I always get emails from people that want me to checkout their website or product and give them a plug on SFN. When
Brick House Security emailed saying they were the people from the Duracell commercial where the kid gets lost in the park and mom sees a van pulling away but then she finds him with some sorta kid tracker deal (
here's the commercial, god damn Kevin), my initial reaction was I don't think this is a good fit for SFN. Before I emailed back saying thanks but no thanks, I swung by their website
BrickHouseSecurity.com to peek around and they've got all the goodies you'd find in a spy shop. There are
voice changers and
phone call recorders that a prank caller would need,
hidden cameras for more prank fun, and even
tasers &
stun guns for full on Bubba-type antics, but it was spotting
this insane outdoor floodlight spy cam that screws into a regular socket and transmits the video thru the power lines to a recorder inside that got me to email them back. The thing is kick ass. I stopped by their NYC offices last week and picked up a big shopping bag of spy shit to demo. I feel like Gadget Gary.
They gave me close to a dozen items to play with so insert your
Colin Powell graphic now. This is gonna be one of those long assed Mutt posts but I promise I'll try to keep it tight.
(FYI, These things don't really come with Brickhouse Security stickers plastered all over them.)
WEARABLE CAMERAS
The camcorder watch is completely covert. Nobody would ever believe there's a color audio/video camcorder built into it. It takes some practice to aim the thing but using it is simple and and pulling the video off of it is as easy as using a USB thumb drive. By wearing it on my left arm, I could put my hand to my chin and shoot video right side up sitting at a table and by wearing it on my right arm, I could leave my arm down by my side and walk around. The video is small but good enough for youtube.
Here's a sample video of me playing with the dog.
Micro DVR with Button and Screw Camera
The button & screw cam takes a little more setup but you certainly don't need to worry about aiming. It's one of those things you see in the movies where the guy is wired to go in undercover on a drug bust. After picking a button close to the ones on my shirt and slipping the button cam into my shirt, using it was simple. I was able to put the little DVR into my jeans pocket and by leaving my shirt untucked, everything was 100% hidden. (
just don't get frisked) It was easy enough to reach into my pocket and start / stop recording. I didn't have to worry about aiming it. Basically as long as I remembered to turn my body & not just my head, it recorded what ever I looked at. If you are serious about it, the camera comes with real buttons for the rest of the shirt and a perfect match. It uses a MiniSD memory card so pulling video off of it is just like getting photos off your digital camera.
Don Jamieson told me that he &
Jim Florentine use a similar setup with the camera in a pair of shades to film
Meet the Creeps. As far as the video quality, it was a little grainy but a larger picture than the watch.
Here's a sample video of me standing in the powder room looking in the mirror.
Mega Mini Spy Camera Pro Built in DVR
The mega mini cam is smaller than your thumb but can record video w/ audio that's every bit as good as your digital camera. It's not disguised as anything like these others but it's small enough that you could hide it in almost anything. The controls are simple. After turning it on, you only need to worry about the record / stop button. When I had
Beetlejuice in the Jeep riding from AC to NYC, every time I tried filming him singing Van Halen, he'd clam up. If I had this then, it would have been easy to clip it to the sun visor and then adjust the visor so it was pointing right at him. If you weren't inspecting it, you'd never guess it was a cam. It has a voice activated option that automatically starts / stops recording when it hears something. With this you could hide it in something like a pack of smokes & then sit it on a shelf. Without a doubt it was the highest quality cam and the smallest all around package. I will certainly continue to use this.
Here's a sample video of our boxer, Jersey opening a door.
I can't wait for the next big event to give things a real try out. I'll be back with some candid video for sure.
NANNY CAMS
This thing doesn't look like anything. It's a plastic box with no buttons or lights that's about the size of an 8-track. If you found it you'd have no reason to think it's a camera. There's a hidden compartment on one end. From there you can access the SD memory card and the on / off button. The opposite end is where the camera is. Once you turn it on, you sit it on a shelf and that's it. It's motion activated and records whenever anything passes by it. They recommend hiding it in something like a tissue box but
I slid it under the TV and the shiny black finish let it blend right in with the other stereo equipment. It's a color picture & super easy to use but there isn't any sound. Would be cooler with sound but for catching people stealing or snooping in your office, it's perfect.
Here is an action packed sample video of me drinking coffee.
Modern Clock DVR Nightvision Hidden Camera
Theses hidden cameras are cool as shit but it's stuff like this one that's got the whole family freaked out. Every one fo the kids is like, what are you doing with all these cameras? Built into this alarm clock is a motion detected camera with night vision. Would be perfect for your Paris Hilton video (I kid, I kid) but seriously, it's one hell of a nanny cam. You can inspect it as much as you want and you'll never find any signs of a camera. You can even unplug it, move it, and it will just start right back up when you plug it in. It's completely automatic. When you want to check the video you have 2 options. Use the included special magnetic tool to open a secret panel and pull out the SD card or plug the included cable into what appears to be a headphone jack, plug it into your TV, and use the remove to play back everything it's saved. The video is black & white and there's no audio but the thing is bulletproof and perfect for someone who just needs a nanny cam. There's no turning it off or discovering the camera.
Here's a very boring sample video of me walking thru the family room.
MORE
It's not just all cameras though. If you are worried about the wife's emotional friend, they have
GPS trackers that alert you when the unit enters what you've decided is the bad area or when it's left the safe area,
SIM card readers that let you read deleted text messages off her phone,
key loggers that record everything she types on the computer including emails, IM's, facebook, etc, and anything else you might need including
semen detection kits. I have some of this stuff here but haven't even started working with it yet. I might as well call it a day. I'm sure if I type any more, you guys will riot.
COUPON CODE
They gave me a $20 Off $175 coupon code "SFN20". With that you could grab something like the mega mini or the watch for $180.
VIDEO SOFTWARE HELP
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Rotate The Video Clips, Don’t Tilt Your Head or the Computer Screen - a useful article which suggests using Windows Movie Maker to rotate video that's on it's side 90 degrees (for when the mega mini cam or the black box cam is on it's side) or using VirtualDub to rotate it as much or as little as you need. (for times when the camcorder watch is at a odd angle)
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Ultra Video Splitter - an extremely easy tool to crop out snippets of video. It's what I used when cutting the sample clips and it couldn't have been simpler. I highly recommend it.
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Ultra Video Joiner - great for when you have 2 video files and you only want 1. really quick & easy.
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VLC Media Player - this free video player handles everything. Any time I can't get a video to play I feed it to this and it works perfectly.
if you have any other video soft suggestions, let me know and I'll add it here.
SternFanNetwork
