I just purchased 3 V4 Cams. I must be missing something because I can’t seem to get them to work as desired. Ideally I’d like them to pick up baby sounds in the rooms where located.
First problem: If display device (phone) is anywhere within 15’ of the camera, the feedback loop is horrible.
Second problem: The speaker. Even if the speaker icon on the Live View display is off, there is still a low hissing noise all the time, and if a noise is recorded by the mic, it plays on the speaker whether it is on or off. Precisely what I don’t want when monitoring a sleeping baby.
Third problem: No matter what combination of switches I select for sound detection and recording, I never get an event triggered.
Fourth problem: When trying the various settings for sound events and recording preferences, every time I return to Live View, the mic is turned off again. There should be a way to have it default on, especially if I want it to record events when I’m not in Live View. This all works for Motion Detection. Why not sound?
It seems there is so much wrong here that it must be me. Any help appreciated.
You don’t need to have the microphone or speaker enabled for sound detections to work (in fact I wonder if that would actually prevent them from working). Actually I don’t think mine will trigger an event at all if I’m watching live stream, but not positive.
Yes having the audio coming through your phone and then the phone near the camera will cause feedback, that’s normal/expected. Turning the volume down on your phone will reduce the distance it happens at.
As far as hissing through the speaker, that would be caused by having the microphone on the live view enabled, not the speaker. Make sure the microphone icon is toggled off, it should be silent in that case (at least mine are, but they aren’t v4s). The icons on your phone are for the speaker and mic on your phone, so the mic means use your phone’s mic to talk, the speaker means use your phone’s speaker to listen.
Keep in mind if you don’t have cam plus/cam unlimited, you can only have an event ever 5 minutes. I’ve never tried having both motion and sound enabled but I’d guess if you have motion, it will be 5 mins before you can have a sound event.
I’ve never quite figured out the logic of the speaker being enabled when you go back to the live view. It seems like it sticks sometimes but not others. I suspect if you listen to a second camera (either live or recorded) it turns off the first one and you have to turn it back on next time. This is what happens in cam groups, you can only have one playing sound at a time.
If I turn on the speaker icon on a cam, exit and go back in, it is usually still on, but then it is off on other cams.
“The icons on your phone are for the speaker and mic on your phone, so the mic means use your phone’s mic to talk, the speaker means use your phone’s speaker to listen.”
That part was most helpful. My thinking of what those buttons do was 180 degrees off and now that I see that, my perceived issues make perfect sense,
No problem, do sound notifications/detections work now if you leave the microphone/speaker off?
With some cameras, people try to use the speaker and mic at the same time (to both talk and listen) and find it creates a lot of echo/feedback, since typically devices like these don’t have the necessary DSP in them to allow that to work right. Not sure if the v4 has improved that, but in case you try to do that and find it does the same, you just have to alternate between speaker and mic if you want to have a “conversation” via the camera. Of course in your scenario (baby monitor of sorts) that probably isn’t needed anyway.