(2008 HOLIDAY TEAM) Wilife DVS800I LukWerks Indoor Starter KitI've been shopping for a new home security camera system for some time, and was lucky enough to get my hands on one of these sets. Overall I like the product, although I do have some reservations. This product is extremely targeted. So you have to know your needs very well in order to know if this is right for you.
This unit includes the Wilife management software, one indoor camera, suction cup mount, bar mount, table stand and power and USB connectors.
Installation
Physically installing the device is straightforward. The receiver and the camera must be attached through power outlet via receiver plugs and connected to your computer's USB port.
The software installation is not equally easy for all users. Any system running Windows Vista, Antivirus software and a software firewall running will need them to be temporarily disabled to get the Wilife software to install. In addition, Windows Vista's extra protection means you will have to click yes several times and go through a few reboots.
This setup made the installation take a little over an hour and required an extra reboot due to some initial hanging. Still, well worth it to have this system installed on a secure OS.
Installing on XP may be slightly easier, but you will still have to deal with disabling your Antivirus or desktop firewall if you are running those. If you're buying a home security system, you will probably want the computer that's storing those files to be secure. With that in mind, taking the extra time to have AV and a firewall installed is probably worth the extra effort.
The design of the indoor cameras is very unique. I can only guess that they are designed to cram a lot of electronics into a very small body. The outdoor cameras are more traditionally shaped. In any event, they all seem to work well once set up.
Adjustment and Expansion
Once you've got the software running, the amount of options for managing this unit are impressive. While most novices need not change settings. You may want to adjust the setting for motion sensitivity after running this for a while. I found that turning down the sensitivity ideal for my use. This will vary based upon which areas this device is being used to monitor.
You can do some cool things with this system, including setting up phone or email notifications of recordings that exceed limits you can set.
This wasn't my first security system, but it was my first introduction to Wilife. I can say without reservation that experienced users will love the adjustable features, except for a few functions disabled unless you upgrade to the premium package.
There are three starter sets: this one with an indoor camera, another with an outdoor camera Wilife DVS800E LukWerks Outdoor Starter Kit, and one with a "hidden" camera Wilife DVS800C LukWerks Spy Camera Starter-Kit. If you want multiple cameras or a combination of them, you will have to buy those additional units as add-ons. It would have been nice if they would have simply produced a starter set with one of each or some other configurations. Once again, 90% of users will be happy with these starter sets, I personally just know I will have to either buy more add-ons or upgrade to the Pro set.
There is a bridge you can buy for about $80 to integrate this with the pro set Wilife Homeplug Bridge. Those that want to avoid using power-line communications will most likely have to consider a more expensive pro version Wilife Pro 4CAM Master Syst Pro Ip Video Security Syst 4CAMS or a different system all together.
The available add-ons and accessories include:
1. Night-Vision 50 Illuminator kit illuminates up to 30 ft and includes an 80° IR lens
2. 54 degree camera lens allows the camera to better view distant objects
3. Standard 80 degree camera lens to replace damaged indoor lenses
4. 120 degree Wide Angle camera lens covers twice the area for better close-ups
5. Set of 5 Adhesive-Backed Mini-Clips to attach your camera cables
6. Set of 2 Small Suction Cups to route camera cables around windows
7. Wall mount bracket for ceiling or wall mounting your camera
8. Deluxe mount with extensions for mounting cameras from a drop ceiling or solid surface
9. Desktop Stand to place your camera on any flat surface
10. Mounting Suction Cup to attach the camera to a window
11. Replacement cables in Standard (10 ft), Extended (20 ft) and Long (30) lengths
12. CAT 5, RJ-45 cable extender for up to 80 feet of CAT 5e cable
Considerations
1. Your camera must be close enough to an outlet to connect it via the included 10 foot cable. You will need an extender if your power outlets are further away.
2. You have to manually adjust the camera focus, so adjust it before mounting.
3. You will need to have a computer that meets the minimum requirements
4. Your computer needs to be on all the time for the recording of video.
5. You will need a broadband connection to access this video remotely.
6. This power-line connection will work better with newer wiring.
7. You will want enough hard drive space to allocate at least 2 GB or more for storage.
8. It will take a little time running the system to set your optimal motion sensitivity
9. The computer receiving the video signal and recording does need to be a PC. If you have a Mac running Parallels or other virtual PC running Windows XP or Vista, you could theoretically install the monitoring software on that. Few users will want to or be able to set that up.
