Monitor your home with your webcam using HomeCamera

Posted on May 21, 2008 at 5:27 am

Are you looking for home monitoring security systems? Maybe you want to setup a remote home monitor where you can watch what’s going on inside your home across the Internet at your office? Commercial home monitoring systems can be quite expensive and fairly hard to setup.

Wouldn’t it be cool if you could buy a wireless webcam from your local Best Buy and setup your own Internet-enabled home monitoring system? Well you can! And till August of 2008, you can do it for free!

HomeCamera aims to make home monitoring a piece of cake for the technically challenged. Just install the software, connect to your webcams, and you’re ready to go! It has many of the advanced features of commercial home monitoring systems also, so you get the double the benefits.

Here’s the description from the website that sums it up quite well:

“HomeCamera is an Internet home surveillance service that has been designed for regular folks - people who need an easy-to-use (yet full-featured) home monitoring solution, without spending thousands of dollars on fancy equipment, and without enlisting the help of the neighbourhood tech genius.”

HomeCamera has some great features that make it quite compelling to use even if you don’t care to monitor your home! It’s just fun!

Installation of the software is simple and intuitive. Hook up your cameras, give them simple names, such as “bedroom” or “kitchen”, click on “Connect” and that’s it!

HomeCamera allows you to use your existing Windows PC (Windows 2000 or above) with up to 4 cameras. It works with all webcams including CCTV cameras if you have those!

I would have to say the feature that excited me the most is the fact that you can access your cameras from any device, including another PC, a PDA, or a mobile phone equipped with a Internet browser. That means you can monitor your home from your Blackberry or iPhone! Sweet.

Another nitfy feature is the ability to share your camera with other HomeCamera users. You can share them out with your wife, kids, whoever you want. You can share it with your grandparents so they can keep an eye out on their grandchildren, etc, etc.

But that’s not all! There are more really cool features, such as the fact that HomeCamera supports motion detection also! The software can detect movement and send pictures or video to your mobile phone or your email! That’s really cool!

Of course, you can also setup HomeCamera to record snap-shots or full video onto their servers for free up to one month. I believe they will eventually charge for the space, but right now it says you can record as much as you want. Or maybe not, since they only keep it for one month. You can also schedule recordings at whatever time intervals you please.

So if you’re in the market for a in-home security monitoring system, think about setting it up yourself by buying a few wireless webcams from your local computer store and signing up with HomeCamera! Enjoy!

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