DropCam: Another fire-and-forget camera system

Technologie innovation: Dropcam, die neue Videokamera online 3 months, 1 week ago on Wordpress

[...] dieser das einzige Kabel vorstellt, das du brauchst, wenn die Kammer mittels Wi-Fi verbunden ist. In CrunchGear zeigen sie an, dass die Kosten von von der Dropcam 239 Dollars (offizielle Verbindung) sind und das [...]

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Impact technology: Dropcam, новая видеокамера online 3 months, 1 week ago on Wordpress

[...] ты нуждаешься, если камера соединена посредством Wi-Fi. В CrunchGear они показывают, что цена Dropcam – 239 долларов (официальное [...]

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peter 3 months, 2 weeks ago on Wordpress

to view the camera, do we need to load Active x,

want to view my camera from work but can not load active x

thanks

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pbossut 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Twitter

now, imagine a sea of those, some seamless stitching and 3D navigation... hmmm.... ideas... http://bit.ly/324Wko

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Greg Duffy 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Wordpress

No, we’ve done extensive user testing with Dropcams and standard network cameras (including BL-C131A) to measure ease of setup and use.

Our recurring service includes DVR storage in a colocated facility, notifications, and continuing improvement of the software (camera and server-side). Comparing us to Panasonic’s offering is comparing apples to oranges.

The camera is never “bricked”, if you wish to use it as a normal network camera, Dropcam support can assist you. However, not a single Dropcam user has opted to do this so far.

You’re clearly an expert on IP cameras and networking products, and Dropcam may not be right for you. We’re working to make a usable product for people without your level of experience. ... See all content Hide content

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HappyJack 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Wordpress

Hi Greg,

Thanks for responding to my comment.

While I agree that you may have a easier to set up device, I think you are exaggerating how difficult it is for the average user to set up competing products. Panasonic for example has a toll-free tech support line that you can talk to a live human about any camera questions.

But let’s suppose the initial ramp-up is easier with DropCam then with the Panasonic or any other network camera. That would tell me that you should either (a) price your device higher than competing inferior products or (b) price same/lower and get market share. Either one would make sense to the consumer as well since you are delivering an easier to configure product. That’s a good thing.

What I don’t understand is why you decided to charge a monthly fee for this ease of configuration since it’s a one-time setup?

If it’s for access to see what’s happening at home, or notifications, why should I pay for something that is a built-in feature on any network camera server?

If it’s for the monthly DVR functionality of 100 hours that seems hardly worth it…I pay for the uploading bandwidth, electricity, etc., and you all host some video files. At $9/month to store video files, that seems very expensive. If this is the main reason to pay $9, you should then be honest with the consumer and let them opt out of paying this if they just want a superior camera, notifications, live video streaming.

Is it true that once I buy the camera that I can’t stop the monthly service and just use camera separately?

Adding a service just to continue making $$ from consumers after the initial product is sold/and without which the product won’t work, is a bit disingenuous IMHO, if the service doesn’t offer value month in month out. You can afford to lose customers since you’ve already made money on the product (and every month of service), but the consumer feels locked in, with a sunk costs of an expensive product. That’s a bad thing. ... See all content Hide content

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PimpThisBlog 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Twitter

NEW: DropCam: A Fire-And-Forget Webcam Monitoring System From the Programmer of Xobni - http://is.gd/4sFcX,#Company&ProductProfiles

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marissac 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Twitter

Congrats to the DropCam team - http://bit.ly/11h0Qa

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Greg Duffy 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Wordpress

We totally recognize that a do-it-yourselfer can set up ZoneMinder on a Linux PC, configure it, manually set up all of their network cameras, figure out how to manage the storage and reboot it when it crashes.

Dropcams are a *product* for non-technical users. You don’t have to hack anything together, it just works. It’s the difference between returning the product and having a working camera for 99% of users.

And you don’t need to keep a PC running. ... See all content Hide content

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Greg Duffy 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Wordpress

Hi,

Dropcam is not about feature-for-feature parity to network cameras, and in fact we are happy to integrate any network camera on the market with our online service. Our firmware and server software are the real value-add.

Dropcams start streaming 30 seconds after you plug them in, all you have to do is log into your account. With a standard network camera like the Panasonic BL-C131A , the average setup time is 30min-1hr for non-technical users. You have to know about IP addresses, NAT/Port forwarding, etc. .

Dropcams come with 100 hours of DVR storage. The best you can do on a normal network camera is set up an FTP server to upload images.

Dropcams work behind any NAT or firewall. Network cameras with “free web address” only work with port forwarding (complicated) or UPnP (unreliable). Further, your connections are forwarded to your home router, so multiple viewers take more upload bandwidth.

Dropcams can notify you on motion right out of the box. Network cameras require you to know about and set up an SMTP server.

Dropcams use state-of-the-art H.264 video compression, taking up minimal upload bandwidth while still providing great quality. Quality is more than just frame rate, and your Panasonic example would clobber most DSL connections.

We can tell you when your camera goes down. We can show you arbitrary points in the camera’s history without stopping recording. We’re available for viewing from multiple devices, including phones.

Our product is unnecessary for a tech geek (like us) with lots of time on their hands. However, it is imperative that network cameras start working more like Dropcams for this technology to be adopted by the mainstream.

Thanks for your comments. ... See all content Hide content

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amitry 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Twitter

DropCam: A Fire-And-Forget Webcam Monitoring System From the Programmer of Xobni http://bit.ly/23q5dQ

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JuneDexter 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Twitter

DropCam: A Fire-And-Forget Webcam Monitoring System From the Programmer of Xobni - http://bit.ly/kXCGJ

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Pete 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Wordpress

This is an Axis camera. They simply charge you for an online service. Hmmm.