10. For panning or remote adjusting, you need to purchase an "upgrade" for $79 per year to activate the advanced features. So most of us will live without those features.
11. If you have Windows Vista, antivirus software and / or an internet firewall application, installation requires several extra steps.
Pros
+ Nice power over Ethernet design no batteries needed!
+ Nice price for a fully functioning starter system
+ Very easy to add cameras to the system up to 6 cameras supported
+ Nice group of available accessories to customize your installation
+ Great management software with many customizable settings for those experienced with security systems
+ Default settings will meet the needs of novice users and not require changes or adjustment
+ System is motion activated, saving storage space
+ Video recordings are stored in a directory and easily backed, copied, or erased
+ You can easily access your camera via live feed over the internet
Cons
Not particularly fond of them including the "digital pan and zoom" feature as part of the premium ($79 per year) package, but I will live without those features
Also need the premium package to access recorded videos over the internet.
More demanding users will need a system that includes audio
Manual focus adjustment for camera; why not offer a higher priced one with auto-focus?
Some latency on website video access
Conclusion
This set is definitely worth looking into. For most basic needs, this set fits the bill at a very good price.
Enjoy!
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I'm lowering my rating to 2 out of 5 stars. Initial review submitted on October 27, 2007. Update July/08. Nice concept. Fairly good camera operation, but lately I've had major hardware failures.I own two outdoor cameras and two indoor cameras. Since the cameras use the existing power wires to run the video signal, there seems to be some instances where the signal is interrupted. The camera will flicker off for a few seconds and then flicker back on. I've noticed with the new software updates (I'm running 2.5), the outages have been less. Occasionally, however, I have to "find" my cameras via the software. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. When it fails, you need to reboot the camera.
My indoor cameras had some failures within six months of purchase. BOTH power supply units to the indoor cameras failed. None of the lights illuminated. They were totally dead. Although customer service was friendly, waiting on hold appears commonplace and it took over a week for the replacement to arrive.
In June, 2008, one of my outdoor cameras failed. I went through all of the steps to problem solve, but it was dead. I called customer service and experienced a first -rudeness. I know they were bought out by Logitech and it must've affected personnel. Anyway, I went through the steps of getting a replacement. One of the annoying things is that you must wait several days for an "email" from the tech department with the RMA. Then you must SEND your dead camera. When they receive it, they will either fix it or send out a new unit. But in the meantime, you're out a camera for several weeks.
In early July, 2008, my second outdoor camera failed. It was the exact same type of failure as the other outdoor camera. I'm speculating that it's caused by heat (both failures were during hot summer months) or caused by power fluctuations which is burning out some fragile components within the camera.
The second camera was purchased thirteen months earlier which is longer than the specified 1 year warranty. However, Logitech DID replace the camera without charge after I sent in the defective unit. So, I was pleased they replaced it even though they technically didn't have to. So, as of this writing, all four of my cameras are working properly. I think I have run my limit on replacements, however, and I don't know what will happen if one of the replaced cameras fails.
When the cameras work, the image is fairly good. There is no audio which can be a drawback for some people. Night vision is poor unless you have the night vision kit. I have also noticed that the automatic exposure adjustments on the cameras are VERY slow. One of my indoor cameras is window mounted by the front porch. I have motion lights outside. At night the camera shows total blackness. When a visitor ( or intruder) comes toward the front door and activates the motion light, the camera image shows only white (over-exposed). Over the next 10-15 seconds or so, it will VERY slowly adjust the exposure until it is correct. However, by that time, the intruder or visitor will be inside or have left and the camera would not have been able to record the identification. I found this very disappointing. Daytime is fine, but nighttime is almost useless.
One of the positives is the remote ability. It is nice to access your cameras from work or another location via the web for "live" viewing. There is now also a paid service whereby you can view "recorded" video from remote locations.
Overall, I have mixed feelings. The design flaws in the power supplies and the outdoor cameras, the unreliability of using the power wires to send the video, the poor exposure reaction and night vision, counter some of the conveniences and positives. The four-camera system cost me about $1000. With all of the hardware failures and software glitches, I probably could have purchased a more durable system for close to that price. Overall, I'd lower my rating to 2 out of 5 stars.
