BzzAgent .. what is this?

I have been reading online for a long time about this company called BzzAgent. I kind of always ignored it, because I figured it was just another waste of time social marketing attempt, or some kind of "do this for points to earn some reward".

Well, I had a bit of spare time this morning, so I did some digging. It actually seems like a totally legit company, and today they are offering Kindle e-readers.

Due to me working in IT, it isn't easy for me to carry around books when I travel, since I have to carry my laptop, several cables, clothing, etc.

I bought a couple of full sized tablets, both Android based, and now an HP Touchpad. They do the job, but are rather bulky to carry with me if I already have a full sized laptop.

So, I am going to try and get in on this Kindle campaign. Of course, the final decision lies with BzzAgent. If I get it, of course it will be all over this blog, as well as on the several forums I visit, and my co-workers/friends/neighbours will all  be seeing it first hand.

Let's see what happens!

Time to die, old laptop friend

So I have this really old Compaq Armada M700 laptop here. It has served really well over the years.

But let's face it, a P3 laptop has reached it's time to retire.

So, I am going to put it out of it's misery, and drive over it.

New laptop

So I just got a new laptop two days ago. I love it. I don't care about anything else, this system rocks my games.

Lenovo W520. And it is AWESOME!

Core i7 2720QM
16GB ram
500GB 7200rpm hdd
2GB nVidia Quadro 1000 graphics
Biometrics

AVN80X IVS IP CAMERA REVIEW

Hey readers!

Just want you to know, that this is currently a living document, in that I am still making changes/additions to it. But I like to share information with people right away, so I figured I would publish it, and simply ask you to check back time to time to see the latest goodies added! Thanks for reading! :)
Well, here is another independant review of an AVTECH IP Camera.

This time up, is the brand new, AVN80X.

This camera packs quite a punch for such a small package, let me tell you.

Some of the features are very similar to my previous review, the AVN304, but there are a lot of new features that AVTECH has added to this new one. In my opinion, AVTECH is definately a security company to keep a close eye on in the future, while purchasing and using their current lineup.

Right off the bat, some of the main features are:

Metal casing
H.264 Video
Live MOS Sensor
Uniphier DSP
Big aperture lens (F1.5 )
1.3M pixel, 720P recording (Resolution up to 1280x1024)
MicroSD Slot
PIR Human Detection Sensor
External Alarm I/O Interfaces
High Power White LED (VERY BRIGHT!!)
Digital Pan, Tilt, Zoom
Audio detection
Push Video notifications with 5 seconds of video
Adjustable lens
Broad mobile support (iPhone, iPad, Android)
Multi-platform (Windows, Mac)
EASY setup

One thing I wish that was added was integrated 802.11x Wifi, however using the Sapido RB-1602 pocket router supplied by AVTECH, I was able to put the camera wherever I wanted.

So let's jump right in, and show off some pics of this amazing little camera.

Here is everything that comes in the box. the AC Power, the mount, and the camera itself. 

The mount is very well constructed, nice heavy metal that should be reliable to hold your camera securely. 

The front of the AVN80X has the Power and Status LEDs, the Speaker and Microphone for two way audio, the White LED for night shots, and the PIR Sensor. 

The left side of the camera has a MicroSD slot, for cards up to 32GB in size. 

The rear of the camera has the hole for the mounting bracket, a 10/100Mbps Ethernet port, the Alarm I/O connectors, and the AC Power input. 

Here is some detail on the speaker, the White LED, and the PIR sensor. 

The small hole is the Microphone, the three lines are the speaker, and you can see the power and status LED in the top left corner.

This is the PIR sensor for Human detection...

Since this is an IVS camera, it includes features such as motion detection, recording, video notifications and external I/O support.

Push notifications are an important feature of this camera. When it detects an alarm condition, you will get a popup message on your iPhone, and when you open the message you get a 5 second playback of video showing what caused the alarm to trigger.

You do need a MicroSD card inserted in order to use most of the pre/post video features and the recording without external software.

The external I/O support I think is a pretty good addition to an already great camera. This lets you have add-ons such as a door sensor, external motion detector, or a smoke detector send signals to the AVN80X, so it will send you push notifications. You can use normally open or normally closed contact devices (door contacts, external PIR, beam break sensors, and a lot more).

The AVN80X includes Digital PTZ (Pan, Tilt, Zoom), which means the camera itself doesn't move, it relies on software to zoom and move around the image.

This camera also features a Digital Smart Zoom technology, which automatically zooms in on an object when detected, whic would be used for easy identification of an object.

Since the rest of the camera is basically the same as the AVN304, let's get onto the interesting changes, the GUI.

Here you can see, several new features have been added, like the ability to direclty control the power of the LED, recording features, two way audio features, and the Backup page which allows you to view your recordings.

Here is the details of the Backup page, showing recordings stored on the Micro SD card, and what caused them (Manual, Human detection, or Alarm). Clicking on one allows you to load it into the viewer on the right side, and watch the recording. You are also given the option to download any videos via this interface.

The White LED was present also in the AVN304, but for is a little bit different in the ANV80X.
It can be scheduled to turn on, or configured to turn on when it detects an alarm.

Overall, I would say AVTECH is doing great with this new model. While I wish it had Wifi, I can live with using another device to make it wireless, just because of the amazing features the AVN80X has.

