Pick up a remote, dial up a playlist, and listen to your PC’s audio files on your home stereo. Logitech doesn’t do anything by halves, so rest assured that this wireless streaming system is nearly perfect out of the box.

The Wireless DJ Music System’s rechargeable remote gives you full control over the songs, podcasts, and Internet radio stations it plays, including volume, skip forward/backward, and pause. Its backlit blue display shows you the title, artist, and other metadata. You can create ad hoc playlists on the remote and add songs without disrupting the current tune.

Thankfully, the Wireless DJ uses its own 165-foot Bluetooth 1.2 Advanced Audio Distribution Profile link, so you don’t have to worry about integrating it into your WLAN nor dumbing down your network’s encryption to support it. Audio quality sounded very similar to a cabled connection (audiophiles might argue), even at 50 feet with a steel I-beam, floors, and walls in the way. However, the signal became choppy under heavy CPU loads.

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The Panasonic KX-HCM110A is one of the more affordable pan-and-tilt cameras on the market. It offers a substantial 173-degree pan and 105-degree tilt range to monitor a much larger area than fixed lens cameras. Though it’s missing optical zoom, the camera’s 10X digital magnification (still with scroll wheel control) adds to its flexibility. Dual-stack support for IPv4 and IPv6 may appeal to future-proofing fans, and IPsec support (the same technology used in many VPN connections) eliminates nearly any chance of a hacker viewing your video. Panasonic also included an integrated microphone and a jack for speaker output.

Additionally, the KX-HCM110 features an I/O port so that, for example, when motion or a door sensor triggers an alarm, an external light might be switched on to assist recording. The camera can remember up to eight preset location and zoom combinations for quickly “patrolling” common areas in its field of view. Other basic extras, such as cell phone compatibility, configurable motion detection, and FTP, round out Panasonic’s midrange offering.

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The DCS-3420 takes the usability attributes of the DCS-1110 and piles plenty of extra functionality on top, starting with 802.11b/g (WEP and WPA security included), moving from support for four cameras to up to 16, and accommodating interchangeable lenses (chief among them the optional infrared unit for shooting in total darkness). We didn’t receive the IR or auto iris lenses for testing, and our unit seemed biased by default for shooting in low light as images were very over-exposed.

However, altering the video settings for optimal balance between bit rate, frame rate, and quality and tweaking the image settings (brightness, hue, etc.) yielded substantially better results. Even with the stock lens, though, low-light video proved remarkably clear.

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Built like a half-pound brick with a camera peeking over its edge, the D-Link DCS-1110 really delivers on features and performance. PoE, a desk stand, and two mounting holes make this unit more versatile for placement than one might suspect. The DCS-1110 integrates one-way audio for recording and a powerful Nightshot mode that uses the full 0.5-lux sensitivity of the image sensor. You can monitor up to three different zones within the field of view, each with its own percentage of sensitivity. The DCS-1110 even lets you preview the amount of motion it detects in each area so you can set a more realistic threshold.

D-Link keeps this camera easy to use without sacrificing flexibility or quality. The DCS-1110’s setup software displays D-Link’s usual simplicity, and its only awkward requirement is that it requires you to install ffdshow (an open-source DirectShow and VFW codec) to play back the MPEG-4 recordings, which, by the way, can spool straight to a NAS box.

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Hawking’s HNC290G Net-Vision Wireless-G Network Camera stands up against Linksys’ unit in the budget category, sporting similar 10/100 Ethernet and 802.11b/g connectivity but adding adjustable tilt on the lens. The external antenna is removable for those who want a high-gain substitute. Hawking promotes this as the first network camera with automatic router configuration, but this function didn’t work on our D-Link DIR-635 router, forcing us to perform a manual installation.

Hawking requires remote service via the TZO DNS service, which has only a 75-day free trial. Another weakness is that motion sensing sensitivity isn’t adjustable. Also, some configurations require Hawking’s bundled camera viewing software, meaning you can’t change certain settings with the HNC290G’s internal Web server via a browser.

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The Linksys Compact Wireless-G Internet Video Camera is affordable, but it still has 802.11b/g support, 10/100 Ethernet, and security services all in a slim, disc-shaped device perched on a tiltenabled desk stand. With the exception of the camera not using DHCP by default (you must use Linksys’ bundled camera finder program and enable DHCP in the settings), configuration is simple.

Configuring, viewing, and capturing images are all browser-based, while advanced features are accessible via the Camera Viewer Recorder Utility. This is a drawback, because any remote computer you want to access the camera from requires you to install this software locally in order to do things such as record from the camera or use motion detection functions. That said, the motion detection is sophisticated enough to let users select specific areas of the screen for monitoring.

Just highlight the pixels containing an object or area to monitor and set the desired level of sensitivity. The program will then capture video when triggered by motion of that object or within that area.

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The HomePlug networking system isn’t very well known, but it allows you send your network or internet connection over your existing mains wiring and is much simpler than setting up an ordinary Ethernet or wireless network. Solwise’s new PL-85PEW gives you the best of both worlds, as it can plug into a main socket and also provides wireless capabilities – allowing you to sneak a wireless network in areas that might otherwise suffer from poor wireless reception. The HomePlug PL-85PEW provides transfer speeds of up to 85Mbps, and there’s also a new HomePlug AV model that provides speeds of up to
200Mbps, good for when you start to stream movie downloads to your system.

URL www.solwise.co.uk