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XCam2
By Rick
Popko, Equip
04/25/2000
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PRODUCT
RATING
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| Overall |
83 |
| Features |
85 |
| Usability |
90 |
| Look
& Feel |
85 |
| Performance |
60 |
| Value |
95 |
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I've Got My Eye On You
X10's XCam2 is the least expensive
video-surveillance solution you'll ever find. The $79 package includes a
palm-sized CMOS-based video camera with a built-in audio/video
transmitter and a 2.4GHz wireless audio/video receiver that picks up the
camera's signal from up to 100 feet away and displays it on a television
or through a VCR.
The quality of the video the XCam2 captures is poorer than those
captured by most CCD pinhole cameras we've looked at in the past, but it
is good enough to be used for monitoring strangers loitering outside
your front door or the nanny babysitting your kids in the living room.
Please note, Equip does not condone the use of hidden cameras for
nefarious purposes. It is against the law in many states to spy on
people without their knowledge and/or written consent. With that said,
even if we were feeling randy and wanted to cash in on the Internet's
hidden-cam craze, we wouldn't use the XCam2 to do it because the image
quality is just too poor. If there was a situation where image quality
was of the utmost important, we'd order a more expensive pinhole camera
from a company like spycompany.com ($350) and then purchase the wireless
transmitter/receiver from X10.com ($88).
However, X10's XCam2 has the advantage
over pinhole cameras in that the all-in-one unit transmits both audio
and video wirelessly to a receiver box that easily plugs into a TV or
VCR. If you take the pinhole approach, you'll need to buy an extra
transmitter (which is bulky), and you'll have to have extra audio and
video wires running to it (of course the more wires you have to deal
with, the harder it will be to conceal the unit). The only wire coming
off the XCam2 unit is the power source.
The reason XCam2's image quality is so poor has to do with the image
sensor inside the camera. The camera uses what's called a CMOS
(complementary metal oxide semiconductor) imaging chip, as opposed a CCD
chip (charged coupled device), which is what most consumer video cameras
use. The advantages of a CMOS chip are that they require fewer
transistors and less power. The disadvantage is that the image quality
is poorer than that of comparably sized CCD-based cameras. On the other
hand, CMOS cameras are a lot cheaper to produce (XCam2 is $79, while
most pinhole CCD cameras cost between $200 and $300). It's true that
CMOS cameras have improved tremendously over the last two years, but the
XCam2 still has a ways to go before its image quality is as good as a
CCD-based camera.
Of course, not everyone needs a broadcast-quality picture for what
they want to use the camera for. As we mentioned earlier, the camera
works great for surveillance situations. We can imagine putting the
camera by the front door to identify strangers who come knocking in the
night. We can see putting one in the baby's room to make sure everything
is all right when he or she starts making noises in the night, and we
can imagine training one on the front yard to catch which neighbor dog
has been soiling the front lawn every morning.
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Part of the XCam2's charm is in its small
size. It's so small it fits comfortably in the palm of your hand. The
camera has a threaded bottom, which lets you screw it on a tripod or
mount it on a wall. The camera's head can be adjusted up-down and
left-right. And because this camera is so small, it's easy to make your
own personalized hidden cameras at home! Check out the cheesy makeshift
hidden camera that we made using a plain old Lipton tea box. Of course
if you used your imagination, you could come up with something
infinitely more creative. Heck, you could probably make your own
clock-radio camera like the one that was reviewed in November's Spy Gear
feature.
Methodology:
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In the following two photos, we had an XCam2
mounted on the wall and our fearless leader, Dan Robbins, stood about
two feet from the unit. We then plugged the wireless receiver into our
Canon GL1 miniDV camcorder and recorded video from fifty feet away and
one hundred feet away. From there, we output the captured video into our
computer using Pinnacle Systems' DV200 FireWire capture board and took
the still frames you see from within Adobe Premiere. Because of most
peoples' Internet bandwidth restraints, we saved each of the captured
stills at a 320 by 240.
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As you can see, the photos leave a lot to be
desired. While we were disappointed with the image quality the camera
produces, we were nonetheless amazed that the X10 can offer this
solution for $80 and that the camera did in fact work as advertised. The
XCam2 transmits audio as well, but we wouldn't rely on its quality in a
court of law. When we tested the camera's audio in our media lab, it
sounded as though we were communicating from space shuttle Atlantis 100
miles above Earth. To really make out what someone was saying, the
person had to be pretty close to the unit. If you're trying to capture
audio from a distance, you'll have better results using a separate
recording device.
In X10's next-generation camera, there are a few options we'd like to
see implemented. First, we'd like to have the ability to choose from a
CCD-based camera instead of a CMOS camera. Sure, we know that will cost
more, but some of us value image quality over price. Second, we'd like a
unit that is battery powered. We're impressed that the
camera/transmitter is now included in one tight package, but you still
need a free outlet to plug the sucker into. It would be great if we
could just slap a camera up anywhere and not have to worry about where
the closest power supply was. And third, we'd like to have the ability
to manually adjust the camera's focus to sharpen specific focal points.
Currently, the XCam2 is a fix-focus camera. And finally, we'd like to
have the ability to unscrew the lens shade. It's bulky, and it takes up
too much space when you're trying to make your own hidden camera.
Overall, we'd buy an XCam2 for security purposes, but we'd stay away
from it if we needed higher-quality pictures.
Key Features:
- Imager CMOS Sensor
- Format 1/3"
- Array Size NTSC - 510 × 492
- Resolution 310 TV Lines
- Scanning 2:1 Interlace
- Auto Shutter 1/60 to 1/15,000 sec.
- Minimum Illumination (f1.8)
- Operating Temperature -10°C to 55°C
- 14°F to 131°F
- Humidity Limits 0 - 95% Humidity
- Rated for outdoor use.
- 38-Degree Range of View
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