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[galstaf]

Hi folks,

I am building a couple of houses on a 2 acre lot and want a 4 camera surveillance system to monitor the job site to ensure that the contractors are working during the day and to make sure the site isn’t vandalized or ripped off at night.

I have looked on this forum and others looking for a good night vision camera that has motion detection and can email and SMS me if there is activity, run automation events like have a dog barking, etc.

X10s stuff sounds perfect on paper, but the reviews seem to range from mediocre to poor! The software gets bad reviews for locking up and being buggy and the modules get bad reviews for not talking to the devices correctly.

I have been getting X10 emails for ages now… they seem to be staying in business… so I have to ask what the deal is.

Does anyone (that doesn’t have a financial or other interest in giving me a good review) have glowing reports on the cameras and software? Stories of seamless connection and total reliability?

Also why does X10 not refute the bad reviews and tell folks that they are just using the product incorrectly? Does X10s stuff really work that bad and they just sell it with their overly aggressive marketing scheme? (By the way guys… the POPUPS are *really* annoying).

Anyone needing to share off board can email me on “X10 at techsalvation.com”

Thanks!

RH

Of course... if other non X10 products can be recommended, I would love to hear about those too. Hopefully a little healthy competition will get the X10 folks to get the shoddy side of their product line up to speed.... 


[TTA Edit: Combine posts - Oops!! ]

[vhoang]

X10 cameras are decent.  Walls, telephone, distance have made the wireless ones they offer not very useful in my home, but that's just about true with any wireless cameras I have tried.   You probably would not go wrong with wired surveillance no matter who makes it.  The x10 wired solution will not give you much problems. 

X10 PLC is good, but it cost a little investment to do it right.   And is generally where most consumers get frustrated with X10, not necessarily the cameras.

About controlling appliance with timers / macros/ remotes & sensors using X10:

A Transmitter + A Receiver + A Module is a basic way to think of X10 automation.   Something sends a message to a reciever that relays it to a module to control a device.  The further the distance between the tranmitter/receiver or receiver/module the more problems you will have to deal with.   

The starting distance is what frustrate a lot of users.  This distance appears to not go very far beyond about 10-15 feet with X10's advertised kits.

This is were other manufacturers have stepped in to assist the community.    For instance: WGL has products that have been reported to pick up transmitter signals from over 100ft away, directly improving the reliability between the transmitter/receiver.   Smarthome makes *linc products that are very very effective at getting the message from the receiver (aka transceiver for RF to PLC) to the module or end device.   

X10 is plug and play only up to a limited point, then you have to think about making it reliable, which is quite easy with the right tools and knowhow.   

You can always check these communities for more experiences and feedback, it's definitely doable.

[Tuicemen]

For truly night vision you'll need to spend a lot more money the Sentinel camera by X10 is their best cam for night vision! the link also has a sample of the night vision (starlight mode)in action !
Smarthome also sells cams but as to their performance I couldn't tell you but there is a larger variety!
As for software probably just as many have good results as bad! The main problem is trouble shooting your setup It takes a lot of work to get it right if it doesn't work correctly out of the box!
as vhoang states:

X10 is plug and play only up to a limited point, then you have to think about making it reliable, which is quite easy with the right tools and knowhow.   

[galstaf]

Thanks for the update guys... now I am really confused as to what to do!

What about X10's software... is it as bad as people make out? It seems to be the butt of many jokes! There is a video on youtube which is a couple of years old now.. see link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F2ULVlx7kI

... that the guy uses some X10 stuff but then some software called HomeSeer. Is it worth the extra expense for that software? Does anyone use something else that would give me remote capture... ability to page on movement.. .and viewing over the web?

Recommendations sincerely appreciated right here! 

Also Tuiceman... is the Sentinel camera as good as they make out? It costs more than a decent video camera now... and given the slamming X10 gets if something goes wrong, I am not sure I want to go down the banging my head against the wall with customer "service".

Has anyone on the forums ever combined a first generation night vision scope with one of the X10 style cameras? I was wondering if that would help overcome the terrible nighttime performance for something under 200 bux....

[Tuicemen]

I've never tested a Sentenal perhaps someone who has will jump in!
As for software HomeSeer has a loyal user base I did test it when I was just using the CM17A but they don't support the Cm15A yet!
There are many users which are satisfied with their X10 setups and Cams.

