Avaak Vue Personal Video Network

by Avaak

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Vue personal video network lets you see what you’re missing in your life. Vue is the easiest and simplest way to remotely view your family, your home, your business...virtually anything from anywhere at anytime. There is no software to load and your Vue cameras can be viewed from any internet browser. It’s really that simple.

Remote Video Viewing. Unplugged. Even from your iPhone. Vue cameras are completely wire-free and install in minutes Unique patented peel and stick magnetic mounts let you place your cameras anywhere Cameras can be remotely viewed from any browser or iPhone Your personal, secure account at my.VueZone.com lets you watch, record and share video clips or photos Easily share your images with friends and family across the web and upload to Flickr and YouTube
Incredibly Simple Setup. Just minutes from the box to live video viewing. Here’s all you need...everything else is in the box: A high-speed internet connection (cable or DSL) An available LAN port on your router or switch A browser (IE7+ / Firefox 3+ / Safari 3+) or iPhone (OS 3.0+)

Stick. Click. View.
	Stick. Peel and stick magnetic mounts make installing your cameras easy. No power cords or wires, and no tools required.	Click. Open VueZone.com to create your own personal and private account. No software to install and zero network configuration.	View. Instantly view live video from your cameras. Easily record and share content across the internet or download to your computer.

 

 

 

View Online From Anywhere Private, secure viewing on your personal my.VueZone.com page accessible from any computer browser or iPhone See your home, kids, pets...or anything from anywhere on your private my.VueZone.com account. Your personal account page enables you to watch, record and share easily. The first year of service is FREE! Here’s what you can do from my.VueZone.com... Watch live streaming video from up to 50 different Vue cameras Record, playback and store video clips or photos Share your live cameras and images easily across the web 2gb online storage with the capability to expand your service plan
Live remote video viewing It’s as easy as drag-and-drop. Simply drag any or all of your camera icons into the My Vue area and click the start button to view live video. Recording video clips and still photos is also as simple as a single click. You can also schedule automatic recording times. My Connections: this area shows the list of names you have “friended” for live viewing of your Vue cameras My Cameras: this area shows your active cameras in color and inactive cameras are grayed out My Vue: simply drag an active camera into this pane and click to start viewing live remote video, record clips or photos, change frame size and control light settings Watch Tab: enables viewing of live streaming video and recording of video clips and photos Playback Tab: for viewing recorded content Share tab: allows you to share live cameras with names on your list, or recorded content via email or upload to sharing sites including Flickr and YouTube Share Tab: allows you to share live cameras with friends and family, or recorded content via email or to popular sharing sites including Flickr and YouTube Settings Tab: where you control settings for your gateway, cameras and your recording schedule
VueZone for iPhone Take remote video viewing to the extreme The VueZone for iPhone app puts your whole world right in the palm of your hand. Check your wireless Vue cameras from anyplace you have 3G or Wi-Fi connectivity on an iPhone or iPod Touch. Simply use your VueZone login info to access your mobile my.VueZone.com account. Click on a camera icon to see what you’re missing while you’re away. You can view your cameras vertically or horizontally, and here’s what else you can with VueZone for iPhone... VIEW any of your cameras RECORD video for playback later CAPTURE photos SWITCH camera views WATCH all of your cameras with View ALL VueZone for iPhone is FREE and available at the App Store. Compatible with iPhone and iPod Touch running OS 3.0 or later. Use of the VueZone for iPhone app requires a Vue system. iPhone, iPod Touch and App Store are registered trademarks of Apple Inc.
Playback recorded video clips Go to the Playback tab to easily view your recorded clips and photos. You have up to 2gb of free private storage space on your personal VueZone.com account with service plans for expanding.
Share live cameras or recorded clips and photos Just drag and drop a camera icon and start sharing with a simple click of the names on your sharing list. Names can be removed from the sharing list just as easily.
Upload to your favorite sites Highlight the clip or photo you want to upload, then click on the site icon and your content is pushed to your account page for that site. You control private or public sharing to popular sites such as Flickr and YouTube*. You can also download your recorded content to your own hardware with a simple click. Flickr is a trademark of Yahoo Inc. YouTube is a trademark of Google Inc.

