It’s not often, when accepting a task for a sponsored post, that the advertiser asks for a fair and impartial post, which was why I chose to take on this
home camera post. HomeCamera is offering a unique way of monitoring your home at very little or no cost to the consumer. Normally one would expect to pay big bucks to have a home surveillance system set up, yet with this company it will work with your basic webcam, and most people have on of those, and their unique software which is free.
It’s supposed to be a cinch to set up, as all you need is the software, user ID and password, and to set a name for your webcam such as baby room, or living room etc. Now comes the best thing, and that is once it is set up you can access the camera from anywhere in the world via any browser on a PC, PDA or even your mobile phone using WAP technology.
It all sounds really great and if I were to set it up I would monitor the front door so that I can see who it was that had come a knocking. If I was to be a bit of an hard nosed dad I would also place some cameras in the kids room so that I could make sure that they were doing their homework, but somehow I don’t think that it would go down all that well.
The whole thing looks really good to me especially because at the moment it is a free service because it is in Beta, so I’d say now would be the best time to sign up. Even once they go live they reckon the pricing will still be reasonable, and even so they offer the following commitment to all those who sign up for this Beta testing.
Our commitment to you: We want you to know that we appreciate your time and help. You have our word that when we do go commercial, your service will NOT be terminated even if you do not subscribe to a paid account. All beta trailists will automatically receive a free “HomeCamera Lite” service, from which you can then optionally upgrade. We also commit that all our beta trialists will receive special offers on subscription and mobile access and that these prices will NOT be available to other users.
I have just one query and that is in regards to the webcam and that is to do with the length of the cable. My computer is in the office and there is no way the cable would reach to other rooms in the house. Possible an extension would be needed or perhaps infrared?
Hi. I found your post while looking through the posts of folks who’d accepted the homecamera opportunity.
You asked how the cable length problem might be solved. That’s a fair question and one of the top concerns of folks who want to use their webcam in this manner. The honest answer is “there’s no easy answer”. 😉
There are 3 possibilities:
– use a USB extension cable, possibly with a powered USB hub (messy wiring, but cheap)
– use a CCTV camera (no “real-world” cable-length limit there) and run the cable into your PC’s video-in jack (if the PC doesn’t have this, you could use an analog-to-digital converter card or USB box – these cost less than $30)
– use a wifi camera (which eliminates the need for a PC altogether). HomeCamera works with the D-Link DCS-2120 wifi camera, which includes HomeCamera software integrated into the camera, to make the camera setup process painless (see http://www.homecamera.com/dlink)
Do let me know if you have any other questions.
Thanks for your posting,
– Varun.
Well, I must say you got onto that really quick. I would say that it goes to show the quality of your service. Thanks for the reply.
I take it that the software will work no matter what part of the world you are from?