If cost wasn’t a barrier, what dream features would you add to your security camera?

[Reolink.Oskar]

Security cameras have come a long way, but there’s always room for improvement! As we look to the future, what’s one feature you wish your security camera had?

[Chopstix]

@reolink-oskar a tazer. Only partially joking. I do not know how it is in other countries, but in the US, theft of delivery packages from one's porch is a common problem.

[joseph_1979]

@reolink-oskar so far it can identify an object, namely, person, animal, vehicle, etc. We now need to identify who is that object eg...face recognition, access social media to get info about the person,....if animal which animal, car which model, etc.....Enhanced AI.

[pahh1_528074704457951]

A dusk to dawn option on the spotlight settings on all cameras with spotlights.

[big_ted]

Number plate recognition, greatly improved video clarity, improved AI detection

[radioastronomy_410111540293820]

A standard port on the camera to plug in a remote IR light. Or even better a smart IR light source that could be connected to the network (POE powered?) and configured to be controlled by a camera or NVR. This would give much more flexibility in lighting at night with the camera or NVR controlling when the light was on or off. This way you could switch off the in camera IR light source and use an external source. For me there would be several benefits.

Some camera installations require a camera to be in a particular spot but there may be a light reflecting surface in it's view. Resulting in a lot of IR light being reflected into the camera ruining it's ability to give a good image. Being able to reposition the light source so it still lit the camera's field of view but avoided creating excess light being reflected into the camera would be great.

Being able to minimise the pesky night time insects that are attracted to the camera's IR light source. These insects often cause false motion triggering or require dialling back the camera's motion sensitivity to the point where it may miss a valid motion event. By using a remote IR light source the bugs would be attracted to that light source and not the camera. This would prevent nearly all insect related false motion detection events.

Where you have two cameras watching the same area from different angles, one camera may be shining it's IR light into the view of the other camera. Having a remote IR light option would allow the camera's to be positioned in the best spots and the light sources positioned so as to light the scene but avoid shining directly at any of the cameras.

Being able to use multiple light sources to light an area would be great as well. Sometimes an in camera IR light won't cast it's light far enough making the foreground very bright and the background almost completely dark. Being able to add a light or two would allow for much better lighting of a scene.

[Chopstix]

@radioastronomy_410111540293820 I have two external IR flood lights in my back yard for this reason. I have the cameras IR turned off and my two external out of view from the cameras while still splashing the the grounds. Reolink already makes an external camera controlled flood light so I don't see why they could not do the same with an IR light.

[radioastronomy_410111540293820]

@chopstix Thanks for the information. I wasn't aware of the Reolink floodlight. It is close to what I was imagining. Being POE powered, controllable via camera or NVR.
It is quite large though, I was hoping for something the size of a regular dome camera just with the camera module removed and extra IR leds added in it's place. Usually less features equals less cost so not having a PIR sensor or a siren and being able to use an existing dome housing should make the product even cheaper.

The only thing stopping me from just buying some cheap AliExpress dusk to dawn IR dome lights is the on/off scheduling. With the security cameras set to have their IR light off permanently the dusk to dawn may not come on early enough or turn off too early giving periods where the camera doesn't have enough light. I could probably leave the camera in auto mode for it's light, that would allow the camera to switch it's light on if the dusk to dawns came on late or switched off early or if they failed altogether. Even though it isn't a perfect solution they are cheap enough to try.

[Philippe]

A smarter detection system powered by AI would be amazing, especially with facial recognition. Currently, it's a bit of a disaster, with way too many false alarms at night due to rain and insects. Adding user-driven learning would also be great, allowing the user to confirm whether the detection was accurate or, if not, specify what it actually was.