Does Scout Offer 24/7 Recording? Understanding Your Camera's Features
If you're new to the Scout security ecosystem, you might be looking for the setting that enables continuous 24/7 video recording. However, you won't find one. Scout cameras, like many modern smart security cameras, are specifically designed for event-based recording, not continuous recording.
This article explains why Scout uses this method, what the benefits are, and how you can get the most out of your camera's motion-activated recording features.
## What is Event-Based Recording?
Instead of recording everything, 24 hours a day, a Scout camera "wakes up" and begins recording a video clip only when its sensors detect motion. Once the motion stops, the camera finishes recording the clip and goes back into a low-power monitoring state.
Here’s the typical sequence of events:
- Motion Detected: The camera's passive infrared (PIR) sensor or image analysis detects movement within its field of view.
- Recording Starts: The camera immediately begins recording video and audio.
- Alert Sent: A signal is sent through your Wi-Fi to Scout's servers, which then pushes a notification to your smartphone.
- Clip Saved: The video clip is securely uploaded and stored in the cloud, where you can view, download, or share it from the Scout app.
## The Advantages of Not Recording 24/7
While the idea of a continuous, uninterrupted video feed might seem appealing, the event-based model offers several significant practical advantages.
### 1. Greatly Extended Battery Life
For wireless, battery-powered cameras, continuous recording is not feasible. The power drain from the camera, processor, and Wi-Fi radio would deplete the battery in a matter of hours, not weeks or months. By only recording when necessary, Scout's wireless cameras can last for extended periods on a single charge.
### 2. Relevant, Actionable Alerts
Event-based recording is designed to draw your attention to the moments that matter. Instead of you having to manually scrub through hours of footage to find out when a package was delivered, the system isolates that specific event for you and sends you a direct link to the clip. This saves an enormous amount of time and makes your security system much more user-friendly.
### 3. Efficient Use of Cloud Storage and Bandwidth
Uploading and storing 24/7 high-definition video is incredibly data-intensive. It would strain your home internet's upload bandwidth and require costly, massive cloud storage plans. The event-based model uses a fraction of the data, which keeps the service affordable and running smoothly.
## How to Maximise the Effectiveness of Your Scout Camera
Since you can't rely on 24/7 recording, it's important to optimise your camera's settings to ensure it captures all the events you care about.
### Fine-Tune Motion Sensitivity
- In the Scout app, navigate to your camera's settings and find the "Motion Sensitivity" control.
- If you feel the camera is missing events, increase the sensitivity.
- If you are getting too many false alerts from things like swaying trees or shadows, decrease the sensitivity.
### Configure Activity Zones
- Use the "Activity Zones" feature to tell your camera exactly where to look for motion.
- Draw zones around important areas like your driveway, front path, or garden gate.
- Exclude high-traffic areas, like a public footpath or a busy road, to dramatically reduce the number of irrelevant recordings and notifications.
### Ensure Optimal Placement
- Position your camera so that it has a clear, unobstructed view of the area you want to monitor.
- Avoid pointing the camera through a window, as the glass can cause glare and interfere with the motion sensor's ability to detect movement accurately.
By understanding that your Scout camera is a smart, event-focused device rather than a traditional CCTV system, you can better leverage its features to create an efficient and effective home security setup.