D-Link Wireless Internet Camera, Home Security, 802.11b, 11Mbps

Average customer rating: 3.5

Good little security Camera for the price.
Novice review
Great hardware, HORRIBLE software!!!
Wifi Flakey
Great Camera, does everything I expected

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D-Link Wireless Internet Camera, Home Security, 802.11b, 11Mbps

Manufacturer: D-Link Systems, Inc.
Product Group: CE
Binding: Electronics
ASIN: B0001BXV9U

Related Categories:

Computer Add-Ons

| D-Link | Brands | Electronics Features | Electronics

Wireless Networks

| D-Link | Brands | Electronics Features | Electronics

802.11b Standard

Wired

Wireless

Network IP Cameras

802.11b Standard

Wired

Wireless

Product Description

With its compact, all-in one design, the DCS-900W is a great remote monitoring solution for your home. The DCS-900W connects quickly and easily to your existing Fast Ethernet network or 802.11b wireless network and a setup wizard guides you through the set up process to get you up and running in a matter of minutes.The DCS-900W features a built-in web server, which means that you do not need to have a computer to stream video images directly to the Internet. Video images captured by the DCS-900W can be viewed remotely by typing an IP address into a Web browser. With its easy-to-use Web-based interface, the DCS-900W can be managed and configured from anywhere in the world.The included Windows-based IPView Lite software provides even more features, allowing you to archive streaming video straight to your hard drive, monitor up to 4 cameras on a single screen, rotate camera views, and update the firmware on your DCS-900W.

Customer Reviews:

Good little security Camera for the price........2007-06-02

I picked this unit up about a year and a half ago. I needed to have this unit serviced after 7 months because I could not connect to the unit anymore. Soft Reboot, Hard Reboot did not solve it, DLink was nice enough to send me another unit. Took about 2 weeks turn around. That was about 9 months ago, I have had this camera mounted on top of my house over looking the front yard. In the day time the image is very crisp at 640x480, I only hope one day a 1280x1024 resolution would come out so I can view my entire yard just instead of my front porch. I have a piece of saramic taped on it, so the water will not get absorbed into the unit. It has survived the cold winters and also the rainy season as well. It holds up well outside, you just need to cover the unit.

Nite time viewing is not soo great, it is very grainy but what can you expect w/o a builtin night vision modular. I use webcamxp with this software to broadcast it over the web and also to send me email alerts triggered by the motion senor. I like to check up on my UPS and Post Man every once in a while to see what they are up to. :) I recommend using WeBCamXP with this unit because it has a lot of nice features which the DLink software does not have. The interface can be a lot better, but I just use it for its camera feature and nothing else, so it does not bother me.

I highly recommend this unit if you want to look over your new puppy inside the house or view your property. I currently have two of these units, one for the inside of the house with a Linksys POE connected to it. (Power Over Ethernet), so I can mount it anywhere without trying to struggle to find an OUTLET.

Novice review.......2007-05-31

Being tech. stupid, I read all the directions and got it up and running wirelessly in a few min.
Still can't view it outside my network. The only thing I can figure out is that there is a block on my server side to reduce bandwidth but the instructions cover that too. I have yet to try it but in the mean time, I use it to spy on my dogs in the livingroon while I'm working in another room. Good picture, average wireless range. I like it so far.

Great hardware, HORRIBLE software!!!.......2007-04-06

The device is GREAT. The concept is GREAT. The software is HORRIBLE! The documentation is even WORSE!!!

I hate it when a manufacturer goes through all the trouble to create a magnificent product, but then skimps on the software/drivers/documentation/etc. This is a perfect example. The device is rock-solid -- could not ask for a sturdier product without going to industrial quality (and price). The software looks like it was written to entertain children! The developers focused SO MUCH on creating pretty icons (that are actually ugly), that they completely forgot about usability -- and worse, they forgot to document!!! There are no pop-up tips over any icons, nor is there any sort of Help feature anywhere. There is a PDF owners manual, but it seems like it was written by a 10-year-old. Half of the features are not even mentioned in the document. It's extremely frustrating to know that the functionality is there, but I will have to poke around at the stupid software for days before I discover it! Basically, a developer spent days coding each feature, but could not spend 2 minutes to put a label and description on it. Features that nobody knows about or how to use are USELESS!

If this device had even half-way decent software and documentation, it would get 5 stars -- but the software and documentation is so poor that it gets only 3 stars (maybe even just 2).

As for the hardware, here's my review..

SPEED: This device uses 802.11b, so it is limited to 11 Mbps, which can be too slow for video with moderate/high frame rates. However, for security purposes, 5 frames per second is sufficient (slightly choppy video, but better than most VCR-based security systems). I haven't tried recording at higher frame rates. I imagine that if compression is set to high, fairly high frame rates can be achieved.

IMAGE: This device can record up to 640x480 pixel video. However, the software only supports 320x240. In daylight, video seems relatively crisp, even at high compression. At night, the camera doesn't fare as well. D-Link makes other cameras that have much better night vision than this one. If you're looking for a night-time camera, consider a different model. The camera has a rotary focus dial on the lens, which can be set from close-up (20cm) through infinity.

CHASIS: The camera housing is sturdy and the base is actually made of cast metal (I expected cheap plastic, but was pleasantly surprised). The most-delicate part of the unit is the screw-on antenna. It's not poorly made, but just not as rugged as the rest of the camera. The camera is NOT intended for outdoor use. I have it temporarily mounted on a window sill, pointed towards the front of my house. Eventually, I will actually attach it to the window frame. The base can be screwed into either the top or bottom of the camera, so it can be mounted on a ceiling, wall, bookshelf, or wherever you'd like -- nicely done.

Initial setup (getting it onto the network and seeing video) is somewhat straight forward, but the poor software and documentation become apparent right away. Advanced setup (video surveillance, motion detection, recording, etc.) is EXTREMELY frustrating. I'm searching for 3rd party video surveillance software to use with it because I hate the packaged software so much.

The webcam comes with its own built-in webserver, so it can host its own website (nice feature). The built-in browser-based setup screen (kind of like configuring a LinkSys or D-Link router) does have a Help menu! However, the only thing it has is the following text: "For Help on Web Configuration settings, please refer to the Manual included with your Internet Camera." =-P

Good luck!!!

Wifi Flakey.......2006-11-03

I really like the setup and picture from this camera. I ended up putting it outside my firewall so I could spy on my daughter from work during her naptime. With the hard-wired internal webserver, it has been remarkably safe from hackers. It seems to do a good job when it is connected to the network by a cable, but it flaked out a lot when I tried to use its Wifi connection.

Great Camera, does everything I expected.......2006-06-19

A great web camera for the price. Plug in the ethernet and power cable, and you are nearly ready to go. Note that you will have to plug in the ethernet cable for initial setup, even if you are planning on using wireless. You can access the camera directly, it has its own built in webserver. This allows any program that can use HTTP to work with it. Very handy if you want to use a program to upload shots from the camera to your website at regular intervals. No propritary software needed to get images, view everything from HTTP or a browser.

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