I bought this on a Gold Box deal and am very glad I did. First, the image quality is superb. TRENDnet supplies software to assist in setting up the camera but people with a bit of technical experience can go straight to the web interface and set things up there and there are some great features that allow you to set this camera up pretty much however you want.
All of the camera settings are configurable - brightness, contrast, saturation, frame rate, resolution, and even settings to synchronize with 50 or 60 Hz lighting or outdoors. It also supports WPA2 encryption and three levels of password-protected access. You can have it grab images based on movement (requires accessing the camera with Internet Explorer to configure that for some reason) or on a time schedule, and either have it e-mail the images or ftp them somewhere. And it supports dynamic domain name configuration so you can access the camera even if your IP address changes.
It also supports time and date stamping the images - pretty much a necessity - but it also supports accessing an NTP server to make sure the onboard clock is accurate.
And once you get the camera all set up the way you want it, you can save out the configuration file to make it a snap to reconfigure it in case you ever do a hard reset that restores all the defaults.
Not that it will matter to most, but this camera server is actually a full ARM-based computer running Linux. If you go to the TRENDnet website, besides getting the latest firmware, you can also get the source code for the camera OS for those that want to tinker.
The final issue is just the value. You are getting a video camera and a web-serving computer with both wired and wireless interfaces for this price. I'm glad I got mine and am using it to monitor my front porch for visitors and also as a way to monitor the weather at home. With multiple cameras, it's easy to monitor all sorts of things if someone wants to. TRENDnet SecurView Wireless Internet Surveillance Camera TV-IP110W (Silver)
I bought one of these cameras, knowing that it was claimed to be reliant on active-x for the video stream, but my Mac-based application could work around that. My early experiments at setup and use were with Firefox and, as expected, the live video wasn't available. I went thru the setup and put it online and then went to a different machine using Safari (v3.1) and lo and behold: It streamed the video using an ultracam.jar applet. I troubleshot the Firefox installation and found an incompatibility with /library/internet plug-ins/javaplugincocoa.bundle. Once that plug-in was removed, the video stream worked under Firefox with the same ultracam applet. Also tested successfully with Opera v9.62.
Wireless setup and performance are nominal and straightforward, as are the function with DynDNS and emailed events. One must remember that the default IP address of the camera is probably not in the same non-routable range as most use with their LANs.
Mac users should not fear this camera. Sporting features like the NTP clock & timestamp, DynDNS, and price make it a really nice deal.
Install and set-up went OK, test position close to the WLAN router went OK.
Installed at the intended location the "W" started to act up within a day, unplugging and replugging would get it back to work for a few hours.
Then it quit, won't even do "W" mode when close to the router. Works just fine when on the wire.
Reading a few of the other "trials and tribulations" I think this one will go back. ;) :)
Update on the above:
I obtained a RMA from the seller and a replacement (naturally it's "pay up-front" for that! ;) :) ), but then decided that there had to be a solution to the WLAN problem.
There sure was: get EVERY ONE of the settings correct and it works. That includes ALL the Wireless settings including the encryption i.e. if the router is set to HEX make sure the cam settings are in HEX too! The other pit fall: correct channel! for some strange reason the channel setting will revert back to the default (6) unless one sets the channel, selects mode as "ad-hoc", then "apply". After the "Apply" go back and reset the mode to "Infrastructure". The channel setting finally stayed!
Next project will be getting the focus as clear as possible for the outside, the reviews keep mentioning the excellent picture quality ... not so far! ;) :)
If you are going to use this on a remote property or location, here is a lot to help you -
1. Get some cheap sunglasses,break it, and tape one of the lenses over the camera to use it on the outdoors - it is really designed for indoor use & low light - a light sensitive and polarizing filter or sunglass is best -
2. Do call Tech support for help - they are great !
3. You need to know the IP address of your home ROUTER to enable people far away to look at this over the internet - and unfortunately that IP address is assigned by your Internet Service Provider (Verizon or Comcast for many of you & me too!) . and ... they change that address and give you a new one occasionally. Normally you can get that from the main screen when typing 192.168.1.1 into your browser and an info page will provide you the 4 numbers you need.
4. You also need to make sure that the router has "Port forwarding" enable for port #80. This is a default mode on some routers - not for others. Logging into the router control panel will have a page somewhere that lets you enable this if need be. Ignore this step and test - might just work (mine did!). For multiple cameras they each need to be forwarding on different port #s... 80, 81, 82, 83.... and the router needs to enable all of those ports to be forwarded....
5. Once you know the IP address and enabled port forwarding, call a friend and have them put the IP address into their browser as an address - and add ":80" (or other numbers for multiple camera situation) into the browser - that should let them see you or your view !! Note that they need to have Java and ActiveX installed and allowed in their browser !!
6. As an example - making up the numbers here - if your router says the IP address is XX.yyy.ZZ.AA then you would put http://xX.yyy.ZZ.AA:80 into the browser - then put in the username and password for the camera - and viola - it works !!
7. Note that if you power down the router, reset it, or if Verizon or Comcast does some maintenance work, the IP address #s change - so you need a way to get that data when needed! (I'm still working on that - it'd be nice if you could get it email'ed on demand from your ISP.....)
Have fun - great camera otherwise (this imnprtant info above was not in the help or Tech doc CD I got with the cmaera!! - Ip Camera - Network Camera - Internet Camera - Trendnet'
Detail Products
Detail Reviews
Click here for more information