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tpp 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Wordpress

Completely agree. I have one of those Panasonic webcams as a remote baby monitor / burglar alarm. The Panasonic webcams are great.

I really don’t see why I would pay a monthly service fee for something like this.

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Theresa_Johns 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Twitter

DropCam: A Fire-And-Forget Webcam Monitoring System From the Programmer of Xobni - http://bit.ly/kXCGJ

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aarontn 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Twitter

Good Article: DropCam: A Fire-And-Forget Webcam Monitoring System From the Programmer of Xobni: W.. http://bit.ly/4s3q9F

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Michael 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Wordpress

Why are Xobni engineers moving on to these kinds of projects??

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uberVU - social comments 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Wordpress

Social comments and analytics for this post…

This post was mentioned on Hackernews by gduffy: Hey guys, in order to make this post more hacker-ish, I’m going to answer any technical questions I can here. I used to be the Principal Engineer at Xobni, so while I’m not a YC alum I’ve been around …

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gduffy 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Hackernews

We take data privacy very seriously. The online service component is the key to customer adoption of network cameras, because it is the only way for a non-technical user to have a camera up and running in less than 30 seconds.

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wwwtopmodelio 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Twitter

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ricmacasnews 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Twitter

DropCam: A Fire-And-Forget Webcam Monitoring System From the Programmer of Xobni: Welcome to the era of comple.. http://bit.ly/4s3q9F

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Daniel Ooi 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Friendfeed

DropCam: Another fire-and-forget camera system http://www.crunchgear.com/2009...

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Alltop_Social 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Twitter

DropCam: A Fire-And-Forget Webcam Monitoring System From the Programmer of Xobni http://bit.ly/2SKPJh Social-Media.alltop

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socialmediajs 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Twitter

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dreamreaper 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Twitter

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Fertioyue 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Twitter

DropCam: A Fire-And-Forget Webcam Monitoring System From the Programmer of Xobni: Welcome to the era of comple.. http://bit.ly/D6rLX

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gduffy 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Hackernews

Hey guys, in order to make this post more hacker-ish, I'm going to answer any technical questions I can here. I used to be the Principal Engineer at Xobni, so while I'm not a YC alum I've been around these parts for a little while :)

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gduffy 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Hackernews

No, it's not open source. We use a custom H.264 encoder.

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gduffy 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Hackernews

Right now, no, but it's in the works. We want to make sure that quality of service is just as good for non-U.S. customers before we ship anything internationally.

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ClearStreams 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Twitter

DropCam: A Fire-And-Forget Webcam Monitoring System From the Programmer of Xobni http://ow.ly/15VZ2d

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dlbrown06 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Twitter

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sitesource101 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Twitter

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FreshDigits 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Twitter

DropCam: A Fire-And-Forget Webcam Monitoring System From the Programmer of Xobni http://ow.ly/15VYSP

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Tootimes 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Twitter

TechCrunch,News : DropCam: A Fire-And-Forget Webcam Monitoring System From the Programmer of Xobni http://ow.ly/15VYNk

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Jay Cuthrell 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Wordpress

Yes.

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deepak1uw 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Twitter

DropCam: A Fire-And-Forget Webcam Monitoring System From the Programmer of Xobni http://ow.ly/15VYIx

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chip 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Wordpress

Yes but does the Panasonic camera have DVR?

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AmaeteUmanah 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Twitter

DropCam: A Fire-And-Forget Webcam Monitoring System From the Programmer of Xobni http://ow.ly/15VYA0

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digitalitch 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Twitter

DropCam: A Fire-And-Forget Webcam Monitoring System From the Programmer of Xobni http://ow.ly/15VYz1

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HappyJack 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Wordpress

Panasonic cameras available on Amazon

http://bit.ly/38iy9k

- $253 vs. $239 for DropCam

Wifi

Pan and Zoom (DropCam is fixed)

Thermal and Motion Sensor (no thermal on DropCam)

Email notification (no need to wait for DropCam to build theirs)

Up to 30 frames / second (vs. 15 for DropCam)

Built in timer for alerts

Has Audio for PC browsers (DropCam has no audio)

Free webaddress (vs. $9 /month for DropCam)

Access images on any web browser (smartphones as well). Password protected.

All notifications are free (since the server is built into the camera, why pay for this?)

Panasonic has a privacy mode button (so you can disable it like any alarm and you can also disable the privacy button in case you worry someone else can disable it)

Fabulous (and free) Panasonic support

Oh, and the Panasonic network camera came out a long long time ago. You can see a review on YouTube posted two years ago : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mD_itg8s9eo ... See all content Hide content

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RandyCharach 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Twitter

DropCam: A Fire-And-Forget Webcam Monitoring System From the Programmer of Xobni: Welcome to the era of comple.. http://bit.ly/3PHqVd

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MarkClayson 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Twitter

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D12879 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Twitter

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RAHM_Inc 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Twitter

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3 months, 3 weeks ago on Wordpress

so whats so new about this? network cameras existed for YEARS.

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unfairtips 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Twitter

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InstantWeb 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Twitter

CrunchGear: DropCam: Another fire-and-forget camera system http://bit.ly/1d7duw by @johnbiggs http://bit.ly/SPbCf -twittorati.com

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wifiwilly 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Twitter

DropCam: Another fire-and-forget camera systemGoogle Alerts - wifi support http://tinyurl.com/yjor6du

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mabuc 3 months, 3 weeks ago on Twitter

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