Record video and audio

Cameras
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I have conversations with disgruntled employees that I need to record video and audio. Which product would be best for indoor use that would constantly record and is searchable?

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Welcome to the community @jhutcheson30650

Can you expand on Searchable, what were you thinking with this.

As for a product, I would consider the Cam V3 with an SD Card for continuous recording and the Pan Cam v2 with an SD Card for continuous. If you need to filter by person or all motion, I would add Cam Plus into the mix as well. Without Cam Plus, the Online recordings will only be 12 seconds long and in either case, the online recordings are kept for 14 days.

The SD Card allows for you to peruse the card via the app or take it out and then review it in a computer.

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Thanks for the information.

I am a current Wyze customer and use cameras at my home. The cam V3 with an SD card is what I use and it works great.

Will it pick up good audio?

If you recommend it, I will use the same setup at work.

Joe

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I am a community member as you so I can only let you know my experience. I have heard that the V2 has a better mic as it is indoor only. I have both and cant hear a huge difference. The V2 may be a bit better at distance.

@carverofchoice @R.Good , do you have any opinion on this?

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My first suggestion would be to consult with your HR department before recording any employee conversations, if you have not already done so.

From my experience, the V2 mic is better, assuming this because it is NOT IP65 (weather resistant) where there is no waterproofing around the mic.

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Welcome! You’re in good hands with these guys, Joe. I’m sometimes tempted to make up problems just to watch them work! :grin:

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Good point about HR, recording is illegal in some states without prior consent or everyone knowing.

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Thanks. I have consulted with them and they have given me the green light for this technology use. It will be inside and out of the weather so I want the best recording possible.

Joe

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I like V3’s for better video capture, and V2’s when I need the best audio capture.
With V2’s I can hear recorded audio more clearly and farther away and when it is quieter. If a sound is fairly loud then you might not tell a big difference between the V3 and V2 sometimes, but for the quieter noises or farther away noises you can tell a difference that the V2 is more sensitive that way. So for wanting to record conversations it could be best overall to use V2’s. While “disgruntled” employees may be prone to speak loudly while angry, maybe a V3 is sufficient, but some people get more quiet when they are angry and you will want to more clearly record those people too, especially since they tend to say the things you most want to record when they are quieter.

While this is fairly intuitive, I would also recommend facing the camera as directly toward their mouth as possible. If you have the camera behind them, the microphone will be prone to miss more of the softer speaking, whereas the closer and more direct line of sound it has, the easier it will pick things up clearly for you, also, if for some reason the audio isn’t completely clear, the lip movement should help for someone to prove what they were saying as a secondary backup (for those who know how to read lips and could testify that’s indeed what was said).
I think a V2 is better than a Cam Pan for this purpose specifically because it will force you to keep the camera stable and still. If you have a pan camera it will tempt you to allow motion tracking which will both be a distraction, and during the movement, sometimes the frames are temporarily blurry. For your use case, I definitely would use a V2. That’s what I currently have in my Office, despite having pretty much every other model of cam Wyze has made (besides the V1), and several from other companies. That’s what gets my vote :+1: BUT, most of them should be fine and work for your purposes even if you choose a different model.