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[raym]

Hi,

1. When I right click on the live camera
video a sub menu pops up. Under the 'display
options' section there is a selection
for 'bandwidth'. What does this setting do?

2. I have a problem in that if I trigger a
series of 'snapshots' (macro) on a motion
detector I never get the amount of snapshots
I requested. I tried adding one second
delays in between snapshots with mostly the
same results.

I use the VA11A capture device with a
wireless X10 color camera.

I have a 2.66 GHZ XP-sp2 machine with 1.5
Gig of ram. I wouldn't think that a slow
machine is my problem.

This is only a minor thing but it has me
curious.

Any ideas or thoughts?

Ken

[SteveRF]

Ken,
I have cams arriving tomorrow but have not
purchased iWitness yet... that is next if cam
quality is ok.  I am interested in your
post/responses.  I am currently using a dual
1gig P3 XP/Pro machine that seems to run
everything ok but am concerned it is not
enough horsepower for iWitness.  I'll be
watching the responses.  I saw one post that
was concerned about the VA11A.  I think they
were talking about the slow
response/conversion etc.  Once I get iWitness
here I'll give you my views...
Regards,
SteveRF

[raym]

Hi,

I have been using X10 cameras for years now
and they work well for the price.

From past experience I have found the
following to be true:
If you want to capture stills or video on
X10 commands, iWitness is now the way to go.
If you want to record 24 hour video you will
be better off getting a DVR card or a VHS
type of recorder.

I like to capture a series of still photos
when a motion detector goes off, so iWitness
works well for me.

As far as computing power goes, I'm not
sure. My 2.66 Gig XP machine seems to use
about 20% of the CPU when the AHP software
is running. Most of that is 'Kernel' time. I
guess that is time spent servicing the VA11A
USB device.

I went through some pains when I first
installed iWitness Video. The XP 'New
Hardware Wizard' thinks it is an 'Intel
Camera Pro' device and things can get
confused if you aren't careful. In my case,
the X10 customer support reps showed me how
to fix the problem and that worked. If X10
had a FAQ page I would have been happier. I
hate waiting for an email response.

Enjoy your cameras!

Regards,

Ken

[SteveRF]

Ken,
Thanks for the response.  The cams arrived
today. They seem to work pretty well although
focus is not that great even after removing
the plastic cover and adjusting each.
Next comes iWitness.  Since you had trouble
maybe you can post a tip on the installation.
I am using XP/Pro also.  Expect iWitness to
arrive mid week.

On another note... hope your home faired
well.  My daughter and baby are here with us.
Her home was in Kenner close to the lake and
had 2 to 3 feet of dirty nasty water in it.
It is history except for the upstairs and all
that is molding now.  O well.. at least she
was here and not there in the superdome.  So
many have lost so much.  I hope you fair well !
Kindest Regards,
SteveRF

[raym]

Hi again SteveRF,

I live in California, 40 miles North of LA.
(Los Angeles)

The only damage my house might have is in an
earthquake. I appreciate your concern though.
Please see

http://users.adelphia.net/~krmiller

for some of my camera captures. The X10
cameras are good. I recently bought the Mace
brand CAM53CIR. It has real night vision, in
that it will switch to IR mode and turn on
IR illuminator diodes after dark.

I needed to have a security camera that
would be able to 'see' in the dark. I still
use my X10 cameras. The 'wide-eye' wireless
X10 has a similar field of view to that of
the CAM53CIR. The 'wide-eye', unfortunately,
has no IR - night vision ability.

Regards,

Ken

[SteveRF]

KenRM,
I guess I got you mixed up with a gentleman
that lived the the new orleans area...
Who sells the Mace CAM53CIR?  Does it work
with the X10 receivers ?  The X10 night
vision b/w is ok but it really does not do
that well in low light.  and one last thing,
how about the VA11A.. are you happy with it ?
Regards,
SteveRF

[raym]

Hi,

The CAM53CIR is sold by various internet
distributors. It is a wired camera so it
will not work with the X10 wireless
receivers. You can plug it into a X10
wireless video sender but that gets
expensive. Plugged directly into the VA11A
it works fine. It does work well with
absolutely no visible light using the IR
illuminators. It is a little better quality
camera than the budget X10s but it costs
more (suprise huh?). With shipping and 100
feet of wire I paid about $180.00 for mine.

The X10 color cams are good for most
monitoring needs. I got to where I had to
have the ability to monitor, out doors, in
darkness.

The VA11A is the only capture device, which
works on X10 commands, reasonably priced,
that I have found.

I'm not real happy with the still capture on
the VA11A. I guess the motion video capture
is ok. All I use mine for is capturing a
series of 640x480 snapshots when a motion
detctor triggers. There are visible
anomolies in the stills. It looks like they
only capture one frame of an interleaved
shot so that the lines are visible and half
of the video information is missing. I am
hoping X10 will do a software fix for that
(some day). With my wide angle camera, I
cannot read license plate numbers captured
with the VA11A further that about 8 feet. I
can easily read the license numbers on
photos captured at the same distance with my
TV dvr card on the same camera (Hint hint
X10).

I hope the info helps.

Regards,

Ken