JLM Spy Gear Blog |

SleuthGear products, manufactured by KJB Security Products of Atlanta, GA, released their new line of “HVR” (Hidden Video Recorder) “Nanny Cams”.  Covert video recording on the HVR unit is triggered by motion detection and the footage, saved as a standard .AVI file, is stored on an SD card tucked safely away inside the unit, completely invisible from the outside of the unit.  HVR systems come fully equipped with either black and white low light (rated at .0001 lux – it will see in complete darkness) camera, or, for about $100 more, “dual” cameras – Color 480 LOR CCD .05 lux camera by day, auto-switching to Black & White 480 LOR CCD low light .0001 lux camera during low-light situations.

The cameras are built into common, every day items that you simply hide in plain sight. As of this writing, HVR cams are available in the following models:

- Cube Clock

- Air Purifier

- Large Air Purifier

- Wall Clock

- DVD Player

- Mantle Clock

- iPod Docking Station

- Wall Mounted Mirror (Available in color/BW low light dual cam only)

- Outlet Mounted Air Filter (Available in color/BW low light dual cam only)

More are being developed, and engineers are planning full high definition (HD) resolution (1080×720) in future models.

Having become increasingly more affordable, for around $500-600 you can “arm” any room of your home or business with one of these all-in-one video surveillance systems. 

All new HVR units now have greater resolution, greater motion detection, and more memory capacity.

HVR cameras now have D1 720×480 (DVD quality) resolution, which can be lowered to 320×240 if the user desires to capture more footage in their memory.  The user can also specify the frame rate – 1, 2, 3, 5, 15, or 30 frames per second (FPS).  The motion detection now uses 150 grids, and the user can make the system ignore any of the boxes in the grid.  This is useful if, for example, you have a camera facing the lobby of a business and the corner of the video catches traffic driving by. As for memory capacity, HVR units now support up to a 16GB high-capacity secure digital (HCSD) card, and come with a 2GB card.

HVR units feature three user-selectable recording modes – continuous, overwrite, or scheduled.  Continuous recording is just that.  The unit records video 24/7.  Overwrite mode puts the unit in “set it and forget it” mode.  Video clips are recorded and when the SD card is full, subsequent video files recorded overwrite old files, starting with the oldest.  Schedule mode allows the user to schedule times of day that the unit will record video footage.

To play back footage, the SD card can be removed and displayed on the user’s computer using an SD card reader (If the user’s computer is not equipped with an SD card reader, HVR units have one included).

HVR units also allow the user to embed a date/time stamp on the footage, and allow the user to decide where on the screen the date/time stamp is located.

HVR units are firmware upgradeable (via SD card) and have an operating temperature of 32 to 122°F (0 to 50°C).  All units include a 2GB SD card, SD card reader, IR remote control, RCA video cables, and user’s manual.

For professional quality covert video surveillance that is affordable, protect your home or business with KJB Security’s new line of SleuthGear HVR recording units.  SleuthGear – “The Original Nanny Cam”.

By Jeff Monson

For easy set up of your home or business surveillance system, you can’t beat the convenience of a wireless hidden camera system.  Having no wires visible adds to the covertness, and you save the hassle of running wires through walls, over ceilings, and under floors.  A wireless camera consists of a camera with a transmitter and a separate receiver which attaches to your TV for real time monitoring or a recording device, be it a digital video recorder (DVR) or video cassette recorder (VCR). There are also models that, rather than having a transmitter and receiver, have a DVR built in, and usually records the covert video to a secure digital (SD) card (some models use micro SD). 

To make it ‘hidden’, the camera is built into an existing everyday object that you would usually see in your home or business. Some popular items are wall clocks, alarm clocks, digital picture frames, lamps, plants, teddy bears, air purifiers and more.  A wireless camera can be tailored to fit into your home or business, and since it looks natural being plugged in the wall there is no need to disguise the power cord.

Typical applications:

-          “Nanny cameras” are becoming more and more popular in helping parents.  You can keep an “eye” on your children while you’re away and they are under the care of a nanny or baby sitter. Now, if your child is injured you’ll know exactly what happened, and you’ll see exactly how your nanny treats your children!

-          Is the cash register coming up short lately?  Install a covert camera and find out what’s really going on!

-          Going on a weeklong cruise and leaving the teenagers at home?  Find out how they treated your home while you were away.

-          Keep an eye on the repair man doing work in your home.

-          Make sure your housekeeper is really doing her job.

-          Keep an eye on your pets.

-          Possibilities are endless. 

The bottom line is that a quality wireless hidden camera is going to show you what the REAL story is when you are away.

Benefits of a wireless hidden camera system:

-          Portability.  It can be moved easily. You can even take it on vacation!  Watch your children during the day and watch your front door at night. Move the receiver and watch from any room in the house!

-          Evidence.  A camera lens doesn’t lie!  Most of the laws dealing with video recording privacy issues tend to allow covert recording and monitoring of video activity under most circumstances without notification of any of the parties involved.  The footage is also admissible as evidence in a court of law in most cases.  Did you know that the arrest rate for burglaries is 15%?  Help raise that statistic.

Always check your local laws before purchasing and using covert video equipment.

For more information, check out our line of SecureShot and SleuthGear wireless cameras.