For the past 6 years Xanboo has released a variety of products and services under our own brand as well as under partner brands such as Shell HomeGenie, Motorola Homesight, BellSouth HomeMonitor and now AT&T Remote Monitor. With each partnership we have expanded our customer base and, as a result of feedback, have continued to improve both the service and final solution.
Xanboo would like to speak more directly to you, the end-user, in a continuing effort to discover how our product and service can be used to help you stay in touch with the things that are important to you. This blog is also where you can learn about new products, services and how others use our solution.
Some of the things we want to know:
• Which features and benefits do you like the most?
• Which features and benefits do you feel are the least useful?
• How do you use our products and services?
• How do you believe that we can improve our offering?
• Anything else you think we should know to help us become a better company.
We hope to hear from you soon!
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72 comments:
Glad to see you guys are finally getting advise from your customers. I've been using the system for awhile and like it. You've made a lot of good improvements over the years. I'd like to see more features around energy management.
I have been using the Homesight System for the last year, and recently signed up to see my account on the web and I was amazed! I was able to know when my son came home from school, and watch my cat sleep, as well as scratch the furniture. Working all day, I worry about my son, and if he is safe at home. With this system I now get alerted when he comes home and the camera sends a picture to my email. I've never been so happy to receive and email.
I finally learned which one of my two dogs was tearing up the garbage. When I left to go out last night I was watching on my cell, and then Jack, my younger rotti, jumped up on the counter, grabbed the trash bag, and spent 20 minute ripping it apart and dispersing it all over the kicthen. Maggie, my older lab just sat and watched the whole thing. She didn't even get up to sniff at it. Now I know who to be mad at when I come home and see garbage all over the kitchen.
I'm using the product to check on the babysitter. She's great with the baby, but now at least I'm able to know for sure that she's doing things right.
Check it out. I knew the neighbors kids were screwing around and vandalizing my backyard, so I put up some cameras and caught them in the act. Even had the video recorded. Showed it to their parents and now no more problems.
I have a vacation house in Maine that I leave alone for long periods. The temperature sensors rock. No more freezing pipes. Also, its just cool to look in and view the cameras to see that everything is ok. Very cool stuff.
So far, so good.
It would be helpful to be able to have multiple cameras recording simultaneously. Otherwise, a thug could just activate recording on one camera, and then act with near impunity.
How about PTZ? D-link's got it.
Thanks.
(1) I think the Remote Monitoring is the most useful feature. In fact, I based my purchase almost entirely on the knowledge that I can set up triggers and alerts to be mailed to me whenever something changes, based on conditions that I specify.
(2) As far as least useful features go...Audio. It just doesn't work very well...lots of static.
(3) I use the products and services to provide security for my apartment. I don't own a landline telephone so the built-in security system is of no use to me because it requires, guess what -- a phone line. By equipping my apartment with this system, I can be alerted as to what is going on from anywhere, and I can actually record video and images of any happenings.
(4) I believe you can improve your offering by making the Mobile Phone Client work on more types of phones. My phone -- a Nokia 6682 running Symbian 60 OS -- is powerful enough to run the J2ME package, in fact more than enough, but it isn't designed for "smartphones" so it won't install correctly. The web interface won't work in Opera, either. (This isn't a skimpy phone, either -- it's pretty high-end.)
Happy so far but would like to see improved camera low lux and resolution performance. I can now monitor indoor and outdoor temps at home as well as water presents if any. Nice features. I have fooled an indoor camera to take a snapshot through a window when triggered by a seperate motion detector which jumps out a water sensor which activates the camera. You need either a camera that will operate at below zero temperatures as well as a motion sensor for same.
Thanks
Well I just LOVE your product that I bought and set up.
Mainly because of (in priority order)
1) COST - inexpensive kit and add-on modules
2) EASE - was pretty easy to setup and configure
3) WORKS - set and forget (until it notifies you!)
My wish list would be:
1) BACKUP TOOL - an easy way to backup all the settings/config once it's all tweaked and working perfectly, so in the even of a computer-crash or if you just want to duplicate the setup, you don't have to start from scratch. I've saved various directories in the hope I captured the settings, but haven't tested it yet on another CPU.
2) IP/NETWORK CAM - a way to view/admin other non-Homesight Web/Network cams through the same single interface. Ironically, it does mention that you can do that in the online help file/guide, but upon checking with tech support, it was just a misprint and is only available on the newer X1000 gateway product, cheich leads me to my next final question:
3) When will the X1000 finally be available? When I originally purchased the HMEZ2000, I thought it was going to be ethernet and not USB-based, but loved it so much, I kept it and am leaving my CPU on, but would really like it to be network-based like all my other network-type products.
That's about it. Let me know.
