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📸Cameras & Camera Software => Camera General Discussion => Non X10 Cameras => Topic started by: birdzeye on October 01, 2007, 10:07:12 AM

Title: other brands of wireless cameras with x10
Post by: birdzeye on October 01, 2007, 10:07:12 AM
Hello,

Does anyone know if other brands of 2.4Ghz wireless cameras will work with x10 receivers and vcr commander? The one I have in mind is Q-SEE 2.4GHz wireless camera with night vision. ???
Title: Re: other brands of wireless cameras with x10
Post by: Tuicemen on October 01, 2007, 10:15:07 AM
There is a way to make them work ;)
If X10's reciever won't work use the reciever recomended by the manufacturer then plug the outputs into the VCR commander! ;)
If you want them to work with X10 cam software plug the video output into the VA11A ;)
Title: Re: other brands of wireless cameras with x10
Post by: birdzeye on April 05, 2008, 08:27:15 PM
Quote from: Tuicemen on October 01, 2007, 10:15:07 AM
There is a way to make them work ;)
If X10's reciever won't work use the reciever recomended by the manufacturer then plug the outputs into the VCR commander! ;)
If you want them to work with X10 cam software plug the video output into the VA11A ;)

The non-x10 camera has a receiver/tv combo. That is, the receiver is in the 5.5" tv monitor that it came with. I can view my x10 cameras on this tv monitor, on one of the 4 channel frequencies, and the non-10 camera on another channel frequency. If I try to set ALL cameras to one channel, the non-x10 camera overrides the x10 cameras and I can only view it. Is there a way to view ALL the cameras on ONE channel frequency? ??? (The 4 channels ABCD seem to be the same as the x10 ones).

One other really good thing about this non-10 tv monitor is it picks up the signal from my vr46a so I can watch TV on it. ;D
Title: Re: other brands of wireless cameras with x10
Post by: Tuicemen on April 06, 2008, 11:33:23 AM
The non X10 cam must have a way to be turned off via X10 ,use a appliance module and plug the non x10 cams power supply into it! ;)
set the appliance module to the same house code as the cams but on it's own unit code!
eg: set non x10 cam to C1, set x10 cams C2,3, & 4 set them all to the same channel frequency! ;)
Title: Re: other brands of wireless cameras with x10
Post by: birdzeye on April 07, 2008, 02:36:48 PM
Quote from: Tuicemen on April 06, 2008, 11:33:23 AM
The non X10 cam must have a way to be turned off via X10 ,use a appliance module and plug the non x10 cams power supply into it! ;)
set the appliance module to the same house code as the cams but on it's own unit code!
eg: set non x10 cam to C1, set x10 cams C2,3, & 4 set them all to the same channel frequency! ;)

Tuicemen, I kinda tried this already except by using a socket rocket sandwiched between two adapters, and then plugging the non-x10 camera into this. All I get is interference, and no camera reception at all--neither x10 nor non-x10 cameras. The socket rocket + adapter thing will work to turn off and on appliances such as a 2 pin ghetto-blaster/radio,  and it will turn on and off the non-x10 tv monitor that came with the non-x10 camera. It will also turn on and off the non-x10 camera but all I get is interference for a picture! Do you think an x10 appliance module would work any better for the camera picture reception?
Title: Re: other brands of wireless cameras with x10
Post by: Tuicemen on April 07, 2008, 05:21:01 PM
An appliance module is what I use for my Astak IR cams without any issues!
It is possible that the monitor must have a video feed from one of its cams in order for it to work! :(
If you simply unplug your non x10 cam can you view your X10 cams from the monitor?
Title: Re: other brands of wireless cameras with x10
Post by: birdzeye on April 07, 2008, 07:56:39 PM
Quote from: Tuicemen on April 07, 2008, 05:21:01 PM
An appliance module is what I use for my Astak IR cams without any issues!
It is possible that the monitor must have a video feed from one of its cams in order for it to work! :(
If you simply unplug your non x10 cam can you view your X10 cams from the monitor?

Yes, if I unplug the non-x10 cam I can view my x10 cams from the non-x10 camera monitor.

