Amazon Cloud Cam Security Camera, Works with Alexa

{"videoWidth":0,"videoUrl":"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/A1DFTbz4MwS.mp4","clientPrefix":"vse_reviews_desktop_r2zg97c7pdwqeq_1635612749013","awaConfig":{"requestMetadata":{"marketplaceId":"ATVPDKIKX0DER","clientId":"VSE-US","method":"cr_inline_review","requestId":"W1GJ1F5MQSFRVEAYSVJ8","pageAsin":"","sessionId":"130-0277518-1640934"},"useUpNextComponent":false,"shouldDisableControls":false,"initialVideo":"R2ZG97C7PDWQEQ","shouldPreload":true,"clientPrefix":"","captionsOffText":"","isChromelessPlayer":false,"useAutoplayFallback":false,"sushiMetricsConfig":{"isRobot":false,"clientId":"VSE-US","videoAsinList":"","weblabIds":"","eventSource":"Player","sessionId":"130-0277518-1640934","refMarkers":"vse_reviews_desktop_R2ZG97C7PDWQEQ_1635612749013_ref","placementContext":"cr_inline_review","marketplaceId":"ATVPDKIKX0DER","isInternal":false,"endpoint":"https://unagi-na.amazon.com/1/events/com.amazon.eel.vse.metrics.prod.events.test","requestId":"W1GJ1F5MQSFRVEAYSVJ8","customerId":"0","sessionType":1},"ospLinkCode":"","languageCode":"en","version":"","isVideoImmersivePlayer":false,"airyVersion":"VideoJS","disabledViewIds":["replayHint"],"languagePreferenceStrings":{},"customerId":"0","isReactFactory":false,"closedCaptionsText":"","enableDelphiAttribution":false,"containerId":"vse_reviews_desktop_r2zg97c7pdwqeq_1635612749013-player-be49da8f-a15d-47f4-afdf-b4312c1137f7"},"imageUrl":"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91y4m8HBF5L._SY256.png","sushiMetricsConfig":{"isRobot":false,"clientId":"","videoAsinList":"","weblabIds":"","eventSource":"Player","sessionId":"130-0277518-1640934","refMarkers":"vse_reviews_desktop_R2ZG97C7PDWQEQ_1635612749013_ref","placementContext":"cr_inline_review","marketplaceId":"ATVPDKIKX0DER","isInternal":false,"endpoint":"https://unagi-na.amazon.com/1/events/com.amazon.eel.vse.metrics.prod.events.test","requestId":"W1GJ1F5MQSFRVEAYSVJ8","customerId":"0","sessionType":1},"mimeType":"video/mp4","isMobile":false,"videoHeight":0}  This camera is the best money ever spent. Just caught someone breaking in to my apartment to steal pain medication from my son a week after brain surgery. The guy the apartment sent to change the locks was the guy in the video!!

