Smart Cameras

Smart Cameras Explained

A smart camera is a great way to secure your property. At Box, we stock a wide range of smart cameras from brands including Ring, Somfy & Ezviz. A smart security camera connects to your router and allow you to view them on your phone or web browser. You can also use your smart home camera with a voice assistant such as Amazon Alexa, Google Home or Apple HomeKit.

By choosing a wifi smart camera from Box, you can get a host of great features. These features include get 1080p HD resolution, night vision, motion detection, battery powered and much more. Get an indoor smart camera or an outdoor smart camera to truly secure your home or business.

Smart cameras have revolutionised the way that people are securing their homes. The word smart cameras is used a lot and other similar terms can be used such as wireless security camera, WIFI CCTV system, WIFI security camera.  A smart camera connects to your router wirelessly and the sends the live image to an app, which is usually viewed on a phone or tablet. This wireless connection allows you to view the feed remotely from anywhere in the world (provided your device is connected to the internet!).  In basic terms, you can view your house or room from your phone.

Smart Camera Uses

The introduction of smart cameras has benefited people’s lives in several different ways. Here are some of the best ways to use a smart camera, as recommended by Box:

Hallway Camera
By putting a smart camera in your hallway facing the front door, you can keep track of who is coming into your house. By using a smart camera with motion detection, you can be notified when someone walks past and view the clip. Many of our smart cameras store a 10 second clip that can be watched once motion is detected.

Monitoring Children
Leaving your kids at home can be a stressful experience, even with a guardian present. You can set up a few of these cameras in your children’s favourite rooms and then check in every once in a while to give you peace of mind. Many of our smart cameras have a two-way audio system so you can even talk to them or maybe tell them off if they are misbehaving!

Outdoor Security
Most house burglaries would occur at nighttime. Some of the higher end smart cameras can deter these criminals by using a built-in spotlight as soon as it detects motion. If this is not enough, you could then also sound the internal siren to make sure they leave.

Whole Home Security
What better way to have complete peace of mind than cover the most important parts of your home? You can use multiple smart cameras with an NVR system to cover several parts of your home. The cameras would then send their feeds to your NVR for storage. You can use these systems to monitor outside and inside your home.

Key Words Explained

Smart camera
A camera that connects to a network and can be viewed remotely. It may also be referred to as a wireless security camera, WIFI security cam, smart CCTV amongst others

POE camera
A camera which is ‘powered over ethernet’ (POE). An ethernet cable is used to connect the camera to a router and also powers it. These cameras do not connect wirelessly.

Works with
Works with is the term used to describe when a smart camera works with a voice assistant speaker such as Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant or Apple HomeKit. The voice assistants can be used to control the cameras by saying phrases such as ‘Alexa, show me camera 1’ ‘Hey Google, show me the living room camera’ or ‘Siri, show me the outdoor camera’.

Hardwired
If a camera is hardwired powered, it must always be connected to a power source.

Resolution
A smart camera resolution defines how clear the image your camera will record. The most common is 1080p HD which is the full HD resolution. Others include 720p which is slightly less clear than 1080p and 1440p which is clearer than 1080p. 720p is fine for most situations but 1080p gives you that crystal clear image.

IFTTT
IFTTT (if this then that) is a software application that allows you to combine smart home items. For example, you could use IFTTT to say ‘when my smart camera detects motion at the front door, turn on my porch light’. IFTTT follows the formula of ‘if this happens, then do this’.

Pan, tilt & zoom
If a cameras has pan as a feature, it means the physical camera can move side to side to change the view. If it can tilt, it means that it can move up and down to change the view. If it can zoom, it means it can go further forward to get a closer view.

Privacy mode
Privacy mode usually comes in the form of a physical shutter which will cover the camera lens and block it from recording.

Two way audio
A two-way audio system consists of a speaker and a microphone. It allows the user near the camera to talk to who is viewing it remotely and vice versa.

Night vision
The camera can see and record in the dark. This is done through a lens filter rather than a physical light.

Motion detection
Cameras with motion detection can trigger recording when motion is detected by the camera. This is useful for people who only want to record when something is happening. Some cameras have custom detection zones which allow you to set the camera to detect motion in certain zones in its field of view.

Weatherproof
Weatherproof smart cameras will come with an IP rating. Each different IP rating defines what type of weather resistant it has. All outdoor cameras will need an IP rating.