Also, if I have the non-10 cam on channel C and the x10 cams on channel A, I can view them all. But if I put the non-10 cam on channel A with the x10 cams on channel A as well, I can only view the non-x10 cam---it seems to overide the other camera signals.
Title: Re: other brands of wireless cameras with x10
Post by: Tuicemen on April 07, 2008, 08:05:20 PM
OK then the Appliance module should do the trick, it never hurts to have a few of these as spares on hand anyways! ;) :D
Title: Re: other brands of wireless cameras with x10
Post by: birdzeye on April 07, 2008, 08:06:47 PM
Quote from: Tuicemen on April 07, 2008, 08:05:20 PM
OK then the Appliance module should do the trick, it never hurts to have a few of these as spares on hand anyways! ;) :D

OK. Should it be 2pin or 3pin or does it matter?
Title: Re: other brands of wireless cameras with x10
Post by: Tuicemen on April 07, 2008, 08:08:24 PM
I just used the 2 pin but it shouldn't matter unless the cam has a 3 pin plug! ;)
Title: Re: other brands of wireless cameras with x10
Post by: birdzeye on April 08, 2008, 10:13:29 PM
Tuicemen, I got the 3-pin and it works! :) The only problem is in turning off the other cameras when I turn one of the non-10 cams on, if you know what I mean. Like if I switch from an x10 cam to ONE of the non-x10 cams, I have to make sure that the x10 cams are off AND that the other non-10 cam is off too. Any tips on how to deal with this? I was thinking maybe an active eye motion sensor set to turn on and off for the non-10 cam  ???
Title: Re: other brands of wireless cameras with x10
Post by: Tuicemen on April 12, 2008, 06:40:08 PM
Selecting one cam should turn others in the same group off if setup correctly. I used a software macro to do this but now I'm using Active Home Pro (AHP) iwitness (video plug-in) ;)
Title: Re: other brands of wireless cameras with x10
Post by: birdzeye on April 12, 2008, 09:47:02 PM
Quote from: Tuicemen on April 12, 2008, 06:40:08 PM
Selecting one cam should turn others in the same group off if setup correctly. I used a software macro to do this but now I'm using Active Home Pro (AHP) iwitness (video plug-in) ;)

Selecting one cam if all the cams are x10 brand will turn the others in the same group off. The problem I'm having is that 2 non-x10 cams in one group without any other x10 cams in the group, each plugged into an x10 appliance module, will turn off manually but not automatically. If I want to view one of the non-x10 cams, I have to manually turn off the other non-10 cam plus turn off the last x10 cam that was still on.

Is there a way for this to work? I currently have 4 x10 cams A1,A2,A3,A4....and 2 non x10 cams at A10,A11. (A9 is a light, A12 is blank).
Title: Re: other brands of wireless cameras with x10
Post by: Tuicemen on April 13, 2008, 08:06:19 AM
birdzeye   Change non x10 cam addresses to A5, A6 then test.
You really should have all cams on a separate address and preferable not house code A  ;)
You don't want turning on a cam to turn off a light on you.
I have x10cams and non working together on one house code  B2, B3, B4, B5, B6  ;)
Title: Re: other brands of wireless cameras with x10
Post by: birdzeye on April 13, 2008, 11:32:06 AM
Quote from: Tuicemen on April 13, 2008, 08:06:19 AM
birdzeye   Change non x10 cam addresses to A5, A6 then test.
You really should have all cams on a separate address and preferable not house code A  ;)
You don't want turning on a cam to turn off a light on you.
I have x10cams and non working together on one house code  B2, B3, B4, B5, B6  ;)

OK thanks, I'll give it a try. One other thing I wanted to ask you though, is would it work well if I put one of the non-x10 cams plugged into the transceiver TM751 on code B1? That way I could save the appliance module to use for something else besides the non-x10 cam.
Title: Re: other brands of wireless cameras with x10
Post by: Tuicemen on April 13, 2008, 11:52:03 AM
Quote from: birdzeye on April 13, 2008, 11:32:06 AM
OK thanks, I'll give it a try. One other thing I wanted to ask you though, is would it work well if I put one of the non-x10 cams plugged into the transceiver TM751 on code B1? That way I could save the appliance module to use for something else besides the non-x10 cam.
Yes!
Title: Re: other brands of wireless cameras with x10
Post by: birdzeye on May 04, 2008, 08:46:43 PM
I just read in the x10 wiki somewhere that because the cameras are set up in groups of 4, if you have more than 4 cameras, then you have to manually shut of the other cameras in order to view only one camera at a time, in a particular group of 4 cameras,  so that there's no interference.

Is there a way around this? I have tried the suggestion given here earlier about having all my cameras on one housecode and set up in numerically ascending order (eg B1,B2,B3,B4 and B5,B6.....etc) but still I have to manually turn off the other camera in order for only one camera in a group to be on without interference.

