Smart Doorbell Installation

Ring’s new flagship smart doorbell is the Video Doorbell 3 Plus. Even while it resembles the Video Doorbell 2 exactly and offers few new functions, it does bring you the following news: Pre-Roll, a preview video that begins three to four seconds before you even receive an alert.

Pre-Roll is only available on the Video Doorbell 3 Plus, however it costs $30 more than the Doorbell 3 does. The 3 Plus still includes a wide-angle fisheye front camera that will stream video in 1080p, and it can be used wirelessly or on battery power.

So, do you really need to go out and buy the 3 Plus if you already have a Video Doorbell 2? Let’s have a look now. It has a very comparable design and is simple to install. Ring is adhering to its design language, in contrast to the Nest Hello and Vivint’s Doorbell, which have slimmer and less rectangular designs.

Ring Doorbell Install

Similar to past models, the sensors and cameras are housed in a sleek black casing on the top part of the device. The satin nickel finish that is also supplied in the package may be substituted for the silver housing that is preinstalled on the bottom half. Ring’s inclusion of two selections in the box is appreciable. In any case, it conceals the actual ringer button and has the Ring logo prominently displayed on the bottom. Additionally, the power pack in the doorbell is locked.

Want some positive news? The same battery pack that powers the Video Doorbell 2 and even the Peephole camera is also used by this device. This saves you money by allowing you to replace the device with a model from a prior generation without having to buy additional batteries.

Ring continues to include everything you need in the package for installation. The doorbell, a few mounting plates, screws, a drill bit, and thorough instructions are all included. In order to conduct our tests, we swapped out a Doorbell 2’s doorbell and its mounting bracket. Installation is straightforward, and Ring does a good job of guiding you through the process. To start, you’ll need the Ring app and an account. After logging in, setup will begin after you scan the code on the back of the 3 Plus.

Wireless Ringdoor Bell

We enjoy how it can recognise the network you’ve already used, and it will join your Wi-Fi network. This also results in significant time savings. The actual installation took no more than 15 minutes and was the standard Ring setup procedure.

Pre-Roll, a three to four second black and white preview film that plays before the actual motion alert, is the 3 Plus’s most notable feature. As a result, in addition to seeing the vehicle going away after dropping an item on your steps as is customary, you will now also watch the driver approaching. When you need to view more of the scene or in case of prospective break-ins, those extra few seconds of footage may be useful.

To conserve battery life, this preview video is in black and white. Although it can be a little challenging to pick out certain details in the photo, we didn’t mind the black and white too much. Additionally, the separate camera used for Pre-Roll doesn’t have a fish-eye lens and seems to be of HD resolution that is slightly below 1080p. There are bezels all over it.

Wireless Door Bells

The transition isn’t the smoothest when you play back a preview video into a regular motion alert, and there are apparent quality changes. The transition takes around a half a second. Pre-Roll is incredibly convenient in that it is enabled by default and doesn’t need much, if any, configuration from you.

Pre-Roll performs admirably as a whole. Due to the fact that it picks up stuff that you’d otherwise miss, it has a slightly magical air to it. It accomplishes its goals for the 3 Plus when it comes to implementation. We’d love to see the playback enhanced with overall greater video quality in the future. Video quality is strong and you’ll get ample motion control.

Ring Video Doorbell 3 Plus

The video quality on the Doorbell 3 Plus is essentially the same as on the Doorbell 2, and it continues to use a 1080p HD wide-angle lens. Although there wasn’t much of an improvement, you can still clearly see people, parcels, and cars in any given photo.

It is made to provide you with as many details as it can and performs an excellent job of recreating genuine hues. However, there will still be some difficulties when trying to see the language on packaging or in bright sunshine. In playback or live view, the fish-eye lens is still rather obvious because the edges have some rounded patches. For a better view, we advise using HDR (high dynamic range) in the video settings.

The extensive integration with Alexa makes it simple to play back the film on Echo smart screens. (Remember that Amazon owns Ring.) These smart speakers and screens may also make announcements when someone is at the door.

Door Video Camera doorbell

We strongly advise obtaining the Chime or Chime Pro since many users will wind up powering the Video Doorbell 3 Plus with the battery pack. By doing this, you can still hear the doorbell ring inside your home or apartment, just like you would with a real doorbell. Additionally, you won’t have to rely on checking your phone for a notification. You can read our Chime Pro review here, but be assured that it’s definitely worth the money.

There is plenty of control within the app, as we’ve said with prior Ring Doorbell incarnations. In reality, using a basic net, you will be prompted to locate motion zones during setup. You can draw an arc-shaped net for the areas where the Ring will detect motion under Motion Zones. This is quite true, although if you don’t want cars to set it off, we advise not dragging it out onto the road.

You can also divide this up into separate sections, so if a tree on the left side is moving in the wind, you may turn off that corner while leaving the centre and right zones operational. In this manner, it may detect someone entering the core zone and provide you the appropriate notice. So that you don’t wake up with a deluge of alerts in the morning after a busy night, you may even make schedules to snooze alerts at night. Learn more about Ring doorbells here.