Thank you for your comments,they are quite helpful.
Regarding the cameras, we are working closely with Panasonic and soon will offer their high end pan/tilt/zoom cameras as well. These also have low light capability.
In regards to the XG1000 gateway, this is now available for sale on the Xanboo website at http://cme.xanboo.com/xanboo.html
Again, thank you for your comments,
Bill Diamond, President
I love the system but I am having serious problems. My homesight locks up after 3-4 hours of use. Nothing else is in use on my PC only homesight. I can not even exit the program it just hangs. I am forced to power of the PC in order to get teh homesight working. Tech support tells me they have never heard of something like this. Does any one have ideas on how to solve this?
I bought the system since I wanted to look in and check out the home while I was working late at work, but I'm actually more in love with the sensors now. I keep my front door sensor armed all the time so whenever someone comes or leaves I get a sms to my phone. Just love that little bit of passive awareness. Also, I just upgraded to the XG1000 gateway which is sooooo much better than the pc product. Never crashes, always up and running, no problems. I would highly recommend making the switch if you like the product. The pc product was a great tease, but the gateway absolutely rocks.
I just started using your products and find them to be very good. Couple of suggestions: 1)software takes to long to load up; 2)should be a way to minimize it to the task bar; 3)audio controls would be helpful to adjust the sounds cause the camera audio has a lot of static; 4)have the ability to resize the live video display (some people dont have large monitors so it would be helpful); 5)have the ability to open seperate video displays for each camera.
Other than the static in the sound quality, I dont have any other complaints.
I used to have problems with video quality and the stability on my pc. So I upgraded to the gateway box and the IP cameras. Big improvement, but would love to have a thermostat that I could control. Is this coming soon?
Thank you for your comments so far. I can tell you that we take your feedback seriously. We are constantly working on advancing our products and features forward.
Keep the thoughts coming!
Why is it that you check the requirements, pay the $90 bucks to buy the product and then go through customer support to solve problems and the only recourse to buy a $200 gateway just to get the system to run longer than 4 hours. What kind of security is that? I have to get up or come home every 4 hours to restart my PC. I am becoming the night watchman. Who needs electronic?? I'll just do my rounds!!!
I did some checking with some computer geeks at work and they say it sounds like the software has memory leaks that are causing the PC to lock up.
I would like to see this remote access available directly to the XG1000 for those of us who do not want pay a monthly fee. I have business class internet connection and Network Engineering background and would like not to have to subscribe to a service to remote control my homesight. Where are the homesight thermostats? You show them in the demo video. Why not make them available to the doit yourselfer. You limit the popularity of the system by only making these options available through AT&T and BellSouth. We technology professionals hate having to deal with these techs that read a script to render support and try and lead us through the basic trouble shooting we have already done. The reason X10 is so popular is the open support and availability. Don't limit the offering of your products. Those large service provides make all their decisions to offer a product or service based on a bean counters recommendation or approval. The individual Techy is going to be you r most loyal market share.
Once again, thank you for your posts, your feedback, thoughts and questions are very important to us. Your questions are forwarded to our client services department.
While we check this blog often. If you have immediate questions in regard to your account, do not hesitate to contact our client services department.
They can be reached at help@xanboo.com or by phone at 1-888-889-5211
Jessepi,
Our technical department was made aware of the matter with your account. In order to resolve the difficulties we ask that you send us the log files for your account. This will assist our tech team in isolating the issue and providing an appropriate response.
To manually compress your Motorola log files if you are using Windows XP, please follow these steps:
1) Go to My Computer/C:/Program Files/Motorola homesight
2) Find the file folder names 'logs'
3) Right click on the log file folder and choose "Send To -> Compressed (zipped) Folder"
4) Once you have created the compressed log file, the zip file may be attached to an email and sent to help@xanbo.com
I have sent my stuff to help. Thannks!!! I have been out of town for a while hence the delay and the need for the system to work for more than 4 hours
Here is an idea for a future software enhancement or new sensor accessory -- how about the ability to trigger the cameras due to loud audible sounds (rather than being limited to just motion detector) or offering a smoke detector option? I love the system for keeping me informed to what is occurring around the house while away, but we live in a pretty good neighborhood, our house is rather old (built in the 1920s, all wood) and I am frankly more concerned about fire than robbers. I'd like the early warning if something is smoldering, rather than having the cameras only detect when there are actual flames. By that time it is already to late to call the fire department and stave off damage.
Related to post just above -- Ideally my goal is to be sent an e-mail or message to my phone when the system hears if any of the smoke detectors (or carbon monoxide detectors) are going off in the house. I would also like some sort of notation to be sent along with the message that indicates if the camera was triggered due to sound or motion.
