Wi-Fi Video Doorbell - PIR Motion Sensor

I have used other Amcrest video devices in our home. So I was hoping this would integrate with the system I had already setup. After chatting with Amcrest support and searching through the website I was sure that it would. I was not disappointed.The system uses your existing doorbell setup. It requires voltage from your existing doorbell transformer and can be setup to use the existing doorbell chimes if they are installed. If you don't have anything at your door already, you will need to wire something up to get this to work.The system comes with a security/screw driver, door chime kit, mounting hardware, and 2 faceplates. I needed to add an angle to my doorbell so I could see people coming up our walkway and there is an angle kit sold that goes along with this system. I decided to create my own using some wood.PROS:Easy setup. Used existing doorbell wires to make the connection. Hooked up the door chime kit to the existing doorbell chimes, downloaded the Amcrest Smart Home App on the phone and setup the doorbell quickly. I did have to connect to my home network in order to complete the installation and activation.The settings in the Smart Home app allow you to control the motion detection, speaker volume, and video storage among other things. Video storage can be accomplished through an SD card or you can choose to use Amcrest cloud service which comes with a free year of membership. I've been using the SD card and it has worked well for the past couple of months. Other video doorbells require some sort of subscription, this one does not. I have incurred no costs with using this doorbell.Another reason I chose this system was that I could incorporate the camera into Blue Iris or my existing Amcrest Surveillance Pro software. I was easily able to hook this system into the existing software and setup motion and recording schedules. It collects the data and stores it on my PC at home as well or I can get really creative and use my own personal cloud to store videos it captures.The Amcrest Smart Home app is easy enough to use. I was also able to hook the doorbell camera into the existing Amcrest View Pro app already installed oh my phone for use with previous Amcrest cameras we own. But was not able to include the older cameras into the newer Smart home app which I considered a drawback for the Smart Home app.With the latest firmware I have been able to control the amount of motion. Our doorbell faces out to some trees about 10 feet away. By fine tuning the settings, I was able to get motion detection to work for someone coming up to the door and not going off each time the wind blows and the trees move.When first attached, the doorbell did not work with the mechanical chimes. I had tried different settings but the doorbell chimes would not work when the doorbell was pushed. Even though I had mechanical chimes, I had to choose the "digital chimes" option on the Smart Home App to get this working. I got this info from Amcrest support who has been EXTREMELY responsive whenever I have contacted them either by phone or email before or after this purchase.Overall this system has performed well in the months we have owned it.CONS:The Smart Home App does not work with my older Amcrest indoor cameras. I tried hooking up the older cameras a variety of ways but no luck. This is a little annoying. Luckily the older Amcrest software does work with the new video doorbell so I can get everything within one software app. Also, I've had to create multiple logins across Amcrest online in order to get everything (older cameras and doorbell camera) hooked up and running. It would be nice if Amcrest would consolidate all their systems into one package. It was a little confusing getting everything setup and working with all the Amcrest equipment we have. With that said, If you are only looking at the video doorbell, this system is pretty solid and I think a better value then systems that require monthly subscriptions like Ring.It is not possible to view this camera on a web page. I'm not always allowed to have my cell phone in some places I work, and it would be nice to be able to check this camera remotely.I almost knocked off a star because of the issues I encountered and having to use multiple pieces of software to view all my Amcrest products but if this is a standalone purchase, it is definitely a great choice.Amcrest sent me a $10 off coupon to use to purchase this device via . I tried to get Amcrest to match this offer directly from their website, but they couldn't. So I purchased from .

This is a super addition to all of my amcrest camera's. It hooked right up to the doorbell system that I have. I was also able to easily connect it into my blue iris server as just a back up. The camera has worked with no problems and is very responsive. I do like when the door bell is hit and you open the notification on your phone it brings up a simple look almost like a phone. The build quality is awesome as usual. The mounding plate is made out of metal and just makes the mounting solid.

The doorbell itself feels well made, good plastic, two plates gray and black are great addition, I would preferred it those were kind of metal but it fit well on the doorbell and I would admit it has a great look compare to my Ring.Compare to RING DOORBELL 1 that quality was really bad, Amcrest doorbell is the best, the quality of picture/camera features, motion detection is very responsive, recording option is great.Wiring to 16v works fine, connectivity is great since I have over 35 devices on 50MBPS internet and still work flawless. Blue iris is nice, SD card option I love it and free cloud, main reason why i switched to Amcrest all my camera system is Amcrest brand. New SD card have new file type that replace fat32 exfat you can format with another software you can youtube for instruction {how to format micro sd card to fat 32 from exfat} and it works fine and end the people complains, mine is 64GB works fine.Connection and set up was easy with new amcrest home app as soon as I installed it worked. I love blue iris on the push button.The camera itself it is a superion quality 1080P compare to ring Amcrest has greater quality since Ring has kind of fisheye lens low quality I would say horrible, my Ring doorbell had issues with connectivity didn’t start or connect when I wanted it was battery version since I was using it on battery. With Amcrest no issues what so ever.Talk and listen feature are great load enough to hear and talk mic is great, doorbell tones are amazing, compare to Ring which I couldn’t hear people and the speaker was very low, Amcrest is loud and clear great job on that.Integration with ALEXA works fine it open the camera but you need to add the option on the skill to notify for motion detection, this is what i miss from RING so it can announce in alexa devices.I hope you create a plug chime with wireless to avoid mechanical or digital chime this is very important.Overall using this for over a week, amazed of this product, made my old battery version RING retire, great features, SD card, free 1 year cloud, but SD was the main thing i had to remove RING so now everything is saved in the card, better picture quality, talk and listen is loud and clear, RING speaker was very low people couldn't hear me. Very responsive both motion detection and talk and listen option. Great app and instant notification on my android phone.If you have problem with installation you can check the manual on the box or watch amcrest youtube videos for assistance or you can call customer service. Well done Amcrest. This doorbell works great with both old and new smart home amcrest app.This is one of the best amcrest devices i have so far. Really impressed and i would recommend it to anyone.

