— safe storage of video footage
privacy … sd-card provides privacy. I think cloud also provides privacy.
data loss ..
* gmail and cloud are permanent
* cloud service is commercial .. more reliable
* whatsapp should not remove video content by default, based on my reading
— anxiety and stress .. The biggest anxiety comes from the set-up process. Taking a step back, webcam is a mature product. Procedure is fairly standard and accessible by the lay public.
I can ask a Beijing neighbor or call xiaomi hotline, though I can probably figure out.
I won’t move it to Beijing home becaus when they move out to nursing home, they are likely to forget and lose this webcam. I may try to install it in nursing home, but if not needed there, then … with a sigh of relief I can discard it without guilt.
— low-cost, throwaway device .. Main cost if tcost (esp. set-up). Convenience, reliability, tech support,,,, dwarfs $cost. So I decided to buy without OT, with a license to discard without guilt. The first purchase will be an experiment, a learning journey. (Situation is similar to wifi router.) This infrastructure is valuable yet complex [learning, troubleshooting,,,]. To deal with the complexity,
- I need to allocate plenty of time.
- I need to celebrate every small achievement and progress.
- Better do the research well in advance
— xiaomi .. is the preferred brand for Beijing home. I shopped around and did my due diligence. I concluded price range is Rmb170 ~ 400. As of Nov 2024, Xiaomi Singapore has only one service centre.
— feature: data archive/storage .. optional but valuable.
I think a 256G SD card is $10 only.
Resolution control?
recording frequency control?
— account+device paring
Each device is paired with eactly one Xiaomi account. Each account has exactly one mobileNum… xxx-1025-xxxx. (AccountNum 2-837383-586 is not used anywhere.)
Update mobileNum? I was told it is not possible. A new mobileNum will need a new account.
Re-login to the xiaomi account requires passwd (se8) or smsOTP.
— set-up
When webcam starts, I think it starts in “unconnected” mode (blinking orange). Then it tries to load the saved connection settings from its builtin memory, and connects to the local wifi SSID.
- Factory reset … clears “its memory”. Device speaker (the only I/O) would anounce successful reset.
- Init .. Use the MiHome APP to scan on-device QR. Ensure region is mainland China.
- Upon successful QR, APP prompts you to first select a stable wifi SSID that webcam will use permanently. If your wifi SSID doesn’t use password, then the APP will not present it as a candidate 🙁 I think this is for data security.
- APP then prompts you to connect to a temporary wifi SSID hosted by the webcam. I guess this is the all-important
initial paring(bluetooth?) between this hardware and this instance of the APP. I think the APP reminds you to get physically close to the hardware. - Upon successful paring, the device speaker would anounce successful pairing between device and this particular instance of the APP.
- Then the APP may prompt you to scan the on-device QR.