Tell HN: Come On, Blink, You Can Be Better
I bought a couple of Blink cameras and a doorbell and installed them around our house for security. I tried the subscription during the free trial, but decided not to continue. Eventually, I bought an SD card and started recording locally instead.
But here’s my problem: Blink cameras detect motion and then record the next few seconds after sensing any motion. They don’t offer continuous recording. I understand that these cameras are battery-powered, so constant recording would quickly drain the battery. That makes sense.
But I’m willing to use a power cable instead of batteries. Even then, Blink doesn’t allow continuous recording.
I don’t understand why.
The camera is constantly monitoring the view through its lens to detect motion. If it is already processing what the camera sees, why can’t it simply record the video continuously? Why can’t it perform this seemingly simple task?
Come on, Blink. You can be better than this.
you are an outlier - most Blink users use cloud, most Blink users do not insert SD cards, most Blink users power cameras by batteries. Those users have no use for continuous recording.
Could Blink implement it? they sure could. Would the company benefit from this? I am not sure. On the upside, a very small fraction would be happy. On the downside, this is more code to maintain. Plus, regular users who turn this option without understanding what it does will complain (to support and forums) about battery life.
This is where the open-source firmware can be handy BTW.