Sentry Person and loitering recognition, Vehicle detection & identification, + Price increase

[fenderman]

I posted here that I wasn’t happy without being contacted first. Sentry, through @varghesesa, on this forum wrote that I could contact customer service and get my money refunded. I chose not to because the amount charged was minimal for me. I just didn’t like that they “assumed” it would be okay.

1 cent without consent is not acceptable. 3 years without consent is 150 bux. I take it the first year was with consent and 3 additional years were tacked on.

 

[JNDATHP]

Here is my original post from August of 2019:

and I’m still deciding if I want it. I purchased a year in March and now my rate is locked in for another 3 years?

No email, nothing. Found it while reviewing my statement.

 

[varghesesa]

Probably the worst time to announce a price increase....
"Sentry AI is excited to launch Person recognition & behavior (loitering etc.), Vehicle detection & identification software for security cameras next month. Meanwhile, hurry up and lock in the current prices before we revise them for new customers starting May 1st, 2020"

Hi Chris,

The email has some ambiguity so apologies. Blue Iris was Sentry AI's first integration and our Blue Iris customers were our very first customers. We are very grateful and have no intentions of changing/or altering the policy for those customers (current subscription, add-ons, multi-year subscriptions etc). Whatever was purchased will be honored. After May 1st, we will no longer be offering 10 cameras for $50 per year, i.e. new customers will have a new offering. Has ZERO effect on current customers.

In addition, we will be releasing new features such as vehicle detection and person recognition (facial id). These features will also come with new pricing.

Hope that provides better clarity.

-- Sam-from-Sentry

 

[varghesesa]

Kind of a vague announcement. They mention software, wonder if they are talking standalone.

Standalone is consistently an internal debate. We are not ready to commit to an on-prem solution yet, but will provide updates if and when we choose to do so.

-- Sam from Sentry

 

[varghesesa]

I reached out to support regarding the new features and they confirmed that these new features will be integrated into blue iris, so it looks like they will keep everything in the cloud. They also told me that they will be releasing the new features to beta users in the next few weeks before the go-live in May.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hi Phil!

Actually, we are probably going to miss the deadline. The BI Integration (fingers crossed) will be coming out June 1st. And correct, cloud solution still.

Sam from Sentry

 

[varghesesa]

Well not real good news. After a series of emails, it comes down to this. If your subscription extends beyond May 1 then you just keep using the features you currently have until your subscription expires. In my case that is August 2023. You don’t get to use the new options unless you upgrade.

So, you would only lock in current pricing if you don’t want the new features.

Upgrade price? Unknown per Sentry until May 1.

So, not only not a good time to raise prices but for those of us that funded their operations and R&D, we‘re just forgotten it seems.

@varghesesa ?

There is some misunderstanding. If any legacy customers see value in the new stuff, you can try and buy like before (at different prices). However, we will maintain our commitments to anything that was purchased. So, for example, the 10-pack with person detection that expires in 2023 will be honored.

We never forget out roots nor our legacy customers.

-- Sam from Sentry

 

[varghesesa]

did you buy a 4 year subscription? Would they allow you to pay the difference? More troubling is that the twitter post is fraudulent and misleading, it implies if you sign up now you wont be subject to the increase but still get the new features. @SentryAI @varghesesa

Apologies. The post was not clear. See above for clarity. A new Twitter post will be sent by marketing with more clarity as well.

-- Support

 

[varghesesa]

No. One day I saw that they “locked in current pricing” for me by charging a 3 year subscription. They obviously needed more money to continue operating. I’m pretty certain I wasn’t the only one who was charged without prior consent.

Poor business sense and worse customer relations. Especially when cheaper and no cost options are getting better and better.

Just spoke to marketing. Apparently a campaign was run last year for 3-year subscriptions. The form to fill out to take advantage of the program had verbiage regarding consent. I guess it was not clear. Marketing made a note to provide more clarity in the future (maybe hit a consent button or something).

And as always, Sentry AI is in the business of providing value and not trickery. Customer success almost always issues refunds or cancellations upon request.

-- Sam from Sentry

 

[fenderman]

Hi Chris,

The email has some ambiguity so apologies. Blue Iris was Sentry AI's first integration and our Blue Iris customers were our very first customers. We are very grateful and have no intentions of changing/or altering the policy for those customers (current subscription, add-ons, multi-year subscriptions etc). Whatever was purchased will be honored. After May 1st, we will no longer be offering 10 cameras for $50 per year, i.e. new customers will have a new offering. Has ZERO effect on current customers.

In addition, we will be releasing new features such as vehicle detection and person recognition (facial id). These features will also come with new pricing.

Hope that provides better clarity.

-- Sam-from-Sentry

I am still not clear on how this will work.
1) Will someone who purchased the 50 dollar yearly subscription be able to utilize the new features?
2) will someone who started a 4.99 monthly plan be able to utilize the new features?
3) If the answer to 1 and 2 is no, will they be able to upgrade and pay the price difference?
4) If the answer to 1 and 2 is no, why was the advertizement suggesting to "act now" because of these new features and price hike?

5) in general, if someone is on the 4.99 monthly plan how do they go about upgrading to the yearly?

 

[varghesesa]

I am still not clear on how this will work.
1) Will someone who purchased the 50 dollar yearly subscription be able to utilize the new features?
2) will someone who started a 4.99 monthly plan be able to utilize the new features?
3) If the answer to 1 and 2 is no, will they be able to upgrade and pay the price difference?
4) If the answer to 1 and 2 is no, why was the advertizement suggesting to "act now" because of these new features and price hike?

5) in general, if someone is on the 4.99 monthly plan how do they go about upgrading to the yearly?

