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Belkin's Wemo brand is gaining a new Wemo Smart Video Doorbell, which is a camera-equipped doorbell option that supports HomeKit Secure Video. The Wemo Smart Video Doorbell offers a 4-megapixel high-resolution camera with a 178-degree field of view, zoom functionality, and night vision.

belkin-wemo-doorbell-rain.jpg

With HomeKit Secure Video integration, the Wemo Smart Video Doorbell is able to offer 10 days of storage through an iCloud+ subscription, priced starting at $0.99 per month. Apple's HomeKit video protocol also ensures that access to the camera's footage is fully encrypted, and it adds features like motion detection notifications and specific alerts for when people, animals, vehicles, or package deliveries are detected.

According to Belkin, the Wemo Doorbell is the third Wemo product to offer HomeKit integration alongside the Wemo Stage and the Wemo Smart Plug, and operation of the doorbell can be done without using the Wemo app.

Belkin is partnering with smart home service provider OnTech to offer installation, setup, and education on the video doorbell, which supports existing systems powered by 16-24 V AC transformers with 30 VA or higher power, but it can also be self-installed. There is an optional wedge included with the doorbell that is designed to increase the field of view, but it can be eliminated for those who want a thinner profile.

belkin-wemo-doorbell.jpg

Along with the Wemo Smart Video Doorbell, Wemo is planning to introduce new versions of its most popular products, including the Wemo Smart Plug, the Wemo Smart Light Switch, and the Wemo Smart Dimmer. The updated products will be built with support for Matter over Thread for more reliable connections and seamless compatibility with other Matter-enabled products.

Matter is a new connectivity standard that's supported by Amazon, Apple, Google, Samsung, and other companies, and support is rolling out to various smart home products in 2022.

Belkin's Wemo Smart Video Doorbell, which is priced at $250, can be ordered starting today from the Belkin website. Wemo's Matter-supported devices are set to come out later in the year.

Article Link: CES 2022: Wemo Lineup Gains HomeKit Secure Video-Compatible Smart Doorbell
 
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PoE switches are so cheap and easily accessible (or PoE injectors) that I really wish someone would come along with a PoE HomeKit doorbell. WiFi can be flakey and really add latency from my experience and dealing with 24V transformers can be a pain.
 
belkin could have done a bit better in the marketing, but macrumors also seems to have chosen an unflattering photo...

that image shows it on an "angle mount", so im guessing if the walkway approaching the door is from the side rather than straight on, the angle mount is to provide a direct view of the approach.

now, people in this thread could also go read, as the product page indicates dimensions with and without the angle mount. without it's 1.4" of depth, compared to a top-end ring, that's only .3" greater. one would have to deliberately look at their video doorbell from the side to care about this difference.

PoE switches are so cheap and easily accessible (or PoE injectors) that I really wish someone would come along with a PoE HomeKit doorbell. WiFi can be flakey and really add latency from my experience and dealing with 24V transformers can be a pain.

product page says this has Thread support, so it would seem it stands a better chance of keeping a good connection.
 
belkin could have done a bit better in the marketing, but macrumors also seems to have chosen an unflattering photo...

that image shows it on an "angle mount", so im guessing if the walkway approaching the door is from the side rather than straight on, the angle mount is to provide a direct view of the approach.

now, people in this thread could also go read, as the product page indicates dimensions with and without the angle mount. without it's 1.4" of depth, compared to a top-end ring, that's only .3" greater. one would have to deliberately look at their video doorbell from the side to care about this difference.



product page says this has Thread support, so it would seem it stands a better chance of keeping a good connection.
Good to see Thread but still can't compete with ethernet.
 
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It’s rather unsightly as already said, but the 178° wide angle and night vision are probably two of the biggest selling points.

I am curious though regarding the ‘thickness’, does this have like a back up battery in case of a power outage? Why would it need be so obtrusively large.
 
