Advanced Video Communications may have a winner on its hands with the internet-connected LiveLine video camera. Simple setup, a low $10-per-month access fee, and a fairly straightforward user experience make the LiveLine worth a closer look.
Early beta testers got a free camera, which AVC claims to be a $299 value. And while the company has sold out of all its initial freebies, it’s currently restocking its inventory. The actual selling price of the system once it’s out of beta will likely dictate the overall popularity of the product.
If the actual camera itself costs $299 on top of a $10 monthly service fee, it’s not going to do well. There are plenty of IP cameras with similar features available for well under $300 that don’t carry monthly charges. So let’s keep in mind that this thing hasn’t really been priced yet. If it stays at “free camera plus $10 per month,” it’ll be compelling.
As for features, the camera uses a wired or wireless internet connection and the pan, tilt, and zoom functions can be controlled remotely through most web browsers. The system can also be set up to record video files any time it senses motion. Those files are then made available with time and date stamps and playable inside your browser (they’re Flash video files).
Setup is pretty easy. You have to first connect the camera to your router with an Ethernet cable. Then you go on LiveLine’s website and enter the camera’s MAC address as part of your account setup. Once that’s done, you can type in your router’s wireless network name and from that point on, the camera will use its built-in wireless antenna.
As far as controlling the camera remotely, take this test account for a spin. It’ll give you a good idea of what to expect. The interface is pretty ho hum right now and the overall motion and video quality is a bit choppy, but it gets the job done. There are other relatively inexpensive IP cameras on the market, however, that promise 30 frames-per-second video. This one does not do fluid video — at least it didn’t in my tests, and I have a Comcastic 30Mbps down/7Mbps up internet connection.
Here’s an actual still from the camera. The resolution is only 320×240.
And here’s a clip of actual footage (3MB AVI) to give you an idea of the framerate and whatnot.
Apparently the camera’s capable of recording audio, but I was never able to hear any during my testing. Everything’s still in beta, though, so that functionality may not be enabled yet.
AVC also touts the ability to view your camera from your phone’s mobile web browser. You lose all of the camera controls and access to recorded clips, though. Right now it’s little more than a static still image with a refresh link underneath it. That’s fine for older phones, but it’d be nice to see a more robust offering for newer mobile browsers.
Overall, it’s a pretty solid effort from AVC so far, provided they keep the price low. If the camera stays at free or maybe $50 plus the $10 monthly fee, it’d be a much easier purchase for most people to justify.
It might also be a good idea for AVC to drop the monthly fee altogether. There’s a link on the company’s site for advertisers, which leads me to believe the camera pages may someday contain ads. In that case, AVC might consider trying to make a few bucks off of camera sales while keeping the web access free.
Product Page: LiveLine.net
Actually if it’s $50 + a monthly charge, it will NOT be a good deal. That kind of business model is almost certain to result in complete bankruptcy. Clearly they’re just trying to get customers at any cost so that they can say “look, we have 50,000 subscribers” and use that to get another round of financing. But that pyramid scheme only works for so long before investors realize it’s never going to pay out and they don’t invest in the company any more, causing collapse. And of course, what happens to those 50,000 people who did sign up? They’ve got nothing but a worthless piece of plastic .. unless of course it can be hacked, but if it could be hacked then the company would collapse even faster. Ultimately this device would be no better than a CueCat or an i-Opener.
Nope. I’d rather pay full price for a gadget than take a discount on a device that only works as long as the company is around.
I agree. Aside that I would prefer buying a more professional piece of hardware from some serious producer, like Axis and so on… This one from LiveLine look quite cheap to me.
An Axis 207W has costed me 250€ at the shop. It has WiFi support and it doesn’t cost me anything to remotely connect to it and record to a remote ftp server, when movement is detected… And being a serious camera, I can also host it for free on Streamby.com when I need to have a flash version stream accessible from several viewers (mobile too).
Perhaps I just miss the point about this product/service.
The idea and execution is nothing new but do think there is value in what they are trying to do.
However, at the prices they want to charge I don’t think they will have many takers particularly if they compare themselves with pay-as-you-go style providers in the game like eyespy247.
Davide has a very good point, why would you want to buy into an expensive bit of kit that appears to be proprietary? It seems to make much more sense to buy an IP camera that suits your needs from a reputed maker like Panasonic or Axis and them find a provider that gives you the ability to extend the capabilities of the camera with an online DVR facility, etc.