I’m finally back! Thankfully, I was able to monitor my home throughout the month-long break in Perth, using M1’s novel Internet home surveillance system, aptly named Home Camera (currently free!). Disclosure: I’m currently providing SEO work for Wireless Intellect Labs on their Home Camera service. Nonetheless, this post is an unbiased review that was written from my point of view as a customer. We live in a 7,000 sq. foot house in a densely populated area in Malacca. Although not as notorious as KL or JB, still we’ve had several break-ins here in the past year. Since this was the first time leaving our maid alone at home and for such a long period, we felt it necessary to finally get a home monitoring system. Our requirements were quite simple: I found the perfect solution in Home Camera, created by Singapore’s Wireless Intellect Labs (a division of M1). Still in beta, the system was mostly designed to work with webcams. However, I got it to work with Dlink’s DCS-2120 wireless IP camera (approx. S$250), thanks to the timely release of an updated firmware by the Home Camera team. Setting Up Setting up a DCS-2120 (640×480 VGA) camera with Home Camera was easy: Setup for use with webcams is much easier and done using Home Camera’s software. Motion detection is a great feature by the way. Unlike traditional CCTV systems where you’re forced to record continuous videos (and have trouble finding specific scenes later), Dlink’s DCS-2120 let’s you record only when motion is detected in certain areas of the frame. You can also adjust the sensitivity, time-lapse between videos, and even specify times and days for a more useful recording. Using Home Camera I particularly like being able to send an SMS command to record an image or video, and have it sent immediately to my mobile phone. Home Camera also provides a special page, albeit with limited options, for mobile devices using WAP - everything seems to have been well thought out. You’re given 200MB free storage with options for paid upgrades. Once your storage is used up, the oldest 10MB of images/videos are deleted. How much can the 200MB store? Configuring my camera to record at 320×240, 30 fps, “Excellent” video quality and 12Kbps GSM-AMR audio quality, I got the following: Hence, the 200MB storage would allow you to store more than 17,000 images or 490 minutes of videos. Another point worth noting is that Home Camera let’s you configure up to 4 cameras with one account, i.e. you can view up to 4 cameras with one account. The service is currently free to use but expect 2 types of fees once it’s officially launched: After a month of use, I’m definitely happy with both Dlink’s DCS-2120 and the Home Camera service. Infact, I’m planning to add 2 more cameras and install them permanently at better locations - yup, I realized that my cameras aren’t at the most ideal locations currently. That said, I do have some features on my wishlist (hint, hint) for both:
1) Hassle-free - no messy installations and cabling.
2) Convenient - easily store, find and browse the recorded videos.
3) Smart - motion detection, SMS notification, multi-cameras, etc.
4) Accessible - view over the Internet by anyone using any device.
5) Affordable.
1) Create an account at HomeCamera.com.
2) Update your DCS-2120 camera’s firmware if necessary.
3) Configure the Home Camera options page.
4) Configure the image/video settings, motion detection, etc.
5) Connect the DCS-2120 to your home’s wireless network.
Whenever a motion is detected, an image or video is automatically uploaded to the Home Camera server where you can playback online, or send to your email or mobile phone (mobile credits required). You can also take a snapshot or record a video on-demand using the control panel.
a) sample image (.jpg) - 12KB
b) 43-second sample video (.3gp; requires Quicktime) - 297KB
Note: right-click and select “Save As” to download the sample recordings.
a) A monthly fee for using the service.
b) Credits for sending alerts and image/video links to your mobile phone.
- higher resolution, better compression, bigger storage.
- the ability to stream videos in real-time.
- pan, tilt and zoom, and infrared for night time monitoring.
I did a program before to monitor the entrance of an office from IP phone by capturing pictures using this DLink Surveillance Camera. =)
Comment by keeyit on September 12, 2007 at 4:55 pm
Keeyit: that’s cool! Unfortunately, there aren’t too many other services for less technical savvy people like me ;)
I like the idea of an off-site storage actually. If the recorded videos had been stored on the local PC, e.g. using Dlink’s software, and the robber ran away with it then everything would be lost.
Comment by Larry on September 12, 2007 at 5:12 pm
Got this response from Varun Arora, GM of Wireless Intellect Labs:
“Streaming is coming next year. Paid users are likely to have between 500 MB and 1 GB of space.
A new feature called “Multi Image” is going in soon - hopefully later this week - which will automatically keep refreshing the camera image; brings us closer to streaming.”
Comment by Larry on September 16, 2007 at 5:14 pm
i’m having problem to connect this model of webcam with my own wireless router? any step by step guide? or clue about this? thank you.
Comment by nick on May 23, 2008 at 1:36 am
I am interested in the home camera. Where can I purchase it?
Comment by Helen Tan on April 28, 2009 at 10:48 am
Helen: you can register for the free service at http://www.homecamera.com
Comment by Larry Lim on April 28, 2009 at 9:19 pm
urgent . renovating.. need cctv in new condo.. 8 nof them with audo.. pls quote pricing . at west coast!
91813108
Comment by miss tan on August 30, 2009 at 1:30 am