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...and just like that, all the companies that make "weatherproof" cases for the existing Nestcam are obsolete...
 
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How exciting... another monthly subscription fee!

It strikes me as odd how "cord cutting" has become so popular and yet the # of other products with monthly fees continues to proliferate. I am so sick of monthly fees, but this one is absurd. $10 for the camera to act like a camera and give you a wide angle view? Or face recognition, something that home based software can do. It's a monthly pick pocketing but consumers buy into it even as they reject the monthly cable bill. So bizarre. I would think they would reject all this monthly nickel and diming.


You're only going to see monthly fee services expand in the future.

In the past, Adobe would get $1200 when you'd buy Creative Suite. Nice, but many wouldn't upgrade the next year when the new version came out and they couldn't predict when ongoing revenue would come. Now with Creative Cloud, they get $50 from each user, every month for the same thing. They know they have ongoing revenue because now you can't just buy every couple years and they can project future revenue because they know there will be payments month after month.

Everyone is going this direction. Microsoft, Adobe, Google, Netflix, and many others. We often find it easier to justify the costs because they seem smaller than buying it outright ($50 a month seems like a better deal than $1200 at once but once you've been using it for 2 years you're now paying more for the subscription). It also lowers their support costs because they now only have to support the current version as they've removed the hesitation to upgrade to the newest version by including it for all subscribers.
 
Initially it looked o.k, then I saw the price and subscription. Think I'll start to get my Raspberry Pi camera built.


Assuming it is like their other cameras, it only costs if you want to record the image. You can live view the signal and never pay anything. I have the regular next cam (actually the original drop cam) in a 'drop case' to protect it outside and it works great. I do pay for the recording. If you prepay for the year it is less than $100.
 
While I like Nest products, they tend to be pricey. The camera I got for home was $40 and works just fine in both dark and light. No fees to use at all. Better is sometimes the enemy of good enough...
 
How much data do this cameras use for the upload. If they constantly stream HD then the upload bandwith is pretty soon clogged up. In addition is there in the US a limit how many GB you can upload per month?
 
No HomeKit. No buy.

I initially bought a Schage homekit enabled lock. At home it was fine. But remotely, it was a disaster (and yes it was properly set up with my Apple TV). It just rarely worked. I replaced it with the zwave version which functions perfectly. I will NEVER use Apple Homekit if remote control of my devices is needed.
 
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The issue is the proliferation of subscription services to the point where its death by a thousand cuts. 10 dollars a month isn't bad, on its own, but throw in 6 or 7 other subscription services and its quickly high. I have a handful of subscription services but I'm seriously looking at what I can do to find alternatives at this point.

But you used the key word: Alternatives. Cable and satellite packages are a "take the crap with the good" proposition. If I'm paying $15 here, and $10 there for multiple providers, and I end up only saving $20 a month that's still $20 that I am not paying to a cable company. And if any of those providers stop bringing value to me I am free to drop them without losing the rest of my useful content.

With cable and satellite providers it's like going to a restaurant and being told that in order to have the steak you must also buy everything on the left side of the menu, and the sad little beet appetizer on the right side. Me: "But what if I only want the steak and some fries?" Cable provider: Tough s***! You're going to buy the poached salmon, quinoa salad, boiled kale and blood pudding too."
 
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It seems the average consumer has already forgotten what software can do locally.

Why does Siri still need internet for every single task?

Yes, this is annoying. Apple has had voice control on their Macs since the early 90's. You could ask it to tell you a joke. You could give it a wake word like "Hey Siri". And before Siri, my iPhones could do voice dialing without the need to go to the cloud. Turn on Siri and you don't even have that anymore.

I get that you want to be able to check with the server for clever culturally relevant quips, or for data you have to look up anyway like the weather or sports scores. But I should be able to ask simple things like alarms or timers or dialing my contacts without the dreaded "Sorry, I can't do that right now" message.
 
Any security solution that relies on an Internet connection is inherently compromised. Most people’s incoming cable wiring is exposed where it meets the house. A pair of wire cutters will render the system useless.
 
