X10 sells a several low-cost video surveillance cameras and has become the 800-pound gorilla of the nanny–cam business. Besides the motorized base and wireless color camera (built around a 0.33-inch CMOS sensor), this latest offering includes a wireless receiver that plugs into your TV set and a handheld remote that lets you control up to four X10 cameras on fixed or on pannable bases. There's also a video-to-USB adapter, so you can use your PC instead of a TV set, Pan 'n Tilt software that lets you control the bases from your PC, and a USB transceiver to send remote control commands. For this you'll pay about $260 (the exact price depends on X10's rebate du jour).

If all goes well, setup should take less than 30 minutes, some of which will be devoted to finding an unobtrusive place to fit the dark gray, cylindrical Ninja base and camera, which together measure 7.4 inches high, and locating an electrical outlet within the 10-foot reach of the power supply's cord. The camera, although wireless, still requires power, but gets it from the Ninja. The camera works best indoors but also should function outdoors if protected from rain. With a bit more effort, a bit more software (the company's MultiView and WebView), and an always-on Internet connection, you can view your house from afar. If you use MultiView, you can add motion detection capabilities. When something triggers the motion sensors, the camera will upload images to X10's free, password-protected site (if you have X10's MultiView software) or to your hard drive.

Ninja lets you see almost all of a room or your entire yard thanks to the panning head. The standard X10 camera covers a 60-degree angle (equal to the coverage of a 35-mm wide-angle lens on a 35-mm camera). The motorized head pans 180 degrees horizontally, or half a circle, and 70 degrees vertically. And with the press of a button on the remote or with your PC software, you can switch among four cameras, then pan in the direction of whatever catches your fancy. When the camera and wireless receiver are nearby (within one room of each other), the picture quality is fine; about equal to a VCR tape. Move the devices two rooms apart and the signal slips a bit; three or four rooms apart and the signal may flicker and break up. X10 accurately claims—and we verified—that the hardware supports up to 100 feet of open coverage (nothing but air between camera and receiver), but we had trouble getting a viewable signal to travel 50 feet indoors.

Of the half-a-dozen fixed and tilt-and-pan cameras we worked with, one suffered a cracked antenna mount (but functioned) and another panned but wouldn't transmit video. X10 says system failures are rare and notes, correctly, that a broken mount doesn't affect image quality.

Also bear in mind that security is minimal; there's nothing beyond a four-position channel switch. Anyone cruising your street with an X10 video receiver or with a home-built unit using a more powerful antenna could pick up your cameras' signals. And then you'd be the one under surveillance.

This is a fun product that works well under many circumstances, but it's not for people who want to reach all corners of a big house without losing image quality.