FAQs - Frequently Asked Questions

An Internet Video Alarm is a low cost, secure way to watch over your home, business or loved ones when you’re not there. The video stream is viewable and controllable from anywhere in the World, using any internet enabled device, such as PC, laptop, iPhone or Blackberry.

The IVA uses IP Cameras (video cameras connected to the internet) to record what’s happening around your property. The video recording is then sent via the internet to your own personal secure web account. Your account is password protected, and recordings can be accessed from anywhere in the World. The account is organised by day and time, so reviewing old footage is a piece of cake.

You don’t need to. Although you can sit and watch the live video all day if you want to, every Internet Video Alarm comes with motion detection as standard. Every “motion” that the camera detects, gets recorded to your personal web account.

Whenever the Internet Video Alarm detects motion, the video is immediately sent to your personal web account online. You can choose if you want to receive an alert about this, by email, by SMS or by both, every time this happens. You can then either review the footage online, or view the live video to see what’s happening in real time.

The IVA system allows you to view your camera from anywhere in the World, meaning that if an intrusion or crime is occurring, you can act immediately. A “crime in progress” generates a Level 1 response from the Police, meaning they will respond immediately, giving you a much greater chance of stopping the problem. If the Police can’t act in time, the recorded motion footage is stored in your personal web account, and can be used as evidence if required.

All Internet Video Alarm footage is stored hundreds of miles away from your home or business, so even if a burglar steals the camera itself or your home PC, they will still be “caught on camera” and the footage is safely stored on our servers, ready to help prosecute them. There are no “tapes” to steal or destroy like other home video systems.

The Internet Video Alarm is available in two formats – IVA and IVA Nightvision. The standard IVA is designed to be used only in the daytime or with artificial light, so ideal perhaps for monitoring a business shopfloor. The IVA Nightvision has a special infrared facility, allowing it to see in the dark for a range of 12-15 meters. In a pitch black room, it produces a black and white image as if in daylight. The Night camera can also work in the daytime, although the infrared facility alters the colours slightly. You can mix and match the two cameras on one IVA system.

Yellow Video have already thought of that. The IVA doesn’t need to have a Wireless internet connection or any new cabling installed. The IVA Starter is shipped with a revolutionary new product called a HomePlug – it uses your home or businesses electrical circuit as a giant computer network, allowing you to put the IVA in to any room that has electricity in it. All you need to get an IVA working is a broadband internet connection (such as BT Internet, Virgin, Sky, TalkTalk, AOL, Tiscali, Orange, O2, or Demon). For more advanced users, there are also wired packages that don’t use HomePlugs.

Not a problem. The Internet Video Alarm can even use mobile 3G Broadband to upload alerts as they happen. You’ll need a 3G dongle or data plan connected to a Mobile Broadband Router (such as the Dovado UMR), but these offer an excellent alternative to having to install broadband at a property or where no broadband is available (such as on a boat, or in a hotel room).

No! The Internet Video Alarm has been created with simplicity in mind – everything is designed to work straight out the box, and setup can take just 5 minutes. Unlike other IP cameras and internet services, the IVA has been pre-programmed with all the settings you need to work immediately. No technical knowledge is required.

We have a dedicated phone support team - which gives every Home Subscriber 2 weeks totally free support. Business subscription packages get free support for the length of the package. You can add extra support for Home subscribers for £3.99 per month.

There are two parts to every IVA package – the hardware, and the account subscription fee. For the hardware, basic IVA cameras start from £99.99 for a one camera install. The monthly subscription fee – which controls the amount of cameras you can access, how many SMS alerts you are sent and how much video footage is stored in your account, starts from as little as 25p a day.

We prefer to think of the IVA as a visual add-on to your existing alarm. It puts the “call for action” in your hands, rather than relying on a neighbour, or the Police, to inspect an alert and then take action on your behalf, potentially when it’s too late to act! The IVA allows you to take immediate action on problems, without involving a 3rd party or putting yourself in harms way. Of course, if you don’t have an existing burglar alarm in place, the IVA is an extremely cost effective and simple alarm with an alert and remote surveillance system.

No - not at all. You only need a PC or Laptop turned on to view the footage. The camera works as soon as you have registered it with your account control centre, and footage is uploaded to that. The camera doesn't need to rely on a computer to be on all the time to protect your property.

We use PayPal Secure Payments to handle all our payments - its safe, secure and very easy to use. We have been very impressed with the flexibility it offers when dealing with recurring payments, and the safety and security it offers is second to none.

If you don't have a PayPal account, you can still purchase from Yellow Video - PayPal simply handles the transaction. When checking out, select "Don't have a PayPal account? Use your credit card or bank account (where available)." And this will allow you to pay by Mastercard, Visa/Delta, Electron, American Express, Switch, Maestro and Solo cards - without the need to open a PayPal account.

Cameras can be connected to your internet in 2 ways :

Ethernet (Network) cable: User can run a network cable from the camera to your internet router.

IVA Home Plugs: IVA HomePlugs are a simple but very effective way to transmit computer data around your home. In order to do this a minimum of two HomePlug adapters are required. HomePlugs work by converting the data signals from your computer into a carrier wave along your ring mains circuit (electric circuit). All you need to do is connect a HomePlug to your broadband router, and then plug it in to the mains. You then plug another HomePlug into any other socket on your circuit, plug your camera in to this, and it will be connected to the internet.

There are no settings required for the camera as its purely plug and play. However you will need broadband with a router, where the camera needs to be installed. You will possibly need a computer, if you want to view the camera.

Once you are signed up to the service, you can easily log back in to your account and order extra cameras or increase your online storage time. It’s a simple process and you can be done in a few minutes, all from your secure online account.

The system is fully automated – so for example, if you are on the other side of the World from your cameras, you can login, add extra storage space to your account and you will see this reflected instantly.

It could be due to the motion detection sensitivity settings. Motion detection sensitivity is the level of difference between the current image and the previous image.

Please log on your Yellowvideo account and click on “camera manager” and then click on camera properties. Here you can adjust the camera motion detection sensitivity. Obviously if you adjust the sensitivity to -3 then it will require a lot of change from the scene to register an alarm, and to the +3 it will trigger all the time.

The best way to set these things up is just a case of adjusting the settings and having someone walk in front of the camera until your feel you are getting the required results.

“Auto” switches on the IR LEDs automatically when there isn’t enough light to produce a good quality image.

Image quality is one of the most important aspects of any camera, but it is difficult to quantify and measure it. Image quality on Yellowvideo relates to compression rate. Higher the compression rate is, the lower the quality of the picture will be. Good quality image can be achieved by setting up the camera compression rate to 60.

If you use the camera only for monitoring the house/office while you are away you can disable it when you are at home by simply switching on the privacy by going into the “Camera Manager” within your Yellowvideo account.

YellowVideo keeps an eye over your home, office, or any location. It detects motion, and triggers customizable Alerts that can record video and notify you by e-mail or text message.

The mobile version of Yellow Video has a max screen size of 176x144 - however this is adjustable from the account.

Please login to your Yellow Video account, then click “Video Archive” and then select the camera from the “camera list”.  Select the year and month you wish to view, and this will load the selected months of footage.  Days with footage will be highlighted in bold, and by clicking on each day all hours with footage will be displayed.  Click on an hour to see all the footage in that time.

The camera may be offline. Please make sure the camera is connected to the router. If you still can’t see the camera, please unplug the camera and plug it back.