Netatmo Smart Video Doorbell won't get HomeKit Secure Video after all

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in General Discussion
Netatmo is walking back its promise for Homekit Secure Video in its Smart Video Doorbell due to technical constraints.

Netatmo Smart Video Doorbell will not get HSV
Netatmo Smart Video Doorbell will not get HSV


The Smart Video Doorbell by Netatmo was one of the first doorbells to announce it would be compatible with HomeKit Secure Video in 2019. It was released in January 2021 in the United States, but the HomeKit feature was still not available and promised to come in a later update.

Now, coming up on two years after its US launch, Netatmo is walking back that promise. The $300 doorbell will not be getting HomeKit Secure Video due to what the company calls technical constraints related to processing and temperature control.

According to Netatmo, Apple has high requirements for processing video that could lead to temperature problems in warm environments. The limitation is tied to Netatmo targeting idle processing to analysis of video at 2 frames per second before recording.

When the Netatmo camera recognizes motion, it would shift to recording mode and capture video at full resolution and send it to the user's configured location over WiFi. Otherwise, the camera is idling at that 2 fps for image analysis.

For HomeKit Secure Video, Apple takes a much more aggressive approach. It requires the camera to constantly feed video to a HomeKit hub at 30 fps for analysis. That is a 15x increase in processing and recording while simultaneously requiring active WiFi streams on a continuous basis.

The Netatmo Smart Video Doorbell was simply not constructed to handle that constant demand. The hardware limitations were apparently derived from the team's desire to support doorbell chimes from 8V to 230V, which they claim is unmatched on the market.

By comparison, the Logitech Circle View Doorbell camera supports HomeKit Secure Video despite being in a smaller plastic enclosure. However, it is only rated to support chimes at 8V to 24V.

To compensate for this unfulfilled promise, Netatmo has developed a new Advanced Recording feature. The Smart Video Doorbell will get an update by the end of 2022 to enable this HomeKit-like feature for better detection and recording capabilities.

Advanced Recording will be able to record videos seconds before a person arrives, temperature permitting. The company claims users can get a similar function to HomeKit Secure Video by using a local microSD card, cloud storage, or a personal FTP server.

Read on AppleInsider

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 13
    daniPhonedaniPhone Posts: 24member
    Are they giving money back for not delivering promised functionality?
    JanNLwatto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 13
    netroxnetrox Posts: 1,462member
    Interesting. Never knew that Apple requires 30fps video for analysis, that is pretty resource extensive and seems to waste so much for nothing. It should be around 5fps idling and if motion is detected, go 30fps until it's no longer detected.

     




    williamlondonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 13
    BirderGuyBirderGuy Posts: 29member
    So glad I bought the Logitech Circle View. It’s a great doorbell. I don’t need the doorbell chime as it rings on my HomePods and if we are expecting someone at the door we can watch live on our phone or AppleTV. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 13
    saareksaarek Posts: 1,545member
    That's a shame, it's a great doorbell and I was looking forward to the update. Oh well, it is what it is.
  • Reply 5 of 13
    badmonkbadmonk Posts: 1,318member
    BirderGuy said:
    So glad I bought the Logitech Circle View. It’s a great doorbell. I don’t need the doorbell chime as it rings on my HomePods and if we are expecting someone at the door we can watch live on our phone or AppleTV. 
    me too…love my Logitech CV as well.  And you can still offload the video to send to police or your neighborhood watch if needed (as I have).  And no monthly subscription.  Highly recommended.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 13
    williamlondonwilliamlondon Posts: 1,378member
    StrangeDays said:
    jimcord said:
    Does any of this really matter anyway? HomeKit is such garbage, it’s been a disaster since Apple launched it, and it is continued to be that to this day. It makes me chuckle when I hear all these people saying well I’m not gonna buy that product now since it doesn’t have HomeKit, which is nothing but a sham, because marketing of all these companies has shown that they’re not losing sales to people who don’t want to buy HomeKit because HomeKit people don’t actually go out and want to spend this kind of money for a half baked concept that the company treats like a hobby and not a real product. None of these companies are losing sleep at all by the 10 people who want to buy HomeKit who claim they’re going to buy it and don’t sorry all of your idle threats aren’t driving the stock price up so you can claim that you’re making all this money off your Apple stock you don’t own. Losers!
    Absolute nonsense, of course. We’re an Apple household and only use HK accessories. We just got the Belkin Wenmo wired doorbell with HK Secure Video. I prefer that to paying for Ring cloud storage which has a proven track record of giving the footage to police and whatnot w/o permission. No thanks. Secure Video for us it is, using our existing iCloud storage. 
    Hey, but he (childishly) ended his rant with "Losers!" so he wins the argument with all (other peanut gallery folk), right?! ;-)
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 13
    applebynatureapplebynature Posts: 118member
    What the heck kinda home "security" cam is it that can't simply handle streaming it's full speed video constantly 24/7? What an absolute piece of trash.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 13
    AutigerMarkAutigerMark Posts: 65member
    Thought about this doorbell and am very glad I went with a Ring that was over $200 cheaper.
  • Reply 9 of 13
    slow n easyslow n easy Posts: 362member
    badmonk said:
    BirderGuy said:
    So glad I bought the Logitech Circle View. It’s a great doorbell. I don’t need the doorbell chime as it rings on my HomePods and if we are expecting someone at the door we can watch live on our phone or AppleTV. 
    me too…love my Logitech CV as well.  And you can still offload the video to send to police or your neighborhood watch if needed (as I have).  And no monthly subscription.  Highly recommended.
    The Logitech video doorbell hasn’t worked out very well for me. It has been offline more than online and it says it’s overheated even in the cold months. I’m not sure if I got a lemon or if it has anything to do with the high HomeKit Secure Video requirements.
    gatorguywatto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 13
    xyzzy01xyzzy01 Posts: 136member
    This would also explain why I’ve not seen a single product offering what I want: A wireless doorbell supporting HomeKit Secure Video, so I could drop my Ring device and its associated subscription.

    The requirements sound a bit too aggressive.
    williamlondonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 11 of 13
    igorskyigorsky Posts: 761member
    netrox said:
    Interesting. Never knew that Apple requires 30fps video for analysis, that is pretty resource extensive and seems to waste so much for nothing. 
    And yet other companies manage to pull it off somehow...
    williamlondonappleinsideruserwatto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 13
    igorskyigorsky Posts: 761member
    xyzzy01 said:
    The requirements sound a bit too aggressive.
    Again...other companies manage to pull it off.  Let's not make excuses for poor execution.
    williamlondonappleinsideruser
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