PoE switches are so cheap and easily accessible (or PoE injectors) that I really wish someone would come along with a PoE HomeKit doorbell. WiFi can be flakey and really add latency from my experience and dealing with 24V transformers can be a pain.
Thing is, most homes already have 24V doorbell wiring in place, so you can just install this in a few minutes and not have to run any new wiring.

I get it; PoE would be the ideal solution, but running twisted pair from the doorbell location to the location of your network switch can be a challenge in some homes. Nothing beats wiring that's already there. :)

Most wifi APs are dual-band; my suggestion is to put lower bandwidth stuff like this on 2.4GHz, which has longer reach and it won't be competing with your higher bandwidth stuff on 5GHz.
 
Good thing it doesn’t require the Wemo app considering they require accounts and location services enabled to even use their other products. I ditched my switches because of that.
 
EVEN THOUGH it has a wide field of view, a thief or other ne’er-do-well could sneak up on the side, and just knock it off the wall with a rock! Bye bye security!
 
I have about 15 Wemo smart switches and they all stay connected to WiFi pretty consistently. They integrate well with Siri and actually work faster with the Home App than the Wemo App. Super responsive. I use Lorex for cameras and doorbell because they store locally. I wish Lorex had HomeKit integration but for someone like me to want to ditch that and switch to a Wemo doorbell it would need internal storage or a micro SD card slot. I don’t want to pay monthly fees for cloud storage and I don’t want my account and access to my camera feeds to be hackable.
 
Yet one more new device that is waiting to be hacked. A traditional door bell is good enough.
I don't mind the design though. I am not picky on how it should look, though if it was anime themed it'd be fun.
 
Depth on that is just stupidly large, I'd take my eufy door bell any day over that monstrosity. Far thinner while running on a battery, works perfectly well wirelessly. Never had a connection issue and requires no subscription to use.
 
belkin could have done a bit better in the marketing, but macrumors also seems to have chosen an unflattering photo...

that image shows it on an "angle mount", so im guessing if the walkway approaching the door is from the side rather than straight on, the angle mount is to provide a direct view of the approach.

now, people in this thread could also go read, as the product page indicates dimensions with and without the angle mount. without it's 1.4" of depth, compared to a top-end ring, that's only .3" greater. one would have to deliberately look at their video doorbell from the side to care about this difference.

The depth of the Ring Doorbell Pro 1 is 0.78", and the Pro 2 is 0.86", making them ~44% thick compared to their width.

The Belkin is 1.4" deep, more than a half inch thicker and 1.7" wide, about 82%. The numbers get worse with the angle mount in use.

The pictures are not illusory, it's closer to a square than a rectangle, and not nearly as low in profile as the Rings Pro.
 
It seems I am the only one that wants this, happy for a slightly bigger device if it performs better than Ring. It seems like the backplate is the connector.

No pre-order for the UK but I'm watching this one closely!

I hope there's even more competition this year for them!

webdam.web.1000.1000.jpeg
 
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Depth on that is just stupidly large, I'd take my eufy door bell any day over that monstrosity. Far thinner while running on a battery, works perfectly well wirelessly. Never had a connection issue and requires no subscription to use.
Does rely on their servers to not fall over, which they frequently do. And then your camera is rendered useless. Same if someone cuts your internet line.
 
I can’t wait for a complete review of this product. Though not perfect, it has what I want in a doorbell, especially secure video.
however, my experience with Wemo is not good: I had to replace 3 smart plugs because they wouldn’t stay connected. The replacements, same locations, have not disconnected in months.
my hope is that it does perform well and not be just another Wemo piece if junk.
 
Yet one more new device that is waiting to be hacked. A traditional door bell is good enough.
I don't mind the design though. I am not picky on how it should look, though if it was anime themed it'd be fun.
Who’s bothering to hack doorbells and to what end ??‍♂️ I don’t understand people being paranoid about smart door bells and locks. They’re far more likely to help you than hurt you
 
That is the ugliest thing I have ever seen no way would I have this mounted on the house they dropped the ball on this one.
 
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