EyeSpy247 have launched their latest CCTV camera, and this time it's so fully featured it has has more acronyms than seems fair. Take a deep breath, and proceed - The EyeSpy247EXT+ CCTV camera is an IP (10/100 Ethernet), WiFi (802.11b/g/n), HD (720P in H.264, MJPEG and MPEG4), Indoor / Outdoor (IP67), with IR night vision (15 metre range), Recording (32GB Micro SD included), Audio (2-way) and PIR / Motion / Sound detection sensors. Wow. We're waiting to get our hands on one of these space invader shaped beauties ourselves. In the meantime here's an Automated Home readers discount code for the new camera...
One of the more joyous tasks in the digital home is setting up a monitoring system for your new arrival to the family. BabyPing is a new division of Y-cam Solutions and they aim to make that a much easier and more pleasant task with their new high-quality Wi-Fi IP CCTV setup. In conjunction with it's free iOS app the system allows parents to watch and listen to their baby on an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch...
Wi-Fi CCTV cameras are so convenient, even better if you can pan and tilt from a remote location while viewing your home from your smartphone. But what if all that was available in a device that cost just £40? Well it is with the this CCTV camera, a wireless IP camera with 2 way pan/tilt, built-in microphone and speaker plus it supports mobile phone viewing and WEP/WPA/WAP2....
Cytech continue to develop and expand their smart home security system launching their new range of 'Designer' keypads. The KP06 features interchangeable frames in various finishes including metal, glass and wood. The KPP06 version is designed to fit standard System 55 KNX frames and the pad can be used to control lighting, heating, air conditioning and other home appliances...
We've always been fans of AlertMe, the UK company has brought innovative products to the market over the last few years . However a couple of things have always spoiled the party a little, the closed nature of the systems and the on-going subscription costs. However, after a sit down chat with the AlertMe boys and girls last week it's clear the company is ready to embark on a new chapter. They have decided to drop subscriptions (yay!) and launch new hardware. But more significantly they have decided to embrace open standards for their Zigbee powered wireless hub. The aim? To become the gateway between the Internet and a whole host of services and controls in our homes...
Here's some car technology headed to the smart home. This $200 system from Phantom brings keyless entry to your house using any Bluetooth equipped mobile phone. As you approach your home the system authenticates you and unlocks your property. Check out the installation video after the jump...
The Brinno PeepHole is a weird little home gadget that might be useful for someone who has poor eye sight or isn't easily able to put their eye up to the door to see who's calling. Check out the video below...
The new 'EyeSpy247HDSD' is a high definition megapixel IP CCTV camera that comes bundled with free access to EyeSpy247's on-line monitoring, recording and alerts platform. The systems only requires a browser to connect to it so it's Windows, Mac and Linux friendly and can be viewed on an iPhone and other smartphones too. With up to 30fps in 720p, an on-board PIR and sound trigger sensors, 2 way audio and 802.11N Wi-Fi , it really is a featured packed camera. Check out the video and pricing after the jump.
Cytech have just announced their new iOS App for the Comfort home automation and security system. The first version is for iPhone and iPod Touch and features keypad emulation, zone status display, the home control menu plus an alarm events display...
Described as 'the world's first Push & Point quick installation Wi-Fi minidome', the new Y-Cam EyeBall promises performance and ease of use with it's innovative lens system. Like the other cameras in the Y-Cam range it features motion detection, with the camera emailing you a snapshot of the action and recording to the microSD card. The Eyeball also brings the ability to record directly to a NAS and boasts 2-way audio and PoE capabilities too. Check out the video after the jump...
The Comfort system integrates an intruder alarm, home automation, voicemail and an intercom. Cyteck have released version 3.2.7 of their Comfigurator software for the panel which adds a new 'Scenario' feature...
The launch of new Z-Wave wireless smart home devices continues unabated and seems to be turning into an almost daily occurrence. This time the new goodies are from Eminent who are revealing their e-Domotica home control range...
