DD-WRT has been going for some time now and it is in effect a complete replacement firmware for your router. Virgin Media supplied the D-Link 615 Rev 4 and I found this to be very slow, very restrictive and missing some important features. Instead of buying a new router, I went with DD-WRT instead. You can head off to the Main site for DD_WRT and find the files for your own brand of router.

Flashing your Router

The first thing I did was grab the right files, when I went to the router database, I found the correct section for my router. There was two files, one is marked Factory while the other is not. You pull up your router IP address (in my case 192.168.0.1) and head off to administration then firmware upgrade. It flashed the router after selecting the  dlink-dir615d-factory-webflash.bin file. After the router reboots, it is now running of a different IP. You can either set your network card to the correct details (192.168.1.2 with a gateway of 192.168.1.1) or you can just refresh your IP settings to get a new address.

One you get to the router page, the first thing it asks you for is a user name and password, you can set this to what you want and thus nobody will know what name to even type in (more secure). You now need to go to the admin page again, flash the firmware with the second file (dir615d-ddwrt-webflash.bin) and wait until all is done.

Remember that as it is now a new firmware and such, you need to change a few settings, the first one will be the wireless security for a start. I changed the IP address of the router as well, I had everything set up for 192.168.0.xxx so I made sure the router was now 192.168.0.1.

What does this do?

It improves the current features and gives you a whole lot more. I mentioned at the start that my router was very slow when accessed and now it is very quick indeed. I can see what machine is using in terms of bandwidth, I can see who is connected and a whole lot more. The Wiki Page can tell you what it does better than I can – best have a look there.

Recently I was in need of some CCTV for the home, I had a few choices on this, such as buying a complete kit for £300 which comes with 4 camera’s and a base unit to record everything. As I already have a Synology NAS Box which comes with Synology Surveillance Station, a feature to connect an IP camera and record 24/7, I thought why not buy myself a IP Camera? Looking through the list of supported camera’s, on that was listed was FOSCAM. The next stage was to figure out how much to spend and which one to buy.

 Finding the cheapest site

I found this site by the name of Foscam Retail and looking through they seemed a touch worrying in that I had to pay by Paypal to some gmail address. What kept me there was the fact they have very cheap prices though.

Which camera to buy?

I went on youtube and started to look for videos of the various outdoor models.

From that video even though the tree’s looks a touch white, I was happy to pay the £65 for the 8905 compared to the £55 for the 8904, my theory was it had better night vision and quoted as 30M - this should be great for night time shots.

Setting it up

It was already dark outside when I got around to unboxing it and getting it set up. I plugged the camera into the network, used the supplied software tool to tell me the IP address and then used a browser to configure the rest of the camera. Once happy that it was all ready, I added this to the Synology and now had a running camera which can be placed anywhere as long as there is a power plug. I also had the iPad application for both the Synology side and the FosCam side – both able to display the video.

Can it see in the dark?

I placed the camera on my back window, with my naked eye I could make out most of my garden, the garage, the houses at the back and my car below. The camera as you can see only has the ability to see the lighted area right at the back. I did some further tests, I switched the lights off in the room – at this stage the LED’s should light up (they did not) and you could see nothing on the screen at all, even with a small amount of light from the passage – still nothing on the camera.

What about daytime?

I looked through the recordings it had made and as daylight started to come through, it got whiter and whiter until eventually it was just a white screen. After a reboot It showed the picture above, notice the trees are a night white/purple colour?

Contacting the reseller

I have emailed (twice) the person I bought it from, it is clear from his english that he is not from here. He sent me a guide on how to set up the wireless, that of course is not my problem. I do have various guarantee’s on this of course, such as 14 days to send it back and such.

My thoughts so far

It is early days and I will not be drilling this to a wall until I am happy it works as planned. I already know what a night vision camera looks like as we have a few at work, the image is meant to be B&W but at least visible. The fact it goes white during the day and it needs to be rebooted a lot to make it work is not a good sign, I need a camera that just works 24/7 – it is after all a security camera.

I shall write a more in-depth review later when I get to play with it some more.

