Video Surveillance (1 Viewer)

[Eric Kahn]

I have a dumb question, if you are using a TiVo recorder for recording home survaylence, do you still have to pay them 10 bucks a month

the fee is the only reason I do not have TiVo, my brother got one in his dishplayer and they did not tell him about the fee untill after he got it installed, he never used the feature because of the fee

 

[BrianW]

Eric, that's a good question. No, the TiVo service is not required for this purpose, so you don't have to pay a service fee if you use your TiVo as a surveillance recorder.

Having said that, I have two more TiVos that I use as intended, and I think the TiVo service is well worth the money. I've even given two other TiVos away as gifts, with lifetime service. I know it sounds strange to "pay for guide data," but it's really so much more than that. Most people don't really understand it until they try it for a couple of weeks and then wonder how they ever lived without it.

 

[Jon_B]

Man, what a cool idea.

Laziness. You're sitting in your HT watching a movie and someone comes to your door. Your TV automatically drops the feed from the camera into a PIP window in the corner of your screen. Then you can decide whether to interrupt your movie or not. If it's the buddy you were expecting, press a button on a wireless controller and unlock the door

This whole idea/concept sounds like something out of the movies.

Jon

 

[Eric Kahn]

I would like to get a TiVo or other digital recorder I can use like a VCR (set time and date to record somthing)

without monthly fees, I do not need their menu because there is only one or 2 shows a week I want to record

to put it in perspective, I have not had my TV on in 3 days

I would have been using my VCR but it was broken, just got a new one

 

[Ryan Wright]

I would like to get a TiVo or other digital recorder I can use like a VCR (set time and date to record somthing)

without monthly fees

Just buy any old Tivo then. It will work just like a VCR (record this at this time) and you don't have to pay any monthly fees.

 

[Eric Kahn]

thanks Ryan, I was under the impression they would not work at all unless you paid the fees

how about the one built into the dishnetwork box??

 

[Bill Catherall]

Eric - The PVR unit that DishNetwork sells is fully functional with no monthly fees.

 

[Eric Kahn]

Bill

My brother offered me his Dishplayer box because he moved and canceled service, he was never able to get the DVR in it to work

I will have to get it and see if I can have better luck than him, the guide menu in his box works so much better than mine

 

[Ryan Wright]

Eric - The PVR unit that DishNetwork sells is fully functional with no monthly fees.

This is true, BUT you can ONLY record off of DirecTV (or DishNetwork) with these boxes. You can't pull something off cable or from a video camera and record it. Reason being, they do not have an MPEG encoder built in. They don't need one, because the stream coming over the dish is already in MPEG format, whereas broadcast/cable TV/cameras aren't. Standalone Tivos have the MPEG encoder and can record from any format.

 

[Paul E V]

Also, I’m convinced that if I had a zoned system where the recorder switched to “where the action is,” I’d have nothing to show the police, in the event of a robbery, but a video of cats fighting on the hood of my car.

My retard cats hide when strangers are around instead of attacking vermin (and my car goes in the garage)

 

[Bill Catherall]

My brother offered me his Dishplayer box because he moved and canceled service, he was never able to get the DVR in it to work

There's a difference between the Dishplayer and DishNetwork's PVR receiver. The Dishplayer had a fee on top of the regular programming package. The PVR units don't. Also, I may be wrong on this, but I think DishNetwork is discontinuing support of the Dishplayers.

Ryan - You are correct.

 

[Ryan Wright]

What about using the X-10 system (motion sensor, VCR commander) with better cameras? --- Or are they proprietory?
From their instructions of the setup, it sounds like the 'VCR commander' will work with any recording device (just that a VCR is what's typically used)

You can use wireless X-10 motion sensors to trigger switching of normal cameras, but you'll need some sort of interface to do it properly. The X-10 cameras have power supplies that are X-10 addressable. The way it works is you hook all four (or more) cameras into a big Y adapter, then you make sure only one of them has power at any given time. If more than one get turned on, you'll see garbage on the screen.
With normal cameras, you could do the same thing by plugging their power supplies into appliance modules, but it's a pretty shoddy way to do things. I would personally buy a video switcher that comes with an IR remote control, run all of the cameras into it, then use an intelligent controller to do the switching.
As for their VCR commander (http://www.x10.com/products/x10_ux23a.htm): Yeah, it will work with any VCR and you could make it work with better cameras. There will be a delay, however, before the recording starts. Most VCRs take a good 5 seconds before they actually start recording.

 

[Paul E V]

it sounds like the 'VCR commander' willwork with any recording device

was that it should work a TiVo (they just call it 'VCR Commander' because it's typically a VCR that is used -- they need to rename it -- Recording Device Commander)