Recap: Amazon subsidiary Ring has announced two new video doorbells, the Ring Video Doorbell 3 and Doorbell 3 Plus. The Plus model includes a feature called "Pre-Roll" which allows users to view four seconds of footage before motion is detected. This feature was previously limited to Ring's own wired doorbells but is now available for the battery-powered versions.
The regular Doorbell 3 also receives a few upgrades from the previous iteration. Ring has added a "near motion zone" that allows motion detection within five to fifteen feet of the camera. This comes with the promise of cutting down on false alarms from random people walking by.
"While features similar to Pre-Roll have been available on our wired devices, we believe it is important to also offer this feature to users with a battery-powered Video Doorbell, so that no one ever misses a moment at their doorstep." said Jamie Siminoff, Ring's founder and Chief Inventor. Siminoff further expounded in a blog post that incorporating Pre-Roll in the battery-powered doorbells required a lot of engineering to achieve the perfect balance of battery life and performance.
On the hardware front, Ring's engineers built a three-camera array that combines the image signal processor (ISP) with the imager. Furthermore, this camera array records those four seconds in black and white at a reduced resolution. On the software side, the images are recorded as a series of photos instead of video. The software then stitches the images together at a certain framerate to achieve a sort of photo time lapse.
Ring is also updating its Chime and Chime Pro line to include a built-in night light and Wi-Fi extender for the Pro model. The new Chime will cost $30 while the Chime Pro will be $50. The Ring Video Doorbell 3 and 3 Plus will cost $200 and $230, respectively. Both products are available for pre-order now and will start shipping on April 8th.