Video Surveillance on a Budget using X-10

I was standing in line at the bank and happened to notice the security cameras and being security minded I started to trace the cameras until I found I was covered by four cameras.

How much does it cost to outfit an organization with cameras? Who watches the cameras and what happens when something goes wrong? A bank spends much more time and money on surveillance than a small business would, however, a small business owner’s assets are just as valuable to him as the bank’s money is to it.

Introduction

I started doing research on a number of systems. I looked at BIYN digital surveillance systems, Vision Patrol and finally the old standby X10. Upon further delving I came to the conclusion that for a small office (or home for that matter), X10 offers quite a bang for you buck. I know, I know, I can hear the pundits yelling now. I realise X10 does not compare to BIYN as they are a professional system. I also realise that the cameras are not of extreme high quality. However, if you are looking for an affordable, simple to use and effective security system, I doubt you can match X10 for value and ease of use.

Cost

This is where X10 grabs you. Packages start as low as $150 and go up to approximately $1000. I settled on a mid range system consisting of approximately $500. For the $500 I was able to get three flood light door colour cameras, 2 low light cameras, 2 colour cameras, 4 motion sensors, a ninja swivel mount, professional edition software and a number of transceivers so that I could receive the feedback on 2 TV’s or TV and a computer.

Again, realise that these are not professional grade cameras. They are able to identify persons accessing your property and can read a license plate from probably 25ft away. So for $500 we were ready to go.

Ease of Use

The cameras are basically set and forget. Once they have been configured with an alpha numeric house and unit code, you simply add them to the software, plug in the wireless receiver to your computer or TV and turn on the software. It should be noted, that I was stumped for a good hour wondering why I could only receive one camera feed at a time. The instructions do state that the cameras must be in sequential groups of four to function properly. For instance, if your house code was C, you should address each group of units as 1-4, then 5-8 etc. Once I did that I was watching the cameras all over my house.

The software is intuitive and easy to setup and comes with a full range of programmable macros to switch on lights at will if motion is detected at the back door, or to load pictures to an offsite FTP site, start the VCR recording or to simply email you and tell you someone is in your perimeter.

The software also allows you to publish the camera views to a protected website. With a username and password, you can access your camera views from anywhere. The motion sensors can be configured to trigger macros that perform numerous tasks.

Except for the one little snag with consecutive numbers, the setup was flawless.

Effectiveness

The kit I ordered allowed me to have floodlight cameras at the two back corners of my building, one at the front, a low light level in my store room, a low light level watching the back door, a colour camera watching the front door and another colour watching the parking lot. Motion sensors on all access points were a great addition. So, with all of my zones overlapping I decided if I could break into my own business. I waited until dark and dressed all in black (just so I could get the feel of it) and attempted to access my back door. The motion sensor floodlights caught me instantly which triggered my iPAQ to buzz with an email that someone was trying to access the office. Impressed, I tried to access the front of the building. I was able to avoid the main motion sensor floodlight, but triggered the motion sensors in the window instead. Another buzz of the iPAQ and I knew I was busted. I tried numerous other iterations and was caught every time.