GBTV #636 | Vue Personal Video Network
Posted on: September 29, 2009
Posted in: Video
Posted by: Cali Lewis
Shownotes:
You know when I love a product? When it simplifies a process that has historically been complex by just working. The iPhone does that for mobile phones. Drobo does that for redundant storage. The 5D Mark II does that for shooting photos and video without great lighting. The PogoPlug does that for sharing a hard drive, and now the Vue Personal Video Network does that for home surveillance.
Believe me. I was nervous when I ordered my Vue kit from Amazon
The kit comes with two wireless cameras. Four ingenious magnetic mounts, four CR123 batteries, a receiver and an ethernet cable. The battery cover opens with the twist of a coin. My guess is they include two extra batteries because they aren’t quite as common as double AAs or triple AAAs.
I climbed a ladder to get to one of our routers. I plugged in an ethernet cable, plugged in the power and within about 10 seconds I got a flashing blue light to indicate the network connection was active.
To activate the wireless connection between the two cameras and the receiver I pressed a sync button on the receiver. A camera has to be within 12-inches of the receiver during that activation process. Right after I pressed sync, lights started rapidly blinking on the two cameras and I was done.
I created an account on my.vuezone.com. It took less than three minutes to enter my details, create a password and boom! There were my two cameras. I renamed them, dragged them into the view screen. Press play the same way you start a YouTube video and the live stream begins. I can choose to record and my account includes 2000MBs of storage that I can watch later and choose to share online. The share feature is cool because I can add my neighbor as a friend and activate his ability to view the cameras when I’m out of town. If the alarm goes off, he can hop on and see what’s happening without putting himself in danger.
I like the Vue Personal Video Network because it works as well as they say it does and it couldn’t possibly be simpler to set up. Image quality is perfectly acceptable. Of course my eyes are used to HD so I expect that to come in the future. The magnetic mounting system is brilliant. You stick it to a wall and then move the camera around to get the best shot. Wireless range is excellent. I carried a camera throughout my house and all around my yard and never lost the signal. This blew me away. You can add up to 50 cameras!!! Now, that would be expensive because extra cameras are $100 a pop. I won’t be adding 50, but I already ordered 3 more cameras for full coverage around the house. This is far and a way one of my favorite products released this year.
Brief 636 was brought to you by AngiesList.com/geek. Kind of relevant to this whole surveillance theme, I used angieslist.com to pick our alarm monitoring service. My promo code GEEK will save you 25% when you join AngiesList.
Background picture provided by StuckInCustoms.com.
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September 29th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
Looks like no-go for iPhone viewing as it requires Flash to view video. :(
“Cameras can be remotely viewed from any browser or flash-enabled mobile device” per Amazon.com
September 29th, 2009 at 7:42 pm
This is a great product indeed. Too bad it’s not (yet?) available outside of the US. Not even in Canada ;-)
September 29th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
NO! My wife is going to leave me, yet ANOTHER product that I WANT! I’m headed to Amazon to order one now.
September 29th, 2009 at 8:20 pm
Awesome product, got to get it! It’s about time, video quality looks good, and its priced good too.
September 29th, 2009 at 11:33 pm
Please do not buy the CR123A batteries at your local drug store, the price is usually ridiculous.
There are online sources for these batteries. http://www.batterystation.com/cr123a.htm is the place I have been buying my 123A batteries from for years.
There are other online shops as well.
These batteries will last up to ten years, they don’t go stale quickly.
September 30th, 2009 at 4:45 am
Any idea what ‘1 year normal use’ is? That is the description for the battery. I love the premise behind the product but I need to something that can be on all the time and record maybe 12-24 hours of video so that if someone keys my car or steals my Halloween decorations I can catch them.
September 30th, 2009 at 5:25 am
Nice BUT I’m still gonna use orb + webcam for surveillance(it also emails you if movement is detected) and media sharing.
The great thing is it can be accessed from ANY device!
September 30th, 2009 at 8:50 am
Thx Cali. This product looks awesome. I’ve been thinking about pulling the trigger on a few security cams for around the house for months but wires and complexity has held me back.
This seems like the perfect solution for me.
Definitely going on my Christmas list but at $299 may not make the final cut.
Thx again for informing me about this one! It’s cool new product reviews like this that keep me watching.
October 3rd, 2009 at 8:45 am
Any word on a iPhone app for it?
October 9th, 2009 at 11:28 pm
Hoping for the iPhone’s Safari browser to support Flash someday.
November 4th, 2009 at 9:22 am
This is a nice item, but be aware of a few things. For one, at this price point there is no audio AND the cameras are not weatherized, so you should not mount them outside.
Also, Cali forgot to mention that, after a free year, accessing the web site is $20 annually. I’ll wait on this, at least until I can mount outside.
November 4th, 2009 at 9:25 am
You can get weather proof cases at Fry’s for really cheap.
November 13th, 2009 at 11:39 am
Thx Cali. I’ve loved your GB shows since the first one I saw and have investigated many of the things you demo’d. This is the first time I “fell in like” with one though. I checked with “She Who Must Be Obeyed” and she agreed that features/price/ease of installation justified a “trip” to Amazon. It arrives in this afternoon’s big brown van. ;>
November 17th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
Does anyone have any idea how long this will record events with the 2 GB and with the additional 2 GB you can purchase. Also, does it automatically keep recording the latest info while erasing previous info or does it simply stop recording when the 2 GB of memory are used up. Is there any way it could record events for say 12 hours, that is could this data be recorded into a DVR or ???
December 26th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
I don’t usually reply to posts but I will in this case. WoW :)
February 6th, 2010 at 1:58 pm
I purchased this product six months ago and used it for a few minutes and that is it. I contacted thier customer support and asked them why they are not using https (secure) when logging in. They mentioned it was being considered, but still nothing. How can you use a home surveillance product when your password is transmitted clear text, and anyone can intercept and watch you at home without your knowledge. Creepy.
BTW, here is a link to a site that has the panasonic lithium batts for $1.50: http://www.batteryjunction.com/1pcencr3voph.html
Peace!