This camera has worked well for me, a non-tech person. I have tried to answer as many of the common questions asked about this camera as I could.I am not sure why, but there is a lot of misinformation out there, especially in some of the top reviews. Some of the problems have been fixed in software updates, but much of the information is just not correct. Hopefully these reviews will be updated at some point.(Edit 8/11/2018 I have noticed many of those top reviews with bad info and most of those “camera caught the thief” video reviews are gone for some reason).• You can download and watch videos on a PC with the free plan (in the last 24 hours)• You can watch live stream on a computer via cloudcam.amazon.com• You can turn off audio playback (from the app)• You can invert the video (from the app)• You can turn of the infrared night light (from the app)UNPACKAGINGPackage came on time and was without any damage, but there was no padding inside the shipping box. Included in the main box were the camera, USB cable, AC adaptor for 110 voltage, small setup manual, wall mount and two drywall screws (see photos).OVERALL FIRST IMPRESSIONSCamera seems well made and a little smaller than I thought it would be. All items were included and in good condition.The image on the live view in daylight was good (see photo), images appeared sharp and easy to identify. Sound was crystal clear. I turned on the TV, went into another room and was easily able to watch the TV and hear the sound very clearly when it came through. There were some breakups of the sound at times though, making me miss some of the audio detail. But night vision is dark and grainy, it is not easy to make out itemsSETUPSet up took me less than 11 minutes which includes downloading the app and logging into all accounts. I am not a big tech guy but setup was quite easy. Basically you just plug the camera in to the AC adapter, download the Amazon Cloud Cam app to your phone, wait for the blue blinking light on the camera to change to a pulsating blue and green light, and you will hear a chime sound. This means the camera is ready for setup. Then you just hit the setup button on your phone and in about 3 minutes it is working. I am using a Moto E as my video source and for the app.HOW IT WORKSYou can watch live view or see the video clips the camera took upon it detecting movement. It quickly took several short videos detecting movement when I walked around. I also received a sound and text notice on my phone of “Motion detected” every time it detected motion and took a video, and when I touch the notice it will play the video for me. I do seem to get a lot of “We were unable to play this video” error codes when I first try to play the video, but usually it will play when I hit the blue ‘replay’ button. I have not upgraded my plan so I will only get the last 24 hours of video. It does not take pictures but you can easily do this by just taking a screenshot (see photo) on your android phone, normally this is just hitting the power button and volume button at the same time. Or you could do a Print Screen on your computer when viewing recorded video clips. You can view the recorded videos AND download video clips from a PC with the free plan, just go to www.amazon.com/clouddrive, sign in, then when watching your videos in the upper right hand corner there is a download icon. You can also view live feed or videos up to 24 hours any time with the basic included plan on your cell phone or computer.GLASS WINDOWSIt will take video through a window as it can detect movement. Image for me was still pretty good. But at night the infrared light will glare badly on the windows blurring your view almost completely. You can turn off the infrared light via the app though, and using just a porch light I captured cool videos of many animals at night.WHAT I DO NOT LIKEIn my opinion this camera has poor night vision. It does have the ability to see live view from a computer even though many reviews say you cannot do this. Just go to cloudcam.amazon.com to set it up.I set this camera up to watch my car in my driveway as a test, but at night even at low sensitivity it goes constantly, recoding everything. OK, no problem yet. But when I go to Amazon Drive, I see a lot of recorded videos that I just want to delete. But as of now, I have to look at each one individually, and then hit the delete button each time. I would think this could be MUCH easier. I might take a star off for this in the future (maybe it is just something I do not see or have figured out?).Edit: Thx to “Regolith” who gave me an option to quickly delete the videos, see his/her two comments under the “comments” section, they worked well for me. It can work for the phone or the computer.ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ASKED• You can download videos to a PC on the free plan in the last 24 hours• You can view live stream on a PC via cloudcam.amazon.com• It has no local SD storage• Sound plays very clearly and loud• You can turn off audio playback• It only records if it detects movement• This is an indoor camera only, it is not waterproof• You can turn the camera on/off through the app• When the camera detects motion, you receive a text and sound alert via a cell phone• You can turn off the IR (infrared night light)• It does not pan or zoom• Night vision is dark and grainy, not easy to make out photos• While camera viewing is wireless, it requires a wire to power it (it is not battery operated)• You can have the camera image rotate 180 degrees for ceiling mounting• Does not require a base station (some do, I have no idea what a base station is for)THOUGHTSI have not owned another camera to influence me one way or another.I have continuously updated this review as I have used and tested this camera out. Sorry to write so much, I know most people do not like detailed long reviews but I always write what I would want to know about an item before I make a purchase. Any misinformation please let me know or if you have any questions please ask via comments, I will answer what I can.

It’s a nice camera. Good quality and compact size. Capturing the sound is good, although not the best quality vs other cameras. The biggest issue and I think most important, is the camera will NOT send you a motion alert until AFTER the event has concluded. So if someone is in your home and the motion is constant, the camera will continue to capture the event, but NOT report it to you until motion has stopped. So that may when the person is leaving your place...

We ordered this camera on thanksgiving just because it was on sale. It was delivered by Saturday and I installed it immediately. Sunday my family and I went out of town and I was excited to be able to watch our dog through the cloud cam app. On the way home Sunday evening, I received a notification that motion was detected. I open the app and see that my house had caught on fire and my dog was stuck inside. After calling 911 and a neighbor to break in to rescue our dog, I reopened the app to see the entire room filled with smoke and the fire blazing in the kitchen. Luckily this app saves videos for a week so I was able to share them with our fire department. I was also able to download the videos as well as zoom in to see what caused the fire (my dog hit the stove burner on). The camera is now melted and ruined, but I am forever grateful. I will order another one when we can live in our home again. Thank you Amazon for the sale and thank the universe nothing worse happened!

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Not three weeks after installing the Amazon Cloud Cam I received an alert of motion at our hunting cabin. There should not have been anyone there and I was surprised to find video of someone breaking-in and collecting our tools and hunting gear to take with him. I was not able to catch him in real time, but I was able to alert the Sherriff Dpt. within minutes of him leaving. With the 25 separate videos of the suspect the cloud Cam provided, the Sherriff Dpt. were able to quickly find him, our property, and put him in jail. Well worth the price of admission to put a bad guy in jail.