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Ring cameras are losing free features for existing customers

Radian
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Radian Advanced Member

Radian

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Posted

I was astounded to read that some of the currently free facilities provided by Ring cameras will be disabled unless a paid subscription is taken out.

I'm glad I don't have any of this kit but it makes my blood boil when this kind of thing happens. I see this development as a much clearer case of bait and switch which Ring has already been taken to court in a class action about hidden subscriptions before.

 

To pay-wall-off a previously free facility (that may well have been the deciding factor in a purchase) after the purchase has taken place looks like nothing short of a gangster move to me. I wonder how Ring customers here would feel about this?

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Kelvin Advanced Member

Kelvin

Posted
Posted (edited)

It’s why I won’t have anything like this that’s subscription based ever again. 

Edited by Kelvin
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SteamyTea Advanced Member

SteamyTea

Posted
Posted

My TOR webserver, which is free to set up i.e. needs no domain registered or a paid for hosting service, is proving to be very reliable.

Not sure how well it would work with live streaming video, should be OK as it is relatively low resolution.

All encrypted, many times, as well.

dpmiller Advanced Member

dpmiller

Posted
Posted

I've got a couple of Tapo cameras and they've got an rtsp livestream that you could pipe into another recorder/server; I just monitor it on a couple of windows in VLC. Is the same possible with these brands?

MikeSharp01 Advanced Member

MikeSharp01

Posted
Posted
  On 05/03/2023 at 08:52, SteamyTea said:

Have you finished the ESP based energy monitor yet?

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Yes and no, the  monitor works fine, but I have not sorted the best data logging approach as yet - have tried Graphana, with inFluxDB which works well on a PC server but overwhelms my RPi (Model 3 B). That and the Universal block software, one heap of code you configure what's connected via the onboard web server interface, just grew like topsy as I added more sensors - so it now has a CO, C02 , Temp, Humidity, Light & IR proximity detector. Plus work is very sticky at the moment and the build fills the remaining chunk of time.

 

 

MikeSharp01 Advanced Member

MikeSharp01

Posted
Posted
  On 05/03/2023 at 09:21, Onoff said:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2022/07/hive-to-axe-its-cameras-over-the-next-few-years--meaning-they-ll/

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YES and that's a bit much isn't it. British gas are getting it wrong all over the place. But perhaps you should be more worried, in 20 years time, about this: https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/3/23624328/ford-self-repossessing-car-patent-connected-car-nightmare a bit further down the same page as the Ring info above. 

Pocster Advanced Member

Pocster

Posted
Posted

Anything cloud based is always begging for a cash milk .

Just get a nvr and a ip camera ( reolink video door bell ) . All quite cheap and cheerful.

  • Like 1
MikeSharp01 Advanced Member

MikeSharp01

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Posted
  On 05/03/2023 at 10:24, SteamyTea said:

*.CSV to somewhere on the network.

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Would work if there was a node that do the transfer, but I wanted to log straight to a data base from the ESP device and that won't do CSV, on Influx each data point gets its own time stamp and you can give it your own if you want but why bother when influx does it for you. 

SteamyTea Advanced Member

SteamyTea

Posted
Posted
  On 05/03/2023 at 10:48, MikeSharp01 said:

Would work if there was a node that do the transfer, but I wanted to log straight to a data base from the ESP device and that won't do CSV, on Influx each data point gets its own time stamp and you can give it your own if you want but why bother when influx does it for you. 

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This is where I start to get confused, and rapidly loose interest.

There seems to be dozens of programs that can be used for data collection, all have there quirks.

Surely it cannot be hard to write a bit if Python (or MicroPython) that grabs the sensor data, then stores it in a time stamped file on a network connected device.

Then anything you want to do i.e. charts, statistics, relay control, just accessed that file.

Has to be easier that setting up say mosquito, then nodeRed, then, something else, then something else, and then something else.....

 

I often think that the aim is lost in the past objectives.

 

MikeSharp01 Advanced Member

MikeSharp01

Posted
Posted
  On 05/03/2023 at 11:20, SteamyTea said:

Has to be easier that setting up say mosquito, then nodeRed, then, something else, then something else, and then something else.....

