Anyone have experience with super cheap Neos smart cams?

Gidster
Gidster Member Posts: 224
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edited August 7, 2019 in Devices & Security #1

The Neo Smart Cams are available on Amazon in the UK (and elsewhere I assume) for just £25 each
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Neos-SmartCam-Vision-Camera-Warranty/dp/B07JY7K3SZ/

They have a decent spec - especially for the money - and review quite well. I recognise these as the Xiaomi Xiaofang camera which I understand have also been OEM'd by Wyze in the US. I'm assuming Xiaomi are working with others in territories they are not very active in and to address the challenges of operating cloud storage from within China.

But I also understand that Wyze and Neos have developed their own app and cloud storage so they are not directly compatible. Wyze has acquired a pretty decent rep but I'm not sure Neos can match it. For instance, I believe that IFTTT is not yet available, in which case I couldn't use my Fingbox to arm it when my family leaves the house (as I can with Wyze here). 
Head of Product at Fing
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  • Ajax
    Ajax Member Posts: 35
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    #2
    I was tempted but in the end opted for Arlo. They seemed too cheap so probably pretty nasty in terms of security.
    GidsterVioletChepil
  • adam
    adam Member, Beta Tester Posts: 63
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    edited August 7, 2019 #3
    For me if a camera doesn't have an open video stream that I can access via http/rtsp I'm not interested.   As these closed system cameras with apps (and sometimes hubs)  get better this may become an unimportant point for many users but if there is any chance that down the road you will want to upgrade your setup, add more cameras and eventually have some kind of custom smart home integration or use an NVR, having direct access to the actual video streams is really really useful.  A must in my experience.       Also I just don't want to invest in cameras that have to work via some proprietary cloud that could be turned off in 12 months.

    I can't imagine these let you have direct stream access  but I'd love to be proven wrong!.    They are £19.99 on their own website btw, even cheaper than Amazon!

    @Ajax point is also really good, that these will likely have slow/hardly any software updates and when (not if) there are security issues that isn't going to be useful.    
    GidsterVioletChepil
  • Gidster
    Gidster Member Posts: 224
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    #4
    @adam isn't an open http/rtsp port a security risk in itself?
    Head of Product at Fing
  • Gidster
    Gidster Member Posts: 224
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    #5
    Apparently Wyze make a separate firmware branch available with RTSP support: https://support.wyzecam.com/hc/en-us/articles/360026245231-Wyze-Cam-RTSP
    Head of Product at Fing
  • adam
    adam Member, Beta Tester Posts: 63
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    edited August 7, 2019 #6
    Gidster said:
    @adam isn't an open http/rtsp port a security risk in itself?
    Not if its done right.  I.e. you need to authenticate to the http server on the camera first.  And/or there is an ip whitelist.   
    None of that applies in many use cases though because you may well not actually need the camera feeds to be accessible outside of the home lan.  

    That's my own situation - i can only access stuff once logged into openvpn.  So the open vpn port is the only thing I have open on my home router.    If you have these video feeds going into something that can consolidate them such as an nvr then you could also just have ports of that nvr accessible to the internet if you wanted to and not the individual cameras. 
    VioletChepil

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