Perhaps I might be unaware of features already available, but I have yet to figure out the ability to trigger the camera by sound. If anyone knows how I might get this to work with existing components and software available, I would appreciate suggestions.
I agree with earlier posts and would like to see:
A cold weather camera
A hot tub temp sensor
A controllable thermostat
Regarding the previous post about cold weather cameras, FYI I have found both the wireless and wired Motorla Homesight cameras to work pretty well in cold weather (despite the recommended operating limit of 32 degrees F described on the specification sheets). We have had nearly two weeks straight of weather below 10 degrees Fahrenheit, with windchill colder than that. It hit -8 last weekend at night for a few days. I have one outside facing my front door and another in an external garage to our house -- both are under eaves to protect from rain and snow, though despite the cold they have worked flawlessly so far.
A few more details regarding my prior post above -- I have a wired camera (HMV3200) under an eave facing our front door and a wireless day/night camera in our external garage (HMV3050). They both operated fine in weather that had reached as low as MINUS 8 F for many hours this past weekend overnight. My only gripe is that the reception on the wireless camera in our external (and unheated) garage tends to flicker in and out due to the distance -- it is right at 60 feet from controller unit, though with barriers of two thick walls (8" external wall to the house, and 6" external wall to the garage) in between. I wish the video signal on the wireless cameras was stronger -- the optional Repeater from what I have read will not increase the video signal strength. Breaking open one of the cameras to have a look the other day, I see that there are two wires -- one I assume for video signal, and a separate one for control options. I assume the repeater only increases the strength of the latter control signal.
Does anyone have any experience with the day/night cameras in low light environments?
In reply to one of the posts above, you can now purchase a thermostat on the online store, and the temperature sensor comes with a probe that you can put in the hot to keep track of the temperature. You can even have it send a sms or email if it raises/falls below a certain threshold. Re the outdoor cameras, the IP cameras now compatible with the system should work fine.
The day/night cameras are ok for monitoring a baby's crib or something like that, but if you really want to light up a room you should switch to the BLC10 camera sold online along with their IR blaster. That will do the trick.
I just got one of your thermostats and it rocks. I would recommend that people should know how to install it, or get professional help from an electrician or someone, but it really is a great product. Very cool that I can control it over the internet, and it looks so much cooler than my old piece of junk. When are you guys going to have controls for my window shades...that would totally complete my automated home experience. Can't believe this stuff is so cheap. It is almost as good as Crestron stuff and about 1/1000 of the price!!
While I'm at work, I'd like to be able to let people into my home for cable repair, package deliveries, etc. Then I could monitor their entrance on video and make sure they're doing what they're supposed to do and leaving right away.
Great work and nice to know you're monitoring your blogs!
Thank you for your comments so far.
We take your thoughts very seriously, and want to make our home monitoring systems meet your needs.
Keep the feedback coming!
I bought your system recently to see how my dog walker was treating my dog. What I learned was that she is definitely nice to them and treats them well, but instead of the hour she is supposed to walk them, its only really 30 minutes. Something nice to know.
Ok, you ask for my thoughts….
New user (1 week).
Good:
- I love the concept. I’m an individual who worries about problems at home while my wife and I are out of town. Being able to check the status on my web-enabled PDA Phone should help me rest easier.
- Easy to install
- First year web interface include with base system.
- SW screen provides indication of battery health for each sensor.
Bad:
- Documentation is sparse to non-existent.
- Although it has fantastic potential, the product appears to be virtually orphaned.
- The software operation is erratic and causes frequent system lockups.
- Live video viewing and snapshots do not work. Only operable remote viewing method is requesting a recording through the website and praying the system archives a video for viewing later.
- Internet Explorer V7 (IE7) appears to abort when requesting live video. IE6 doesn’t abort but no video appears.
- SW does not support automatic start at boot time. If your PC crashes or you have a power failure, the software will NOT restart when the system reboots.
- Notifications are limited to Email or SMS only. Not even a way to flash an alert message on the PC.
- Monitoring web site does not work on Pocket-Pc based mobile phones.
- No smoke alarm sensors. I made some by cannibalizing some water sensors. When my system says the kitchen is wet, it really means FIRE!
- Macros are very limited. There are effectively two modes (home and away). There isn’t an easy way to implement a partial arming. (e.g. I’m home, but I want to watch the door and water sensors.) The macros don’t have a way of invoking other macros or performing operations conditionally. (e.g. if (HOME and WATCH_DOORS_FLAG) then ….)
- Camera field of view /angle is high. (e.g. long lens). Won’t work effectively in small rooms or hallways.
- Tech support is very limited. Send in a question 1) “Can you think of a way I can do …….”, the response is a very concise and detailed “no”.
2) “Why doesn’t the video work?” the response is “your PC is broke….”.
