Color - CMOS - Cable, Wireless - MPN: DCS900W
Strengths: Inexpensive, reliable, sturdy construction, fairly simple to set up.
Weakness: Does not handle low light well, fairly narrow field of view.
This is a pretty good camera for the money (I paid around $110) - one should really not expect too much in this price range. It does what I need it to do just fine. It does not handle low light well and a wider angle lense would be nice for indoor use. I could not get it to work with 128-bit WEP encryption but once I switched to 64-bit WEP it worked just fine. I have had this running continuously for several weeks now and it has not locked up or failed in any way - I am considering purchase of a second one.
04/25/2004 UPDATE:
I bought a second cameras for the following reasons:
1. The first one was working OK for several weeks
2. The price was still pretty cheap compared to comparable products
3. The viewing angle of just one camera is so limited that I needed at least two cameras to cover the area that I want to view.
After doing a multi-week test at home, I installed both cameras in a remote location (my unoccupied second home which is over 2,000 miles away from my primary residence) to be used as a sort of security camera. I setup my wireless router to register it's WAN dynamic IP address using dyndns.org and opened up router ports so I can get to both cameras. There is no computer on the premesis, just a Cable Modem, a Wireless Router, and the two wireless cameras. Support for using dyndns.org is built into my router so any new IP address changes from my ISP will be registered and allow me continued remote access.
Initially, everything was working fine. After about one week, the second camera died and never came back online. My router does not see the camera at all. For all I know it could be crashed and in need of being power-cycled or sitting in a small pile of cinders (these cameras do run very hot for some reason). At any rate, it is of no use to me and I have no way of resetting it. A remote method for power on/off would be good to have - in retrospect, I could have easily set up a timer to power off both cameras for 5 minutes every day just in case they lock up but I never had this problem during my tests at home.
The one camera that continues to function can not always be accessed remotely but I'm not sure I can blame this on the camera as I am also unable to gain remote access into my router when the camera is not available. I also have a server that tries to monitor the camera remotely, detecting any motion using the bundled IPView Lite software - it works with fair reliability recording events such as the sun coming up or a light turning on (I have a table lamp set up on a timer).
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The better solution for my application would be a pan-and-tilt wireless camera but at the time I was shopping around, pan-and-tilt cameras cost quite a bit more than I wanted to spend. I have since done more research and decided to purchase another camera from Toshiba.
The Toshiba IK-WB01A Features:
- Wireless 802.11b
- Pan/Tilt/Zoom with 10 Preset "Auto Patrol" mode
- Low light imageing capability to 0.7 Lux with low frame-rate (we'll see how well this works)
- Built-in web server, just like the DLink
- Motion Detection, just like the Dlink
- Built-in Audio (looking forward to trying this feature!)
- Email Notification (can send an image to your email or camera-phone if motion detechtion is set off)
Bought one of these from Provantage.com shippped for under $200 - still waiting for deliver and will right another review once I've tried it out.
Also Noteworthy is the Panasonic BL-C30A which has similar features to the Toshiba plus infra-red motion detection.
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TopI use 128 bit WEP with mine. Works well.
Strengths: Sturdy and easy to set up. Good value for price. Loving it.
Weakness: Focussing the camera for each situation causes some headache. Could do better in low light conditions. But still good value for money at current level.
It has been doing great for me so far. Not ran into any issues. Good value. Planning on buying atleast one more. I think I am satisfied with this product.
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TopStrengths: It works sometimes
Weakness: It worked ok for few months. And now died completely. It doesn't want to pick up a connection with router no matter how you configure your router for DHCP. And as you all know, Dlink support sucks.
If you don't mind dealing with the Chines accent enlglish support guys who have no idea what they are talking about, then yuo give it a try.
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TopStrengths: none so far
Weakness: won't run very long. I have had this thing for about 10 hours now, I have to reset it at least 2 time an hour to keep it working. the wireless range is poor, less than 18 feet.
