One of our favorite components of the Vivint Smart Home system, the Doorbell Camera, gets a major upgrade with the Vivint Doorbell Camera Pro ($249). This version maintains the sleek aesthetic of the original, but is equipped with a more powerful HDR camera that provides an ultra-wide field of view so you can see your entire doorstep. It also takes advantage of Vivint’s Smart Sentry analytics technology that detects packages and will sound an alarm to let porch pirates know they’ve been spotted. The camera delivered outstanding image quality in testing and worked well with other installed Vivint devices. If you’re not a Vivint user and are looking for a video doorbell you can install yourself, check out our Editors’ Choice, the RemoBell S.
Design and Features
Measuring 4.6 by 1.5 by 1.3 inches (HWD), the Doorbell Camera Pro is just a hair bigger than the original (4.5 by 1.5 by 1.0 inches), but is more streamlined than the Arlo Video Doorbell (5.0 by 1.7 by 1.0 inches). It has a white housing and a glossy black face that contains a doorbell button, a microphone, and the camera. A 65dB speaker is positioned at the bottom of the enclosure. The button is surrounded by an LED ring that glows white normally and will flash red when Vivint’s Smart Sentry technology detects someone while a package is present (more on this later).
The doorbell uses an HDR camera with a 1,664-by-1,664-pixel video resolution and a 180-degree field of view. It records at 1080p and has a 1:1 aspect ratio so you can view your entire doorstep area rather than just a chest-up view of whomever is at the door. This allows you to see if any packages have been delivered or if anybody is trying to hide out of sight of the camera. A pair of infrared LEDs provide up to 10 feet of night vision, and a dual-band Wi-Fi radio connects the device to the hub. The camera has a 3X optical zoom and a 10X digital zoom that you can use by swiping and pinching the image on your phone.
As with the original, the Doorbell Camera Pro works with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant voice commands that allow you to stream video from the camera to a compatible smart display. It also works with other installed Vivint Smart Home devices including door locks, thermostats, cameras, and motion sensors. However, it doesn’t support IFTTT applets.
The doorbell will send an alert to your phone and begin recording when the button has been pressed and whenever it detects a person or a package. When a package is delivered, the Smart Sentry sends a push alert informing you of the delivery. Tap the alert to view a live stream. At the top of the video screen is a button to turn Deter monitoring on or off. When Smart Sentry Deter is enabled, you’ll receive alerts when somebody approaches your doorstep, the LED will flash red, and the speaker will emit a tone to let would-be package thieves know that they are on camera. You can have Deter remain active for 15 minutes or between 1, 3, 6, and 12 hours, or you can leave it on until you decide to turn it off.
The Doorbell Camera Pro uses the same Android and iOS mobile app as other Vivint devices. To access the doorbell, tap the Cameras icon at the bottom of the home screen to see all of your installed cameras. Tap the doorbell play arrow to launch a live stream with buttons for rewind (if you have a Vivint Smart Drive installed), two-way talk, and photo (for taking a snapshot). There’s also a Locks button that you can use to lock and unlock doors. There’s a button at the top of the screen for enabling/disabling the above-mentioned Deter option, and there’s a button at the very bottom of the screen labeled Events. Tap it to see thumbnails for all event-triggered videos, and tap any thumbnail to view the video, download it, or delete it. To view live or recorded video in full-screen mode, turn your phone sideways.
To access the doorbell’s settings, tap the gear icon in the upper right corner and select the doorbell from the list. Here you can enable notifications, create recording rules to have more than one camera begin recording when the doorbell is pressed or detects motion, choose a Deter tone and a chime tone, schedule Deter on and off times, set motion alert zones and sensitivity, and configure video quality. To configure Rules and Custom Actions that allow the doorbell to work with other installed devices, tap the three-bar icon in the upper left corner of the home screen. Here you can enable preset rules and notifications or create your own.
Installation and Performance
As with all Vivint devices, the Doorbell Camera Pro requires professional installation, and as has always been the case with all of my Vivint installation experiences, the technician called prior to his arrival to tell me he was on his way and arrived at my house at the specified time. He installed the new doorbell using my existing doorbell wire, a process that took around 15 minutes, and when he was finished he performed a full system test to make sure that all of my installed door and window sensors, smoke alarms, and other devices were responding and working properly. He also gave me a run-through of all of the new doorbell’s features before departing.
In my testing, the Doorbell Camera Pro’s wide viewing angle provided coverage of my entire doorstep area, as well as peripheral views of my lawn and driveway. Color quality is exceptional and image quality is incredibly sharp and distortion-free. Black-and-white night video is also sharp, and appears well-lit with excellent contrast. I had no trouble displaying video from the camera on an Amazon Echo Show using Alexa voice commands.
The camera’s motion detection prowess is also top-shelf. It ignored passing cars and the endless parade of nocturnal critters that run across my lawn and walkway every night, but never failed to notice a person or a package delivery. Push alerts arrived instantly, and the Smart Sentry deterrent feature worked as advertised, although the alarm tone could be a bit louder.
I set up a rule to have my living room lights turn on at full brightness when the doorbell rings and it worked without a hitch. I created another rule to have the camera begin recording whenever the front door was opened between a specified time frame, and this too worked perfectly. Two-way audio is crisp and adequately loud, and zoomed images appear sharp and focused.
Conclusions
The Vivint Doorbell Camera Pro is an excellent choice for homeowners who already own or are thinking of investing in a Vivint Smart Home system. Granted, it’s expensive and must be installed by a Vivint technician, but it offers best-in-class image quality, extremely wide viewing angles, and excellent package-detection capabilities. And it works with other Vivint devices as well as Alexa and Google voice commands.
That said, the $100 RemoBell S is also an excellent, far more affordable choice. It doesn’t require a hub, and it works with other smart devices via IFTTT applets. It also offers wide viewing angles and sharp HDR video, and it comes with three days of free cloud storage for recorded videos.
