WiLife offers video surveillance for anyone with a PC

Tag : PC Camera


While the cameras capture the action, the Command Center softwarenot only connects each camera to a monitoring screen, but also letsyou view any of them remotely via a connected computer. All thecameras create 640- by 480-pixel video streams at up to 15 framesper second.

I tried out the $230 Indoor Camera and the $250 Spy Camera (which, as I mentioned, is disguised as an alarm clock). Unlikeother surveillance cameras I've used in the past, such as theD-Link DCS-2100+ and the Linksys WVC54GC, the WiLife devices were a snap to set up and configure.

Logitech uses the HomePlug standard to send the video over a building's electrical lines. Thecamera plugs into the nearest wall socket; at the other end, thereceiver plugs (on one end) into another wall socket and (on theother) a USB port on your computer. The only restriction is thatyou need to plug each camera directly into an outlet and avoidusing surge suppressors, which can disrupt the signal.

The hardest part of the process? Setting the clock-camera's time.
After running the included CD -- which includes the drivers, theCommand Center monitoring software and a program for putting it allonline in a secure manner -- I was asked to choose how much of mycomputer's hard drive to devote to recorded video. The softwarethen searched for the cameras, which required a couple of tries toaccomplish. Once the software found them, new firmware was loadedonto the cameras and automatically sent to them (via theHomePlug-enabled connections) and they were watching over my officeabout 15 minutes after I started.