Creative Live! Cam IP SmartHD
Creative Technologies have always been known for their outstanding speakers and sound system technologies. So when they roll out their first IP camera – Creative Live! Cam IP SmartHD, was to surprise and skepticism on how they sail on their maiden voyage into the world of security cameras.
Creative Live! Cam IP SmartHD is designed to be an indoor home security camera and has one of the lowest barriers of entry in terms of the price point.
Creative Live! Cam IP SmartHD can be either mounted magnetically via the wall plates or conveniently place on a flat surface with its given base. Regardless of which method you use, it is easy to remove the camera as needed.
They are wired via USB cable, which means they need to be installed near a power point. The camera records in 720p resolution and comes with black-and-white night vision that will switch on automatically at night when the light sources dim.
Creative Live! Cam IP SmartHD comes with motion and sound detection sensors that will send alerts to your connected devices when triggered. They also come with two-way audio that allows both sides to communicate.
They have 2 types of storage, either locally via microSD card, or via a subscription basis cloud storage. They also come with a 1-year limited hardware warranty, so you can approach them if there are any issues with the security camera.
Product Specifications
- Wired, and powered via USB cable
- Small in size [121 x 70 x 70 mm] to keep hidden
- View and record in 720p resolution with HD CMOS sensor
- Comes with black-and-white night vision
- 110° viewing angle for a wider angle of view that comes with zoom function
- Equipped with motion and sound detection sensors that will send alerts to your connected devices
- Two-way audio with push-to-talk microphone and speaker
- Store video footage via microSD card, up to 32GB
- WiFi-enabled to allow for the transfer of video footage to the cloud storage [subscription basis]
- Comes with a 1-year limited hardware warranty
In the Box
- Creative Live! Cam IP SmartHD
- USB cable
- AC Power Adapter – Europlug
- Mounting Kit [2 x wall plates and 2 x screws]
- Quick Start Guide
We Like
- Sleek design that blends in well with the surrounding
- Comes with black-and-white night vision that automatically switches on when light source change
- 2-way audio that allows us to listen in and talk back via the camera
- Easy to configure and connect the mobile app
- Very low entry price for an indoor home security camera
- Capability to insert a large memory microSD card that can store video footage locally for up to a week
- 1 month free trial for the cloud subscription
- Easy to install and mount the camera
We Didn’t Like
- Ineffective vision change when light sources keep swinging
- Video delay of about 1 second from actual happenings
- Degraded video quality when WiFi connectivity drops
- Poor motion and sound sensors that do not work well
- Hard to find the mobile app in Play Stores
- Limited locations to install camera due to the need to find spots with great WiFi coverage
- Not able to integrate with any of the smart home systems
- Does not come with cloud storage by default
Detailed Review
Creative Live! Cam IP SmartHD – Storage
Creative Live! Cam IP SmartHD comes in either black or white and comes with gloss finishing, which makes it looks sleek and modern. The connecting wire also comes with the same color so that it can blend in well with its surrounding.
It is very small-sized at a dimension of 121 x 70 x 70 mm. While it is small, it is hardly concealable. It can be spotted easily despite the best effort to hide them. However, it is pretty well-shaped and smooth on the edges, which makes it easy to blend in if placed alongside other items.
Creative Live! Cam IP SmartHD – Video quality
Creative Live! Cam IP SmartHD records in 1280 x 720, which essentially means that it is HD. This is usually the bare minimum for most indoor home security cameras, and for its price tag, I’m not complaining.
You would notice that there is a roughly-1 second lag in the transmission if you are really particular. However, given that it is primarily meant for home recording, and not meant for high-speed recording and viewing, it should not have much impact.
The night vision of the security camera switches on when you turn off the lights or when the light source is weak. This will ensure that visibility is maintained, regardless of the light condition of the room.
The switch between normal vision and night vision may be laggy whenever the light sources change. In some instances, you may need to manually restart the camera to switch the camera vision as it stops sensing the light source.
