{"id":19476,"date":"2020-09-10T08:44:14","date_gmt":"2020-09-10T13:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learncctv.com\/?p=19476"},"modified":"2020-12-28T06:43:01","modified_gmt":"2020-12-28T11:43:01","slug":"yi-home-camera-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/learncctv.com\/yi-home-camera-review\/","title":{"rendered":"YI Home Camera Review (Read before buy)"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article is a YI Home Camera Review<\/strong> based on my tests.<\/p>\n

If you are looking for information about this product, you are in the right place.<\/p>\n

I’ve been using and testing the Yi Home Camera at my office, and I want to share my experience with the product. After reading this review<\/strong>, you can decide if it’s right for you. So, sit tight and keep reading to the end.<\/p>\n

\"Yi<\/span><\/p>\n

The Yi Home Camera <\/a>is an inexpensive smart camera with interesting features, you can find it on Amazon. Just click the link below to check the price and availability.<\/p>\n

The Yi Home Camera Overview<\/h2>\n

The Yi Home Camera is <\/span>a 1080p (Full HD) home camera for indoor use only. <\/span><\/p>\n

The camera has bi-directional audio communication, records video in a local micro SD card<\/a>, has night vision, AI human detection, and activity zone. It works with Alexa <\/a>and Google Assistant to display videos using voice commands.<\/p>\n

\"Reolink<\/a><\/span>\"Reolink<\/span><\/p>\n

The installation is straightforward, and you don’t need to hire a technician.<\/p>\n

My first impression<\/h2>\n

I decided to test and review this camera because I was curious to see if this model is good for the tag price. I have a Wyze cam<\/a>, which is also inexpensive and has a good quality, so perhaps the YI camera could be similar.<\/p>\n

This smart camera is small and elegant; you just need a mobile phone for the setup.<\/p>\n

I’ve never had a YI camera before, so the overall impression was good at first.<\/p>\n

What is on the YI Home camera box<\/h2>\n

The content in the YI Home camera box is minimum.<\/p>\n

\"Yi<\/span><\/p>\n

The box brings the camera, a power adapter with a USB cable, and a user’s manual.<\/p>\n

The YI Home Camera<\/h2>\n

The camera has a beautiful design and it’s pretty elegant.<\/p>\n

\"YI<\/span><\/p>\n

In the front part, there’s a lens and a LED that indicates the camera status.<\/p>\n

The camera back<\/h3>\n

In the camera back there’s a speaker, a QR code that should be used for the setup,.<\/p>\n

\"Yi<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s also possible to see the USB port connection and the reset button<\/p>\n

\"Yi<\/span><\/p>\n

The YI Home camera features<\/h2>\n

The small YI Home camera has some interesting features.<\/p>\n

Let’s take a look at some of them.<\/p>\n

Camera resolution<\/h3>\n

The YI camera <\/a>captures images with full resolution, which means you can set up the camera to record videos with 1920 x 1080<\/strong> pixels.<\/p>\n

The camera has good quality as you can see in the picture below.<\/p>\n

\"YI<\/span><\/p>\n

The dynamic range is good; it’s possible to see a little bit of the balcony outside, even with the strong sunlight.<\/p>\n

Indoor use only<\/h3>\n

The YI camera is NOT weatherproof<\/strong> so you can’t install it outdoor and <\/p>\n

Bi-directional audio<\/h3>\n

The YI Home Camera has a speaker and a microphone for bi-directional audio communication; it’s possible to talk to somebody close to the camera and hear the sounds around the camera.<\/p>\n

Alert notification<\/h3>\n

The camera can send a notification to a mobile phone, and it’s nice to see the message “<\/span>Human Detected<\/span><\/em>” \ud83d\ude42<\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, the camera has AI (Artificial Intelligence) capabilities.<\/p>\n

You just need to enable the human detections, as shown below.<\/p>\n

\"Yi<\/span><\/p>\n

See below an example of the alert that I got on my smartphone.<\/p>\n

\"Yi<\/span><\/p>\n

That’s cool, huh?<\/p>\n

And that’s the moment the camera captured the video…<\/p>\n

\"Yi<\/span><\/p>\n

Since I’m a human, I’m glad I could be detected \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Motion Detection Zones<\/h3>\n

It’s possible to select specific areas for motion detection.<\/p>\n

See the picture below with the example of a selected zone.<\/p>\n

\"Detection<\/span><\/p>\n

SD Card Recording<\/h3>\n

You can use a micro SD card to record the videos.<\/p>\n

\"Cameras<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

I recommend you to buy a class 10 micro SD card<\/a> to avoid problems with recording. You cal also buy a micro SD to SD card adapter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cloud Recording<\/h3>\n