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If you want to travel a long way you need to build as abstractly as you can on the shoulders of giants rather that reinventing the wheel all the time. No point in striving for the moon and first setting up a bauxite mine, associated power station and smelter to get the ingredients and then process them into the aluminium for the outer shell! The challenge, as we have seen above is, is choosing your giants on the basis of not just 'does it today' but will continue for a good number of years without the giant disappearing from beneath you!

  • Like 2
MikeSharp01 Advanced Member

MikeSharp01

Posted
Posted
  On 05/03/2023 at 11:50, Onoff said:

I read delinquent in there and have Ford Capris...

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Did I see you trickling across the motorway bridge at Dunton green the other day - if not there must be more than one of you and we might need to call in Capri control to ensure the relevant reproduction rights are taken away9_9

Onoff Advanced Member

Onoff

Posted
Posted
  On 05/03/2023 at 14:39, MikeSharp01 said:

Did I see you trickling across the motorway bridge at Dunton green the other day

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Would have been the black Mondeo the other day or the blue Pug this morning! 

Radian Advanced Member

Radian

Posted
  • Author
Posted
  On 05/03/2023 at 11:20, SteamyTea said:

Then anything you want to do i.e. charts, statistics, relay control, just accessed that file.

 

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The Linux way 😄

I'd always want any interaction with the data to be web based in order to leverage the processing power of whatever device was doing the browsing along with some kind of graphing toolset and some kind of DB to manage access. That's for visualisation. To actually do something practical with the data means a messaging system and for that, nothing can beat MQTT. Node Red is just one of many ways of hooking into MQTT, python and ESP libraries also do that depending on what you're developing.

ProDave Advanced Member

ProDave

Posted
Posted
  On 05/03/2023 at 10:02, pocster said:

Anything cloud based is always begging for a cash milk .

Just get a nvr and a ip camera ( reolink video door bell ) . All quite cheap and cheerful.

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It was over 20 years ago when i was in the last year or 2 of a "proper office job"  where we had a pretty normal setup, with individual desktop computers with the software needed installed on them, and an office network for data storage, backups and handling the email servers and wed service.

 

Then one day it was announced "we are going to outsource all out IT to a cloud based service" so all programs, and all data would be served from and stored on an outsourced data centre somewhere.

 

I remember at the time thinking "what a bloody stupid idea, what idiot decided that was good?"

 

Thankfully I left shortly afterwards and have been self employed since in charge of my own destiny and free to make my own good or stupid decisions.

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Radian Advanced Member

Radian

Posted
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Well there's not much more to say about Amazon (nee Ring) and their  bait & switch tactics. Them and the other companies that seem to think nothing of pulling the rug from under their customer's feet. I need to divert my dwindling energies into making as much of my own useful stuff as I can.

 

  On 05/03/2023 at 16:52, SteamyTea said:

Do one thing, and one thing only, but do it very well.

Then move onto the next thing.

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Which is..?

If ever there was a man in need of a free, lightweight, battle-hardened message handling system it has to be you and your distributed sensors 😃

 

I would thoroughly recommend having a look at this guide on andomnerdtutorials from where this diagram originates:

 

Screenshot2023-03-0517_43_01.thumb.png.dd23978f5b56e0da34533f9a3bff60db.png

MikeSharp01 Advanced Member

MikeSharp01

Posted
Posted
  On 05/03/2023 at 17:53, Radian said:

Well there's not much more to say about Amazon (nee Ring) and their  bait & switch tactics.

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Except loads of others could do it, so Node-RED is Open Source and you can down load it onto your local system, same with many other things and as @ProDave says having them local at least means you cannot be cut off, however your OS upgrades may leave them high and dry and so it is still something of a mine field. The basic MQTT, Broker (could be Mosquito but others are available for local install) and Node-RED combination is hellish robust and fast enough for the average human not to notice the reaction time. So +1 to that. 

Pocster Advanced Member

Pocster

Posted
Posted (edited)
  On 05/03/2023 at 19:21, Onoff said:

 

Talk to @pocster, he's an expert on ring cameras.

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Dirty (expletive deleted) wit 

 

Never forget downloading “ The Ring” and being so disappointed 

Edited by pocster

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