Be Excellent To Each Other

Hi guys,
we've currently got some IP cameras in the house which let us keep an eye on Darwin when he runs round various rooms and Mimi is too poorly to chase him. They also lets me log in remotely to keep an eye on them both in case of anything happening. They are ~£30 from Amazon and seem to run through some Chinese app called ShowMo, so we're looking to upgrade to a better (more reliable) set of cameras (budget around £300-400 ish I guess, but would pay more for the right system). For reference, these are the ones we currently have: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B06XD8J83V/ but they often drop the wifi signal and need rebooting.

Features we pretty much need:
- 3 cameras
- can log in on iOS from any external network to view video and audio
- IR night vision with no bright LED or floodlighting (can't keep Darwin awake at night for the one in his room)
- runs on wireless network
- 2 way audio

Features not necessary:
- ability to rewind video
- live alerts for motion
- ability access recordings from the past
- anything externally specific, such as waterproofing

has anyone got any ideas of anyting reliable? Really looking to get something from Amazon so we can have it delivered next day delivery on prime, as Mimi collapsed this week and had to go to A&E and is worried it will happen when she's on her own or with Darwin.

I have a few Nest cameras. They’re excellent, and they do everything on your list, but they’re £££ I’m afraid.

Thanks Doc. Nest is a reputable brand as far as I’m aware and as it’s for safety I’m happy with £££

I’ve ordered three to come tomorrow and we’ll see how we go.

Thank you.

I was going to post as I asked a friend which ones he uses. They're made by Samsung and he would struggle to recommend them.

But anyway, give Mimi my best and I hope she's feeling better soon! Take care all of you!

The Nest cameras we have are working great and have been seen this RMD. But Google have emailed everyone saying that now for “privacy and transparency” the camera light will be constantly on and when someone is watching it will blink.

Remember my requirements?

Doh!

Bit of tape over the LED

Sounds like a job for a small piece of duct tape.

Duct tape, awoohoo!

Removing features of hardware after it's been sold has got to be pretty flaky with regard to consumer law, right?

I think two pieces of duct tape over his eyes should solve the issue.

"The LED doesn't light up" is a bit tricky to call a feature.

Being able to disable the LED *is* a feature, though, and one that is given as such in the specifications and instruction. We bought these specifically because any lights could be disabled. Of course, we’ll cover them with tape, but it’s pretty disappointing, especially as they were very expensive and I didn’t really want to go sticking bits of duct tape on them.

I thought I’d look to see if they’d made any announcement on their Twitter account, and found out that they’ve protected their tweets. I’ve never seen that before from a corporate/business account. Is it common at all? Why would a company do that?

Clicked the link for the @nestsupport account.


How hard can it be, really?

Well I got that fixed, at least:

https://twitter.com/nestuk_ now says "This account is no longer active. Please find us at @googlenest."

(A small part of the blame here rests with Twitter, which has no way to manage accounts when a company rebrands. But the original bio should have been clearer.)

I share your sentiment (I own four Nest cameras myself), and have expressed this in... very forthright... terms. I don't expect the decision to change, unfortunately.

I’ve managed to turn the LED brightness down on the individual cameras in the app. The only one it’s really bothering me on is in Darwin’s room as he sleeps in a completely darkened room, and in the morning if I need to look in on him it basically says ‘mummy’s up so it’s tine to get up’.

Actually, no, it *does* bother me on the others as well as I keep looking at them to see if someone is looking in on me. It’s just made me ‘notice’ them more. I still need looking in on by Ma or Russell as I’m still having very bad turns in my health, and it is just a pulsing reminder of that, whereas I could sort of forget them before now.

I didn’t see this earlier. The Doc is wielding his powerrrrrrrrr