 ??? >:( :-\ :'(
Title: Re: other brands of wireless cameras with x10
Post by: BaBaLou. on July 10, 2008, 06:59:48 PM
Hi all. This is the first time for me on the forum, so be patient with the newbie. I am now a few month into the world of X10 and even with a very shaky start of what was almost became a toy for my 10 year old and his two younger brothers, was saved and has blossomed all thanks to the great folks at ....X10 community forum. You folks have saved me from so far embarrassment and shame in front of my wife to becoming the the mid 40 S tech geek father hero.
       To make is it short for now, I am at a small crossroad with detour. Got my hands on a 3 pack Astak cams with receiver and got one connected to my present Ninja and have received a great picture on AHP video using x10 receiver on the same channel. So to get two or more Astak cams or have my other 2 X2 cams all working in harmony in AHP I tried to connect the Askak to a LM465 and found the video to have distorted and noisy picture. What might I be doing wrong. Does using a lamp module create the noise. because by plugging the cam directly into the a regular outlet I get a perfect picture both live and on the web. does using other modules help fix my problem. Have a TM751 didn't try that for a connection but I am a about to add a few more I items to my growing list of x10 inventory for the house and business security and surveillance and automation with entertainment.
     Look forward to any help and thanks
BaBaLou.
Title: Re: other brands of wireless cameras with x10
Post by: KDR on July 10, 2008, 09:23:11 PM
BaBaLou welcome to the boards...

I use 3 Astak cams and there are a couple of ways you might do this. First would be to replace the lamp module with an appliance module. The Appliance modules will act as an On-Off for the cams.

I have all my cams powered up 24/7 and use a video switch to view the one I want. I also have a DVR card in the computer and software to record each cam and view them within that software. By the way all my cams are hard wired.

(http://www.bdshost.com/X10/lpup.gif)---(http://www.bdshost.com/X10/lpup.gif)---(http://www.bdshost.com/X10/lpup.gif)---(http://www.bdshost.com/X10/lpup.gif)---(http://www.bdshost.com/X10/lpup.gif)----KDR
Title: Re: other brands of wireless cameras with x10
Post by: BaBaLou. on July 11, 2008, 12:36:14 PM
Thanks KDR for the responce, did try a TM751 transceiver and it did work. Do feel comfortable that the appliance switch will work fine then. time to restock. The picture came in very clear but as with the Astak the cams seem to always want to use the night vision unless its outside. These are wireless and using the x10 receiver has worked very well so far. don't really care to use audio yet but that's for a future venture.  But I do wonder does using multiple connection of wired and wireless input into a PC. can you use two or more VA11A at once or using a Y input is just as effective. just Cheaper. but still need to switch module on and off then only to view one at time? Is other software other than AHP capable of seeing multiple connection even at the same time or is AHP the best one to have since it seems to do it all so far? Thanks
BaBaLou.
Title: Re: other brands of wireless cameras with x10
Post by: Gilbert on July 11, 2008, 01:04:08 PM
I have different cams but I need to keep them all ON for other purposes (DVR).
I solved my problem by adding a pelco switcher and an auto delay. All cams are plugged and all the streams are redirected to the DVR, AND the single output (from cam1 to cam8) is redirected to the va11 and AHP automatically.

So, the DVR is working as desired and I have all feeds redirected to one switched x10 view !

Gilbert
Title: Re: other brands of wireless cameras with x10
Post by: KDR on July 11, 2008, 07:46:15 PM
Quote
But I do wonder does using multiple connection of wired and wireless input into a PC. can you use two or more VA11A at once or using a Y input is just as effective. just Cheaper. but still need to switch module on and off then only to view one at time? Is other software other than AHP capable of seeing multiple connection even at the same time or is AHP the best one to have since it seems to do it all so far? Thanks

I have not tried 2 VA11A's but I don't think you can. Seems I did read somewhere here on the boards that it was tried and didn't work. I use "Y" connectors all over the place  rofl.

As for other software I use the program that came with my video capture card/DVR and it works good. Puts 4 cams on the screen all live at once. I use the "Y" connectors to feed the video into a switch, then the VA11A and then to APH. They do make 4, 8, 16 and 32 channel cards.

(http://www.bdshost.com/X10/lpup.gif)---(http://www.bdshost.com/X10/lpup.gif)---(http://www.bdshost.com/X10/lpup.gif)---(http://www.bdshost.com/X10/lpup.gif)---(http://www.bdshost.com/X10/lpup.gif)----KDR