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The Nest Cam Outdoor is a $199 camera with an easy-to-install magnetic base

arstechnica.com

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Re: The Nest Cam Outdoor is a $199 camera with an easy-to-install magnetic base

#11

Post by jasonellis »

JshWright wrote: post #6
awqrre wrote: post #4

For $200, you would expect to be able to use your camera as you wish and be able to record on the local network.

What...? it's not like Nest would ever shut down a service, leaving its users with nothing more than an expensive piece of plastic and silicon... Anyone who buys this is nuts.

I really regret buying into the Nest Cam ecosystem. I have 3 now. Sure, it's convenient to view things remotely, but I also run a NAS and I hate not having the option to record locally or serve the camera streams myself instead of relying on Nest's service or paying an outrageous price for recording.

The only reason I went with them in the first place is that they have a very good picture and viewing range.

Re: The Nest Cam Outdoor is a $199 camera with an easy-to-install magnetic base

#12

Post by pavel_lishin »

mseebach wrote: post #8
Overtonwindow wrote: post #7

A broader question I've had as I've been looking into these is: are there any low-cost alternative is that do NOT involve the cloud? I really don't want to send video from inside and outside my home across the Internet. I don't mind that I can't check it remotely. I'm more interested in giving my wife the ability to see what's outside without spending an arm and a leg or letting it go out onto the Internet.

Pretty much any other IP camera? D-Link has a range.

And that range dips down into the valley of crap.

The smartphone software that came with the camera will frequently lock up, so it's nearly impossible to tell whether our baby is actually sleeping quietly or the image has just frozen. Ditto for the browser-based cloud garbage. I've resorted to just accessing the feed directly (via http://192.168.1.xx/video.cgi, which is a streaming jpeg) but that tends to lock up as well.

Re: The Nest Cam Outdoor is a $199 camera with an easy-to-install magnetic base

#13

Post by veidr »

I have the $200 old regular indoor Nest camera.

It's so horrible, in more ways than I would have imagined that a camera could possibly suck, that it's completely redefined my understanding of awful.

It's caused me to rethink many other purchases way outside of the category, from blenders to TVs to cars.

Absolutely don't ever buy a Nest product, unless your aim is to do experimental anitmaterialism therapy.

Re: The Nest Cam Outdoor is a $199 camera with an easy-to-install magnetic base

#14

Post by dmm »

Overtonwindow wrote: post #7

A broader question I've had as I've been looking into these is: are there any low-cost alternative is that do NOT involve the cloud? I really don't want to send video from inside and outside my home across the Internet. I don't mind that I can't check it remotely. I'm more interested in giving my wife the ability to see what's outside without spending an arm and a leg or letting it go out onto the Internet.

There are lots of inexpensive ip cameras on the market. I use several to watch my animals from work.

There's a specification called ONVIF that most of them more-or-less implement that allows applications to discover cameras features like how to get the video stream and PTZ.

I use a Foscam 8921, which is a pan-tilt 720p camera and a Crenova something which is a 720 fixed dome. The Crenova is flaky, dropping frames but that may be because of the cable.

The foscam was ~$70 and the crenova was ~$40.

The 8921 is technically a indoor-only camera but it's lived in my chicken coop for over a year without an issue. It's away from rain but not hot and cold temperatures and dust. So it would probably work on a sheltered porch.

As far as software goes you can use an android app called "Onvifer" that discovers onvif cameras and let you view and control them. Or you can use zoneminder if you have lots of free time ;). I wasn't too happy with what I could find so I put together some hacks with ffmpeg, a setup that is slowly evolving into a custom video surveillance system.

I keep my cameras on a separate network without internet access. They all run linux and have open telnet ports. I treat them as hostile outsiders and only allow access from one machine that sucks video out of them but it's up to how paranoid you want to be.

Anyway in conclusion there are definitely low-cost options that don't involve the cloud.

EDIT: Also amazon sucks. You have no idea what you're getting when order from them with these types of products. Be prepared to return things.

Re: The Nest Cam Outdoor is a $199 camera with an easy-to-install magnetic base

#15

Post by kevenwang0531 »

dvcc wrote: post #5

A question more out of unfamiliarity more than anything, but is the market for at-home security cameras really that large? Then to overlap that with the market that can afford to pay the $10+/month to support it, I would guess you run kind of low on customers? I mean I guess not since the product is coming to market -- I just personally don't know of anyone who uses one.

