The Vue Personal Video Network bundle has been shipping for a number of months now. And in the time I’ve dilly dallied with my review hardware, Vue has seen some notable improvements since the possibly reserved launch coverage.
The $300 Vue bundle consist of a wireless base station, which you hardwire to your router, and two wireless cameras to remotely monitor just about anything from a Flash-capable browser. Or (now) iPhone app! The cameras are quite small and clever, as magnetically paired and positioned on their half sphere mounts. Additional cams can be purchased for $100 each. Video resolution isn’t horrible, maxing out at 640×480, but Vue’s frame rate seems low and you’re going to need good lighting for best results. Another heads up for prospective buyers is the Lithium Ion CR123 camera battery requirement. Avaak, the company behind Vue, expects battery life to run about a year — by estimating 10 minutes of usage a day. But, during my eval period, I burned through a pair of batteries and replacements ran me about $14.
Pretty much everything, from setup to viewing, is handled via web browser at VueZone.com. You can flip between camera feeds, adjust viewing sizes, and snap still images or record video clips. Additionally, both live feeds and archived content can be shared with friends, family, or business associates via VueZone. Plus, Flickr and YouTube upload options are provided. An initial knock on Vue’s video monitoring solution was the lack of motion detection and scheduled recording capabilities as found in competing products. However, through a recent firmware update, Vue now offers a variety of scheduling options as pictured above.
Catching up with company reps at CES didn’t yield details on product updates. However, Avaak has just secured $10 million in new financing/investment.
I always liked this, but I think one missing piece is AUDIO, is that correct? I think the price point would be much better at 225-249$ though, probably coming. And 100$ for more cams is also a bit much. Maybe a 150$ bundle of two.?