It seems to work better with the wired port than wireless. But it still isn't that great,it still freezes and quits tranmitting images. I also have a dcs5300 from dlink, it is pretty decent, but this one is garbage. Maybe this one is just a lemon. I read the other reviews here before I bought, so I thought this was a good camera. Maybe I should return and hope to get one that works.
This camera will not take any updates to its configuration either. I can change items, but after I have to reboot, the changes sre lost. I still have not seen the higher resolution mode yet. It is stuck on auto frame rate which is about 2-3 frames per sec.
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TopStrengths: good price, wireless feature, clear picture, motion sensor recording with IPView Lite.
Weakness: No audio, No email nortification, No pan/scan function
Easy to setup in Local area network, I set the camera up behind the router according to the instruction on the manual from the CD provided, it worked in 3 mins, I can place the camera around the house and the wireless feature works great. But if you want to access from the internet, it's a little hard to setup, you need to open second ports, get a DDNS hostname and your router must be able to have the DDNS upating feature.
Overall it's a great network camera, I love it!
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TopStrengths: The camera works well. The fact that it is wireless makes it easy to place anywhere I want it.
Weakness: There is no hard copy of the user manual. If you want one, you have to print it out from the included CD.
The camera itself is just what I was looking for. In fact, I'm thinking of getting a second one. It took me several days and several calls to tech support to get it working though. If you don't know anything about setting up network hardware and their settings, you may have to call tech support to get it working. I would have had much less trouble if a printed manual was included. (It comes on the CD and you have to print it out if you want it.) The manual is not detailed enough in my opinion. I must say that D-Link's tech support was easy to get on the phone and was very helpful.
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TopStrengths: inexpensive, simple to set up, easy to mount and attractive.
Weakness: No DHCP from wireless, Focus very touchy, useless for low light. Narrow field of vision. Runs very hot in wireless mode. No sound.
One of three cameras I own, the DCS5300W is superb, but pricy. I'd pass on the 900 if I had to do it again.
Calling DLink tomorrow for an RMA.
Diligentman, Colorado
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TopStrengths: Cool features, easy to install and the best part you can view output in your own web site no need to view from dlink window.
Weakness: Poor quality recording software. No Sound.
Very good camera in this price range and would have been better if had surveillance software along.
My customers like it alot specially the wireless part which gives the user an ability to change its location without pulling new ethernet cables, all you need is a power outlet.
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TopStrengths: Good Size and Good Quality
Weakness: No Weaknesses
I am very satisfied with this wireless camera. The product is exactly as described. The size and weight of this product are great. The quality of this product is also great.
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TopStrengths: good price, can be used as wired or wireless
Weakness: a little bit too bid in size, no sound
This is my first wireless camera. Then realized it couldn't go real wireless because it is still powered by AC adapter. Trying to use battery no it now, but need some time to find the adapter. No sound is a pity. Size is bigger than expected, but basically works good and is very inexpensive.
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TopStrengths: Reasonable price. Pretty good customer support.
Weakness: Document/Manual outdated. Video quality so so specially at low light environment.
Good and reliable web camera. The installation/configuration is tough if you plan to watch video over the internet. The manual is outdated. Even tech support guides me through the configuration, when it comes to router configuration, they do not help if the router is not from Dlink. Hope they can do better job on the manual.
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Does what it does for the price
Strengths: Relatively low price compare to other similar products and wireless freedom
Weakness: Picture quality in low light conditions and lack of sound
I have an audio baby monitor and was looking for some visual for the room. Most of the products out in the market is a bit pricy for me and then I came across this wireless camera. It is cheap and works well for what I need. Although when the room is dim, the quality of picture degrade rapidly. Sound may be an issue for some, but I am ok with it since I have the audio only monitor. The freedom of wireless is what the camera attracted me for purchase. All in all, it is a good little camera for the price I paid.
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