DIY home security is definitely a large market. Every house in America has some form of subscription-based home security system mostly consisting of door sensors and a monitoring service. If home security startups can make a good-enough product that lets users monitor their own homes, they can charge a much smaller fee and still be more useful than companies like ADT.

Re: The Nest Cam Outdoor is a $199 camera with an easy-to-install magnetic base

#16

Post by mseebach »

dvcc wrote: post #5

A question more out of unfamiliarity more than anything, but is the market for at-home security cameras really that large? Then to overlap that with the market that can afford to pay the $10+/month to support it, I would guess you run kind of low on customers? I mean I guess not since the product is coming to market -- I just personally don't know of anyone who uses one.

I would not underestimate it. My immediate thought is "security moms" -- suburban mothers whose overarching priority is security (they came out pretty strongly for Bush in 2004, IIRC, which is when the name was coined). A similar demographic makes up a substantial segment of the SUV market.

It's clearly marketed to a not-technically-skilled market (the magnet is pretty brilliant - tool-free installation, if you can find a bit of metal) which probably intersects the above market to a certain extend.

Re: The Nest Cam Outdoor is a $199 camera with an easy-to-install magnetic base

#17

Post by macleanjr »

I used to be a big fan of Nest. I've owned the thermostat, protect, Dropcam Pro, and a Nest Cam. This product announcement leaves me very underwhelmed.

Since Nest took stewardship of the Dropcam products, there has been a noticeable decline in quality. The Nest App is not as fully featured as the Dropcam one was previously, and I seem to be having more and more connectivity issues, despite having improved Internet connectivity.

There isn't anything compelling about this new product that will lead me to "upgrade". One of my cameras is already pointed outdoors and it gets the job done for monitoring my entrances.

Re: The Nest Cam Outdoor is a $199 camera with an easy-to-install magnetic base

#19

Post by dvcc »

kevenwang0531 wrote: post #15
dvcc wrote: post #5

A question more out of unfamiliarity more than anything, but is the market for at-home security cameras really that large? Then to overlap that with the market that can afford to pay the $10+/month to support it, I would guess you run kind of low on customers? I mean I guess not since the product is coming to market -- I just personally don't know of anyone who uses one.

DIY home security is definitely a large market. Every house in America has some form of subscription-based home security system mostly consisting of door sensors and a monitoring service. If home security startups can make a good-enough product that lets users monitor their own homes, they can charge a much smaller fee and still be more useful than companies like ADT.

Interesting is it more of a regional thing then? I've lived in the NE suburbs my whole life and really never ran into that many installations.

Re: The Nest Cam Outdoor is a $199 camera with an easy-to-install magnetic base

#20

Post by knz »

mseebach wrote: post #16
dvcc wrote: post #5

A question more out of unfamiliarity more than anything, but is the market for at-home security cameras really that large? Then to overlap that with the market that can afford to pay the $10+/month to support it, I would guess you run kind of low on customers? I mean I guess not since the product is coming to market -- I just personally don't know of anyone who uses one.

I would not underestimate it. My immediate thought is "security moms" -- suburban mothers whose overarching priority is security (they came out pretty strongly for Bush in 2004, IIRC, which is when the name was coined). A similar demographic makes up a substantial segment of the SUV market. It's clearly marketed to a not-technically-skilled market (the magnet is pretty brilliant - tool-free installation, if you can f…

> It's clearly marketed to a not-technically-skilled market

I'm not sure that is entirely true. I know of several people who work in IT and use them. Any decent outdoor IP camera is going to cost at least $100 and $10/month is worth the convenience for some people.

My own experience with cameras was using a foscam IP camera as a baby monitor a few years ago. Setup was fine but the UI was horrible - very slow and filled with lag.

> My immediate thought is "security moms" ... voted for Bush... substantial segment of the SUV market.

I think the market extends beyond a stereotype. None of the other people I mentioned above voted for Bush or even have kids. Personally, I've been looking for an outdoor camera to deter the random kids we have had try to break into a hot tub in our yard and to deter someone breaking into a car parked outside. I don't have time these days to mess around with a self hosted solution so this is a potential option.

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