Geek Chic: Comet 600 Remote Video

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Comet Video Technologies Comet 600Want to keep an eye on your business or home when you're not around? Comet Video Technologies Comet 600 links as many as six cameras to its network connection, and streams video to your cell phone, PC, laptop or other networked device for real-time surveillance from wherever you are. The unit, which connects through an Ethernet cable to a broadband connection, formats the video to accommodate lower-bandwidth cell phone connections and smaller displays.

The Comet 600 hardware is simple to set up. It's a small box with six BNC cable connectors, and Ethernet and power connections. One Y connector is attached to each of the Comet 600's camera lines so you can send the video signal to a monitor/recorder on an existing CCTV setup and to the Comet 600. I attached two cameras to two cable connectors.

Viewing images from a cell phone requires a connection from the Comet 600 to a host system that relays the broadcast to your phone. I used Comet's service host as the relay. I installed the Comet viewer application on my Sprint PPC6700 Pocket PC running WindowsMobile 5. Once connected, I could view each camera on the PPC. The image quality was equal to the quality I'd seen on my Windows XP desktop computer, though there was about a 10-second delay in the video feed. The Comet 600 proves itself a useful way to extend your reach.

$1,695. Comet Video Technologies, www.cometVt.com