Spy Devices

Spy Devices are not for Spying! These devices are introduced for surveillance purpose and for personal use and not for intruding into the privacy of other persons. Spying one’s speech or recording the image of a person without permission is treated as illegal since these can be used for illegal activities. Various kinds of spy devices are now available and the manufacturers strictly warn that the device should be used only for personal purpose which should not harm others. The spy devices are mainly meant for monitoring commercial establishments, banks etc to see the movement and activities of visitors.

Spy devices may be Audio recorders, Video recorders or Image captures. The audio Spy recorders can be manually operated or automatically records the voice when a speech signal is detected. Video devices are also manual operating types and automatic recorders. To hide from the view, these devices simulate the commonly used gadgets such as Pen, Key chain, Watch, Sunglass, Button etc.

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Video / Snapshot

The spy devices have Pin hole camera and a miniature mic for video and audio recording. These also have other necessary SMD chips. The lens system can be a CCD device with physical Pixel Array around 1 to 1.5 million pixels. Video files are usually compressed in MPEG and Video Coding is in M-JPEG. Video recorder has Time and Date Stamping facility. Video resolution may be of different types but usually in the range of 640 / 720 x 480 Pixels. Most of them are High Resolution images of 30 FPS. Video recording can be scheduled, continuous or motion and can be viewed in the computer supporting the Main stream video players. These devices well functions in supporting softwares like Windows me/2000/XP/2003 / Vista.

The Video devices can also be used to take Snaps. Picture format is generally JPEG with a resolution of 1280 x 960 pixels in most devices and image ratio may be 4:3.

Memory

Memory of the Spy devices may be internal or external. The video and audio files can be stored in the flash memory either in the form of inbuilt flash card or removable Micro SD TF cards or NAND Flash card. Internal memory range between 2 GB to 32 GB. In removable types, SD cards of any storage size ranging from 2GB to 120 GB can be inserted.

Power supply

Power to the device is provided by Rechargeable Lithium polymer battery rated 1.5, 3.6 to 5 volts and 150 to 500 mAh current rating. The battery attains full chage in one hour and continuously powers the device for 4 to 8 hours. The Lithium polymer battery is long lasting one and can run for 3-5 years if properly charged / discharged. Charging of the battery is through the 5 Volt regulated supply from the USB socket. For this, a USB cable is available along with the device. 5 V USB Mains adapter can also be used to charge the battery.

Retrieval of data

After recording, the data can be retrieved from the flash memory into the computer. For this an USB interface is used. The Audio or video files can be opened using standard audio / video file formats. Usually the video encoding will be in AVI or MPEG and M-JPEG formats. Audio files may be in WAV, MP3 etc.

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Bugs for Spy

Bugs for spying devices are also available to detect the installed or operating Spy devices. These Spy detectors are portable devices which become active and give audio visual indications like LED blinking and beep when the Spy device is detected. The basics of the Spy detection is that all Spy devices generates Radio frequency during operation. These spy detectors work in a wide frequency range of 0 to 7200 MHz with an operating range of 10 meters or more. Once the bug detects the signal source from a spy device, it gives a warning beep to pin point the location.

The bugs also have an LED torch and lens to focus light to the hidden device. More sophisticated Bugs have vibrating silent alerts and display for detected frequency. This helps to identify the Spy device installed. The Bugs have inbuilt software that use algorithms to determine whether the incoming signal is analogue or digital. Some most sophisticated Spy detectors exhibit the location, frequency and type of device installed through LCD screen. Super Signal bust detectors can locate the most advanced type of Digital Spy devices that are transmitting signals momentarily. For silent mode operations, these have head phone output. The device operates in Lithium polymer battery of 5-7.5 volts and 500 – 650 mAh.