I can see clearly now... Vista Cam SD and Vera Edge

I can see clearly now... Vista Cam SD and Vera Edge

I guess the voyeur and security nut in me combined, and of course I wanted to add the camera first!  The model I tried was a Vista Cam SD. Some things I learned about cameras while installing mine: Cameras require either a wired connection (CAT5) or wireless (via WiFi), but don’t ‘run’ off of Z-wave. The reason stems from the information that the Z-wave protocol is able to carry is very small; small text commands, not the large packets of information required for video and sound. The Vera (and I’m assuming other) interface integrates the video control for one stop shopping of your automation network. So either your gateway or router needs to have WiFi, or you’re stuck with a wired connection. WiFi is fairly common these days, so I don’t think anyone who wants a wireless connection will be running wires. 

Another thing I learned, is despite my camera being ‘plug and play’, I still had to do a little work. The Vera did a good job of walking me through the process. First you connect to the camera via a wire to your router, setup the camera, then disconnect the CAT5 cable and install the camera where you’d like it to go. The Vista Cam SD has a great picture for its size, and it works in the dark! It’s a great nanny cam. I will give more details later in an in-depth report (once I get some time to play) but I can see issues already. 1. It’s not made for being outside. My main reason for having a camera, is to watch the yard when I can’t. I may look into replacing this one with a waterproof version. 2. You can’t put it up to a window, because the IR ‘bulbs’ drown out the camera with a reflective glare when it’s dark. Even though it’s inside, putting it in a window doesn’t work. Even in the day time, the insect screen in my window shows up on my mobile device. I will continue to try it as its intended purpose; an internal security camera- great for checking in on the kids, watching your home’s interior via mobile device (even when you’re not home), or recording the coming and going of employees in your small office.

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