Philips Hue Secure Desktop Security Camera Black

Experience with the Hue bridge and Hue lamps made us enthusiastic about this camera and the contents of the box did not disappoint: the strong magnet and the heavy tripod make the camera very easy to place so that it can be set up anywhere. We want to hang the camera in the garage with a view of the back door: it is possible to hang the camera from the ceiling with the supplied cap, the strong magnet will also keep it in place. The adapter has a sufficiently long cable.

Installation is done by following the step-by-step instructions in the Hue app. The camera comes with a "proof of ownership" with a QR code to scan during installation. Even though this QR code seemed easy to read on my phone screen, I had to move a bit for a better distance and turn the map around for a good scan. After choosing the WiFi network and entering the corresponding password, the camera was set. The security for storing the recorded camera images has been well thought out. Encryption with passphrase is applied. Only people with this passphrase can use the camera.

The camera's image is absolutely good and the images are delayed very little. The camera has 3 states: Off, Armed Home and Armed Away. For both enabled states, you can set how motion detection should be handled: which lights should flash (red or white) and whether the cameras should sound a siren. Unfortunately, all of this can only be operated from the app and not from, for example, a home automation server. And that is quite a downer for me. Our back door has an electric lock and I wanted to be able to turn the camera on/off based on the status of that lock, so we can see who came in through the open back door and when. In addition, I expected to be able to take action in my home automation system as soon as motion was detected. The same applies to the video images, which can only be viewed in the app and not via ONVIF, for example. This means that images can only be stored in the cloud and this requires a paid subscription.

I find it difficult to get over these disadvantages, the camera has a considerable price and on top of that there is a subscription. The image quality and the encryption of the images are positive for privacy reasons.