What Nanny And Hidden Camera Can Do Today?
Legal issue is unavoidable topic when we discuss nanny or hidden camera. In the USA, deploying a covert camera is legal in all 50 states, but could get lawsuits in 13 states to record audio without notification of the camera being recorded. ("Hidden camera")It is illegal to setup a hidden to the place where personal privacy is expected, such as bathing, changing room. People need to be responsible for the possession and the use of the footage. Releasing the footage to others without legal necessity is also illegal.
Most of the covert and hidden cameras is not only capable of recording HD quality image, but also can stream video on the network these days. It allows user to receive the live feed on their smart phone. What benefits is it, with those new IP hidden cameras?
Facial Capture
The covert camera can be installed at the eye level position to grabs the facial detail even a person wear a hat. The conventional CCTV cameras installed on the ceiling normally see the head or partial of face when people walk in closely.
Covert Surveillance
If you live in places with high criminal rate or you have to travel most of your time, the covert camera will do a better job. It can easily blend into your environments and keep watching your property with lower possibility to be noticed by criminals.
Secret Backup
Mixing a covert camera into the existed CCTV system is a wise solution. The criminals know that CCTV cameras are installed around these days. They also know it will be used with recording devices. Once they succeed in avoiding camera's shooting angle, they also take away or destroy the recorder. You will lose all your evidence. You can have secret backup with a covert camera recording in you security system.
Forensic Investigation
You need covert camera to discover the truth. When you want to investigate some specific case, such as money loss, children care. Installing regular CCTV cameras will only forces people to take care their behaviors. However, they can find a new spot out of camera coverage and resume their illegal activities. After all, your cameras are unable to cover everywhere in your place.
How do we choose a covert camera?
24/7 Working
Choose a camera working for 24/7 unless it is temporary deployment. You don't want to go back and change the battery every few days.
Image Quality
The image quality is a challenge for covert camera. Most of covert cameras are equipped with pinhole lens which is difficult to generate the high resolution image. You may still get fuzzy image even you have 2 megapixel sensor. The cameras need to be equipped with high quality pinhole lens.
Night Vision
If your covert cameras are working as primary surveillance device, the night vision functionality is critical. Built in some invisible LEDs is not a good solution for covert camera, because the invisible LEDs only generate around 60% power of visible LEDs. That means it needs a lots of LEDs to produces the fair image at night. Building in too many LEDs will shorten the use life of covert camera and affect the CMOS sensor's performance. The covert camera needs true day and night functionality to cut the infrared at day and see the infrared at night. (See how to improve covert camera night vision.)
TF Card Slot
You can deploy the TF card recording as a backup even primary recording. The footage will be available within the covert camera even the criminal has grabbed your recorder.
WIFI or Wire
Wire camera always provides more stable connections than WIFI cameras. However, WIFI is useful in some application. Yes, you still have to wire a power cable to the camera. You just don't need to wire another network cable to your switch which may cause you making a hole on the wall. The network switch is located in somewhere, but you may easily get the power closed to the camera in some installation.
