The development of spy cameras

Posted by ei2Aevai on December 8th, 2020

The Different Types of Hidden Spy Camera Systems

In the ten years we have been selling surveillance equipment, vehicle tracking equipment and spy cameras, we have seen a dramatic development in technology combined with a marked drop in price everywhere. The most significant development we have witnessed is that of hidden spy cameras. In less than a decade, the "nanny-cam" has gone from being a clumsy piece of less than reliable equipment to a sneaky electronic work of art. Let us discuss the evolution of spy cameras, from which there were only a few short years ago, to where they are now.

Transmitter to VCR receiver

The original nanny cam we produced and sold was our most popular spy camera system in the better half of the decade, starting in 2000. The Cube Clock Radio model surpassed all other variations of this concept combined. Although we disguised spy cameras in plants, teddy bears, books, lamps, exit signs, and countless other things, watch radio accounted for more than ninety percent of our total sales of spy cameras.

State of the art at the time, this generation of spy camera was still a bit cumbersome. The "guts" of the clock radio contained two main components; a small pinhole spy camcorder and a wireless transmitter. When a customer purchased a nanny cam system from us or any other online spy store, they received more than just a clock radio ready for recording. Along with the watch radio itself, which contained the camera and transmitter, they were also equipped with a receiver, A / V cables spy cam an adapter to power the four-channel receiver.

The difficult part came when it was time to actually set up the spy camera system. The delivered receiver had to be connected either to a monitor somewhere nearby or to a VCR if the customer wanted to record the events that occurred when the nanny comb was engaged. This required the user to place a VCR somewhere in the house within 100 feet of the camera's location in another room or on another floor completely. The supplied receiver was then connected to the VCR and the user hit the "record" button. Showtime ... yes, not exactly. A standard VCR can only record up to approx. eight hours, which creates a problem.

Let’s say a couple wants to keep an eye on the nanny during the day when they are at work. Before leaving the house in the morning, they plug in the nanny's spy camera and turn on the VCR to start recording. When they arrive home at the end of the day, if they want to review the day's activities, they have to fast forward through eight hours of videotape and often watch nothing. At the time, this was the only means available to control the nanny, babysitter, or caregiver. This daily process was tedious at best. Fortunately, technology developed rapidly.

Motion activation

The concept of motion activation was a major breakthrough in the spy camera industry. Although the technology has been around for decades, it was not until the mid-2000s that it became available (and affordable) to everyday consumers. The customer no longer had to scroll through countless hours of blank VHS tapes to find out that nothing eventful was captured that day. Now, with a motion-activated spy camera, you only recorded when there was activity in the room. If nothing happened, there was no recording. As a result, the user may only need to review 30 or 60 minutes of tape instead of eight hours of mostly static recording.

Another technology that complimented the spy camera's motion activation feature was the growing popularity of the DVR, which has now almost completely replaced the VCR. With a DVR, there was no tape involved as everything was now recorded digitally, frame by frame. The advent of motion activation combined with the convenience of DVR made spy camera users very happy. When it looked like things could not be improved much more, the technology improved the spy camera again.