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It seems the average consumer has already forgotten what software can do locally.

Why does Siri still need internet for every single task?
Why do I have to "subscribe" to more and more software that is PERFECTLY reasonable to buy once and own for a long time until an upgrade MIGHT be useful? (*stern look at Adobe*)
Why the **** are we putting up with this crap? Vote with your wallets folks... ffs...

Glassed Silver:mac
Exactly, buy Pixelmator or Affinity Apps. One-time purchase.
 
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Exactly, buy Pixelmator or Affinity Apps. One-time purchase.
Well, I'm sure we'll need to buy some form of upgrade at some point in time if we want new features etc, basically like old Adobe, but much cheaper, but that's exactly what I prefer.

I just don't like the subscription model by principle, even if it's cheaper in some scenarios, it's always just renting and I don't want that.

Glassed Silver:mac
 
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Any security solution that relies on an Internet connection is inherently compromised. Most people’s incoming cable wiring is exposed where it meets the house. A pair of wire cutters will render the system useless.

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Those that are wireless would still work. Those that are self contained for alarms, etc, would still work inside. Those that alert via phone lines would still work. Its a long list depending on system...
 
How exciting... another monthly subscription fee!

It strikes me as odd how "cord cutting" has become so popular and yet the # of other products with monthly fees continues to proliferate. I am so sick of monthly fees, but this one is absurd. $10 for the camera to act like a camera and give you a wide angle view? Or face recognition, something that home based software can do. It's a monthly pick pocketing but consumers buy into it even as they reject the monthly cable bill. So bizarre. I would think they would reject all this monthly nickel and diming.

That's why don't waste spending money on these garbage IP camera's. These camera's on not even vandal-proof. If you want a legit camera system get a surveillance system that will record on DVR 24/7 and be able go back 2 weeks or more (1TB for every 4 camera's). Make sure the camera's are dome (vandal-proof) and at least 2MP 1080p. There's many different apps that you can use for free that you can view from your smartphone without paying a monthly subscription (such a Catcheye). If your spending less then $1,000 bucks on camera system you my as well through in it the garbage.
 
How exciting... another monthly subscription fee!

It strikes me as odd how "cord cutting" has become so popular and yet the # of other products with monthly fees continues to proliferate. I am so sick of monthly fees, but this one is absurd. $10 for the camera to act like a camera and give you a wide angle view? Or face recognition, something that home based software can do. It's a monthly pick pocketing but consumers buy into it even as they reject the monthly cable bill. So bizarre. I would think they would reject all this monthly nickel and diming.
You can get a camera that just captures video and gives you output. There are already cameras for pros who've got a DVR box somewhere recording either from RTSP streams or analog video, and they've set up file/stream serving and port forwarding to host remote connections. That takes money to build, time and knowledge to set up, and electricity to run. You're making it sound trivial.

We've got analog cameras, might switch over to IP soon. I've been looking into building Linux DVRs for my family. I'm hoping to just get recording and secure streaming to iPhones and Macs. Facial recognition would be a stretch. From my surveying, it's going to be a big project. We're currently using pre-built boxes from eBay that have nice hardware but utter trash software.
 
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LOL this is an absolutely horrible design. The cable is coming right out of the front of the camera. WTF? Not only does it look horrible, but someone can walk right up to it and snip the wire, or even just rip it right off the wall. Not only that, but this thing is only rated to an operating temperature of 104F, which means is basically unusable in the entire south during Summer...
 
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How exciting... another monthly subscription fee!

It strikes me as odd how "cord cutting" has become so popular and yet the # of other products with monthly fees continues to proliferate. I am so sick of monthly fees, but this one is absurd. $10 for the camera to act like a camera and give you a wide angle view? Or face recognition, something that home based software can do. It's a monthly pick pocketing but consumers buy into it even as they reject the monthly cable bill. So bizarre. I would think they would reject all this monthly nickel and diming.

