CES 2011 surprise trend: DIY surveillance gear

Every year, the average megapixel count of consumer mobile devices takes an incremental hop upward. Last year, the most common mobile phone cameras hovered around 5 megapixels. The phones being debuted at CES 2011 seem to be sticking around 8 megapixel with 720p video capture capabilities.

But at the same time as their internal sensors are getting more sophisticated, they're also becoming more sophisticated remote viewscreens. Today, Samsung launched a line of "DIY" video security cameras that can broadcast to smartphone or connected TV apps located either within the camera's local network, or remotely.

"Our new Samsung DIY Security Systems provide the advanced technology and sleek design that Samsung is known for and offers homeowners and SMBs an all-in-one solution to protect their most valuable assets" said Mike Palazzolo, vice president of sales and marketing, consumer products at Samsung Techwin America.

Samsung expects its DIY security camera products to come to market in March with a baseline price of $499.

D-Link is also making its customary showing strategically placed in front of the CES central hall press room. The company's display this time around is D-Link's new always-on 802.11n security cameras that it announced last night.

When teamed with the Mydlink app for iOS and Android, users can view their security camera feed over any Wi-Fi, or mobile broadband connection. This app is capable of viewing up to four simultaneous security camera feeds.

The actual cameras D-Link is showing off are two models going by the names DCS-930L and DCS-932L, which offer 802.11n Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS), Motion JPEG and 20fps streaming. The 932L also has night vision mode with infrared illumination promising visibility up to 5 meters (16.4 feet).

D-Link's solutions will be considerably cheaper than Samsung's, and will be available in the second quarter of 2011 for around $100 and $150 respectively.