Official Blog
Surveillance cameras can serve as more than just security
Adrian Hsieh
September 25, 2018

Surveillance cameras can serve as more than just security

Schedule recording is one of the most commonly used features for home surveillance. Users schedule the camera to record only at night or during their time out of the house. Recordings will be marked in green when motion is detected, so it’s easier to identify certain events. This is probably the most general purpose of deploying the surveillance system at home and it has helped tens of thousands of users identify a lot of home security breaches.

Another common scenario is using Surveillance Station to comfort you if you have hired a caregiver taking care of someone at home. Simply deploy the camera at home to monitor the service provided by the caregiver with the mobile app DS cam, and you will be able to see all the details on your mobile device wherever you go. Thanks to the Home Mode function, cameras will be activated to record when you are off to work, and it turns off the recording when you are back home.

 

 

However, we believe cameras are capable of a lot more than acting as a security device. I once received an email from a user named Richard who has been using the Smart Time Lapse feature in Surveillance Station 8.2, and he complimented on our design of combining the security camera with memory sharing. There is a swimming pool on Richard’s property, and he once hosted a party to welcome his brother back home from the military. The reunion hosted friends and family, and the whole afternoon was recorded by the camera originally set for monitoring the security around the pool.

 

 

Despite tons of pictures and stories posted on social media, only this security camera saw the party as a whole. Richard put the video recording into Smart Time Lapse to create a 10-minute video and shared that with all the guests. The reunion has become not only a memory but an awesome video that might remind them of the fun years down the road.

I also have a colleague showing off her cat at home with her DS cam. Her cat is in the bedroom and she wanted to set up a camera with 2-way audio to interact with her cat. A camera in the bedroom is something of her concern and that’s why she chose to host the Surveillance Station on-premises. There are a great number of services which would make your life easier. For example, you might purchase a doorbell with an embedded camera to record everything at the front door and interact with visitors with the mobile app. Some vendors even have the door key integrated with a cloud service, so the service provider can open your front door for delivery purposes.

There is nothing wrong with using public cloud services to facilitate your life. You just need to consider the sensitivity of the data you save on the cloud. Consider the repercussions of strangers controlling IoT devices or even the front door of your house.

To learn more about Surveillance Station 8.2, please visit 

https://www.synology.com/en-global/surveillance/8.2