The camera allows you to record either in the micro SD card and also in the cloud.<\/p>\n

If  something happens to your camera, you will have the footage recorded elsewhere, as long as you pay for a subscription plan.<\/p>\n

After the setup, there’s an offer to try the <\/span>YI Cloud service<\/span><\/strong> for 30 days.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Activate<\/span><\/p>\n

The extra cloud storage is offered as a “Premium Cloud Service<\/em><\/strong>“.<\/p>\n

That means the camera can record more than the original 6 seconds clip.<\/p>\n

\"Yi<\/span><\/p>\n

You can try any of the cloud service plans for Free for 30 days.<\/p>\n

There are plans to record from 1 to 5 cameras and from 7 to 30 days. <\/p>\n

\"Yi<\/span>\"Yi<\/span><\/p>\n

The most expensive one costs $12.50\/mo and allows you to record up to 5 cameras for 30 days, and the less expensive plan costs $6.67\/mo for 1 camera recording for 7 days (paid annually).<\/p>\n

If you don’t have a subscription plan, the camera records only 6 seconds in the cloud every time there’s motion is detected, and this is called “<\/span>cooldown period<\/span><\/em><\/strong>“.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wait a minute… I’ve heard that before.<\/p>\n

Yes, I remember the Wyze Lab use this same term (cooldown period).<\/p>\n

That’s right, the YI Home Camera<\/a> records on the Wyze Cam<\/a> Cloud.<\/p>\n

I noticed that because there’s a small Wyze logo on the top of the offer.<\/p>\n

==> Just in case you want to learn more about the Wyze Cam, please read the article Wyze Cam Review and Set Up<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Wi-Fi connection<\/h3>\n

The YI home camera can connect to 2.4GHz<\/strong> Wi-Fi routers.<\/p>\n

The 5GHz frequency is not available, but that’s OK since the 2.4GHz can reach further distances even though it is more susceptible to interference.<\/p>\n

\"Yi<\/span><\/p>\n

For a better experience, make sure the camera is installed in a good position, and objects do not block the Wi-Fi signal. That’s important for a good signal transmission and data communication between the camera and the <\/span>Wi-Fi router<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

YI Home Camera App<\/h2>\n

The YI Home App is well designed and easy to use.<\/p>\n

Live video<\/h3>\n

It’s possible to watch live video, take a snapshot and control the audio (mic and speaker) in the main screen where the motion alerts are shown.<\/p>\n

\"Yi<\/span><\/p>\n

You can have a high-resolution video stream and a second one with lower quality. <\/p>\n

You can choose each one to use to save bandwidth.<\/p>\n

You can manually choose between SD and HD, as shown below.<\/p>\n

\"Yi<\/span><\/p>\n

Playback<\/h3>\n

You can playback only 6 seconds from the cloud storage.<\/p>\n

Every time you get a message to unlock the cloud back (subscribe).<\/p>\n

\"Yi<\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah, I think that’s not good \ud83d\ude41<\/p>\n

Alexa and Google Home Assistant integration<\/h3>\n

The YI Home Camera integrates and works with Alexa <\/a>and Google Home<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This feature allows you to ask Alexa or Google to display the video from the camera to devices such as the Amazon Fire Stick or Google Chrome. <\/p>\n

You can just ask Alexa or Google to display the image on a TV or other display.<\/p>\n

Technical support<\/h2>\n

During the camera setup, I had a problem with the email account registration. <\/p>\n

To use the YI Home App<\/strong> is necessary to create an account, and it’s necessary to enter an email address to receive an activation code.<\/p>\n

After entering my email and didn’t receive an activation code and couldn’t finish the setup and I must say that I tried a lot… I repeated the process several times, used a different smartphone, a different email account, and nothing seems to work.<\/p>\n

I opened a support ticket at <\/span>YI Help Center<\/span><\/a>, and I got an answer 40 minutes later. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Customer<\/span><\/p>\n

The agent told me that the problem was escalated to the engineering team, and I would have a response within 24 hours. <\/p>\n

So, I just tried to create the account again the next day, and everything worked fine, but<\/span> 2 days later, I still didn’t get a response from the technical team<\/span><\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

I think they fixed some problems related to their server but didn’t give me a response as promised.<\/p>\n

So, I think it’s better to be prepared for some slow response technical support.<\/p>\n

The Pros and Cons of the YI Home Camera<\/h2>\n

OK, it’s time to talk about the pros and cons of the YI Home Camera.<\/p>\n

Based on the tests I’ve done for this review, here are the results…<\/p>\n

Pros<\/strong><\/h3>\n