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**See update on an actual experience in the comments section**
I was very surprised to be able to get this video surveillance system up and running in under 15 minutes! For the most part, setup was easy. I installed the software onto my computer. I then plugged in the receiver to an outlet and plugged the other end into my computer. Next I put the camera in the front window above the door and plugged the transmitter into that and into the wall.
I went to my computer and "wa la", an instant live video feed of the view outside my front door.
At first this system was recording just about everything since we have a couple of trees out front I found I was having almost continuous recording which is not good if you just want to watch a quick overview of the events in front of your house. So, I went in and set up the motion zones so it would only capture front porch, street, and sidewalk activities. Now, trees and cars across the street don't get needlessly recorded. It's also easy to toggle between full screen video and a smaller screen. So, this little video you're watching can actually be shown full screen for better resolution.
The wilife system saves every motion activated video clip to a folder on your hard drive for easy access and playback. At the end of the day you can start the video at any point and it will play them back continuously. If you have it fine tuned like I do, it will only take minutes to see every movement in front of your house.
This system includes one camera, but supports up to 6 if you would like to add more. You can add spy, indoor, or outdoor cameras, they mix and match. For your live view feed, you can watch one, four, or six feeds at a time. It also comes with various mounts including ceiling/wall, suction cup, and stand. 3 stickers were included if you would like to inform would be thieves that your home is protected with video surveillance.
The camera has a focus adjustment as well to ensure a clear picture. For free, they will also let you remotely view live footage (not playback footage) so you can check on your home or business while you are away. This works on PC's, windows mobile enables wireless pda's, and cell phones.
If you subscribe to their platinum program for $79 per year, you can also remotely view playback, store your surveillance online, zoom, tilt, and pan your camera. I imagine this would be excellent for business owners.
Overall I am extremely pleased with this system. My only complaint is that I feel that the zoom/tilt/pan should be included for free, and the online storage/remote playback should cost just a bit less than it does. I think $39-49 is more reasonable. Also, wilife should give some deep thought to offering a $6.95 a month platinum plan. They still end up making the same money but I think many more people will bite $6.95/month versus spending the whole $79 at once.
My other suggestion, make a small floating mini screen that will show live feed while we are using our computer. Wouldn't you think this feature would be free? Well, you have to have the $79 a year plan for the platinum plan which includes desktop notifications which is just a little box that pops up on your screen showing current activity. This could and should be a standard feature of this system.
I highly recommend this system if you want to keep your home and business safe. I really had no idea how EASY this was to install and setup, and if you encounter problems, Logitech has 24 hour online and phone support.
UPDATE: I was sitting in my family room when I noticed a bit of movement in the front of the house. I was looking for the FedEx driver so I could give him a package, but when I got to the door and looked out I didn't see anyone nor did I see a package. So, I went to my computer and pulled up the wilife video and noticed a boy delivering flyers had walked over to the far side of my front porch and left with something small in his hand.
I looked outside and noticed a bottle or two of makeup was missing from the donation box for the women's shelter so I called the number on the flyer and told them I had the young man on video stealing the makeup. You could clearly see him leave with something small in his hand that he didn't have before, and the only thing missing from the box was a couple of bottles of makeup.
Then while I was on the phone he actually came back and took about 4 more bottles, based upon the fact that the box was fairly full before and now had a large empty spot.
Oh, I was mad. What does a 12 year old boy need with makeup? I went driving around the neighborhood and found two of his co-workers also delivering flyers and asked them where I could find the boy and they went and got the Domino's manager (as I found out later) who was driving them around to deliver the flyers. She found him and at first he was not admitting it, then he said he found some makeup in the gutter and threw it back down. Then when I told him I have him on video camera both times he owned up to it and since he no longer had the makeup the manager paid me for the missing makeup and I agreed not to call the police.
All along I just wanted him to admit his mistake, the money wasn't even an issue. I remember the last time this flyer delivery boy was at the house I think he took something then as well because I opened the door and he ran off looking guilty. I honestly thought he was a poor migrant child since it was during school hours and we live near orange groves. I was heading out to pick up my kids from school that time. Now I realize he took something that time as well based upon his behavior, but to remember the date and go back and watch the video feed is not worth it. Now he was caught and I hope he doesn't do it again.
Anyway, I'm glad I had the opportunity to review the video camera, it's actually proved quite useful.
