May be in the market for a video doorbell.
Key requirements are nothing requiring a subscription, and the ability to move video to storage under my control.
Eufy seem to look likely.
So has anyone any experience ? They seem to use SD Cards for initial storage. But is it possible to copy files off and clean them up remotely ?
Eufy 'don't use the cloud', except when they just do it without telling you:
Which is why I asked here :)
Having been on a bit of a journey, my main design parameter is no fecking subscriptions.
At work I have just ripped out £5,000 worth of annual subscriptions for what boiled down to f*ck all, in favour of self hosted FOSS solutions for around £200 a year. The most satisfying being a company that couldn't export *our* data in the way we wanted. Until we cancelled. Then they could.
One suggestion in the comment thread on that article is IP cameras and a separate recording mini-PC. Then the storage isn't subject to the camera vendors' cloudy ambitions or storage limits.
Not sure what the doorbell version of an IP camera is, but perhaps such exist?
Theo
One way is to use a standard doorbell with an IP camera using iSpy where you can use motion detection to trigger a recording.
Yes everything will, in the fullness of time be subscription. I can see it now, the always new shoe concept, Sensors in each shoe will send a signal to the makers to get your refurbished pair every time they wear a certain amount. What about subscription paint? If you do not re subscribe the make your paint fall off the wall due to liquid crystals in the paint. Brian
We have both an Eufy doorbell and cameras.
As you say, they don’t need a subscription. The storage for the bell isn’t removable. Our camera - and the bell- connect to a ‘hub’ which stores the video for the cameras and also acts as a central connection point when you access the system from your phone etc.
You can download the videos from there by just selecting the video and then download. I’d never tried it until a few minutes ago - just to for you 😀- it is as quick as you could want on an iPad. I assume you could ‘tidy it up’ but the quality is very good.
I assume you can do it on a PC etc. I don’t use Windows so can’t try it.
You don’t need the Eufy hub for the just a bell. In fact, I think there are newer cameras which don’t need the Eufy hub. Our system is several years old.
Overall, I’m very pleased with it. We had one camera replaced under warranty. Another one failed ( battery I think) out of warranty but the rest are fine. Ours have a claimed year battery life ( before needing recharge). I think that is pushing it- at least in places were there is traffic ( people moving etc). I generally recharge them every 6 mths and check them before we go away etc. They rarely drop below 70% in 6 mths. One, near the back door which sees the most traffic ( going into the garden, accessing the bins etc) drops the most. One which has the slightly less traffic but has weaker Wi-Fi signal is next.
The App is very good. We ( Senior Management and myself) both have the app on our phones and I have it one my iPad. It also integrates with Alexa so you can set up routines to turn on lights, announce if someone is at the door, on the drive, …..
My daughter also has access if needed.
We find it very good, not just for security. For example, checking if parcels have been left in the porch when we are away so we can ask a neighbour to take them in.
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