Panasonic’s smart cam shoots future events

Aren’t we supposed to be scared of putting cameras in our homes?

Have you been reading 1984 again? In any case, yes, you should keep an eye on the connected kit in your home to make sure no-one’s hacked your kettle or done a disco mod on your Hue bulbs. Thankfully, this little spotter has a delightfully old-school solution: a lens cover. Or, rather, a privacy cover that slides up to cover the camera and microphone when you want to be sure that it’s off.

So it’s a wireless camera with a plastic eye-patch. Show me something scintillating!

Be cool. See, the KX-HNC800EW might be a mouthful, but it’s got some clever tricks inside that make it an intelligent pick for your smart home. For one thing, it’ll capture action two seconds before it starts, so you’ll never miss that crucial mugshot – or the moment Mr Tibbles sends that treasured vase a-tumbling.

How does it do that?

We can only assume that there’s a constantly rolling video buffer, which actually saves when the movement sensor lights up – giving you the jump on any speedy face-hiders and doing away with trigger lag. The cam takes microSD cards, so any footage recorded can be slung over to a laptop or the TV in a jiffy – and, provided you’ve stuck a 128GB card inside, it’ll be able to record 145 hours of video in Full HD at 30fps.

I thought you said it was smart? MicroSD is a bit low-tech.

You can also hook the security camera up to Panasonic’s Smart Home System, which includes things such as glass break sensors, for house-wide monitoring. With your smartphone paired up you’ll be able to enjoy two-way communication through the camera, as well as push notifications when something untoward happens.

I’ve got a pretty big room, though.

Not to worry: the KX-HNC800EW’s lens has a 142-degree field of view – which should be plenty enough to capture most of the important goings-on. For comparison, the Netatmo Welcome records through 100-degrees. There’s no confirmed price or launch date, but the new-for-2017 KX-HNC800EW is expected to hit shelves in the next few months.