 

 

 

Uses For Vue Are Limited Only By Your Imagination See what you’re missing in your life, at your business, in the lives of your friends and family. Almost anything you can think of, you can view live, record and share...amazingly simple!
Keep in touch with far away family and friends or special medical situations	Check in on your pets when you’re away to make sure they treat each other right	Mind your business by watching the assembly line or keeping tabs on the warehouse	Get away to your second home no matter where you are in the world

 

 

 

How Vue Works

Vue FrameMesh™ technology – video unplugged Vue utilizes patented FrameMesh technology to enable wireless live video transmission from battery operated miniature cameras. FrameMesh is an ultra low-power technology that allows a camera to operate for up to a year on a single battery with normal use. As a mesh networking protocol, FrameMesh allows cameras and repeaters to join the network with one click of a button. Once joined, cameras can be moved at any time without the need for further network configuration. All cameras are addressable as individual nodes when online.

 

 

 

Vue Camera and Gateway Features

 

 

 

What’s in the Box The Vue system comes complete with everything you need to set up your own personal video network. Just provide a high-speed internet connection, an available LAN port on your router or switch and a web browser or iPhone to access and view your cameras. The box includes: Vue gateway (2) Vue video cameras (4) Vue camera mounts (2) CR123 photo batteries AC power adapter 3' Ethernet cable Quick installation guide

 

 

 

Product Description

Remote video viewing. Unplugged. Create your own personal video network and view your life from anywhere. Vue is incredibly simple to set-up with no camera wires or power cords to install, and no software to load. Unique patented mounts let you position and place cameras in minutes. Your personal video network can be viewed from anywhere at anytime. Simply access cameras to view live video from any browser or flash-enabled mobile device on your personal, secure page at my.VueZone.com. Live streaming video, recorded video or snapshots are easily and securely shared across the web with family and friends. Vue Personal Video Network – See what you’re missing.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

194 of 196 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good - but understand the purpose, September 19, 2009

By	R. M. Lubynsky (Cambridge, MA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Avaak Vue Personal Video Network (Electronics)

I've been using the Vue system for several months (part of their beta test program). If you understand the intended purpose and application for this product I think you'll be happy with it. The cameras are completely wireless - no network or power, plus they are extremely small and unobtrusive. This allows you place them almost anywhere. Because they are wireless, the product isn't designed for constant recording (battery life). The Vue system is intended to provide you with the ability to remotely check in and view your home for a few minutes at a time. While not perfect, it does this job very well.

I use this to check on my lake house when I'm not there. I have one cam pointed out a window looking out over the dock and another at the main living area. I always wonder if a storm or high wind has created any problem with the boat - so this allows me to check in, take a peek and put my mind at rest. Plus I can see if the lawn guy cut the grass or not. And when I'm at work and wish I was at the lake, I can get a quick fix ;)

Pros: extremely simple setup. Wonderful design for the cams - no wires and extremely compact. Easy to login online and view images from cameras live.

Cons: website is a bit flaky and controls are somewhat strange (but I expect that will improve over time). Image quality is adequate.

Bottom line: If you want high quality streaming video 24x7, this is not the product. If you want an easy to install, easy to use camera system to check in remotely periodically for a live view this fits the bill.

126 of 134 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, not great, September 12, 2009

By	S. Dart (Redmond, WA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Avaak Vue Personal Video Network (Electronics)

Things I like about the product:
- The cameras are nice and small, and the magnetic mounts are well designed

- Setup of the product was pretty easy and everything mostly works as advertised.

Things I don't like:
- You can only view one camera at a time, which is a lame restriction.

- The cameras have a fairly narrow field of view. So it's hard to find a place to put it that really shows you the whole room. A little bit of a wider angle would be nice. I suppose I could order more cameras to get better coverage, but at $100 apiece, I think they are overpriced by about $50. For $300, they should have included 3 cameras instead of 2.