This thing was awesome and easy to set up and use! Would recommend to others.

[Edits/updates: I've called out a couple improvements to my original review where applicable, all in a positive "it's been added via firmware/software update" that became available about 4 months after I originally bought this]Tl;Dr – a fully featured doorbell camera providing quick notifications and interactions within a solid mobile app, and does NOT require a subscription to fully utilize it. A cloud subscription is optional, and in fact the first year (as of this writing) is free, but you do have the options of using local device storage via SD card, Blue Iris/Amcrest NVR/Synology integration (among others). There are some deficiencies for Amcrest’s first effort for this device, although none that I can think of that couldn’t be eventually fixed via a firmware and software update [see my "Edits" below for what has changed for the better].Long Review: I purchased this Amcrest Doorbell camera because honestly I’ve been so impressed with the other outdoor cameras I’ve purchased from them on a price/performance/flexibility standpoint, I couldn’t wait to see what they could do with a Doorbell camera. Overall, this device hits a lot of great points that I’ll get into (the #1 benefit is NOT requiring a monthly subscription to fully use the device), but it is in a very crowded market right now between ’s Ring and Google’s Nest that they’ll need to differentiate themselves a bit more. Fortunately, a lot of deficiencies I see can likely be fixed with software and/or firmware updates to make it work better.Some of its great qualities, and some of my quibbles:• It has a nice looking 1080p picture and is quick to send notifications to the app when motion is seen and/or when someone rings the doorbell (I’m getting the notification and seeing the person as they are approaching my door). The picture is wide in the horizontal vs. vertical, so depending on your porch, it may or may not see packages placed near the door. You will, however, get quick notifications that someone is walking up to place it (or run off with it if that’s the case).• Install is easy, it works with about a dozen different chime manufacturers (full chime compatibility is on their website) out-of-the-box. The included “Chime kit” attaches to your existing door chime (mechanical or digital), and from my experience it requires at least a 24v/20VA transformer to operate. I wish it came with a wedge, or at least the option to buy a wedge accessory, as for where I had to mount my unit, its very close to my porch wall and I had fabricate a wedge from some scrap wood I had to mount it to pick up their view I desired.• It comes with two faceplates (silver and black) and they are easy to replace and look nice. The problem is that they may be too easy to replace – they are not secured along with the doorbell after you mount it with the “security screw”, and a person could simply pop the faceplate for access to the SD card and reset button on the doorbell if they wanted to. One could argue that a thief would likely tear the entire doorbell off the wall if they wanted to instead of trying to pop the faceplate, but I’d still rather have the faceplate secured with the doorbell when you’re doing the final mounting of the device.• I use Blue Iris to monitor my existing cameras and set up deeper options around recording schedules, motion zones, Sentry AI alerts for human detection, etc. and Blue Iris has no problems adding this doorbell camera to the mix (as a generic camera with audio). I do wish I had the option to choose between the high-def stream vs. the standard-def stream as it appears only the standard def stream is what BI picks up.• The Amcrest Smart Home app is the only way to configure this camera. This is a big difference between this camera and others that they sell. Other cameras are configurable via a web browser plug-in that while they have a steep learning curve to figure out, actually provide really deep options in how the cameras operate. Since this is a doorbell camera, I can see Amcrest desiring to keep the app and configuration as simple as possible, and it is a nice app – probably the best Amcrest has written – but I would like to get to deeper settings that I do with my other cameras. Settings like: forcing IR mode based on a schedule, separate accounts to view the stream, tailoring the video streams with finer-tuned settings regarding brightness, contract, noise reduction, etc [Edit: this functionality was added in a later firmware update]. All of that is NOT possible today with this doorbell camera. Amcrest informed me (after a talk with their support and marketing) that those software improvements like HDR and deeper customizations are coming in an update. (.5 star deduction here) [Edit: And they did in the firmware update, as I mention above]• The Amcrest Smart Home app could be improved in other areas, especially around notifications. It would be nice if the notification on my pho...