The sudden rise of domestic IP webcams is thanks to Google's acceptance of the IP camera company Dropcam in 2014, which directly drew a big pie for domestic manufacturers. In the same year, Xiao'an cameras of Lenovo, ZTE, Xiaoxing, fluorite C2 and Xiaomi piled up.
In foreign countries, there are IP cameras covered by Google's entire set of services, which are intended to lay out smart homes, but similar products in China are more than just a pit. Similar products basically just change the shell of the surveillance camera and add it to the network storage. Some products also add the environment devices such as temperature and humidity, two-way voice, even screen interaction and other Chinese features.
However, IP cameras are still in small demand, and manufacturers have begun to make vertical classifications such as elderly/child monitoring, in order to more accurately target these users who need cameras. Today's evaluation of the FSB baby care device can tell from its name that it is user oriented.
The FSB Baby Care Instrument is a webcam jointly launched by Baidu Cloud and Shenzhen Foscam. Its main selling points are Baidu Cloud's storage, temperature sensitive sound screen triple monitoring alarm, nursery rhyme for baby care and hidden infrared function.
Appearance and workmanship
There are a lot of packaging accessories, including wall hanging and strap type accessories, providing 5V2A power supply with retractable contacts.
The appearance is cute, pink and blue are optional, and the "tail" on the back is the power cable interface, so people have different opinions on whether the appearance is good or not.
This is the temperature sensor module of the machine, which is directly connected to the rear power line.
The camera is surrounded by a ring of dense infrared lights, with a microphone on the lower front and speakers on the back.
There are WPS and Soft AP keys on the right side of the fuselage, which are used for one click link routing and playing wifi hotspots. In the webcam, its size is not small.
Cooperation between hardware and software manufacturers: provide entry-level professional clients
PC web page management terminal
Baidu made it clear that it did not intend to set foot in hardware in person, but would adopt the cooperation scheme with traditional manufacturers. In the field of intelligent/IP/webcam, Baidu found Foscam, a rather Geek and traditional manufacturer in Shenzhen. The integration of the whole network and the whole hardware enables this baby care instrument to carry two sets of completely different operating logic.
The bottom layer of the baby care device follows the operation logic of Foxconn's traditional surveillance camera. The machine provides the wireless connection mode of the traditional network surveillance camera, and the body also specially leaves the Soft AP key: Wifi is generated from the camera head, and the computer is managed by the local web page after connection. The customizations in it are really professional and detailed to the point of outrage (pseudo geek means that it is very tasteful). The functions include（ If you are not interested in technology and advanced functions, you can skip the following paragraph):
"Fine adjustment of motion monitoring sensitivity, alarm trigger interval, detection time, alarm linkage action, detection area, video masking, infrared lamp working time, sound temperature picture trigger conditions; direct adjustment of picture flip, mirror image, lens picture color, contrast, sharpness, etc., with up to eight cameras viewing at the same time; Other detailed functions include Tong Yao's upload management, volume adjustment, multi-user management of up to 8 users, mailbox warning alert, IP firewall, WPS one click link routing, configuration file backup, firmware patches, system logs, etc.
After Baidu joined, it may be Baidu has redone a set of "Internet product orientation" interaction for it. The simplest camera connection method of the same kind. After filling in the wifi information, you can wait for it to connect by itself (actually, it's just the data entry work of placing peers on several pages and entering them in advance on one page, but the experience is greatly improved).
The mobile app page is also rare for its freshness and conciseness. In addition to the routine route viewing and real-time images, there are rare functions such as "radio and Tongyao switch, infrared light control, and image mirroring". More importantly, the original stack of advanced functions at the bottom has been sealed, leaving ordinary users with no need to look dizzy or even think about those things. This logic makes it easy to use. Of course, the premise is that you don't have much demand for deep functions.
In addition, Foxconn also has its own mobile app for cameras. Although the interface design level is not high, it has more advanced functions, but it can no longer connect to this nursing instrument.
The core image quality cannot open the gap
Daytime proof sheet
Infrared proof sheet
Although it seems that the most important thing for webcams is the image quality, in fact, it is an indicator of the smallest gap and change among surveillance/care cameras. Their mainstream image quality has remained at 720P for many years. The biggest reason for this deep level is thanks to the ultra-low broadband upload speed that has remained unchanged for thousands of years in China: as a webcam, no matter how good the picture is, if there is no Internet speed, it will be meaningless to upload to the network... So we are very calm (lan) to stop at this resolution.
The actual picture performance is also predictable. To sum up, it can win many mobile phones' 2 million front cameras, but the picture quality is just at this level. It is unnecessary to identify the "license plate 50 meters away" and other difficult actions. The night infrared performance, except that the color becomes black and white, is not different from the daytime, but the picture purity is much better.
