Camera for Smart Home Monitor - Blink or SmartCam

Hi, I’m about to add a camera set to my Smart Home Monitor to work with my Smartthings Hub.

The candidates I like the most (unless you say something aginst it) are the Blink Home Security Camera System and the Samsung SNH-C6417BN SmartCam.

I know there is already an integration for the Blink cameras that @RBoy did, and it works great.
However, the Samsung Smartcam is made for the Smartthings which probably will make it easier and I won’t need another Hub nor app on my mobile.

Any suggestion or recomendation?

Can’t speak to the Blink - but most people are really happy with them.

I do have a few Samsung Smartcams - which I bought on the assumption that because it’s Samsung and would integrate seamlessly with SmartThings. In my experience, this has not been the case. Samsung is a humongous company and it seems like the Smartcam division has zero, if anything at all to do with ST. So, one of my SmartCams (SmartCam Pro HD) works well with ST. The two others do not (SmartCam HD Plus)

If anything I’ve seen people on the boards integrate ST with other brands of cams (Foscam) almost better than SmartCams. On top of all of that, the SmartCam app is an outdated mess and is generally unloved.

I’d do some digging around. I ended up going with an Arlo system and so far I’ve been happier than I was with the SmartCams.

If you want remote viewing without jumping through hoops you need to use SmartCams. The SmartThing app will only give you viewing at the present time but there is a hub firmware update 18.x in beta testing that is supposed to add more functions. Right now to fully control the camera (talk, set up notifications) you need to use the SmartCam app.

I have SmartCams. I use the companion app but my wife has no need to. She likes that she can simply see the feed (all she needs) in the same SmartThings app she uses.

I’ve played with a bunch of toys, but there comes a point that you appreciate integration. I don’t want to go to a Nest app for a Nest camera, Ring app to view a doorbell camera, x app for some other thing, ect. Is the SmartCam the best in the world? No. But if you want simple monitoring it’ll do the job just fine.

Don’t know about jumping through “hoops” but I get what you are saying about one place one app. However, for me, I just say, Siri, open up Blink and I have all 5 of cameras right there on the screen. YMMV.

I only use SmartThings to change settings and arm/disarm based on real time events.

Meaning if you want remote viewing in the SmartThings app for “unofficial” cameras you’ll need a public ip and port forwarding (as I understand it).

If you’re comfortable with multiple apps for multiple systems (kinds of defeats the idea of a central home automation hub for me) then this isn’t an issue.

You’re probably aware of this already, but you do have to pay extra for access to @rboy’s device handlers and smartapps.

Not saying it isn’t worth it, I paid for access to @RBoy’s apps mostly for the blink device handler. You also get access to several other device handlers and smartapps for the same fee.

Also as others have pointed out, you need an officially supported camera (ie not blink) if you want a video recording to be triggered by an SHM intrusion alert that you can view within the ST mobile app.

Im pretty sure with @RBoy’s integration you can set your Blink cameras to arm/disarm along with SHM. But you can’t view the recording in the ST app.

Thanks for the info, it has been very clarifying indeed.

I probably will get an officially supported camera such as Samsung Wisenet SNH-C6417BN SmartCam 1080p Full HD Wi-Fi Camera which comes with the label Works with Smartthings

I look for the idea of a central home hub and only one app to manage everything.

Thanks a lot.

I got the Samsung SmartCam HD Pro 1080p last year when I bought my house and integrated with Smartthings. Had the same idea as you: it’s Samsung, it says native integration with Smartthings, it must work seamlessly.

I returned it after a week because of the terrible functionality. At the time, you couldn’t use the camera’s motion sensing to trigger SHM, which kind of defeats the purpose of a security camera, so that was a total deal breaker for me. Not to mention, you’re pretty limited in your options with the camera. Basically it will record for 2 minutes if an event is triggered, and that’s the extent of it’s functionality. Live viewing through SHM is nice too.

Blink, however, is fantastic. It’s small, affordable, lightweight, AA battery-powered (which should last 2 years with normal use and you can place it anywhere without worrying about power), integrated extremely well with Smartthings (just not native with SHM), it has motion sensing, their newest camera has night vision, you can adjust the sensitivity of the motion, you can adjust clip length, recorded events are stored in the cloud for free for a period of time, there’s just a host of reasons why it’s a fantastic product. There are 2 cons, lack of native SHM integration, and spotty live viewing in the Smartthings app. Rboy has done a great job with the smartapp, but live viewing is slow and doesn’t always respond, and that’s not really his fault. However, the Blink app couldn’t be better. It’s very quick and user-friendly. I guarantee you I can check on all of my cameras through Blink before anyone else can do it through a SHM native camera. It’s super fast and responsive.

I have two Samsung 6414 and two 6417 which is maximum SmartThing native will allow. These work great from video perspective and night vision. I am using separate motion sense as 2 of mine are actually inside windows pointing out so PIR doesn’t work well through the glass. Also, night vision gives reflection in window. both of these issues would be problem with any camera. Motion sense used to trigger camera recording and alert via SHM. So far I haven’t seen any system that really covers my needs. They need extra hubs, cost way to much, have no ST integration or are easily hackable. Got these for reasonable sale price a few months back and pretty happy with them.