Answer 3. Whatever you purchased will be honored. You pay the difference for the new stuff. FYI, pricing is way more simple moving forward. $x per feature per camera. You pay for exactly what you want. The price is constantly debated so do not want to share now.

4.) I'm not quite sure why marketing posted on Twitter which could be seen by ALL customers, including legacy and caused all this confusion. Maybe an oversight... The message was originally attended for BI customers that trialed the product but did not purchase as another piece of motivation.

5) Send an email to support@smarthomesentry.com stating "Please change my subscription from monthly to yearly. My sentry id = xxxxxx-B". You will receive a confirmation email. Make sure you make the request from the email registered with Sentry AI.

-- Sam from Sentry

 

[pmcross]

Hi Phil!

Actually, we are probably going to miss the deadline. The BI Integration (fingers crossed) will be coming out June 1st. And correct, cloud solution still.

Sam from Sentry

Thanks for the clarification, Sam! I'm looking forward to the new features. I already asked support this, but I am very interested in beta testing once available.

 

[fenderman]

Answer 3. Whatever you purchased will be honored. You pay the difference for the new stuff. FYI, pricing is way more simple moving forward. $x per feature per camera. You pay for exactly what you want. The price is constantly debated so do not want to share now.

4.) I'm not quite sure why marketing posted on Twitter which could be seen by ALL customers, including legacy and caused all this confusion. Maybe an oversight... The message was originally attended for BI customers that trialed the product but did not purchase as another piece of motivation. The in camera AI can also be used to trigger a recording something that Sentry cannot do.

5) Send an email to support@smarthomesentry.com stating "Please change my subscription from monthly to yearly. My sentry id = xxxxxx-B". You will receive a confirmation email. Make sure you make the request from the email registered with Sentry AI.

-- Sam from Sentry

Three things to consider in your pricing scheme.

1) The new cams have human and vehicle detection. Blue iris can accept those external triggers via onfiv. All done locally. If you price those basic functions too high, the users is better off replacing their camera (likely giving better low light image performance than their current cameras) than paying a high monthly fee. The in camera AI can also be used to trigger a recording something that Sentry cannot do.

2) The BI developer has promised other ai options in the BI 5 initial release notes. From page 10 in the help file
"Artificial intelligence is quickly becoming the major focus for all video security software, and
this includes Blue Iris 5. In conjunction with Sentry Smart Alerts, a solution is already in
place to reduce false triggers when human recognition is ideal. These options will be
expanded to also include free services as well as LPR and facial recognition technologies."

3) There are users here who have configured 3rd party free local AI. It takes a bit of work, but its only a matter of time before it becomes easy and automated.

[tool] [tutorial] Free AI Person Detection for Blue Iris

This program analyzes motion in Blue Iris cameras in real-time using Artificial Intelligence. It notifies you if a human or an object of your choice is detected and can send alert images to Telegram. It is based on DeepQuestAI, a free multipurpose AI that you can install on your own server...

ipcamtalk.com

 

[pov2]

3) There are users here who have configured 3rd party free local AI. It takes a bit of work, but its only a matter of time before it becomes easy and automated.

[tool] [tutorial] Free AI Person Detection for Blue Iris

This program analyzes motion in Blue Iris cameras in real-time using Artificial Intelligence. It notifies you if a human or an object of your choice is detected and can send alert images to Telegram. It is based on DeepQuestAI, a free multipurpose AI that you can install on your own server...

ipcamtalk.com

Unfortunately, the developer stopped the development
[tool] [tutorial] Free AI Person Detection for Blue Iris

 

[fenderman]

Unfortunately, the developer stopped the development
[tool] [tutorial] Free AI Person Detection for Blue Iris

There are others who will take over. Hopefully ken will implement something free. BI users are not going to spend more than a few bux a month on sentry. The software is 60 bux.

 

[looney2ns]

From a customer service and PR standpoint, Sentry sure has dropped the ball.

 

[VinAU]

You should dispute the charge with the credit card company. That is fraud. They dont get the fact that sooner or later Ken will integrate something local into BI that is free or cheaper.

How is Ken? Is that the BI guy?

Why doesn't he use amazon rekognition? I can't see it being hard to integrate at all.

 

[fenderman]

How is Ken? Is that the BI guy?

Why doesn't he use amazon rekognition? I can't see it being hard to integrate at all.

Yes the BI developer. Why dont you suggest it to him.

 

[VinAU]

From a customer service and PR standpoint, Sentry sure has dropped the ball.

I never get responses from customer service. I have had to call out that Sentry guy on here to get replies from support.

 

[VinAU]

Yes the BI developer. Why dont you suggest it to him.

I will, should I just email him or should I find him here?

I have made some designs of the logic to use rekognition alone and to use it with node red, since it is all JSON it should be super easy to integrate.

My whole problem with Sentry is that if the camera is already triggered and a few seconds later a person enters the frame, I will not know about it. Sentry only gets one image to analyse and even if it got 5 or 10 it would still not be enough. My idea was to get BI to dump an image from the video stream every X many seconds and then send this image to rekognition and if a person or anything else of interest is found there then you get an alert. This alert can actually be handled entirely by the amazon ecosystem.

 

[fenderman]

I will, should I just email him or should I find him here?

I have made some designs of the logic to use rekognition alone and to use it with node red, since it is all JSON it should be super easy to integrate.

My whole problem with Sentry is that if the camera is already triggered and a few seconds later a person enters the frame, I will not know about it. Sentry only gets one image to analyse and even if it got 5 or 10 it would still not be enough. My idea was to get BI to dump an image from the video stream every X many seconds and then send this image to rekognition and if a person or anything else of interest is found there then you get an alert. This alert can actually be handled entirely by the amazon ecosystem.

He is not here. Send an email using the support option in the about tab of the software.