D-Link, D-Life, and DIY Internet Surveillance
When you have a house or office full of gadgets, you start worrying about security. And once you’ve checked your locks and backed up your data, you start to wonder if you maybe need a camera or two to watch things when you are gone. Luckily, there are plenty of camera options, but many of them are too expensive, require extra equipment, or are large and obtrusive.
Hence the latest internet cameras, which use your existing networks and connect to your computer for always-on video that you can watch or capture. But until recently, IP cameras used mainly wireless networking, which sounds simple but never quite was.
The D-Link Internet Surveillance Starter Kit gets around this problem by offering a powerline solution in the box: you plug one box near your router, connect one cable to the router and the other to a power outlet. On the other end, you just need to plug the camera into an outlet, and voila- instant wired internet connection. More secure, faster, and stable- and really simple to use. D-link has been touting it’s D-life system, an ecosystem of devices that are supposed to allow easy interoperability and super-simple configuration. We didn’t test any of the other D-life items, but the concept is sound: it took little time or tech knowledge to setup the camera, and the site is simple enough for nearly anyone to use (though limited to IE users now, unfortunately). We do worry though about the potential sticky privacy issues of streaming video of your home through their servers, but you can pretty easily purchase off-site storage for your camera feed, allowing for better security.
The camera also offers pretty good low-light filming and a decent microphone, though we wished the audio features were a little more robust. The big problem is the lack of any zoom, pan, or tilt options that would have been nice additions- though the mounting is straightforward and the system attractive and unobtrusive. In short, the camera itself is nothing special, but the ease of use and D-life integration are pretty nice selling points. The Internet Surveillance Kit is a solid, decent package that is aimed at families who might not want to deal with firmware issues and router configuration, and who wouldn’t mind the $300+ pricetag.
