37Setup aspycamerainyourhome
Next issue:Use an external disc drive on your PC Issue 623 •19January–1February 2022
Ihavetwoall-weather
camerassetupoutside
myhouse,bothofwhich
haveinternalbatteries,
toppedupusingsolar
panels,whichhassaved
mehavingtoworkouthowtoruna
USBcablethroughthewallfroman
internalplug.I’vealsousedinternal
cameras,liketheBlinkMini,tokeep
aneyeonmycat’s bowl,andwarnme
whentheneighbourhoodTomhas
sneakedintostealhisfood.
NikRawlinsonHowIuse
streamingcameras
Howdoyou usecamerasaroundyour
home?Pleaselet us know:
[email protected]4
Mount your camera
Initially, theBlinkHome
Monitorinterface does n’tshow
much becausethe cameradoesn’t stream
footageconti nuously. To viewwhat’s
goingon, tap thevideo-cameraicon
in thelower-leftcorner of theblank
thumbnai lpreview. Or,tot akeapicture,
tap thestillscamerapictureint he
lower-rightcorner.
Howeve r, youdon’t want to have to
manual ly launch thevideofeed every
time.So, return to theapp homescreen
andtap Armed at thebottomtoactivate
motion detection .Whenthe camera
spotsmovemen t, theapp will notifyyou
immediately by sendinganalert to your
phone.Tap thenotificationto open the
live feed.Capture dfootagewill also be
savedonBlink’sonline-storage serv ice,
though you’ll need to payasubscription
to watchit(seebox left ).
In amoment, we’llexplainhow to
setwhatdoes–anddoesn’t –count as
detected motion but, before we do,you
need to fixyourcamerainposition.
Remove theouter ring from thestand so
youcan usethe concealedscrew holes
to fixittothe wall,ceilingora nother
sturdy surface.Bearinmindthatith as a
ball joint, so youcan orient thecamera
preciselyonce it ’s in position, andthe
cameraitselfhas twomountingpoints:
oneonthe back,where youscann ed the
QR code,and oneunderneath.
When you’ve chosen aposition,feed
theUSB ca blethrough thering, then
snap it ba ck into place ,withthe cable
protrudingthrough thecut-out.Snapthe
camera on to thestand.
If you’ve hadtomount it up side down
to getthe angleyou ne ed,openthe Blink
Home Monitorapp andtap thethree lines
abovethe camera’sblank thumbnai lto
open itssettings. Scroll downto theVideo
section,and tap thesliderbeside Flip
Videotoc orrect thefeed’s orientation.5
Tweakmotion-
dete ction settings
In itsdefault state, thecamera
will look formovemen teverywhere
within itsfieldofv iew, whichisn’t always
appropriate.You mightwanttodetect
motion onlyinadoorway,for example,
andexclude therestofa room.
Alternatively, youmightbes etting it up
to watchachild ’s cot in case they wake in
thenight. In that case, youwouldn’twant
it triggeringevery ti me someoneelse
passes through. It thereforemakes sense
to ignore certainparts of theviewinthe
app, so that if motion is detected within
themit doesn’ttrigger anotification.
Return to theBlinkHomeMonitor
apphomescree nand open th ecamera’s
settings again. Optionally,chang ethe
camera’s name on thetop line,which
will be settoi ts seria lnumberby
default, then tap Activi ty Zones.You’llbe
warned that no still im agehas yetbeen
taken, whichyou ne ed to useasaguide
to defi ne theareas that youwon’t be
monitoring.
Next, tapUpdate Photo.The camera
will take apictureofi ts field of view.
Make anyadjustments youneed so it
framestheareayou want to monitor,
then tap Update Photo again. You’ll
noticethatthe thumbnai liso verlaid
by afive-by-fivegrid.Whenyou’ve
perfectedthe camera’sposition,andtakenaphotoyou’rehappy with,tap
allthe ce lls in thegrid covering areasin
whichmotion should be igno red(see
screenshot belowleft). Note that lights
coming on an doff,the headlights of
passin gtraffic,ore vendramatic lighting
changescausedbythe suncomingout
of acloud could also be interpretedas
motion, so it mightbeworth blocking
out nearby windows.
When you’ve fini shed,tap Done to
retu rn to thepreviouspage. The other
options here letyou refine ho wmotion
detectionworks. Theretrigger time
settingish ow longthe camera will
igno re further movementsbefore
triggeringmotion detectionagain. By
defaultit’sset to 10 second s, butyou
canincreasethisuptoa smuchas60
second susing theslider.
The ‘Sensit ivity’ settingdetermines
howmuchmotion needstoo ccur before
it’s registered, andisb esttailor ed over
thefirst fewdaysofu se,while theClip
Length slid er determineshow much
vide oisc apture d. It’s setto10s econds,
butthe full rangeisf iveto30.
When you’ve fini shed tweaking your
settings, tap thearrow at thetop of the
screen to return to theoverview screen.
To watchsavedfootage(assumingyou’re
payingforBasic orPlus), taptheplayiconon
thebottomtoolbar,followedbyathumbnail.
To save aclip, tapittostartit playing, then
tap theplaywindow, followedby thearrow
that overlays it.This will save it to your
phone.Tapyourhomenetwork when your phone
shows allthe networks it candetect
Tapthe boxeswheremotion should be igno red
to avoidnotificationsyou don’tneed to see