As I already have a Nest indoor cam, what is amazing is that if I want to add another camera to my house, it's another $10 per month, so now that's $20/mo. Add 2 or 3 or 4 cameras, and you're now spending up to $40 per month just to have 14 days of footage available from each of the cameras (it should be noted that without the subscription, you only get realtime viewing of the video, but $10/mo per camera gets you 14 days of recorded footage to look back on).

I would rather have a discounted rate for camera 2,3,4, and up. The more cameras I have, the less per camera I get charged. As it is now, $20 per month is too much so I stick with one camera.
 
Google crippled Nest potential.
Wired.
Monthly fee.
Google privacy.
No HomeKit.

Thanks but no thanks.

Still happy with Netgear's Arlo.
 
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This is very different that the old magazine subscription or fruit of the month subscription where you are getting actual product for your money. This is using a subscription to enable features of a product that should just be part of the spec list or not and sold for a flat price.

So you are wrong IMHO, it's not always about choice. The modern subscription model used solely to enable functionality is closer to tyranny. The consumer's choices are more limited, not widened by it, especially as they proliferate. Typically subscription model generates more revenue for a company because the consumer ends up pay net more for the product than if it was sold at a one-time price.

Nope. You are absolutely wrong. So many of you sound like you want something for free because you don't think it's valuable enough to pay for. That is simply your opinion. In most cases it's not a "right or wrong" thing. It's what it is. If you want a product/service but don't want to pay for it, then fine. Don't use or buy it. We're not talking about something that is critical to your life.

I think many of these comments typify what is so wrong with this country. It's the attitude of feeling you are due something simply because one exists. That's just not how a capitalistic society works.

I have 10 day video recording subscriptions for 3 of my Nest Cams. Why? Because I want it and can afford it. Next thing I know is that you will criticize me for paying for those features because you can't afford it or don't want them or don't think they are of value.
 
OK, you can get a camera that just captures video and gives you output. There are already cameras for pros who've got a DVR box somewhere recording either from RTSP streams or analog video, and they've set up file/stream serving and port forwarding to host remote connections. That takes money to build, time and knowledge to set up, and electricity to run. You're making it sound trivial.

We've got analog cameras, might switch over to IP soon. I've been looking into building Linux DVRs for my family. I'm hoping to just get recording and streaming. Facial recognition would be a stretch. From my surveying, it's going to be a big project. We're currently using pre-built boxes from eBay that have nice hardware but utter trash software.

If you got analog cameras switch over HD-TVI. You can still you the existing analog wiring without having to rewire such as IP system. Switching from analog to HD is day and night comparison and is so worth it. See for yourself
 
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If you got analog cameras switch over HD-TVI. You can still you the existing analog wiring without having to rewire such as IP system. Switching from analog to HD is day and night comparison and is so worth it. See for yourself
Oh, I didn't know they made that. That's really nice. The thing is, we originally had ethernet cables installed alongside the analog cables just in case we were to ever switch to IP. So it's just a matter of buying new cameras and making a new DVR. Unless they turn out to be very costly, we'll probably use IP cameras so I don't have to mess with a capture card.
 
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Nope. You are absolutely wrong. So many of you sound like you want something for free because you don't think it's valuable enough to pay for. That is simply your opinion. In most cases it's not a "right or wrong" thing. It's what it is. If you want a product/service but don't want to pay for it, then fine. Don't use or buy it. We're not talking about something that is critical to your life.

I think many of these comments typify what is so wrong with this country. It's the attitude of feeling you are due something simply because one exists. That's just not how a capitalistic society works.

I have 10 day video recording subscriptions for 3 of my Nest Cams. Why? Because I want it and can afford it. Next thing I know is that you will criticize me for paying for those features because you can't afford it or don't want them or don't think they are of value.
Next stop: Internet toll.
A nice and secure home surveillance system will be pay for the hardware, it's compatible with your software and no fees at all.
These businesses are making money out your privacy, and you happily pay them to have it. I sincerely don't understand your rationale.
 
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