Anybody using cams that record audio?

salsaverde

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Looking for pros and cons on using these.
 

holiday

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I've got some cameras that has a mic built in and they are great!
For those cameras without mic, you can enable audio channel from another camera with a mic on BI.. that's a great feature so all videos have sound!

In fact, in my opinion, all cameras should have a mic built in!
 

Jessie.slimer

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If it is for your private residence and it is not capable of recording anyone outside of your property line, audio recording SHOULD be legal in most states from what I have seen.

If these cameras are installed in a public place or workplace, many states have laws that require consent to audio recording by anyone other than law enforcement.
 

salsaverde

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I live in Massachusetts, which is a one-party state.

For cameras, I can record my property, and if I pick up part of the neighbors yard then it's not a problem. I can't aim it in their window or anything like that. But not a problem, if it is centered on my land and especially if it can be seen from a public way. You are allowed to record anything visible from the public way.

For sound recording you need consent. It is my understanding, if you are in public place you have no expectation of privacy and audio of you can be recorded. E.g. news on location. I'm wondering if their expectation of privacy holds (for audio purposes) if you can be heard from my residence or from a public way. I am wondering if the same standard for video can be used for audio. I can hear my neighbors when they are outside and I am also outside. I think i should be able to record audio on my property even if I pick up conversation from the neighbors who are also outside.

Anyone have any insight into this?
 

biggen

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What are you worried about? Every doorbell camera out there records audio and I see them on TV or YouTube all the time. You can always strip the audio out of the recording if you needed to turn it into authorities if you are that concerned. Myself, I've handed over footage with audio and video to the police before in my commercial establishment. I've never had any issues from that. Cops are always like "Damn that looks great!".
 

wittaj

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Classic case of the laws not being updated based on current situations. Many of those laws were on the books long before these types of cameras and especially the consumer grade cameras became a mainstay.

if there were an issue with it, one would hope the police would not be partnering with Ring and others to allow folks to be able to distribute their audio and video to them...If it were a big issue in your jurisdiction, I would hope they would not ask for it and jeopardize their case if a defense attorney could use it to make a claim to dismiss the case based on illegally obtained recordings....but we do see that happen where they say the police illegally obtained information, searched, etc...



We can let the attorney members here indicate if any of this type of footage has ever been tossed out based on a defendant's attorney claiming it was illegally recorded....
 
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looney2ns

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Police aren't lawyers, just because the Popo accepts audio, it doesn't mean it's legal in your jurisdiction.
Consult with an attorney in your jurisdiction.

That said, my cams all record audio.
 

handinpalm

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I agree with everyone. All cameras record audio, except the PTZ, which has external audio ports. I don't know the laws about this in my area, and really don't give a crap.
 

Crows

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All my cams bar-1 have audio , with audio I hear a vehicle pulling into our street long before I can see it .
 

wittaj

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All my cams bar-1 have audio , with audio I hear a vehicle pulling into our street long before I can see it .
And with proper tuning with these cams and/or within BI of triggers based on sound, if you live out in an area where the sound would be heard before the camera would see something, you have an early warning system! Or a spotter cam for a PTZ based on sound.
 

Mark_M

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Currently none of my cameras capture audio because none have a mic. I have an external mic and amp but haven't wired it in.
Soon (5 months after getting it lol) I'll install the small PTZ Andy sells. That has a mic built in.

Although this being a PTZ, I don't expect decent audio when moving the camera.
 

salsaverde

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This is great info. My two existing IPC-HDW2231R-ZS cameras do not have sound. Once they are up, I'll start looking at getting other cameras that have a mic. I'll then swap out those cameras with audio enabled cameras and move those to some less critical areas, like monitoring my shed and the side of my garage.
 
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