Smart home security brand Blink is rolling out a new feature called Moments, which will automatically combine clips from multiple cameras into a single stream.
According to the company, their “customers have an average of three cameras per household,” recording hundreds of hours of footage. As one can imagine, sifting through all that footage can be very time-consuming, so Moments aims to get rid of all the busywork by condensing everything down,
Blink states the feature “works with all current and prior generations of [their] battery-powered and plug-in devices.” The footage it collects can be downloaded onto a smartphone and then shared with others via the Blink app. Each video will have its timeline consisting of multiple thumbnail images and a time frame stringed together. The company states the thumbnails indicate where each clip starts.
To watch a Moment, you’ll have to first tap the Clips tab at the bottom navigation bar, then from the Clip List, you’ll select the video you want to watch. The video player has its own bar that you can slide through if you want to see a certain point. Pressing and holding a section opens a Moment Details window where you can view information about a clip. It contains info on which camera was used as well as the type of event being seen.
Restrictions
There are a few criteria users must meet before utilizing Moments. They’ll need an active Blink Subscription Plus Plan which is $10 USD/$15 CAD/£8 a month. In order for the app to pull together footage automatically, you must own at least two cameras on your home system. Additionally, TheVerge was able to confirm you don’t need a Sync Module hub.
Users also need two or more recorded “motion clips or saved live view” available. What’s more, a piece of camera footage must have been shot “within 45 seconds of the start time of the last recorded clip.” They can’t be too far apart. Moments are enabled by default, although they can be turned off at any time in the Clip List.
It is possible to throw out specific portions of a video. Blink says that if you go to the Edit section of Clip List, you can delete one of the recordings. They do, however, recommend against this.
Deleting a piece can mess with a Moment’s structure. “To keep the structure intact,” the company suggests, ensuring at least two clips “start within 45 seconds of each other.”
The update is slowly being distributed to all eligible customers, and you will need the latest version of the Blink smartphone app to use it. Upon installation, an introductory guide will teach you how to use Moments. Keep in mind the feature is in a beta state, so it may not work as well as intended.
Be sure to check out TechRadar’s list of the best home security camera for 2024.