The following two paragraphs are detailed image quality analysis, which can be skipped if not interested:
Through the super focusing range of the ultra short focus wide-angle lens, the camera saves the focusing function. The wide-angle is only 90 degrees, and the deformation of the surface of the picture is not obvious. However, in the sample, there is a slight defocus on the near hand, but it has little impact on daily life.
The picture tolerance is OK. Only the big backlight on the upper left side is white. The overall picture exposure control is relatively appropriate, but there is still a slight purple edge. The 720P image, which is equivalent to 920000 pixels, has been sharpened to a certain extent, but it has also led to a slight "algorithm purple edge" on the edges of some objects. The white balance is quite accurate, but the color of the object is a bit unnatural after the transition and sharpening.
Triple monitoring alarm is very reliable, and the child care function is immature
The classic motion monitoring alarm of webcams is based on the image change amplitude, which is not complete in fact, because sometimes the detection video should also be started under the sound or huge temperature changes. The author believes that the triple monitoring function of "picture, sound and temperature" is the best hardware of FSB.
However, this function has been set at the bottom of the background. The only sign that can be seen on the mobile app is the temperature display at the upper left corner of the screen. In the direct connection mode, you can set the threshold parameters of these three alarms in detail, which is really professional, but there are many professional words above, and there is a risk that manual adjustment will not be returned. You can choose to manually reset or regularly backup the parameter file.
The child care function is an important reason why it is called the baby care instrument. But in fact, in addition to the triple monitoring function, it only has the invisible infrared light and nursery rhyme playing function. The former makes the infrared light completely in the infrared band. When it is turned on, the naked eye cannot see the red light circle of the surveillance camera. It can be used to stare at the baby to sleep without worrying about flashing the baby's eyes. However, in fact, many webcams are designed with infrared night vision hidden style, and they can't be seen by the naked eye
The nursery rhyme function can control the camera to play music on the mobile phone or webpage, which is not practical. However, the good thing about domestic manufacturers is that their functions will be up to standard. The machine can directly read and play MP3 files on the body TF card, but the client does not support song selection and can only switch songs. Usually, it can be used as a normal audio and can only be played in sequence.
The volume can be adjusted only when the wifi hotspot is directly connected. The normal maximum volume is one notch lower than the ordinary mobile phone ringtones. The volume is at the level of "slightly higher than the arm distance, which makes you have the impulse to turn down the volume, but it is tolerable". The sound quality is similar to that of ordinary thousand yuan mobile phones.
Improved cloud service, good experience but slightly expensive
Foscam web side
Baidu Cloud Website
The most important thing about webcams is the level of network cloud services. It is supported by Baidu Cloud's server, and its stability advantage will be obvious, but the delay of real-time images is relatively large, about 7-8 seconds under network connection, and about 5 seconds in general (related to the use of Baidu Cloud for transit storage?).
Under the direct connection through the Soft AP mode, the delay can be controlled within 1 second, which is very good. However, this can only be used next to the camera, and the mobile phone does not support it, which is of little significance. It is more used for home monitoring.
The biggest upgrade between it and the normal IP camera is that it can view real-time and historical videos on the PC webpage. Because it is a marriage product between Baidu and Foxconn, there are two even on the webpage, which are respectively "official native geek, many customization items, and Baidu Cloud version (with access on Baidu Cloud Disk) is convenient, but it can only be seen".
Although the advanced functions viewed on this page are very cool, Baidu Cloud Storage is only given away for 3 months. In contrast, Lenovo and fluorite have given free cloud storage for 1 year, which is very generous. The renewal price is "monthly payment 14.9 years, 178 years" (actually the industry average, but the industry is unified and expensive). The advanced service provided (30 day rollback record) is "monthly payment 29.9 years, 358 years". More innovative (qipa) is that this payment also includes a property insurance
Summary: Unique function, but expensive
The price of webcams is generally more expensive, while the price of Fusibao has gone up to a higher level, reaching 468 yuan (X East), surpassing the fluorite C2S (389), and the Kang Jiabao mini facing Lenovo 199 is simply expensive.
The price difference is due to the additional functions of music playing, temperature and sound monitoring, and video viewing on the web. These functions are rare in similar products, and all of them are the only one.
Of course, whether it is necessary or not is different. Whether it is worth buying depends on whether you can use these additional functions.
fabulous:
More sound and temperature monitoring alarms
Easy to use mobile phone client
Real time images and videos can be viewed on the PC webpage for convenience
With music playing function
Hidden infrared lamp, not dazzling at night
Step on:
Baidu Cloud service is stable, but real-time video delay is large
Different opinions on appearance design
Small adjustment range of camera angle and position
Prices are on the high side
Computer scoring: ★★★ (full score of five stars)
