Re: X10? Any good? Need some advice.

["Jim" <alarminex@xxxxxxx>]

Jazzer wrote:
> I really need a low level home survailance system.
> I was thinking of 2 of the motion detecting flood light color cam
> setups from x10.
> Plus a low light level B&W Xcam
> The XRay Software
> Maybe the home automation software
>
> It looks like i could get the setup i want for between 280 and 380.
>
> Please share your experiences with me on these products if you have
> time.  I just dont want to blow the money if there is another option.
>
> I like them being wireless obviously, but if it sucks then its
> obviously not worth it.
>
> Thanks for sharing.

You have to understand that most of the people in this Newsgroup who do
use CCTV equipment would never EVER consider using X10 cameras and
hardware. So you're not likely to get any one to endorse it's use.
There are some pretty inexpensive cameras out there now, but for the
layman there's no way for anyone to tell you what spec's to look for.
There's a lot that goes into the choice of a camera because where it's
going to be used, obviously determines the requirements. For instance,
if the camera is going to be mounted inside, looking at a door
way...... Under normal conditions on a bright sunny day, when someone
comes in the door surrounded by bright sunlight, all you're going to
see is a silhouette of the person. So you'd have to spec a camera with
backlight compensation. If you were using a camera to look at your
drive way, it would be ok during the day, but at night you couldn't see
a thing. So you may want to consider using a camera that includes
infrared illuminating lighting. And if you're doing that, you may as
well get a camera that automatically converts from color to black and
white at night. Because black and white cameras see in the infra red
range better than color. You'd perhaps want a low lux camera too. And
on and on it goes. Will an X10 camera give you what you want? The only
way you'll ever know is to buy it and if it doesn't work you "may" be
able to return it. By the way, remember, if you're using a wireless
cameras, watch out what you're viewing. If you can receive the signal
from a camera , so can anyone else ..... like a neigbor.