** Update 16 Oct **

As it turns to darkness, the picture becomes too dark and requires you to change mode (Outdoor to 50hz and back again) to get the picture right, same goes for morning when it starts to get light. I got annoyed with the lack of LED’s working, so I removed the lens cover only to find the connector to the sensor was unplugged. Once this was plugged in – the LED’s came on when it was covered. I shall do yet more testing now it is working properly before I finally choose to RMA it back to the shop.

Underneath my TV is a collection of boxes, each with a different purpose in life and it was this that got me thinking – why is there not a combined all-in-one device that does all of these functions and more? What devices then are under there? The first is the cable tuner but this can be swapped out for a Freeview HD recorder for example. Freeview by the way is the UK Free to air channels and there is 50 TV channels and 24 radio stations. Next up is my DVD player, this is not used as much these days but always handy to have.  Last on my list is my media player, this can handle movie’s streamed from my NAS box and such. My Goal device would be all of these combined into one box that connects to the network – but, do this thing exist?

What do I want this magical device to do?

The first thing it must have a dual tuner Freeview HD recording with all the trimming that they come with, this would be recording one channel while watching another, ability to record entire series and so forth. You can buy this device already and you can check out this page to see some reviews of such devices. 

Next up we need to replaced the media player function as well – I would need to play movies across the network of course (as all my stuff sits on a NAS) and the ability to play just about any format. The devices out there at the moment include the popcorn for example.

Just not enough demand

I have a feeling that I will have to buy many devices to meet this goal, I have a DVD +HD Recorder but you have a sit there and program the thing to record what you need and leave it powered on (not standby). The other bad side of this HD recorder I have is that there is no way to easily get the media off there, why can I not just access the drive via the network and watch what I have recorded on my computer? Instead I have to write it out to DVD and convert it back or just download it, probably quicker to be honest.

Talking of downloading..

I find it silly that in this day and age they restrict you so much from trying to watch what you want, I understand they do not want people to redistribute the stuff on-line and thus why they force you to watch it back on the TV in the living room. The reality is I can download an entire TV Series and watch it were I want quicker then I can record the thing, this I find very sad indeed.

If you know of such a device..

If you have come across something of what I am looking for, then feel free to use the Contact us for and I can update this post or even do a review of the said device if I can get my hands on it.

You can probably pay people good money to produce a detailed drawing of your wireless coverage but there is a way to do this yourself using a free tool called Ekahau HeatMapper – this is better then having your tiny little wireless signal meter and randomly going around a building seeing how many bars you have. The software is not automatic and you have to do a lot of the work yourself, clicking as you walk around but the end result is very good.

How it all works

Once the program opens up – it asks you to supply a picture, probably the building layout but you can work with just a grid if you do not have one. On the left you have all the wireless points it finds and the main part shows you the drawing you supplied. You click your starting position, walk to the next place (the next room for example) and click on the map were this is and repeat as you walk all around the building. What you end of with is a picture that looks like a thermal graph which is now the complete coverage of your wireless in a much easier to understand drawing.

At work we have 6 Cisco AP541N wireless access points, these are aimed at the small business and is a dual band access point. The problem we had though was that although the clients could see the wireless, they would never get an IP from the Server and thus not connect. I did some googling around and I struggled to find any reason for this behaviour and when I did find something that pointed back to the Cisco Site – I had to jump through many hoops to even get the that post or information. I did finally get this sorted and this post shall explain what I did and why it was broke.

The Background infomation

We have two floors in the building and on the ground on each corner we have an access point and upstairs we have 2 more, this was to try and give as much spread around the building as possible. Initially the person who had set these up had placed them all on channel 10. The issued that arose were all related to DHCP in that it would not give you an IP at all but I worked out that if you rebooted the access point, you got an IP and as long as you were connected, all was fine but as soon as you dropped, you were back to square one with no connection due to lack of an IP given out.