On my recommendation scale, this one gets a 9.5/10 . The only reason I give it a 9.5, is because some features are fully dependant on using MS IE (The backup page doesn't show up in Firefox). I think in order to foster wide adoption of users, if should support as many browsers are possible.
For more information on AVTECH , please see http://www.avtech.com.tw
For more information on Eagleeyes , please see http://www.eagleeyescctv.com/
Direct link to information on AVN80X, http://www.eagleeyescctv.com/avn80x/
Canadian Distributor of AVTECH products: http://www.cpcamcctv.com/En/Prod_Overview.aspx?prod_id=P110824070

New review coming soon!

I just received a sample of the new AVTECH AVN80X IPCAM, which looks great. I will be doing a review on it in the next week or so.

I wanted to dive more into Network Cameras for security at home and work, so I am doing this review on the new AVTECH AVN304 IPCAM.

DISCLAIMER: This review is entirely my feedback and not influenced by AVTECH.

The AVN304 is ideal for consumer usage, for situations monitoring babies, home security etc. All it needs is an available network connection. If you want to access it from outside the home, it will require Internet connectivity as well.

It would also be ideal for monitoring pets while at work, or even checking on kids after school.

It can also be used by business, for hotels, restaraunts, daycares, even property monitoring where an owner would just want a little bit more security.

The device has a VERY wide range of support, with two major Operating Systems, 5 major web browsers, and 7 major mobile device operating systems. You can stream the video in H.264, MPEG4, and MJPEG.

Specifications:

Lets start with an overview of the camera's specs.

1.3 Megapixel IP Camera
Multi-Platform Remote Surveillance
720P 16:9
Supports Mac / Windows /iPhone / iPad / Android / Blackberry + More
Easy Setup Wizard
360 Degree Mounting
Extremely Bright LED
Recording (Windows Only, Via Included Software)
Digital PTZ
Email, FTP or SMS Notification
Multi-Language
Panasonic Uniphier DSP
Panasonic Live MOS Sensor
Digital PTZ
Digital Smart Zoom
White LED
Face Detection & Tracking
Video Viewer Software (Windows)

This camera doesn't use your standard CMOS for the image, it uses a Live MOS sensor. This sensor gives the low power of the CMOS , but puts the image quality in the CCD range.

  

The camera arrived in pretty standard packaging as can be seen in the pictures. The outside of the box is pretty descriptive of what is inside, and the items inside are very secure yet easy to remove.

As I removed the product from the box, it had the items you would expect to see: AC Power Adapter, IPCAM, Manual (which is very well translated and easy to read), CD-ROM, and the mounting bracket with screws in the white box. The CD-ROM includes different translations of the manual, as well as the recording software VideoViewer for your Windows PC.

The product manual is very excellently written, and includes information for setting up your PC to access the default IP address (192.168.1.10) of the IPCAM for Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7 with screen shots. The screen shots and instructions make it easy for even a computer novice to setup this IPCAM.

Here are some shots of the product assembled, before I connected it to my LAN.

The IPCAM itself isn't very large on the outside, but the features it packs are VERY large. Here is a side by side comparison beside my Blackberry 8320 smartphone.

I connected it to my LAN, and immediately logged into it to configure it. I was greeted by a first-time Wizard, which was going to walk me through the configuration. The interface works very well with Firefox and MS IE (including IE9!). When you want to log in, it not only asks for a user name and password (default are admin/admin), it also generates a random character string similar to a CAPTCHA. 

You should select the option for "do not show wizard at login" before continuing, or else you will get the wizard screen show up on every log on.

It supports ActiveX and Quicktime format, however I found better performance using the ActiveX stream. It was more near time, with only around a 1 - 4 second lag in the video and audio.

For some fun, I connected it right beside my Linksys WVC54G IPCAM, and took nearly identical pictures of my backyard through a window screen. As you can see, the AVN304 has a much higher quality image, and makes the lines of the window screen all but invisible.

 

AVN304

Linksys WVC54G

If you are not sure how something like this would connect at your house, here is a diagram that shows roughly how you would use it, and what can be accomplished using each platform (PC, MAC, Cellphone, etc)

As you can see by the diagram, you can Check + Control the IPCAM if using one of the Apple touch devices (iPhone, iPod, and iPad), or an Android based device. The Windows Mobile, Blackberry, and Symbian OS are only capable of Check (monitor or streaming). 

I downloaded and installed the EagleEyes Lite software on my iPhone 3GS from the iTunes store for free, and it is pretty impressive. You can control the digital PTZ using your fingers. It also allows you to hear the audio, so I have a nearly fully functional IPCAM surveillance system in the palm of my hand.

The IPCAM has a White LED on it for darker/night surveillance, however unlike infra-red, the White LED is very bright and visible to the human eye. It does however allow full color images, versus an infra-red LED which make things look monochrome.  It is extremely bright, and works very well with the device's low light sensitivity sensor. 

Here are some sample images provided by AVTECH as a comparison to another camera, which match the performance I have seen.

My final verdict:

I have worked with AXIS, Linksys, D-Link and Netbotz IP / Surveillance systems over the years, and this AVTECH IPCAM is one that has me very excited. The 720p imaging makes crystal clear viewing of nearly any situation possible.

A few of these IPCAM with the included monitoring software will permit nearly anyone to have an ideal video monitoring solution wherever they want.

You could even have these IPCAM at the cottage with an active Internet connection, your house, and anywhere else you want to monitor, since the included software permits you to monitor up to 16 devices.

Just a few brief years ago, a solution like this would have cost thousands of dollars including decent software.

My recommendation is that if you are looking for a Video surveillance system, you should consider the AVN304 from AVTECH. You will get crisp, clear video feeds that will more than satisfy you.

The Price of the AVN304 will be around US$199~220 if purchased via an online store.

For more information, please see their website: http://www.eagleeyescctv.com/