The Roku Indoor Camera 2-Pack puts two wired 1080p security cameras in your home for watching the kids, keeping tabs on the dog, or catching a package thief in the act. Roku is better known for streaming boxes, but the smart home division has been rolling out cameras and doorbells for a couple of years now. The main reason to pick this over a Wyze or Blink setup is that the live feed plays right on a Roku TV or any Roku player when you press a button on the remote, so you don’t have to grab your phone every time you want to check a room.
Quick and effective home security for less
The Roku Camera records in 1080p HD and features color night vision. Unlike many other budget cameras that feature a grainy, green-tinted night mode, Roku incorporated a low-light amplifier into this model. This allows it to capture actual colors even after the sun goes down. WDR (Wide Dynamic Range) improves contrast between bright and dim areas of the image. For example, if a lot of light is coming in from a sunny window but a small area of dimness remains in the image, the WDR will attempt to equalize the contrast.
The lens on this camera covers 130 degrees. If mounted in one of the four corners of a typical-sized room, this will provide video coverage of almost the entire space. Wi-Fi 6 is new to the latest Roku Camera model, so you don’t have to worry as much about it, and it helps reduce congestion on your home network. Wi-Fi 6 also supports stronger signals in hard-to-reach areas, such as the upper floors of multi-story homes.
Motion and Sound Detection sends alert messages within seconds of detecting movement. Customizable detection zones may be defined using the mobile app. This capability prevents false alerts from being sent continuously due to items such as curtains waving and ceiling fans oscillating. The camera has two-way audio. So, you can use it to tell children to stop climbing on furniture, to talk to your pet, or to scare away an unwanted person attempting to steal packages left outside. A loud alarm can also be activated remotely via the app for situations where a verbal warning will not suffice.
There is one big catch. Smart detection for people, packages, pets, and cars, plus 14 days of cloud recording, all require a Roku Smart Home subscription. That costs 4 dollars a month per camera or 10 dollars a month for your whole fleet of cameras. Without paying, you still get live video, basic motion alerts, two-way audio, and a microSD slot for local recording, but the smart filtering and cloud storage are locked.
At 15 bucks per camera, this is cheaper than one of pretty much anything Ring, Nest, or Arlo sells. If you already have a Roku TV, the ability to pull up a live feed with your remote is the kind of feature that starts to feel essential about a week after you set it up.