.
It's wired to eight of the security video
cameras in my home. This recorder is a set-it-and-forget-it
product. Unlike a standard video security system, the
EchoVue records to a hard drive.
It does not use those pesky VHS tapes with a
recorder that always needs maintenance, replacement tapes or
rewinding at the moment you need them most.
The EchoVue comes with an 80-gigabyte hard
drive that records video segments according to the
instructions you give it.
Generally speaking, it can go for two to
four weeks before filling up its hard drive. When the hard
drive does fill, the EchoVue automatically goes back and
records over the oldest video.
Or, additional hard drives can be added so
the system holds more total recordings.
Installing the EchoVue is easy. Mind you,
the recorder is not a personal computer. It is a dedicated
box preprogrammed with all the software and cable ports
necessary to take the video signal from each camera and show
it on the screen.
The recorder also has a built-in Web server
so any computer connected to the Internet can see the view
from each camera. Security is handled with an ID and
password.
The EchoVue comes with a remote control unit
and hooks up to a composite monitor or a TV with an input
jack for viewing the video directly from the recorder
instead of over the network.
The remote control handles all the
programming through an easy-to-follow menu system. Each
security camera hooks up to a BNC connector on the back of
the recorder.
As soon as a live camera is connected, it
shows up in one of eight boxes on the screen. Cameras can be
seen full-screen or combined with others.
Cameras can be recorded full-time, only at
certain times, when something moves in front of it or when a
separate alarm goes off.
If motion recording is set, the recording
can be filtered down to activate only when there is movement
in certain parts of the camera's view. For example, in one
of my rooms the camera view shows a ceiling fan, walls and
the floor. The recorder kicks in only when something moves
across the floor or a wall, but not when the ceiling fan
spins.
Most importantly, this system is digital and
Internet-savvy. The pictures are clearer than tape-based
units that I've tried, and it's easy to go back and look at
the recorded video, filed neatly by date and time. Once the
recorder is set up, it can be monitored by any Web-enabled
computer.
This is great for monitoring a remote
location: Point a Web browser to it and watch it in real
time.
I can think of hundreds of ways to use this
system. In fact, one reader called me last week to say he
was thinking about using a camera system at his ranch. He
wants to monitor the cows at calving. Easily, an Internet
enabled cow-cam would let him sit comfortably at his home in
Houston and know when the big event happens.
Products like EchoVue are available at many
online stores, such as SmartHome,
www.smarthome.com.
