Logitech Introduces Indoor Security Camera with Night Vision

Logitech is expanding its lineup of Alert high-definition security cameras with an indoor model equipped with night-vision capabilities. The company already offers an outdoor model equipped with this feature.

The Alert line utilizes the HomePlug AV networking standard, so that power and data run over common electrical cables. But if the user needs to install the cameras in a location without a nearby AC outlet, Logitech also offers SKUs that use Power over Ethernet (PoE). With these models, all the user needs to do is run CAT5 cable to each camera and install an inline power injector at the router. Logitech’s announcement didn’t mention a PoE configuration for the new indoor night-vision model, but we’ve asked them about it and will update this story when we get the information.

Unlike the typical IP (Internet Protocol) security camera, Logitech’s Alert line delivers high-resolution video (720p, where most other security cameras top out at 480p). Video streams from multiple cameras can be viewed simultaneously on a local networked PC running Logitech’s Alert Commander software. Each camera is equipped with a 16-zone motion detector that can trigger the camera to record a video clip when objects move in front of them. The camera can then send an email or text-message alert to the owner with the video clip attached. Recordings are stored on the cameras themselves on a 2GB MicroSD card (capacity sufficient for a week’s worth of recordings, according to Logitech), so that the local PC doesn’t need to be running all the time (clips are automatically downloaded to the host PC when it is running). Dropbox subscribers can elect to copy the recordings to their storage in the cloud.

Live video from each camera can be viewed remotely from any computer connected to the Internet, and Logitech offers free remote-viewing apps for Android, BlackBerry, and iPhone smartphones. Logitech’s Alert Web and Mobile Commander service, which costs $80 per year, provides all the same viewing and control capabilities available from the software running on a local PC. So if the system sends you an alert, you can use the Mobile Commander to watch the recording that produced the alert (or any other recording stored on the cameras).

Logitech will sell the Alert 750n Indoor Master System (the camera and the Alert Commander software to run on a local PC) for $300. If you have an existing Alert system and need just the camera, the Alert 750n will be available for $230. An outdoor Master system (one exterior night-vision camera and the Alert Commander software) is available now for $350. Stand-alone outdoor cameras sell for $280.

Logitech expects the new indoor night-vision camera to be widely available in the U.S. in August.