You Can modify any cam to be a truely night vision cam for 12 dollars

There are many software programs out there do a search on Google and you'll find them.
You can't beat X10s prices and much of the software uses their hardware!

[galstaf]

I notice the X10 employees are suspiciously quiet. Are they not willing to join the fray and defend their company's products?

Is there any movement inside the company whatsoever to address the seeming miriad of customer "service" complaints? They have to know this is impacting their sales... if I saw something to see the company going in the right direction, I probably would have already laid down my $$ by now instead of doing all this research elsewhere....

Come on guys... why not join the discussion... it will probably mean more revenue in the end if you fix this stuff!!!

[Tuicemen]

Actualy more people tend to complaint then to praise a company! Probably out numbering 10 to 1!
When was the last time you sent a e-mail to a company stating how much you enjoyed their product and that you were 100% satisfied with their product?
At least X10 has a open forum which lets users express their views!
Many here are willing to help others with issues and find the correct fix!
As for X10s Customer service:
 I have found it Has improved very much as late! They have a new buch working there now I think!
As for X10 staff jumping in and defending there companies product:
Very few actualy run this stuff 24/7 as the rest of us do!
 Who would you want helping you?
 Someone who is running the equpment 24/7 or someone who just sells it?

[galstaf]

Ha! You make a very good point Tuicemen!

However.. if it were my company, I would make the effort to openly address the issues and make the company more transparent in the number of staffers on tech support and customer service are public knowledge, as well as internal metrics like average time to pick up a call, time to return an item, time to give credit card refunds. If folks see a situation is improving and encourage feedback eBay style, it would definitely help their image.

Like u said, satisified customers are usually quiet... so it is good business to address the complaints and to show the community that issues are being addressed.

Silence scares people off.....

[vhoang]

The software only makes sense once you get the signal to your computer and you want to control the cameras with the computer.   

If it's just for Surveillance, you can pick up a 4-8-16 channel DVR from www.qps-inc.com or elsewhere and just record/play away, it much more elegant.

Once it's connected to your computer, any video software will be able to show it as it will appear as a standard video in source from microsoft.   

If you pick up a ninja mount to control your camera, then you can use a camera remote to control each camera, even if it's connected only to your DVR and not your computer.    The software with a computer interface will let you control the camera over the web.

Wired directly into a DVR with a ninjamounts and a remote is probably the best way to do it for a good reliable system.   

If you want to view and control the cameras on a computer, that will give you a little more flexability but probably some headache to set up as well.

[zach1234]

Ask Dave, and stevenr. They got sentinels. I would recommend going out and buying the REAL stuff. The x10 stuff works 30% of the time. if you live in a shoe box away from well the WORLD you will be fine. 

[Tuicemen]

Priority Support: If your x10 stuff only works 30% of the time you have major problems!
You probably have signal suckers,noise distributors or phase issues or all of them!
All the Home automation protocols have issues learning to find and cure the problems is the key to a 99.9% reliable system!
Very little out there is truly plug & play! Although sometimes one does get lucky!

[zach1234]

I fixed my problem (not for long) by changing my house codes.

[KDR]

I fixed my problem (not for long) by changing my house codes.

If changing House/Unit codes corrects your problems then you may have modules that are defaulting back to the A1 factory default or someone nearby your house (On the same power transformer out on the utility pole) using X10 products also. If a neighbor is using X10 there are whole house signal blockers (The PZZ01) that can be installed on the line coming into the house. It would block incoming signals as well as stopping you from sending out signals.

If you want to do this the ceapest way, find out what neighbor has the setup and start messing his system up. Then get him to buy the PZZ01 found on the X10 Pro site. 

^{----------------KDR}

[looneytuner]

I just spent two nights on the computer and phone trying to resolve problems with a new system (one Cam).

the software would not download correctly and took two calls to set up.

It still didn't work.  I just resolved that by buying a GOOD transformer from Radio Shack for the video receiver.

Oh, their phone support just disconnected me for the third time in TWO days.

I will be contacting the credit card company that I used for the purchase for a credit for the transformer.  If they can't or won't help, hang up and generally send the impression that they don't care once they have the monery, they WON't have it from me.

the last time I had tech support this bad was way back when Creative labs came out with a phone modem with software that was not even compiled to machine language.

[nacho32]

yeah from what I seen I wouldn't do business with this cheap crap, hardware and crappy sofftware you got to buy like 5 packages for each think you want it to do, garbage