Cheap Video Sniffing

HadleyRipleyArgusRockefellerDog writes "Want to see what other people find interesting enough to watch with an X10 Camera? Radical Software Group has a page describing how to build a "video sniffer". They say they picked up their first image after walking half a block in NY city. X10's work on the same frequency as 802.11b. .. anyone want a combo WiFi/Video sniffer for Christmas?"

Comments

Year Old Dupe

[Delphix]

Here.

Mirror

[Neophytus]

Images are a tad slow for my liking, so here is a mirror.

Re:Cool tv though

[The Jonas]

Try PartsExpress. Right now they have a 5.6" LCD for USD$118. Good luck...

Re:Cool tv though

[bjpirt]

good link, after looking through their deals, this looks like the exact same screen as the one used in the article and it comes in at $99.88

Re:Encryption

[AmigaAvenger]

no encryption, just a straight 2.4 ghz analogue signal, easy to pick up with any equipment capable fo getting up there...

Non-Modder Friendly Solution

[MyMainManVERN]

Icom has a smaller solution and with many other features such as being compact and lightweight. Both features that will keep you traveling further and enjoying the spoils of unsuspecting X10 users for many hours to come.

Re:Non-Modder Friendly Solution

[jackmakrl]

I don't own a r3. I own its little brother, the r2. I have been following the word on the street regarding their performance. They are pretty much deaf to anything outside the tv broadcast bands. Many people are very disappointed with their purchase, especially the ones that bought one hoping to receive X-10 transmissions. You can hook up a different antenna and a preamp but then you are defeating the purpose of a tiny self contained unit. And the performance isn't as good as the X-10 receivers.... Don't buy one of these if you want to watch anything besides broadcast tv.

Re:Security camera?

[(H)elix1]

Doesn't anyone on here ever watch TV or movies? Seems to me a wireless security camera would actually *help* anyone who might want to break into a given place-- then nobody needs to infiltrate ahead of the break-in to tap into a wired video system.

I worked a couple jobs while paying for college. Security (the polyester kind) being one of the less rewarding - almost as fun as column chromatography of feces samples in the lab. Anyhow, tape decks were spendy, broken cameras were cheap. I'd wire up a couple cameras in the open and leave a blind spot. That is where I stuck the hidden camera connected to one of two working tape decks. Just like shooting fish in a barrel. You would see them look to make sure the cameras did not cover that area, walk back, and stuff the goods in their pockets/lunchbox/etc.

Don't assume. The concept of honeypots extend outside of IT....

Wireless receiver

[Anonymous Coward]

Here is a wireless receiver for only $88.

Re:Security camera?

[(H)elix1]

How is this better than making the last camera visible, preventing the crimes altogether?

Because 'complete' camera coverage did not stop shrinkage. I tried it. People can be very ingenious, and it took real work to figure out not only what, but how and when stuff disappeared. Honeypots got the stupid/cocky ones - which was within the scope of what a minimal paying job that let me study. Having the cops haul away those caught made an impact but even showing people we would prosecute was only a deterrent, not a solution.

Anyhow, only a night job while going to school. I'm sure someone else better qualified could shed some real light on the effectiveness of surveillance.

Re:Only in New York..and the UK!

[Silent_E]

Actually, the UK, and London especially, has tons of video surveillance. (See The New York Times, October 7, 2001, "BEING WATCHED: A Cautionary Tale for a New Age of Surveillance" By JEFFREY ROSEN--my appologies for not knowing how to mirror this.) I'd want to know if I were on camera.... I don't really imagine doing anything that anyone couldn't see in public. But depending on what happens to the tapes, I can certainly imagine as camera become increasingly present, wanting to patronize certain businesses over others on the basis of how little they spy on me.

X10 != X10.com, the annoying pop-up company

[sdo1]

It's important to note that X10 is NOT the same thing as that annoying popup company, X10.com (and no, I won't even link to them). X10 is a low speed communication standard that has been around for a long time.

Do not dismiss X10 (the technology) just because some lame company has hijacked it and promotes the use of the products for illegal surveillance (yes, making a recording of you trying to boink your drunk and ugly date without her knowing is indeed illegal).

There are plenty of good companies to get X10 products from without going through X10.com. Smarthome and Radio Shack are a couple.

It's a shame X10.com chose the sleasy marking route because it really has tainted a pretty decent and useful technology.

-S