The new Panasonic BL-C210 is a pan/tilt IP network CCTV camera that employs H.264 video compression to reduce the bandwidth requirements on your home network whilst maintaining image quality. The £160 wonder's feature count includes a built-in passive infrared sensor, emailed movement notifications, integrated microphone and speaker, external inputs and PoE (power over Ethernet). Its wireless sibling, the BL-C230 is also now available for the freedom of locating that Wi-Fi brings...
Cytech's perennial Smart Home Security favourite Comfort has a few updates to report. The latest version of Comfigurator software has just been made available for download. It now supports the new KT03 touchscreen which has entered production and will be shipping soon. Cytech have also just relaunched their website with a new simplified design. Read on for the details...
We've seen some amazing stuff in our time covering the smart home but this is definitely one of the stranger items. The 'KJB Security SC7000 XtremeLife Artificial Rock Camera/Recorder with Motion Sensor' (to give it its full title) is, as it sounds, a covert recording camera built into a custom housing designed to look lke a decorative rock in your garden. The camera can record up to 1280x960 and supports PAL and NTSC. With an amazing standby battery life quoted of up to a year the unit records to an SD card and can also be connected to a PC via USB...
UK based BenSoftware today announces SecuritySpy 2.0.9, an update to their multi-camera video surveillance software on the Macintosh platform. With features such as motion detection, real-time compression of multiple video and audio feeds, and network video and audio streaming, SecuritySpy is designed for demanding video surveillance applications. SecuritySpy supports a wide variety of network cameras and video servers, as well as FireWire, USB, and PCI video input devices...
Yale launched some interesting new locks at CEDIA last month. Keypad and Touchscreen Versions are available and you can choose from Z-Wave or Zigbee wireless technology. Yale say the new 'Real Living' range are easily integrated into a wide range of home control and security systems including Control4, and promise this is just the start of their foray into the smart home market...
Here's an Automated Home exclusive first look at the brand new outdoor CCTV camera from EyeSpy247. The IP65 rated network cam produces three VGA res video streams ( H.264, MPEG-4 and M-JPEG) at 30fps and can be viewed easily from your mobile phone . Its automatic IR cut filter gives true colour during daylight hours and Infrared illumination of over 10 metres in total darkness. The tiny unit is Windows, Mac and Linux friendly and also houses PIR and sound trigger sensors, 2 way audio and 802.11N wireless. Read on for the price, the links and the ful PR...
Cytech have just release information on their new touchscreen keypad set for Launch in October. The Comfort KT03 is said to fit between basic keypads and large expensive touch screens. It offers control of Comforts security and home automation features and in addition will be able to control sub systems from C-Bus, KNX, Dynalite, Zwave, Velbus and Lutron. The unit can be mounted in landscape or portrait and is programmed through its USB interface with Comfigurator software.
We've just learnt that Cytech are doing a special deal on training. For a limited time, if you buy the Comfort Evaluation Kit they will provide their excellent two-day training course free of charge (excluding accommodation). The next course is scheduled on 21st and 22nd September 2010 at the Touchbase Meetng Centre at the Premier Inn Heathrow. The Evaluation Kit comprises of a Comfort panel plus KP04, RC01, DP03, RGR04, UCM, SCS/Esprit, and the Comfigurator software. Read on for all the details...
The new ProGuard800 system from Marmitek combines X10 Home Automation and Security features in a single Panel. PSTN, GSM modules are also available along with the usual assortment of door/window sensors, motion sensors, water leak detectors, temperature sensors, smoke detectors etc. The ProGuard800 is available now for under £400...
Last month we ran a story on a new range of internet CCTV cameras. Now EyeSpy247 have kindly given us a discount voucher code for a 15% off their camera range for Automated Home readers that would like to try these IP cameras, including the pan tilt zoom model. Discount code after the jump...
One of our current favourite IP CCTV camera ranges - Y-Cam - now has a new model with a built in SD slot for storing recorded video. The Y-cam Black SD is now fully Mac and Linux compatible too and was recently featured on an interesting segment on home security on BBC 2's Working Lunch. Watch the video after the jump...
