"Ring" Doorbells

Via your smartphone ...

I only turn that on when I go out :-)

I assume it can also "ring" via any Alexa speakers?

If you have any Amazon Echo devices you can have one or all chirping up with Alexa saying someone is at the door. If you have an echo show you can see who is there and speak to them if you want.

Richard

I have just installed the rival eufy system. I chose it partly because it doesn't require a subscription.

It has a small hub which holds the recordings and has a speaker that chimes. The doorbell has its own chime. I have a mains powered extension chime for a distant part of the property as well as their app on both my and my wife's 'phone that does the same.

Setup wasn't helped by inadequate instructions but their technical support was first rate. Watching the postman come is so exciting! :)

{cough}

Am 16/08/2023 um 13:34 schrieb Jeff Gaines:

Eben worse problem: you are giving away that you are not there most of the time. If I was a burglar, I'd target those homes first.

Absolutely, my postie is a very attractive young blonde lady...

Can't he get it up any more?

They have an explainer for everything.

Except, why does a door bell, have to be complicated.

Before you install any camera, consider the camera resolution, and what distance any captured video will be suited to the police.

Yes, it will record a porch pirate pretty good.

This is the best webcam I know of at the moment. Remoting USB3 isn't all that easy though. As long as your computer has an encoder, should be no problem recording the video in a decent format (if the CPU compresses the video, it wastes vast amounts of power, whereas the GPU encoder can be a bit less power). The output format of this camera, was undoubtedly done this way, to deal with the foibles of the Windows OS. They didn't design the camera this way, because it was "the best way". It is instead designed to a "lowest common denominator", which is Windows now. As far as I know, Windows does not currently "prefer" a compressed input format.

If you live on an estate, you can have a lot of fun with this stuff, but some of the output is not perfect-looking.

We have the same system. I’ve ‘linked’ ours to Alexa so it announces someone is at the door. We also have Eufy cameras, also linked to Alexa.

Because its part of the Alexa echo system and you can set them up to alert you of activity at the door, show you video or set off all the Alexas or your mobile, I'd imagine. The batteries a lot of these use are once only kind of super AA cells that they claim last two years. I think the wired ones are powered by a psu which allows some noise making device, but the real whole point of the Rings I've seen is the video and motion sensor which you can monitor from anywhere there is a mobile or wifi signal. Many of the battery operated doorbells make a sound outside so you can actually hear you rang it, I don't think I'd trust the wireless on a device operated purely from batteries, as they will just drop off the network. I'd like one that did not have video, just a motion detector and a bell, but nobody seems to do anything like that, and most of these devices seem to want you to register them for additional services they provide. A simple door intercom seems to be quite adequate as long as people press the button. Brian

Yes and it has a little voice that says motion is detected at ( insert which door) and you then go out and find a hedgehog or a fox. Brian

Easily pleased then. Many say the big issues are audio quality, or lack of it, and it keeps falling off the network. Brian

Somebody must Brian. They are quite common in shops as customer entry detectors.

and most of these devices seem to

We get plenty of cats and foxes coming up the drive and the camera does pick them up but does make an announcement because there is a setting which ignores small animals and only picks up persons to make an announcement.

I have an Echo device in the garage which I have left to chirp out its announcement so any person coming up the drive is announced long before they even reach the house and they can hear that. The perplexed delivery drivers end up wandering around looking for who is speaking to them.

Richard

Typo: first sentence should read “does NOT make an announcement”

Surely any InfraRed detector can be used in this way. Just connect in a bell rather than the light they normally operate.

Dave

As wireless ones are available in the £20-£25 range, I wouldn't bother, but it could be a good option if you already have the parts.