth mentioning that when you’re watching live video, some cameras will automatically throttle back on image quality if your internet connection is less than ideal (while others need manually adjusting), so look for this feature if you’re often away from home and want to check in remotely.
You also need to bear in mind how things look at night, when there’s no natural (or even man-made) light available to feed the camera’s sensor. Most cams have some form of night vision built in, but the quality can vary wildly, and we’ve found that those with infrared (IR) emitters work better than those without. The Canary (£125, canary.is) stands out for having top quality video in both day and night modes.
Almost as important as the clarity of the image is how the security camera registers motion. The simplest type relies on basic movement to capture video, while some are much smarter so they only register motion that actually matters to you – meaning you get fewer notifications on your phone, and a greater likelihood of catching someone in the act. Netatmo’s Welcome camera (£159, netatmo.com) is a solid example of good motion detection – using
All-in-ones have advanced features such as alarms and air monitoring
facial recognition, it can tell the difference between a burglar and your kids arriving home from school. Its outdoor variant – the Presence, goes one step further and can even distinguish between people, pets and cars. Smart stuff, indeed, but Cocoon (see p59) takes things to the next level, using subsonic tech to detect sound and vibrations throughout the home. The really clever bit is that over time it learns which sounds are normal and which are not, so you don’t get annoying false alarms during the day.
Video-monitoring aside, many security cameras are staring to pack tech that makes them much more than just a security device. Once again, Canary excels in this area, with the ability to measure the ambient temperature of a room, as well as humidity and even air quality – sending you alerts if anything is out of the ordinary so you can, in theory, act on it. Then there’s the Withings Home (£130, withings.com), which is unusual in that it includes special features for baby monitoring, with soothing, colour-changing LED lighting and lullabies that can be played over its built-in speaker.
Smarty pants security
Before you run off screaming “I want a security camera with all the above, shut up and take my money!” there are a couple of other aspects of these devices that are worth serious consideration. The first, and probably most important, is to know what sort of smart home ecosystem your camera supports. The majority tend to work within a closed system – so you install one, download an app specifically for the device, and away you go; when you want to check your video feed, you open that app each time. Other cameras, such as the Nest Cam, are backed by a substantial smart home ecosystem – in this case, Works with Nest –which enables them to connect with other compatible smart home devices and do some really clever stuff, such as turn off your Philips Hue lights when the camera notices you leaving the house.
But even if your security camera of choice doesn’t work with a smart ecosystem, there are options – IFTTT (If This Then That) being the most useful. IFTTT enables a variety of smart products, including security cameras, to work together to make them do more. For instance, you can get your Netatmo camera to sound your Scout Alarm siren when it detects an intruder. It’s cool stuff and, to a degree, alleviates the need to back an ecosystem.
The final piece of the security camera puzzle is video storage. All cameras have to save footage somewhere, and there are two ways to do it: locally to a memory card or traditional hard drive (used by CCTV-style kits), or online on the manufacturer’s server or using your personal cloud account (such as Dropbox). Some cameras offer everything for free, others charge for the privilege, so be sure to check our guide below.
Nest Cam can turn your Hue lights off when it sees you leaving the house