EyeSpy 247 have just announced 2 brand new IP CCTV cameras for your home - the £100 EyeSpy247F+ and £180 EyeSpy247ptz (pan tilt zoom). Both models feature VGA resolution at 30 frames-per-second, MPEG4 and M-JPEG compression, wired and wireless operation and two-way audio. EyeSpy 247 say their cameras are uniquely easy to setup and in conjunction with their free web monitoring and alert service you can record movement as well as receive email and SMS notifications. Read on for the PR...
Here's a set of three videos from Custom Controls showing recent integration projects for smart home lighting and security systems as well as the Spotify streaming music service. Watch the other two videos after the jump...
Using a Crestron touchpanel to select mood lighting scenes as part of a Crestron Greenlight system. Also shows how easy it is to create custom mood lighting scenes and instantly recall at the touch of a button.
UK smart home security system AlertMe continue to go from strength to strength and last month secured £8M in series B funding. When we first reviewed the product in May 2008 we said it was an ideal hub for home automation and CCTV with its link to the Net. AlertMe added their SmartPlug product earlier in the year and today have announced their IP CCTV add-on for the system.
The camera is a Sercomm RC8021 unit with wired Ethernet and wireless 802.11g WiFi capability too. It's VGA resolution (640x480) 30 FPS, with dual MPEG-4 and M-JPEG streaming plus support for 3GPP to mobile phones. Read on for the introductory discount offer on the new camera...
Cytech, creators of the Comfort smart home security system, have just released their new Prontoscript file for the Philips range of Wi-Fi universal remotes. The free download gives full keypad emulation as well as control of C-Bus, EIB / KNX and X10 with others like Z-Wave, Dynalite, Ulti promised in the future, Read on for all the details...
Cytech have just launched upgrade packages aimed at existing users of their Comfort Intelligent Home System. Users with installations using the original Comfort 1 system introduced in the UK in 1999 will be able to upgrade to Comfort 2. This brings the the new family of products that includes slave expansion modules (SEP01-M2), UCM05 (RS232, Ethernet and USB), UCMs for C-Bus, KNX/EIB, Z-Wave, HDL, GSM, CWM02 Webserver etc to all users...
Cytech Europe Limited is the UK distributor of the Comfort Intelligent Home System that incorporates an intruder alarm system, a home automation system that can control lighting, appliances, heating and airconditioning, an 8 mailbox voicemail system and doorphone intercom system. "Comfigurator" is the software to program the system, and V3.0 has just been released for download...
We reported on the Schlage LiNK Z-Wave powered door locks back in May last year. They're now available to buy in the USA and a new iPhone app is available to control your deadbolts across the Ether...
Cytech, creators of the Smart Home security system Comfort, have just launched a new website with an interactive demonstration of the system in action allowing the visitor to operate all the features in an imaginary home. The demo shows how the system can be controlled during the day, at night, when the house is empty and when the owners are on holiday or away for business...
AlertMe - the innovative UK based smart home security system based on Zigbee technology - is taking another step forward with the details of v2.0 of their software. Read on for the summary and link to the demo system...
Cytech has introduced two new products for its flagship Comfort Intelligent Home System. The new CWM02 is a Linux powered Embedded Webserver while the UCM/GSM2 is a new GSM Module for SMS control, notification and phone dialer backup...
We've been contacted by BAFTA award winning documentary makers, Century Films for help with their next project, and it's right up our street! They're keen to talk to Home Automation enthusiasts who have fitted, or are about to fit high tech smart home security systems in their home. Read on for all the details on how you can help...
Cytech Europe have just sent us news on their new smart home video presentation featuring their Comfort Intelligent Home System.
"The video, filmed in a family home, entertains, informs and demonstrates all aspects of smart home technology including security, networked sound and vision, remote control of heating, air conditioning, lighting, curtains and gates and an intercom which calls a mobile phone when no one is home...."
Cytech Europe Limited announces the launch of new door stations and keypads for their Comfort Intelligent Home System. Comfort links voice prompted home security with all aspects of smart home technology in one system...