Another convenient feature on my wish list is a Windows Media Center Edition (MCE) plugin. I have my MCE PC with video output to my TV -- it would be great to click the remote to go to the Live Video feature of Homesite, and then click between cameras. It means while watching TV I won't have to get off my lazy butt any more to see who is knocking at the door, or look out the windows to where my 3-year old might be running around the yard. :-)
For the more technically minded amongst you, it's relatively simple to control a Homesight door switch from your own electronics simply by wiring one of the internal reed-relay switches in parallel with an Open-Collector TTL output. Once that's done, control Homesight using Macros. Easy! You can them extend Homesight's versatility any way you want
A tip in regard to the comments from anonymous on March 2 -- To have the Homesight software automatically launch at computer startup, create a shortcut link to the software (right click on the Homesight software launch icon and click "create shortcut"), and then drag the shortcut into your "Startup" folder (under Start > All Programs > Startup or C:\Documents and Settings\AllUsers\StartMenu\Programs\Startup on Windows XP). Works for me. It re-launches Homesight with the last settings and alarm state.
Well, it's me... Anonymous from March 2. It's March 16th and I still have not received any help whatsoever from Xanboo. I called the tech support and they first said my cameras were defective. I've got 6 cameras and two controllers. The cameras include two generations of wirless and 1 wired. These were purchased from three separate companies. What are the chances that there is a 100% failure rate among these cameras? Not likely....
Bottom line is that I'm actively having to reverse engineer their software to figure out what's going on. Right now, all I know is that IE crashes in the xancam.ocx active-x control.
On the positive side, I made some great smoke detector sensors by buying several 9v home smoke detectors that have the exit light powered by a separate 9v battery. I connected a very small reed relay to the wires to the light. I then connected the two probe wires from a Homesight wireless water sensor to the relay. When the light comes on during smoke detections, the relay closes causing the water sensor to trigger. I just have to remember that whenever the software says my garage is "WET", it really means FIRE!
Also, I wrote some batch files,scripts, etc that keeps an eye on the textual log file the software outputs. When a particular event happens, it plays a wav file of a female voice saying "ALERT ALERT, This is important, your garage is on fire". So far I have about 6 different voices coming out regarding various motion, water, door, and smoke detections. It's halarious! Next, I'm going to modify the scripts where they see a camera motion event to not only announce the event, but also wait for a snapshot to show up in the Homesite data folder and then flash that snapshot on the computer screen. Just think, I'm sitting in the living room, a female voice comes out of my computer "Excuse me, I believe someone is on your front porch..." and then flash a picture from the front porch. NEAT!!!
Just wish the live video streaming worked!!!!!
Thank you for the tips on macros and setting up fire alarms. I plan to give it a try.
Do you think that your live video problem might be a USB port conflict / system registry issue? That or a conflict with another or incompatible video codec installed on your machine? Or possibly a system protection (anti-virus / anti-spyware) of some kind?
I recall having a similar problem soon after installing Homesight a few months ago. I was able to get things to work by plugging the system in to a different USB port on my PC and re-running the installer software. During the process, the "found new hardware" icon popped up and it re-loaded the audio and video drivers of the controller unit. I guess that something I had installed earlier using the same port must have been the issue.
Along a similar line of thought, there may be a codec installed from other software loaded on your machine that is overriding or conflicting with the Homesight viewer -- for example if you had earlier installed a non-Homesight camera or other video editor or player software.
I suggest downloading the latest editions of one of the free codecs from Microsoft (lookup 'microsoft codec' on google for WM9Codecs.exe, and/or download the latest Windows Media Player or go to www.microsoft.com/directx) or look at DivX.com. Either that or try uninstalling / reloading some of the other video programs you think might be conflicting.
Only other thoughts for you would be to reinstall IE7, or look at anti-spyware or virus protection software loaded on your machine -- they might have options you will need to adjust to allow the homesight video / activex control you mention.
On IE7 -- look at the "Tools > Manage Add Ons > Enable or Disable Add Ons" thing.
Hope this helps.
FINALLY!!!!!
It's me again....Anonymous...
It Works!!! By using the free ProcessMonitor tool available at www.sysinternals.com, I was able to generate a DLL call trace of the Homesight software. After pouring through several megabytes of textual data, I found where the Homesight software was loading a codec that was part of my WinTV software. I have not idea why it took a liking to the WinTV codec???? Anyway, when I manually removed the codec, the software began working correctly.
....Of course, now what do I do about my 2-month old non-functional WinTV board?