Information that I found

I read all sorts of things to try and as I am not a Cisco type person (understand what each of the boxes do – such as clustering) I was unsure what to try. My First task was to place them on all different channels, this made no difference as such but it meant it at least stopped the client suddenly searching for another point. I did find another post about DHCP running from Windows 2003 Server (which we are) not working with these boxes due to the way they both work. There was a suggested registry hack but I was not about to start experimenting on a live server. The most annoying part was how many hoops and how much information I had to provide just to create an account on the Cisco website and then look for the relevant information.

Fixing the Issue

Eventually after scouring the Cisco Forums, I found a simple fix that I should have tried – Updating the firmware! I downloaded the latest version (v2.0.0) and overwrote the Current Version (V1.8.0) and tested it over the space of a couple of days and sure enough – all clients got an IP without me having to apply registry fixes to the server or un-plug the access points. My Next task then is to find out any black spots in the wireless range and order more if needed. I did do walk about with my Laptop and work out that two more would be needed anyhow, at £239 each its a good job I am not spending my own money.

While I already have a gigabit network running, there is not enough ports to allow all the computers to connect via gigabit which means some are locked to 100mbit and the rest are on wireless (a mixture of Wireless N and Wireless G speeds). Converting your network to gigabit gives you a boost in speed and the cost is very low these days as you will see. A Quick recap on what I already have – I am on 50mbit / 5mbit Cable Internet via Virgin Media which is connected to a D-Link 615 Router (Supplied by Virgin media as part of the install) which features Wireless N Speed but only 4 ports at 100mbit. I have a 5 Port Netgear gigabit Switch which is a bit dodgy on the 5th port – this means I can only have 4 computers (or NAS Boxes) max that is on Gigabit.

Expanding the ports

The first thing that I bought was an 8 Port ZyXEL Switch for £29 from Amazon, I see it has already gone up to £34 but it was rated as £29 when I in fact bought it (just the other day). Why do I need so many ports you may ask? I have two Synology NAS Boxes and running these off 100mbit is almost too painful for words, this means I need one each for them – thus so far 2 Ports. My Main machine has a gigabit network port, my Core 2 Duo machine also has a gigabit. My Acer Aspire E700 has a faulty network port and at present has a Wireless G PCI Card fitted – so I added to my Cart TP-Link 32bit Gigabit PCI Card – this cost a mere £4.87 – both items are free delivery if using SuperSaver – this means it could take between 4 and 7 days to arrive. I am in no rush for these items – they will all arrive by the latest the beginning of next week.

What this extra equipment gives me

All the computers that are around me will have access to 1gigbit network speed, which feed back to the router which is running if you remember 100mbit. If I run the other switch off the router, I will cause a bottlenet in speed as it moves from gigabit to 100mbit and back to gigabit so I may wire a return wire to feed the other switch in this respect – this can drive the PS3 as well as a pc I may put over there.

Media Streaming

I still use my heavily modded WDTV to feed movies (all formats) from my NAS Box into my LG 42” TV downstairs. I have Wireless N Dongle plugged in and on my testing, I can stream normal moives as well as 720P with no issues, it is not until I come to 1080p that wireless N starts to fall apart and even then it depends on the encoding used, some play fine, other stutter too much to watch.

The alternative of course would be to buy a Network powerplug thing and wire up the PS3 downstairs but this is too much hassle for all involved. Remember that at the worst case, I can copy the 1080P movie to a memory stick and play it that way on the WDTV.

Any more equipment?

For some strange reason, I still look at audio Mixers, microphones, Scissor stands and the like but due to been such a wide range of choice on each part, I have or now left this alone and at the moment have no need for such a thing anyhow.

You can get Skype on your computer and you can even get Skype on your mobile phone plus there is various telephone looking methods but this device looks more like a conventional desk phone. It was introduced back in 2009 and I must be honest and say that I had not seen this device anywhere during this time. The price for this unit seems to be about £200 ($275) but this might be the touch screen version (this one I am reviewing is not touch screen).

Technical Specifications

202 mm (L) x 123 mm (W) x 253 mm (H) – this stands about half the heights of my 19″ TFT Monitor, it is not small by any stretch. It Features a 800 X 480 pixel 7″ TFT LCD, this is needed for video calls. It has Wireless: 802.11 b/g or Wired: 10/100Mb Ethernet port, the built in Webcam is CMOS (640 X 480 pixels).