Here's a great little device that promises a 10 minute plug & play DIY installation to your existing access control system. You can authorise up to 2,000 users and restrict them by day, date and time. The system also holds a log of access details and you can use your own SIM card or buy a low cost plan with the unit. Use it to replace your existing keyfobs or even as a backup to them, it's available now for £195+vat...
Threshold Corp have been developing their new smart home system for around 4 years now and they're due to launch to market in the next few weeks. The system uses a central controller to talk to a range of Wi-Fi based wireless modules all of which can be added to the secure network in seconds using their new "ConfigSpot" technology. Check out the video after the jump...
Show AH0013 - This time we talk to AlertMe co-founder and director Pilgrim Beart along with his Chief Design Engineer, Dr Amyas Phillips. We talk about the technical background that lead both men to work on one of the UKs most inovative security systems. We discuss the architecture of the Zigbee mesh network and the Linux powered hub at the centre of the system...
LinuxMCE is of course a open-source media centre distro. But did you know you can use it as a home automation controller as well? Other goodies are lurking under the bonnet too such as the integrated Asrerisk VoIP system, already pre-configured for many providers and phone hardware. Read on for the overview of this amazing free system...
In the fourth of our video interviews from this years Smart Home Show we talk to Chiu Lu Yung from Cytech, manufacturers of the Comfort smart home security system. Chiu shows us round some of the new additions to the range, including the Z-Wave serial interface we announced last month. We also look at the new design of the door station as well as a biometric interface and a new CCTV option...
Check out our Videos Page for the High Quality options
Fancy automating your curtains / drapes? What about having them close at dusk each day, or perhaps having them open automatically at a certain time each morning. Having the ability to open and close your curtains can be a serious deterrant against break-ins whilst you're away from your property too. Along with a slightly randomised replay of your normal daily lighting routine it gives a house a very convincing lived in look...
Recently featured on Channel Five's Gadget Show, the AlertMe is a brand new Smart Home Security system from a UK start-up. After spending a few weeks with the product we reveal its highs and lows and provide the information you need to decide if it's right for you...
Marmitek have just released a new range of IP CCTV cameras. As usual you can monitor the pictures and sound on your own network or arond the world via the internet. In the absence of a network some of the cameras can also record directly to a USB thumb drive. The units include Marmiteks UltraView software that supports up to 16 cameras. Four models are available, including wired Ethernet and wireless 802.11b/g devices. Prices range from 100 to 200 Euro (around £80 - £160)...
Last week at the Smart Home Show we interviewed Chiu from Cytech (video of our interview coming soon). In our chat he showed us some interesting products, amongst them the brand new Z-Wave UCM interface for Comfort...
Here's another inexpensive way to dabble in Home Automation. With this Bye Bye Standby (Domia) PIR you get a wireless motion sensor for just £15.00 - Amaze your friends as your appliances turn on or off as you move around your home...
myhome247 have just launched their new 24/7 home surveillance system. The kits start at £250 (plus £5.95 per month) and provide home security and control, with one button setup, secure remote monitoring and support for Windows, Mac and Linux-based web browser...
We often hear that one of the great advantages of IP over PSTN is the increased speed of alarm signal transmission. Whilst this is partly true, alarm installers need to understand the different stages of an alarm signal transaction in order to take full advantage of this available speed.
Typically, from the time an alarm panel is activated, it takes approximately 10-15 seconds to dial the telephone number and send a DTMF or FSK signal over a PSTN line. When an IP dialer capture device is used, it listens for the telephone digits, ignores them, plays a handshake, takes the signal, plays a kiss-off and then transmits the signal over IP. Even though the actual transmission over IP might take only a couple of hundred milliseconds, the whole process takes approximately the same time as it does over PSTN. So where is the speed advantage in using IP...?
We've been watching the innovative "AlertMe" home security system with interest over its development process. Today marks the official launch of the package onto the market. If you're looking for a self install home security and monitoring system you should check out the AlertMe video after the jump for a great explanation of how it works...
