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Archive for April, 2007
Panasonic’s BL-C1A Network Camera
Apr 26th
I’ve always been fascinated with the concept of remotely monitoring a house / business / dungeon over the Internet. Webcams have come a long way since the early days, and the current state of inexpensive models has impressed me quite a bit. Over the last few years I’ve owned a few different network cameras, some wireless, some with the ability to remotely pan, tilt, and zoom, but the Panasonic BL-C1A that I just picked up from Newegg is easily my favorite of the bunch. I’m not going to do a full blown review of the unit; instead I want to discuss a few ways to extend its functionality.
First, let me echo what others have said by noting that the C1A does NOT need a Windows machine to either set it up, or to view the final product. Quite the contrary — I’m perfectly happy monitoring the camera in Firefox 2.x on one of my Suse Linux boxes. It seems fairly common for IP cameras to stick to the same formula: ActiveX controls + Java video + integrated web server = rockage. But doesn’t ActiveX require Internet Explorer to run? Sure, but on this unit, ActiveX is only used to control zoom (which I don’t care about). The actual video is rendered in Java, which everyone knows is cross-platform…right? Right.
Now, before you go out and purchase a box of these cameras and expect to use your Mac or Linux box to set them up, there are a few things you need to know. First, the C1A uses a default IP of 192.168.x.253, where “x” is the same value as the network you’re running. For example, if your network uses an IP range of 192.168.0.0 through 192.168.0.255, 192.168.0.253 would be the camera’s default address. It would be nice if Panasonic mentioned this in the printed literature that came with the unit (it might actually be listed on the CD-ROM manual they packed in the box, but I wouldn’t know since I tossed that in the garbage right away).
Alright, so you know the camera’s default IP, but keep reading. Simply typing “192.168.x.253″ in your browser isn’t going to cut it. Instead, you need to access the following URL:
http://192.168.x.253?mode=local
As stated in this useful write up, the “?mode=local” is necessary to activate the camera. If you try to access the C1A without adding this line, the setup process will crap out on you. After that, it’s a simple matter of creating your login info (there is no default password needed), and then customizing network settings and so on. Pretty standard stuff.
Now, on to the fun part. One of the things I wanted from this camera was to be able to grab still shots directly from my Sprint PPC-6700’s pocket version of Internet Explorer (vomit). Well, it took a little investigating and experimenting, but I finally figured out how to do it. Assuming you’ve already finished setting up your camera and have a non-admin login set up, open up the browser on your phone and go to the following URL:
http://192.168.x.253/SnapshotJPEG?Resolution=320×240&Quality=Precision
You’ll be asked to log in, so go ahead and throw in your non-admin username and password (you could use your admin info, but I’m paranoid about shooting that type of info over the public internet when I don’t need to, especially because this model doesn’t appear to support secure HTTPS). On my phone, a dialog box pops up and asks me if I want to view or save the image, so I just click view and voila! An instant 320×240 “high quality” snapshot-on-demand, which takes up a whopping 15KB. From there, just make a bookmark / favorite to the URL I gave you and from now on all you’ll have to do is access the bookmark to get your snapshot (assuming you’ve elected to save the login info, otherwise you’ll have to enter that every time you want a photo).
Okay, so 320×240 doesn’t cut it for you, or you want to play with the quality of the shot in order to cut down on file size. No problem! You can easily customize the URL to suit your needs. Here’s how the URL breaks down:
http://<CAMERA_ADDRESS>/SnapshotJPEG?Resolution=640×480&Quality=Precision
“SnapshotJPEG” tells the camera you want a still shot. If you have a phone with a browser that supports Java, you can experiment with “ImageViewer?” which should give you video instead of a still shot.
“Resolution=” tells the camera what resolution you want. Options are “640×480″, “320×240″, or “160×120″
“Quality=” tells the camera how much to compress the photo. Options are “precision”, “standard”, and “motion” — motion being the highest compression and precision being the least compressed images.
I haven’t experimented with video on my phone because the pocket version of Internet Explorer doesn’t support Java. I’m guessing that MiniMo (the pocket version of Mozilla Firefox) would support streaming video, but it eats up way too many resources for my taste. I’ll just stick with still shots for now. No doubt there are many more cool things you could do with the Panasonic BL-C1A, such as embedding one or more camera feeds into a webpage, and so on.
If you’ve purchased a C1A and found something I haven’t covered, let me know!
HAPPY EASTER!
Apr 8th
As I sit here all alone at work, bored out of my mind (see drawing to the left for evidence of said boredom), I’ve started to do what I usually do when I’m bored; think about my car. I’m told that’s what people often do when they’re obsessed with something. It’s hard to believe that it’s been over four months since I purchased my FJ Cruiser. In that timeframe I’ve put almost 5,000 miles on her, which is quite a bit for me considering the NOC I work at is only a mile or two from my house. The drive back home to Florida for Christmas, as well as the little road trip to Ft. Lauderdale that my brother Christian and I took, actually account for over 3,000 of those miles. Anyways, four months later and I am still in love with this vehicle — I find myself looking for excuses to drive her. The compliments still roll in at a steady pace too. It’s rare to stop at a gas station and not have someone ask me about my vehicle. Co-workers compliment my FJ frequently as well. I even get comments of approval at restaurant drive-thrus (“Here’s your order… oh snap! You gots a tight whip, dog!”). Yes, in the short time I’ve owned her, The Penguin has brought me a great deal of joy. Unfortunately I’ve only had occasion to take her off roading once so far. Tearing through the loose Florida sand on that beautiful sunny day was pure ectasy!
