When to NOT get a security camera - Heimvision Protect B2 review
This review may sound harsh, but it's really a warning to consumers everywhere when picking out a security device, especially one that can be weaponized against privacy like a security camera.
Using some simple scanning and checking up of features like ONVIF, I discovered something that could be best described as either Naive or downright insidious in the design and implementation of this camera. I've contacted two different support channels and when asking about this, I received no answers as to why this is. They've publicly mentioned it on their forums. Is this company purposefully trying to replicate the disaster that was the "FOSCAM" incident?
Here are some backing articles to explain the dangers of the decisions I talk about:
https://www.tomsguide.com/us/foscam-c...
https://www.techradar.com/in/news/def...
https://www.csoonline.com/article/284...
This video went from a review to a plea to the company to update the firmware, but also I hopefully turned it into a lesson of what NOT to get when getting a security camera, and how to check some of your cameras out if they claim ONVIF compatability.
https://sourceforge.net/projects/onvi...
If you're looking for an actual wireless 4MP camera (without zoom) that supports RTSP (and partial ONVIF) the Reolink here: https://amzn.to/3uYu8Pk is the one I'm using.
Update 4/18: Turns out that despite ONVIF telling me the password is 12345, the company assures me that is not the case. Their answer...there is no password. I verified that the RTSP stream works with no password at all, meaning this camera is an internet camera that is pretty much 'in the clear'. To change the password requires using the microSD card, but I can't find documentation for that at this time. So...if they get hacked/exposed like the Foscams did...it'll be open season for webcam scanning again.
If you want to know more about this camera despite this review, or are just curious, this is the link to it:
https://amzn.to/3dpuqIQ
Some other notes:
I didn't include the video of me trying to get the offline setup going....it was a disaster and I was trying to film it in 'realtime'. The main thing is it states that lights will flash and it should pair with the wifi network, but that wouldn't actually happen. I paired my phone successfully to the camera, but then it never found my wifi network to pair the camera to it. I've paired dozens of products using that approach, but this didn't work.
It also states that the lights should flash, however the camera gave an audio prompt and then nothing flashed. It was almost like the instructions in the app were generic and the pairing protocol on the camera was different.
I reached out to the email thread of the person that offered me the review as well as the online support chat. I figured the online support chat would be a good test of how support for the camera was handled. To my surprise they gave me the wrong answer when asked about ONVIF (They gave me the direct RTSP stream when I was looking for the automatic discovery portion) and then they stopped replying to me when I asked about changing the password.
If I were to put on my 'privacy, security, and slightly paranoia hat' I'd say that they wanted the cameras to be open. I can't see why a company wouldn't allow for a default password to be changed, yet open up RTSP ports on the camera. That just seems like a bad combo.
I don't expect my reviews to go like this often. I try to be picky about what I'll review. But just because I get sent an item, my integrity dictates that I'm going to give you, my viewers, the bottom line. Thanks for watching and the support.
#Heimvision #Security #Camera