I'm rewiring my house and want to see if I can put in some kind of video camera at the door. We have an atrium so it requires to go 'outside' to answer the door.

I want to see if I can get a camera to the front door on my kitchen Mac so we know who's there when the doorbell rings. It'd be nice to also talk to the person at the door.

My general contractor had an electrician do a rough quote but it's a real fancy system that's a little overkill and $5K. I have the option to wire as much CAT5 and power as I want and the also decide later what to use.

I've been using a Panasonic BLC1A web camera w/ great results for regular use. I was thinking of putting it near the door but it's an indoor camera w/ a CAT5E and DC power jack. There are some 2 way audio IP cameras w/ power over ethernet that would also do the trick but most are ceiling mounted domes and I have to wall mount this.

I could also live with a camera mounted into the same wall plate as the doorbell. But I couldn't find them on a quick search.

Any ideas/suggestions?

Hey old school,

Something I actually know about . I have this on the front of my house that also has an infrared camera on it. This system works through your home phone and television. Basically if someone rings the intercom, it rings through all the phones in your house (different from the conventional ring) and you can talk to them at the front door. If you're near a television, all you have to do is change it to the specified channel and voila, you can see who's at the front door. I have the X series, which has some unique features, one of which allows you to program your cell phone into the unit, so if you're away and someone rings the intercom, it will ring to your cell phone.

I've had this system now for probably eight years and although I had to recently replace the camera outside because the lens cover burnt from UV damage, this new unit is a far better design and will last longer.

There are three parts to the system: the intercom, the phone box, and a modulator for the video signal. The whole bundle was around $2000 Cdn installed.

If you need any more info for a free to ask, as I like to think I know quite a bit about home automation, and even if this isn't exactly what you want, I can help you out with other suggestions.

Good info. Cool that it works on a TV. Unfortunately, that starts to get out of my price range. But I'll definitely make sure I'm wired for that option.

What about smarthome.com . I've purchased many gadgets from them, I'm sure they have something to get you hooked up. They have some great home automation products.

Yeah, I've looked at Smarthome for ideas. I local store that stocks a lot of similar gear so both are on my list.

Hometech.com