Opinions on Cloud based video surveillance systems ?

Abptech said:
Not all cloud solutions are „evil“ we sell a new business solution called IPTECHVIEW. The only catch is today it only supports AXIS, MOBOTIX and some NDAA compliant cameras. They have fixed subscription prices per cameras and offer a reasonable cloud storage fee for 30 day retention. Our customers love it an see it more like a way to simplify installations and let someone else take care of the NAS and or server side.
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So you are the salesperson selling it and will say what people want to hear LOL...

Let's see what your actual terms are from your website that shows the Terms of Service and it indicates the following:

The pricing for all Paid Subscriptions is listed on the IPTechView website or within your
account. Please be aware that all pricing for Paid Subscriptions are billable on a recurring
basis and may renew automatically. IPTechView may increase the price of any Paid
Subscriptions, at our discretion and we reserve the right to do so at any time. In the event
of a price increase, IPTechView shall notify you and you will have the chance to accept
or reject any price increase before the Paid Subscription renewal. Please notify us if you
intend to reject a price increase. Where you have rejected a price increase, upon the
expiration of your Paid Subscription, portions of the Platform may become immediately
unavailable. You agree that IPTechView has no obligation to offer any services for the
price originally offered to you at sign up.


That sounds to me like it can be changed at any time...


And what about this gem:

Although we try to provide continuous availability to you, we do not guarantee that the
Platform will always be available, work, or be accessible at any particular time.
Specifically, we do not guarantee any uptime or specific availability of the Platform. You
agree and acknowledge that the Platform uses remote access and may not always be
either 100% reliable or available.

Wow - most companies will at least provide a 99.9% uptime and you will not provide a guarantee uptime?


I like this one as well, so a year from now I may need to buy new equipment:

In order for some portions of the Platform to work, you may be required to purchase and
maintain additional Products sold by IPTechView or other online retailers


There is more on the ToS that I wouldn't agree to, so thanks, but no thanks. I would prefer to not have ongoing fees, ability for people to hack the cloud based video, and the other conditions outlined...
 
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Abptech said:
LOL I don’t think anything I can say would change your option on cloud but just to reply on a few points. Obviously I can’t argue over or change their T&Cs but the uptime has been 99,98% as per their status app for the last three years and there has not been a price change in that time. Will there ever be one? probably with inflation going as it is. I will tell them to update their T&Cs looks like their from when company started in 2017 or 2018.
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LOL - you won't change the minds of most here either LOL.

Even if the historical uptime is 99.98% and there hasn't been a price increase in the subscription, at some point there will be and the end user has no choice but to agree or lose their video...

Fact of the matter is cloud based always has a ToS that can change at any time, along with price increases at any time, and relying on them to not be hacked or be up and running.

As long as people accept those terms, and many do as they like the simplicity, there will always be a business for that type of offering.

But for most of us here, we like that we buy the camera and then the outlay of cash to continue to run said camera is done (minus electrical costs LOL), and we have complete control of our video locally.
 
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When I leave the Condo holding 20 Dahua cams and a BI machine , I'll send them your Web link....When they see the price maybe I can use it as a bargaining chip to negotiate a maintenance contract with them...
 
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Maybe I should start my own subscription service. everybody wants you on their subscription.
 
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The Automation Guy said:
Personally I use cheaper "consumer grade" drives. I choose this because I feel that nothing captured on my CCTV system is so important that I can't afford to loose it. If there is footage that is important to archive, I back it up to other systems. That being said, I'm not going to complain to the internet when my hard drive fails prematurely due to the excessive wear and tear on it when I know that using an enterprise quality hard drive is the correct drive for this application.
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Well I just thought I would update this post. My consumer grade hard drive failed in my BI machine yesterday. While I am not upset about it and will not miss the lost footage, I am replacing it with a WD Purple Surveillance Drive - actually a 12TB version due to it's better specs than the <12TB models. I figured it I had to pay to replace it, I might as well replace it with something that is designed for the 24/7 workload.
 
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It's just me,,,,,but i feel as though playback from the WD Purp drives on my systems (2) is better than the WD Blues,,,but I have only a sample of 2 machines and 4 drives....My 2 WD white label 5TB seem up the task,,,,The 2 - 6TB blues seem stammery, and the 2 WD Purps 8TB fixed the stammery stuff.....
 
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The Automation Guy said:
Well I just thought I would update this post. My consumer grade hard drive failed in my BI machine yesterday. While I am not upset about it and will not miss the lost footage, I am replacing it with a WD Purple Surveillance Drive - actually a 12TB version due to it's better specs than the <12TB models. I figured it I had to pay to replace it, I might as well replace it with something that is designed for the 24/7 workload.
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While I also replace drives with the WD purples when I need more space, I've had a bunch of systems run for many many years on the 500 GB or 1 TB drive that originally came with the system. So the failure is likely just a coincidence.
 
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wittaj said:
Because when it is out on the cloud it can be hacked and your cameras can be hacked.
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Depends on how its implemented, but cloud access should be a remote controlled relay from the local encoding server, instead of directly connected cameras. NVRs incorporate remote access this way instead of sending raw camera data that can expose your ip address much less tie up internet bandwith at the location.
 
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Wanted to add this to the unofficial "master thread" about cloud based cameras. This comes courtesy of @Rob2020 over in this thread indicating a significant change in the terms of service for Arlos...

"But on January 1st, 2024, the company’s killing that feature for many Arlo cams — and reserving the right to eliminate all cloud functionality, including email alerts, push notifications, and other “bundled services or features,” for any camera that hasn’t been manufactured for four years."

Just another reason why we constantly say own the device and have control without it being dependent on a cloud or subscription based service as the terms can change at any time and usually not to your benefit.
 
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The hose bag subscription model. fuk mi.
 
wittaj said:
Check out what Ring just added....

View attachment 155453
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So what's next? Monthly charge to unlock a higher camera resolution? Or tiers of service for the button function based on how many visitors you estimate having a month? If you expect 1-49 button pushes a month add $3.99/month... 50-99 add $6.99/month. If you exceed your count, it is an additional $0.10/push until the new month rolls around. :thumbdown:
 
read the article….looks like we dont want thier cloud to have control over us.
 
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Just adding some comments from another thread here posted by @prsmith777 with @TonyR commentary:

www.theverge.com

Your Wyze webcam might have let other owners peek into your house

Wyze’s web viewer was showing unexpected feeds.
www.theverge.com www.theverge.com

"In March 2022, Wyze revealed that it had been aware of a security vulnerability for three years that could have let bad actors access WyzeCam v1 cameras, but quietly discontinued the camera rather than telling customers about it."
 
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