The only real comment I have is that I wish the software had better built-in debugging/logging support that would have let me find the problem sooner. I’m sure I’ve spent a good 40 hours over a month hunting this down…
As I mentioned previously, I have resorted to using kludgy scripts / batch files to manually scan the textual log files and perform additional functions on the local PC. (e.g. “When the trigger of Macro XXX is recorded in the log file, play a .WAV sound file that says blah…blah..blah through the PC speakers”)
Other functions I’m thinking about for the scripts are:
- After playing the .WAV file for a camera-based
Macro, somehow grab a copy of the picture
produced by the macro and flash it on the PC
screen. Right now, the picture file is automagically
sent to the Homesight on-line web page and doesn’t
appear to be archived locally. Hmm… I may have
do a email based loopback to get a copy of the picture.
- I already have the system sending my cell phone a
MMS-based message with a snapshot. It would be neat
to send the .WAV audio clip as part of the MMS also.
- Automagically send a status report for all of the devices
to the email on my cellphone every 4 hours. “It’s 4:00
and all’s well….”. Ooh… another .WAV file!
- I think I read somewhere that the Homesight closes and
reopens the textual log files once they reach a certain
size. This would mess up my scanning scripts. I need to
build in a way of detecting this and resetting the scripts.
- I’ve had the software about unexpectedly on a couple
of occasions. This would not be good if it happened
while I was out of town. I need to teach the scripts a way
of detecting a problem and restarting the software.
I know the Homesight software is JAVA based. Does anyone know if there might be an programming API floating around? If so, I could implement my script functions much more gracefully.
I really think this system has potential. Although I can google press notices on the net that are less than a year old, I get the impression that this product is either not being actively marketed or is in the process of being abandoned. I don’t understand why there are not more advocates. Any thoughts?
With respect to the fire alarms. These are still way cool. They are easy and cheap for a novice gadget freak to build and it gives me tremendous warm fuzzies when I’m on travel. Not only do I get a automated notification of an event occurrence, I can proactively ask the software for the status of the sensor. Hmmm…. I need to see if I can figure out a way to patch the software to say FIRE rather than WET.
Tonight’s job --- Way of checking on the dog while I’m away at night….. 1) Using remote power controller, turn on lights in dog’s room (yes, he has his own room…don’t ask…). 2) Take 20 second video. 3) email video to cell phone. 4) play .WAV file saying goodnight to dog. 5) Turn lights back off. Simple….
I think everyone would buy a smoke detector tied into the Homesight system.
I not only want an alarm to sound, I want to be paged, E-Mail etc. Sounds like a fairly simple project and (I suspect) one you are already working on.
Harry,
Me, Anonymous again….
All of the gizmos I mentioned are up and running fairly well. All of the smoke detectors I built appear to be working without any problems. My wife has been able to accidentally set one off in the kitchen (don’t ask..) and I promptly received my alert on my cell phone.
Unfortunately, I still view the Homesight system as an 80% solution to a problem. They are so dang close to having something great!!! Yet, they continue to sit on their hands…..
Example issues I have are:
1) I have had the Homesight software hang-up or abort on a few occasions. This is not good!! Especially if you are out of town and cannot reset the software. Also, the inability to have the software startup at system boot time is a problem. If there is a momentary power outage while you are away, you Homesight system is down for the duration… After much frustration, I set my PC BIOS to autoboot after a power failure and purchased a copy of the AlwaysUp software package to start the Homesight software. To help address strange lockups, I have another software package that forces the computer to reboot itself every day at midnight. Kludgy solutions to what should be simple problems….
2) The macro definitions are extremely limited in scope. I would think it would be fairly simple to further enhance the features in these. Additionally, the number of macro definitions allowed is limited.
3) You can’t invoke other macros from within a macro. I would prefer to be able to create a macro “Set System to Configuration A” that would enable/configure the devices using other macros.
4) There are not any easy ways to expand the functionality of the Homesight software. Frustrated with the inability to perform custom actions on events, I developed some scripts which parse the internal log files for the Homesight software and perform actions based on what it sees. Of course, the Homesight software periodically closes/re-opens it’s log file so this makes the scripts extra challenging. Yup, another kludgy solution to something that should be simple for them.
5) Lack of local event alerts. Somewhat related to the previous item. There isn’t a way to create a alert function on the local host PC. Nope, not even as much as a “ding ding” on a event occurrence. Everything goes out via SMS or email. No exceptions! I used my custom scripts mentioned on the previous item to trigger the playing of .WAV audio files when a event is detected. Yup, another kludgy solution to something that should be simple for them.
6) Very limited device range. I have some cameras that I would like to put on the other end of the house. Unfortunately, these areas are out of the range of the system. I purchased one of the signal repeaters, but later found that they apparently don’t do any good for video devices. (I would have loved to have known that before I bought the repeater…). I haven’t found any other references to methods or tricks for extending the range of the system. A severe limitation of the system.