If you wondering about the usb port, I have no idea what this is used for, my only thought was a USB headset maybe?

Setting up and running the phone.

When you first switch it on, a nice bright sun appears and the it looks for your wireless signal, this managed to pick up all the one’s around me no issues at all. This is handy as it allows the phone to be placed anywhere, not just next to a computer. The next task is to log into your Skype account of course. When the phone needs some input, it brings up a keyboard on screen (A – Z, no Qwerty here) and you move about with the arrow key on the right hand side. You get to pick some rings tones, brightness and a few other tasks but that’s about it for the set up of the phone.

Screens

The phone displays a rather nifty clock when it just sits there:

I never managed to find a way to change the background which is a shame but serves its’ purpose well I guess.

After a period, it then start to float across the screen all the people that on-line in Skype, again this is handy at a glance to see who is logged in.

Finally if you leave it long enough, the screen turns black and displays the time in white:

To save power I guess this finally goes all black – I have yet to find a way to change these power saving settings, it would be nice for example (as it is always plugged in) to have the clock always on display.

In-use – Handsfree mode

At the top of the device is a microphone and in the middle a speaker and this device works very well indeed placed on the desk with you speaking. The other person can hear you fine but it does pick up background noise. As it has a built in Webcam, you can start a video chat but the quality is not amazing but good enough for a video chat of course. I am going to have a guess here and state that multi person calling is not going to happen as is the case with most Skype phones.

Headset mode

Of course on the back it has a Mic in and a Speaker out, this means if you want a more ‘private’ chat with a person or just better quality (no background noise) then shove in a headset and away you go. Once you plug in a headset, all audio is diverted to this, much like a PC for example.

Conclusion

First of all there is the price, £200 or even £150 for such a phone seems a LOT to me personally. I am guessing the Screen might account for a lot of the cost in this instance. I already have Linksys CT200 Phone which I now never used, that is a lot cheaper at £30 but you do not get Video or handfree with this option.

Using this phone, you can do away with a computer for Skype, you can place in around the house and people just use it like a normal house phone minus the handset of course. It makes a great addition to an office for example and just makes skyping easier in my mind, it rings, I press a button and I can talk away – all without a headset of a computer.

TrendNet Launched a wireless USB Dongle of the sizes normally found for Bluetooth and this means is hardly sticks out at all. Ideal for notebooks currently packed with 802.11a/b/g, the device is super-compact, measuring a mere 0.59 x 0.74 x 0.28-inches. When plugged into a USB port, the adapter only extends out 0.3-inches from the edge of the computer.

“The adapter is so small that users can stow a laptop with the adapter plugged in, without worrying about damaging the laptop or the adapter,” the company said.

Surprisingly, the USB adapter includes a WPS button, offering a one-touch Wi-Fi Protected Setup so that users can jump on a network quickly without having to enter complicated codes.

“Simply press the WPS button on a compatible router (most TRENDnet routers feature a WPS button), then press the WPS button on TRENDnet’s 150 Mbps Micro Wireless N USB Adapter, confirm that you want to connect, and you’re connected,” the company added.

The 150 Mbps Micro Wireless N USB Adapter (TEW-648UBM) is currently shipping to participating retail outlets for $39.99 USD. The adapter will also be available online at TRENDnet’s website, through distribution partners and more.

(Betamax for the win)

Technology moves on and people try and find easier and better ways to manage and watch media, be it video, pictures or even music on there TV. It was not that long ago that it was quite simple, you bought a DVD Player that suited your price range and features, plugged it into your TV and you can now go out and buy movies on DVD. Storing 100′s of Movies presented an issue and there had to be a better way – and now there is, media streaming devices come in many shapes and sizes as well as cost and functions – this post serves as a grounding on what to look for.

What have you got now?

Let’s begin with what you have now and how you plan to consume your media. If you collection is based on DVD for example then you are going to need something that can play DVD or a means to convert the collection to a media format (such as handbrake). If you have a large collection of files already on a hard drive for example – then maybe one of the many media streaming devices might suit you better and it also depends on what your TV is capable of and what media you might have to play now or in the future.