It can be irritating at times when you have those weather where it swings between bright and sunny to gloomy and dark throughout the day. The constant change in the amount of light might break the camera sensors to detect the light sources, and that’s when you need to restart the camera.
When the night vision is switch on, the video quality is slightly grainy, though it does not impact the video footage quality that much. The overall features of people or objects can be recognized from the video.
As Creative Live! Cam IP SmartHD the video footage is transmitted via WiFi, the video quality tends to be degraded whenever the WiFi strength drops slightly. So you need to make sure that you place your camera in a spot where the WiFi signal is strong.
Creative Live! Cam IP SmartHD – Motion and sound sensors
From the mobile app, you can change the settings to define the level of sensitivity to motion and sound. Honestly, the motion and sound sensors are not working well, and changes to this setting never seem to tune out the false positives.
When it is perfectly quiet with no single soul, we are constantly receiving alerts. When it is noisy with many movements around, there were no alerts sent to inform me.
Creative Live! Cam IP SmartHD – 2-way communication
Creative Live! Cam IP SmartHD comes with 2-way communication. While this is common for indoor home security cameras, we were pleasantly surprised to know that Creative Live! Cam IP SmartHD comes equipped too, as it has a low price tag.
The 2-way communication for Creative Live! Cam IP SmartHD is pretty easy to control. If you are on the side of the camera, you simply have to move near to the camera and talk loudly for the other side to pick up. If you are using the mobile app. you can simply press a button and talk, and it will be heard on the other side.
It’s really pretty fun if you have a pet or young toddler at home. You can just talk through the app and watch your pet or toddler’s perplex and confused expression. You can also send out warnings to them if they are able to get in trouble.
Creative Live! Cam IP SmartHD – Storage
There are 2 choices for storage. You can either insert an microSD card, with memory of up to 32GB in the camera, or you can pay for subscription-based cloud storage.
If you opt for the microSD card, it can record up to 50 hours, if you choose the continuous monitoring option. And if you choose the recording option on the trigger of the motion and sound sensors, it can record up to 43 hours. This means that you can record up to 7 days of footage before it overwrites the old content.
You can do a weekly review of the footage for any suspicious activities and backup the footage that you wish to keep. While the storage duration is pretty long, I do wish that it is longer as a weekly task to manually back them up can become troublesome during a busy week.
Creative Technologies do offer subscription-based cloud storage for $6.99 per month where up to 10 days of 24/7 footage are automatically uploaded into the cloud. This makes it easier to review the videos on the move without the need to move them from the microSD card to the computer. Each purchase comes with a free trial for 1 month, so you can test out the need for it before forking out the monthly fees.
Our Verdict
The first thing that attracted me to this indoor home security camera is the price point. At first glance, Creative Live! Cam IP SmartHD packs a huge amount of functions given their impressive technical specifications. It seems to be very value-for-money as it encompasses a lot of features that I was interested in.
However, many of the features are touch-and-go, and may not perform as you expect. If you are not that particular about the video quality, and willing to overlook the minor hiccups, it is actually a great starter indoor home security camera.
Overall, I would use this camera as an inexpensive solution to watch over my kids, my parents, or my pets at home to ensure they are safe and well. It functions as a great 24/7 camera to remotely look after your house when you are out.
FAQs
Where is the best place to set up Creative Live! Cam IP SmartHD?
Finding the best place to mount Creative Live! Cam IP SmartHD is not easy. You need a spot with excellent WiFi coverage and a power socket nearby to power the security 24/7. If you choose a location that has less than an ideal WiFi signal, the video quality will be degraded and may be laggier.
It is not advisable to set it up near places with reflections such as mirrors or glass as the images and videos will not show up well from the mobile app. It is also good to place them slightly above eye level. Too high, and you cannot see the details of the video clearly. Too low, and you may not have a good area to capture.
Where do I find the mobile app for Creative Live! Cam IP SmartHD?
It is needed to pair Creative Live! Cam IP SmartHD with a mobile app for you to view the videos on the move. Many users have issues finding the application in the Play Store or the App Store so we have included them here.
Get Danale now at App Store or Play Store here!