7) Reliability concerns. I’ve had some of the devices drop off of the device list at random times. If I pull the batteries for a second and put them back in the devices will start operating correctly again.
The bottom line is that the Homesight system is a great idea that has a huge potential. I would have hoped that when Motorola, ATT, BellSouth, etc got involved they would have matured the product. Unfortunately, I can’t see that anything useful has been done with the product for well over a year.
To Any Xanboo user;
I just recently purchased a Motorola HomeSight Kit (HMEZ2000). I really like the features, ease of use, and scalability. However, I just could not get it to run sometimes. It would always claim that my USB Wireless Control Module was not plugged in. It stated that I should check the USB connections and try again. According to Device Manager it was installed properly. Looking at the Motorola HomeSight software log it would produce the following error:
java.io.IOException: Initialization error in native code: 80004005:Failed to initialize
80004005:FAILED_USB : Could not find the SuperXan Audio Capture USB device at the initilization time!
23 22:05:19.437 [FCTR main] !!AFM initialization error:
java.io.IOException: Initialization error in native code: 80004005:Failed to initialize
80004005:FAILED_USB : Could not find the SuperXan Audio Capture USB device at the initilization time!
I was connecting to the machine which had Motorola HomeSight installed on it remotely via remote desktop protocol (RDP). I was also asking RDP to bring any remote audio events to the local machine. This was my problem. The Microsoft RDP Audio Driver was overriding and inhibiting the SuperXan USBVision Audio Driver. Therefore, Motorola HomeSight could not find the SuperXan USBVision Audio Device.
The moral of the story is ... While using RDP, set the Local Resorces -> Remote Computer Sound to "Leave at remote computer" while connecting to a Xanboo hosting machine.
Could Xanboo please provide these comments as an RSS feed.
My first question (enhancing an earlier comment):
Your hardware is great, your software is great for regular users, but could you please provide a documented API to allow suitably skilled individuals to extend the basic functionality of the system?
I am not so interested in the security aspects of the system, more the monitoring capability. However, I would need to feed sensor data points into a log to allow custom monitoring and data mining. Also, some of the sensors are very basic. For example, the temperature sensors only feed a limit breach. If there were a model to feed a temperature reading at regular configurable intervals, the potential applications are limitless.
Just purchased the HMEZ1000. I see alot of potential in the product. But the main reason I want to use the product, is to see which of my 2 cats is peeing on the carpet. Problem is the motion detector does not seem to be sensitive enough to pick up the cats as they cross the field. Is there anyway to increase the sensitivity, or to turn on recording to record all the time?
Thanks.
Though I assume Xanboo didn't intend for this blog to be a peer support forum, I have found it very useful in troubleshooting my problems.
First, let me say that I think Homesight is a great solution for relatively inexpensive home monitoring. When an event is triggered, I will generally receive an email message within 30 seconds of the event. There are certainly limitations that others have mentioned here, but overall I am pleased.
As another user posted I was having trouble getting the homesight software to load. The error message that homesight was giving me said that homesight could't find the base station.
Looking in the homesight install directory a subdirectory called "logs" can be found. Reviewing these logs I found the error:
FAILED_USB : Could not find the SuperXan Audio Capture USB device at the initilization time!
Before installing the Homesight software I had done a clean install of Windows XP. Audio quality had always been quite bad, so I didn't worry about installing the sound drivers for my audio board.
WELL, that was a mistake. After installing the sound drivers, Homesight started working correctly!
What I find strange is that the Homesight software told me it couldn't make contact with the base station. It suggested unplugging the base station from the USB port and the plugging it back in. BUT, right there in the logs Homesight was also reporting that the reason for stopping was that it "Could not find the SuperXan Audio Capture USB device at the initilization time!"
I wasted lots of time thinking that the drivers for the USB device, the Homesight Base station, had been incorrectly installed. The whole time it was the drives for my sound board that needed to be installed.
I hope that in future versions of the Homesight software error messages will be more descriptive.
Also, the sound recording abilities of Homesight have improved with this new installation ... not sure why.
Hi Anonymous
Vitch here. I've hooked up my internal alarm system to my Homesight system and together they do a pretty good job of monitoring what's going on around the place. Having said that, the link is kludgy - I monitor my drive with part of my own alarm system and trigger a relay that short's a door-switch on the homesight to take a picture. Similar to the water sensor kludge someone else did here. I get access to my server remotely via free logmein.com. Seems to work really well and you can see live video etc for free. No real need for the subscription.
I'd love to see the scripts you use to parse the HS event logs. I really could use those.
Had to laught at your Wav file enhancements - I do the same with my alarm. Try to set it and it may say "Back door open" so you have to go lock it first. "Intruder Alert" gets people laughing but I think my rotweiler's bark would be more useful... must record him sometime.