The Blu-Ray Solution

Steve over at TheTechBuzz did a review of the Visio VBR220 Blu-Ray player – this not only plays all your DVD collection and the Blu-rays of course but can also stream as it has inbuilt wireless which means you can can NetFlix and the like. While this is a good solution for some, it might not suit everyone.

The Media Streaming device

In this section we have devices such as the WDTV, WDTV Live, ASUS O!Play and many many others (there is a lot out there). the main features of these is that they are small, quiet and can play just about anything out there and most do full 1080p. Given that 1080p media would struggle over wireless, a lot of these support or only work with a Harddrive full of media plugged in.

There is a couple of ways to think about this – if you can store all your media on one (or more) harddrives and are happy to to copy across new stuff now and then, the WDTV would suit the bill, be aware that not all media players can play everything and you might be disappointed when you try and play that latest MKV 1080p movie and it fails to even see it there.

Limitations

I own the WDTV – this operates via a hard drive plugged in and it can indeed play just about anything you can throw at this thing. The issues comes when the movie you have is encoded with DTS Audio – the WDTV has no hardware to decode the audio – so you end of with silence. Now this is not the end of the world – you can use the free PopCorn Audio Converter to take the audio down to 5.1 with no loss of quality in the video. What this player can do is if you take an ISO of a DVD (which you need to remove the protection of course) or the files “as-is” – the WDTV can just play them, like I said these media players can play just about anything.

What about other services?

A lot of these media streaming devices are now offering extra on-line services such as NetFlix and other USA Based stuff (not sure what UK people get, probably just YouTube). This can save you switching on the computer I guess but how well a small YouTube video would scale up on a 42″+ TV is unknown…

Expandablity

One more important point – is there a growing community so you can expand that device? This can add something to an older device, such as how I managed to Add Wireless support and various services (such as Apple Trailers) to my now ageing WDTV player – I agree it is not for everyone and you could ‘brick’ the device but good to know all the same.

Anything else?

Let us not forget the consoles such as the XBOX and the PS3 and also making a small desktop PC as a media centre – these give even more flexibility in that they can display any web page and you can watch streams on there and so forth – plenty of options on the table my friend – just a case of you working out what is best for you, for the money that you can afford and what you want to do.

The pogoplug only came with a RJ45 adaptor on the back which meant it could only been used with a wired connection which also meant it had to be close to the router or switch (unless you wire in some long cable of course). Pogoplug have introduced a wireless USB adaptor and if you already own a Pogoplug – you can get it fro FREE.

Pogoplug Gets a Wireless “Little Buddy”

Our #1 requested feature now resolved: Wireless Adapter enables Pogoplugs to be placed anywhere in the home; existing users can get it for free!
Pogoplug is giving people what they want. Our customers have bombarded us with requests to add wireless connectivity to the Pogoplug, and we heard the message, loud and clear. Starting today, anyone can pre-order the Pogoplug Wireless Extender that makes any existing Pogoplug fully WiFi-enabled. Now users can place the Pogoplug anywhere in their homes without having to permanently connect it to a network router or wired Ethernet port.
The Pogoplug Wireless Extender is compatible with all previous versions of Pogoplugs and the recently announced Pogoplug Biz. Other recent improvements we’ve added to the Pogoplug include cloud printing, the updated Pogoplug Android application, the ability to share and collaborate on documents directly on the Pogoplug, and a very simple system of email upload. We are constantly striving to make the Pogoplug even better, and we would love to hear what your experience has been and how we can improve it. Keep sending those emails!
The Pogoplug Wireless Extender will work on 802.11 b/g/n networks and is available for pre-order now for $29.
In addition to the introduction of the new Wireless Extender, we are reducing the price of the current Pogoplug from $129 to $99.
Because of this price move and as a thank you to existing Pogoplug owners there is a special limited time offer; any existing owner of a Pogoplug can receive a promo code to get the new Wireless Adapter for free. To find out how, visit our Facebook page or our website support page.
The standard model Pogoplug can be ordered starting today for $99 at www.pogoplug.com.