- The web site for viewing the feeds is very flaky. It can be very hard at times to view a given camera (takes many attempts to connect, video doesn't update even when it says it's playing, the feed stops after a few minutes of viewing, etc.) Hopefully they are just working through launch issues and this gets MUCH better before I get to the point where they want me to pay for this service ($20/year after the first year from what I can tell)

- No mobile version of the web site, so I can't view the feeds from my phone. The web site requires flash - maybe there are workarounds, but I'd prefer a lightweight option for mobile phones, even if I just got a single image every 15-30 seconds (which is better than nothing)

- Video quality is mediocre. I have to use the 'low light' setting even in bright daylight. Frame rate and resolution are pretty low. I wasn't expecting HD quality, but I was expecting a little better. Although the web site seems to indicate that you can view multiple sizes, this feature doesn't seem to work.

- The cameras have an LED on them, it would be a nice security/privacy feature if this lit up when the camera feed is live

Add up all of the above, and it's still a workable solution, it's just not great. For $300, I was expecting fewer issues.

P.S.
I was really looking forward to this product to remotely monitor my house and keep an eye on the dog when I'm at work. I went ahead and pre-ordered as soon as I heard about it, and signed up on the Avaak website to 'keep me posted' while I waited for the 'early summer' launch. I'm still waiting for Avaak to 'keep me posted' (or even update their web site to indicate that their product is shipping), but the unit arrived anyway shortly after labor day (aka 'early summer'?)

Note to Avaak: work on your communications with your customers and update your web site! This kind of stuff doesn't inspire confidence in your company!

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great, easy to install personal web cam system, September 22, 2009

By	spassmeister (Del Mar, CA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Avaak Vue Personal Video Network (Electronics)

I've always been a fan of webcams and have been somewhat dissapointed with the performance and easy of use of home webcam systems. I recently installed aLinksys Compact Wireless-G Internet Video Cameracamera and was struck by the difficulty in its setup, and further disappointed with the lack of range from my Ruckus access point. Fortunately, there is tremendous control provided by the Linksys system which allowed me to throttle back the data rate manually and the reliability has been high since then.

I was anxious to try the new Avaak Vue system as they have tackled the location problem by using battery operated cameras. The system works by removing much of the "home hobbyist" aspect of the linksys system. The linksys system uses the server software in the camera to essentially host the live feed. For example, in the link above I've had my router assign a fixed IP address to the camera, and I've opened a port (2000) for the feed. Not hard to do, but in addition to the other steps is a bit too much to expect users to do. The Vue system does all of this for you for $20/year service cost.

The setup was very simple. Included in the box are: a central access point host and transformer, 2 cameras, 4 magnetic camera mounts, mounting hardware and an ethernet cable. The setup took minutes. I installed the system and used a ethernet jack on the ground floor of our home in my office and planned to put two cameras - one by the front door and one looking out back at the pool. Well, the range was too far, which surprised me as everything else (computers, devices) all seem to work at this range. All I can conclude is that the system attempts to balance between image quality and battery life, and that tradeoff requires the system be physically close together. I find it amusing that vendors included the range in "Line of site" terms. I suppose that's like using MPG to compare cars ("comparison purposes only") as I can tell you it's only 75', but includes a couple walls, and that's too far. I moved the Vue Gateway upstairs , which is close and goes through one less wall and that worked. I then registered with Vue and can look at both cameras online.

The image is acceptable. It's not as good as the LInksys, but I was impressed considering the battery operation. One of the highlights of this system is the novel mounting "half dome" magnetic mounts that allow you to move around the cameras to where you want them.They claim the camera will last a year on one battery, but that assumes that you only use the camera 10 min per day. This is a use case of, for example, checking the front door while you're at home, or, checking to see who's out using your pool. With no motion detector there's a lack of utility as a security system. You can set a schedule to have it record by I no idea what to schedule. Perhaps if there was a way to trigger it remotely (for example, if a single motion detector could trigger a script to open the Vue website, wake up the camera, and record for 1 min) it would have more value. The website also was a bit sluggish to use, but is basically friendly. finally, they need to have some mobile app (Android, iPhone, Blackberry, etc) to allow a user to operate the sysetem while on the go.


I'd recommend this camera for anybody who is not comfortable with the complexity of the linksys system, or would like a quick and easy system to install and use.

[...]