I also find my HS sometimes seems to crash and close itself but an API that checks running processes (and restarts them) may be better than rebooting every day. I'm not too worried because both HS and my alarm email me every day with a status check (arm homesight), which is forwarded to me as an SMS. They aren't interdependent, so it's a sanity check for each other. If I only get one SMS I go see what's wrong using logmein.com.
If you're interested in taking this dialogue offline, contact me at v i t c h l i n g at very warm mail company address. Sure we have much to share and if the HS developers aren't interested, we'll just have to keep on doing it ourselves.
Hey Vitch....
Anonymous...homemade smoke alarm guy here....
Sorry I haven't responded sooner, I haven't check the blog in a couple of months. Frankly, I assumed that with virtually no support and updates, that Homesight/Xanboo had probably gone under due to their own negligence.
I drop a note to you lukewarm address.
OK, been using it with a Panasonic BL-C10 hard wired camera... I would really like to get support for their BL-C20A or BL-C30A wireless camera... Why do you not support them? Panasonic gives you a free server to access them from, so it should not be a big programming deal...
Another new user here, I've noticed that the Homesight takes control of the Panasonic cameras and I'm trying to find out if anyone knows what their default name/password that is load is. I can get into the camera using Panasonics instructions, but to use with the Gateway, you have to hit the factory default and do a discovery, which then loads a name/password into the camera and you are no longer able to log into it. I want to do this because my phone is not one of the "approved" devices to load java, but I can get an email or SMS so I could then to to the cameras webpage and view/control the camera to see the image. Anyone else?
I don't know if anyone might be interested, I use quite a complicated X10 system already using Homeseer, and wanted to incorporate some of the Homesight features, in particular the PIRs seem much more reliable than the X10 equivalent. To get round the lack of API, I've written a simple VB6 SMTP gateway, the software can then look for particular format in the subject of the messages, I use names such as X10_G3_ON for rules, which can then call Homeseer direct to turn on the particular X10 controller, as the gateway just intercepts the messages, they still end up in the destination mailbox.
This process works well to use the motorola PIRs to turn on lights as I move around the house.
I plan to enhance this to detect the state of my X10 daylight detector, so lights come on only at night, and perhaps by enhancing the rule.
Ideally I'd like access to an API but this at least works.
My next task is to automate the re-starting of the software every few hours to deal with potential locking/crashing issues.
if anyone wants more information try emailing me at m i k e @ b l u e p i n e a p p l e . c o . u k
mike
Does Homesight encrypt the video signal for the wireless units?
There are devices that advertise as being able to pick up un-encrypted video signals. For example, the below website sells a device that can "Scan and Receive Virtually All Wireless Video Cameras".
http://www.spygadgets.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Store_Code=1&Screen=PROD&Product_Code=WCS99
Could an attacker actually spy on the owners of a home by tapping into the Homesight video signals?
Has anyone received any response from help@xanboo.com? I have sent two e-mail messages for support with the integration of Panasonic BL-30C Wireless IP Cameras with the Homesight system and have received no response four days later. I'm almost wondering if this is a case where all good things must come to an end. Is Xanboo still in business?
well I've owned my homesight for a month now and have not been able to use it. everytime I insert the install CD and install the software. Then it pops up a box asking me to plug in my USB wireless system control unit. So it can auto install the device drivers. I plug it in, and it searches and searches for drivers, but never finds them. I have tried installing this on 3 different computers. none have worked. Am I doing something wrong?
I have had the system for many years and it has been great, but I had to reinstall it to a new PC and I am having the same problem where the USB drivers will not install. It may be something involving the windows update before SP3, but I can't figure it out either. Anyone have any sugestions?
Have you read through the previous posts in this blog?
I couldn't get homesight to start up correctly until my sound board drivers were installed. The strange thing is that homesight never said, "Install your sound drivers". It just failed.
I got a new cellphone and I want to load the mobile App for Xanboo. But I cannot find the link anywhere to download the needed software to my phone. Can someone send me the link?
Hi. I had to reinstall it to a new PC and I am having the same problem where the USB drivers will not install. I think that new updates change firmware in base station and drivers in oryginal cd are wrong. I have a copy of folder in program files and there are different drivers than cd. I was install motorola hmez1000 with updated drivers but motorola software form cd don't reciognised that base station is instaled. I must have full software version 2.6.17 or 2.6.18 - not update. But I can't find it anywhere. Sorry for my English. Best regards. Adam
Does anyone know how to add an IP Camera?? Its a Y-Cam??