So, most everyone that isn’t a complete stranger is aware of how much I love my FJ, but few actually know how I came to acquire her. Back in mid-December, I was having a conversation with a co-worker about off road vehicles. He mentioned the FJ Cruiser, and I had to try to think what that was. I had never heard of the model, let alone seen one in the wild. Later that day I was bored so I decided to do a little surfing on the “computar intarnet tubes”, and my browsing eventually led me to Youtube. After watching several teamkilling videos (one of my favorite pastimes), I plugged in “FJ Cruiser” into the search bar. Two videos in particular caught my attention:
Here’s the URL for the second one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmvneJE7w2E
I watched both of these videos many times, and within three days I was signing the paperwork and trading in my year old Scion tC at the closest Toyota stealership — by far the most impulsive purchase ($35K) of my entire life. So, in a way, I guess I should thank my old co-worker Kris, as well as Youtube for both playing an important role in me finding true love.
Anyone up for some off roading next weekend?
…
Some more great videos showing off the FJ’s good looks and off road prowess:
Life with an Olevia 542i
Apr 5th
It’s been about a week since my Olevia 542i TV was delivered, so I figured I’d share my experiences with it so far. First, I want assure anyone that’s thinking about purchasing one that they won’t be disappointed. Buy.com was running a special, and I managed to pick up my 542i for only $969 with free shipping (like $800 off MSRP and then shipping is usually $150-$250 more, so basically around half off what you might pay in brick-and-mortar store). A lot of folks cringe at the thought of buying anything other than Sony or Samsung, but you’re really just paying for a big name. Syntax (the makers of the Olevia) have been building a great rep for themselves by putting high quality models on the market at very reasonable prices. In fact, I think I read somewhere that many of the internal components are manufactured by ATI. Anyway, several good reviews have been written about the 542i. I’d just like to add a few of my own thoughts:
1. I guess a lot of people piss and moan about excessive start up time, but if you can’t wait a whole 10 seconds from the time you hit the button on your remote to the time there’s picture on your screen, you need to get a hobby. Go pay $1000 more for a unit that shaves off a whole five seconds of startup time, and while you’re doing that, feel free to screw off.
2. Attaching a PC to the 542i rocks. Initially I hooked up a Vista Ultimate machine. It looked absolutely beautiful, but I had problems playing DVD’s which I believe were related to DRM bullshit built in to Vista… so I attached it to a Suse 10.2 box instead. Voila, no more restricted DVD viewing. I will have to give credit where credit is due though — when I first hooked up the Vista machine running an Nvidia Geforce4 7950GTKO to my TV, it detected the new display and adjusted itself accordingly. Basically it was plug ‘n play. No such luck with Suse. I had to add a couple entries into my Suse’s xorg.conf file to keep the fonts from being rendered so small that they couldn’t be read.
Here’s what I added under the “Device” section:
********************************
Option “UseEdidDpi” “FALSE”
Option “DPI” “96 x 96″
********************************
After making those changes, saving the new xorg.conf, and then rebooting, fonts were rendered smoothly and large enough to be easily read from my couch. If you have this TV and encouter the same problem, be sure to research the issue thoroughly before editing your xorg.conf file.
3. I experienced a weird glitch when I was playing Guitar Hero II (Xbox 360) last night; while I was pouring everthing I had into a moving performance of “Wayward Son” by Kansas, the picture started to misbehave. It looked sorta like those old 3d movies, except without 3d glasses. I figured the component cables had gotten loose, so I went around to the back panel to investigate. No dice. I switched to the HDMI input (my Buckeye DVR box), and although the color and picture looked perfect, the framerate had dropped very noticeably (possibly around 15FPS @ 1080i). I turned my TV off for 30 seconds and then back on hoping it just needed to be powercycled, but that didn’t work either. I finally got the bright idea to powercycle my Xbox, and damned if that didn’t clear up the issue. I have no idea what could have caused it, and it hasn’t occurred since then. I theorize that the Xbox was causing the TV’s video processor(s) to get bogged down somehow. Since it hasn’t occurred again, I’ll consider this an isolated incident.
4. The included speakers are great, but they could use a little extra juice. Because of this I now have them wired into my 1000 watt RCA receiver, along with a standalone subwoofer. A single optical cable runs from my TV into the receiver, which prevents me from having to run separate audio feeds from my 360 and my Suse box. This way my receiver is always tuned to whatever I’m currently displaying onscreen. It really sounds awesome! Plus, that’s several less cables to have to worry about my cat snacking on. Rockin!
Aside from the frustrations with DVD playback in Vista, font size in Suse, and the weird Xbox issue, everything else has gone by the book. The 1080i picture via HDMI from my cable provider looks amazingly crisp and vivid, more so than any other HDTV I’ve seen on display at either an electronics store or friend’s house, and to top it all off the whole TV itself is very attractive and seemingly well constructed. Having a Suse box hooked up in my living room truly rocks. I can sit back on my counch and read Wikipedia while listening to my MP3 collection (or watch a DVD), then easily switch to CATV or my 360 with a single remote. All that at only $969 delivered to my door has got me giving the Olevia 542i two thumbs up!