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Highlights---------
Pros:
1. Combines the advantages of wireless cameras (no messy, expensive wires) and hard-wired cameras (dependable picture transmission, free of interference).
2. Price is much lower than traditional surveillance systems. No need to buy a video recorder. Your PC is the recorder.
3. Recording can be either motion-activated or continuous.
4. Retrieval of video is easy if you know exactly what time you want to replay.
5. Camera lens swivels for easily changing the viewing angle, even after mounting the camera.
6. Mounting hardware includes a desktop stand, a wall/ceiling mount, and a window-pane mount.
7. Any video frame, live or playback, can be saved to a JPEG file.
8. Free internet account provides remote access to the cameras (live only, no playback).
Cons:
1. Retrieval of video is cumbersome and slow if you want to review a long period of time to see if anything of interest happened.
2. In the viewing windows, motion (both live and playback) is jerky.
3. My computer sometimes (about once a week, on average) loses contact with one or all cameras, requiring unplugging and replugging either the camera or the USB connection.
4. The new "Homeplug" technology that this system uses has some quirks that haven't been ironed out yet. Some wiring systems seem to have more problems with it than others.
Detailed Review
---------------
There is much to like about this product. I love the convenience of looking out windows through my computer monitor. And setting up an internet account to get the same views while traveling was as easy as checking a checkbox and deciding on a password.
At first, it was difficult to keep the cameras working. The worst problem was that the power supplies tended to overheat, where their lights are, and cut out. After unplugging and cooling off, they would usually return to duty, but eventually they died completely. This happened twice; each time, WiLife promptly replaced the dead power supply. Then I hit on the idea of setting up little fans to blow on the right side (again, where the lights are) of each power supply. I have submitted a customer image that shows the setup. (See the customer images link near the product photo.) Ever since I started that practice, the WiLife system has performed much better.
When working, the cameras perform reasonably well. Picture clarity is slightly better than that of my older surveillance cameras, and the field of view is wider. I can watch a car go further down the street, but I still cannot read the license plate. One little complaint: The video, both playback and real-time, is jerky, even though I have set the frame and bit rates to the maximums.
Regarding the motion detection, I like how WiLife designed the setup. You can draw motion-detection boxes in the viewing area. Outside these boxes, motion will not initiate recording. You can also adjust the sensitivity, i.e., how BIG a moving object will start a recording. You can make it so sensitive that it will record a cat walking through the picture, or so insensitive that it won't even react to a truck. It is true, as one reviewer complained, that there is no middle ground between too sensitive and too insensitive. If you make it sensitive enough to be useful, then a bird flying by, the sun going behind a cloud, a branch moving in the wind, etc., will start a recording. It is still better than not having motion detection. Take advantage of LükWerks motion zones to avoid objects that frequently move in the wind.
LükWerks shows a bar graph of when it detected motions and therefore recorded video clips. You can click on a mark to replay the video clip for that time. Or you can step through the clips. I have a complaint about this interface. It is slow. There are no thumbnails. You're just looking at a bunch of marks, and you have to replay each clip to see what happened. To be fair, as you step through the marks, you are shown the first picture of each clip, one at a time, and this could be thought of as a crude thumbnail interface. But these pictures are not very helpful because the recordings start three or four seconds before motion was detected. This has the small advantage that the video clip shows the context of the motion -nothing happening, then motion, then nothing happening -and the large disadvantage that the thumbnail is useless because it is a snapshot of the first, nothing-happening part. In another system that I use, an array of thumbnails shows WHAT WAS MOVING. If the thumbnail shows nothing of interest, it's because something innocuous, like a tree branch, was moving. Looking at a screen full of thumbnails, I can immediately spot the clip(s) with interesting objects. I have to scroll through several screens of thumbnails, but each screen takes only a few seconds, and I can review a day in five minutes. I would love to see LükWerks provide this type of interface to the video clips.
11/28/06 update: I just realized that a true thumbnail interface is available by using Windows Explorer to look at the LükWerks video folders. However, as I mention above, most of the thumbnails miss the moving thing that was the whole point of recording the video clip. LükWerks should provide an option to NOT retrieve the pre-motion video. Even better, LükWerks should provide thumbnails that look forward half a second or a second into the motion, thus allowing the moving object to get all the way into the thumbnail. This would miss the occasional bird flying across a corner of the picture, but that is a small loss compared to capturing the vast majority of moving objects in the thumbnails.
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