Or can someone mail me their IP Camera config so I can make a copy? Obviously take out any personal data... thanks
phil @ mariutto . com
I have been using the Motorola Homesight system for several years now and love it. Recently, I added a program to my Windows Vista system to download videos from my wife's digital camera and now all I get on the Motorola cameras are thin black and white horizontal lines. After uninstalling the new program I have uinstalled the Motorola program and then the drivers and reinstalled the Motorola program with no success. Any help would be appreciated. I also tried restoring the system to an earlier time prior to the installation of the other camera program with no success.
Thank you for your inquiry. It appears that drivers from your wife's digital camera is interfering with the Motorola Homesight camera. I would recommend uninstalling both programs and then reinstalling the Motorola Homesight software and see if that works. Also, factors such as camera distance from controller and location of camera could be playing a role as well. If you would like to discuss, please call the Motorola Homesight department at 888-889-5211.
We thank you for your comments and feedback. If you need to speak with Motorola Homesight Tech Support please call us at 888-889-5211. We are available from 8:00am-9:00pm EST.
An open platform with Linux support would be wonderful.
I have a homesight and works great!, I have installed for many friends and they all love it. My question is: How do I hook up and external Monitor to the AV port on the Unit itself and has anyone tried this?
I need help making/purchasing one of these smoke detectors that a few above have mentioned. If interested in building one for me or giving me step by step instructions please send me an e-mail to: skf83@verizon.net
Thanks!!
To Anonymous, I too would like to play wave files immediately a device is triggered, so would it be poss to let me have a copy of your batch files/scripts. Thanks,
p e t e @ g o g o t e r i e . c o m
Vitchling here.
After a couple of years of neglecting my generally functional intelligent house, I believe it's time to re-visit the whole concept of an intelligent house and how by collaborating, we can:
a) Save money
b) Make money
c) Make life easier
I'm not sure about heating bills in the US but in the UK they've gone up about 30% over the last year or two and as the price of oil goes up and up over coming years it's only going to get worse. Sooner or later, every home is going to have to find ways of keeping their utility bills affordable.
One great way to do this is by managing the temperature of every room in the house based on usage of the rooms. Cooler in the living room at night, warmer in the bedroom as you go to bed and wake up etc.
There are several proprietary systems for this but they all have deficiencies or are prohibitively expensive for most consumers. X10 is well established system that works great for some things but lacks functionality when modules have to pass more information than simply "on or off". Data exchange between modules is very limited. Homesight went a lot further but they have a propriatory system that we cannot extend without resorting to "kludgy" (but ingenious) scripts to interrogate log files as per anonymous earlier in the thread.
We need a few extra devices and more functionality.
a) I want a wireless control for my radiators to make my gas central heating system more efficient.
b) I want a wireless temperature sensor that doesn't just tell me when pre-set highs or lows have been reached but tells me what the temperature is when my control system polls it.
c) I want my controls system to know which rooms my family members are in so it can divert hot water to those rooms in preference to others.
I want the above in every room in my house and on every radiator, so it's got to be cheap.
d) I want my control system to be capable of making intelligent decisions about where to send my expensive hot water to best effect. A simple macro won't do this. The control system needs to be capable of handling more complex algotithms.
OK, I still need simple functions (that X10 does now) like switching all the lights off when everyone's gone to bed but it has to be smart enough not to switch my lights off if I'm working late in the office or my g/f is Skyping her mum in the bedroom late at night.
It's time an open system was developed that is based on a very wide range of consumer requirements. It should be future-proof and expandable by anyone smart enough to contribute. The software should be free and open-source.
Most of the devices we need are already available. Others that we need could be adapted in conjunction with existing suppliers that want a bigger market for their devices.
I suggest integration of IPv6, Bluetooth and X10 to make the system interoperable with existing systems as far as possible.
Does anyone wish to join me in this endeavour?
I propose we first look to see if anyone has already set up such a forum but if not, we create a new one and solicit like-minded people to join us in an effort to deliver a system that does what we all need, be it cheaper bills or just saying goodnight to our dog while we're away.
Please contact me at vitchling at the very hot email provider dot com.
Sounds good to me vitchling.
Let me know more of how can perhaps collaborate on such an endeavour.
I have already used X10 / Homesight to jump a burglar in my house and would like to take many steps further without being restricted by the commercial interests of the individual companies which have some great products but are incredible inflexible on configuration.
You can get me at IanGillan@hotmail.com
I am fighting the lockup problem mentioned multiple times elsewhere in this site. It makes the entire system useless until someone gets home and powers off the PC and restarts. The length of uptime varies from a couple hours to a couple days. Tried a complete different PC - same issue. Please tell me SOMEBODY knows what is wrong and how to fix it.
This homesight system is complete trash, 100% waste of freaking money.
Just ditched thousands of customers. Thanks
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