Y-cam Home Monitor HD

Home security cameras normally have a few pitfalls: they can be difficult to set up, have poor video quality or ask you to pay extra for motion-sensing and video recording services. But the Home Monitor HD – a new version of our favorite security camera of 2013– isn’t like that. This is an amazingly easy-to-use security camera with excellent video quality. What’s more, once you’ve paid for the camera you don’t need to subscribe to any extra services.

The Home Monitor HD – a new version of our favorite security camera of 2013.

We got the camera working in a matter of minutes thanks to the clearly written instructions. You’ll need to connect it to your router via Ethernet and then visit the Home Monitor website on a computer to link the camera to your Wi-Fi network. Once it’s linked, you can unplug the camera from the router and position it where you want. There’s no battery in the HomeMonitor, so it needs to be within reach of a mains plug, but the 3m power cable is more than long enough for this not to be a problem. However, it can only be used indoors as it isn’t weatherproof. The HomeMonitor automatically records video when it detects motion, and this worked brilliantly in our tests. During the initial setup on the HomeMonitor website, we were asked to select a specific part of the camera’s view – such as a doorway – as a motion-capture area. It is also possible to add a second motion-capture area, adjust the sensitivity and set specific times of day and days of the week when it should be turned on. We configured it to only turn on during daytime on weekdays when nobody was home and to only alert us when motion was detected by our front and kitchen doors. When we staged a burglary, we got an email alert showing a picture of our attempted break-in and a link to watch footage of the incident.

You can monitor the camera from the website or use the free apps for Android, Windows Phone 8, iOS and Roku.

Unlike some other home-security cameras – such as the Netgear VueZone – motion detection, alerts and video recording are included free of charge. You get unlimited video recordings, which are stored online for seven days before being automatically deleted. If you need to keep any videos for longer, you can easily download them to your computer or optionally subscribe to the Pro service for $49.76 per year which stores recordings for 30 days.

The 720p HD footage was crisp and clear – the best we have seen from a security camera. Details such as people’s faces were easy to pick out even in dimly lit rooms. The night-vision mode is also excellent, producing clear footage at night. The HomeMonitor also has a microphone so all videos come with sound – a handy extra.

You can monitor the camera from the website or use the free apps for Android, Windows Phone 8, iOS and Roku. The apps include a live video feed from the camera and access to all of its recorded footage. The standard-definition HomeMonitor security camera was the best we’d seen and this upgrade to HD makes it even better – a bargain at $243.81.

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