I know some people on this board have security cameras aimed at their dogs outdoor kennels... as some of you may know I just (finally) fenced in my yard and am planning on putting 2 kennels back here too. I had a bunch of those X10 wireless security cameras laying around that I never used so tried to stick those up on the fence so I could watch what my dog's doing when I'm not outside with him, but the range is nowhere near enough, n there's interferance with other things on the 2.4GHz frequency.

Does anyone have any reccomendations for security cameras (either wireless with great thru-wall range, or wired) that don't cost an arm and a leg and have some way to hook up to a TV? Circuit City sell the GE Smarthome wireless cameras but I'm not convinced the range is any better on those than the X10's.

I'd considered webcams to the computer, D-Link have the 2100+ that looks decent with enclosures for outdoor use, but webcams tend to be slow n they are expensive once you buy the enclosures for $100 each too, I have ways to put normal A/V onto the computer network if I want to go that route later.

If anyone has something similar set up, please give me your reccomendation.

Cannot offer you any advice, but thanks for the experience,
as I've been wondering about this myself. Sounds like wired
may make more sense to start with, if possible.

CompUSA sells a Hawking 802.11g (not b... g is 5 times more bandwidth, so in theory you get smoother video) wireless network camera for $120... I was liking the analog-tv option for simplicity and speed/smoothness of video, but I might run out to CompUSA and see how that works out for me, if I like it, I'll run up to Skycraft and grab a plastic project box, cut a hole in it for the lense, n voila I'll have a weatherproof camera box <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> If it doesn't work out or it's too slow/choppy for my tastes, or the range doesn't quite reach (I can use my laptop in the back yard with great signal strength), then I'll return it and go back to the drawing board, probably go wired.

1) Cordless phones often operate on 2.4GHz. Get ones lower or higher in frequency to reduce interference. I find that routers often lose frequency battles. 802.11a operates on 5.4 or 5.8 but the range is terrible. MIMO isn't too bad at all, great range, but many things just don't operate on that standard yet.
2) Linksys = Best ever as far as wifi routers go. Netgear isn't that great, DLink is worse, I hear Belkin is pretty decent. As far as Linksys, I like the WRT54Gv5 with the latest firmware downloaded from Linksys.com
3) High gain antennae are your friends! You can purchase these for use with Linksys routers and access points. You can also setup range expanders and/or access points to boost the range of your network. Make sure there is security implemented, or else your whole neighborhood's going to be siphoning off your network!
4) Serious CCTV cams are well worth the investment. Think about it- you are protecting your house, your property, and above all your dogs. I know it's a lot of money, but in the long run you will save on headache, heartache, as well as replacements and technical issues. I can't recommend anything right now though I have worked with several; I just cannot remember the names for the life of me. A good CCTV camera will operate with clear picture during the day and even operate well at night, given enough light. There are some you can get that start recording to a computer hard drive only when movement is detected (knowing dogs, those would never stop!). For this sort of camera, a computer with a RAID configuration would be best. You'll have a ton of storage space for all of the recordings!

Thanks Diana, I had a netgear router once upon a time, I think that may have been the one that caused my browser to freeze up whenever I went to google.com - yes, weird I know, I could never figure it out for the life of me n I've been doing the techie geek thing for a long time, it just doesn't seem possible right? But as soon as I switched to a different router (I think that's when I switched to the Belkin I have now), my problems seemed to disappear. It's not like I bought the NetGear and instantly google disappeared, it just happened one day for no apparent reason lol.

I have a D-Link network camera, one of the more basic ones, with a Hawking high-gain antenna in front of Cujo's crate so I can watch him scratching around n trying to nudge open the crate door when he's bored (yep I caught him doing that during the superbowl <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />, so I can vouch for high gain antenna's being worth it, because even with an access point placed between the camera and the router, which is quite a distance away, the normal D-Link antenna kept dropping signal.

Cordless phones in my house are all 5.something GHz because we had problem with the other router in the house, which is a LinkSys, the Belkin router was having issues with normal everyday network use while simultaneously streaming audio & video from the PC to the MediaCenter, so put it on its own network with its own LinkSys router. The router was 2.4GHz and interfering with my brand new phones, so back the phones went and in came the 5.x's. Yes, the LinkSys router was interfering with the X10 cameras BADLY too, so I unplugged it (since I rarely use it anyway), n the image did clear up considerably, but still has some interferance with something around the house or maybe a neighbors house. I would say they're not the computer using type, but UPS shows up to their house alot so maybe I'm wrong <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> Unfortunately, even if the X10 cameras worked OK.... the only way to get the image thru all the walls to the other side of the house would be with a video sender, which is just another piece of annoying quirky equipment to deal with.

I'll take a look and see if I can find some decent CCTV cameras I like, if you remember any brand names, let me know. I don't really know what I'm looking at n there's about 1000 sites all selling the same kinda thing, n generally those kinda sites all sell the same products because they're all buying it from the same warehouse, which makes me question how good the stuff is since it's what I consider "generic internet product", readily available from everyone and their brother.

Sorry, didn't mean to stray too far off the topic of dogs... but technically, this is related right? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

If you're just looking for your own use and not a web-cam, try your local Sam's club. I've seen color cameras that connect to TVs for around 40 bucks and B&W security systems with 3 cameras and a monitor for around 200.00.