Forums > Off-Topic Discussion > New WiFi Camera -- Grrr!

Photographer

Looknsee Photography

Posts: 26342

Portland, Oregon, US

I spent most of the day installing a new WiFi security camera, pointed at my front door.  It works, but it's got one of those user interfaces that was designed by the engineers who built the system and not for the people who were going to install and/or use them.  The interface was full of undefined networking protocols & syntax -- at one point, I had to enter a field containing 17 digits, a few slashes, a question mark, a colon, some dots -- nothing that was remotely intuitive.  The interfaces was full of TLAs (three letter acronyms) and some FLAs and FLAs.

Turns out the app wasn't tested on a PC with the resolution of my laptop -- the menu items & labels were microscopic -- in some cases, even a magnifying glass was no help.

We got it to work on my tablet & my PCs but not (yet) on my Roku.

Bad user interfaces are a pet peeve of mine.

Mar 08 18 08:18 pm Link

Photographer

What Fun Productions

Posts: 20868

Phoenix, Arizona, US

What brand is it?

Mar 09 18 08:22 am Link

Photographer

Looknsee Photography

Posts: 26342

Portland, Oregon, US

Duhua?  I think it's Chinese.  But it looks great -- clear (wide angle) image, works well at night.  Has lots of features that I won't be using (yet).  For a first security camera, it's pretty good, but all the software configuration work -- that's just not right.

It's small, unobtrusive, and not expensive.  I can access it from my PC and my Samsung tablet.  My installer accesses it from his Apple phone.  We are still tweaking it so that I can access it from my Roku.  We also have to fine-tune it so that it gives a little chime when someone walks to my front door (but not when someone passes on the sidewalk).

I'm sure the novelty wear off soon, but right now, I'm fascinated watching the foot & car traffic on the sidewalk in front of my house.

Mar 09 18 10:43 am Link

Photographer

Managing Light

Posts: 2678

Salem, Virginia, US

How's the security?  These things are being hacked in huge numbers for use mass attacks.

Mar 09 18 12:18 pm Link

Photographer

Looknsee Photography

Posts: 26342

Portland, Oregon, US

Managing Light wrote:
How's the security?  These things are being hacked in huge numbers for use mass attacks.

Too soon to tell, but ...
...  It is password protected,
...  It is on my WiFi network, also password protected,
...  It is an exterior camera, showing my front door & the sidewalk in front of my house.  Not a big security concern.

Mar 09 18 12:37 pm Link