D-Link DCS-900 10/100TX Home Security Internet Camera

List Price: $99.99

Features:

• Compact design with Integrated Web Server
• View up to 4 cameras on one screen
• Web-based Remote Access Using any Java Enabled Browser
• Archive and record streaming video to hard drive
• Bundled software for Multi-Camera Monitoring and Management

Accessories:
D-Link DWL-650 Wireless Cardbus Adapter, 802.11b, 11Mbps	D-Link AirPlus DI-614+ Wireless 22 Mbps Broadband Router	DIGITAL HUB READER	GOOSENECK WEBCAM	Transcend Multi-Card Reader M1 - Card reader ( MS, MS PRO, MMC, SD, MS Duo, MS PRO Duo, miniSD, RS-MMC, MMCmobile, MMCplus ) - Hi-Speed USB

Customer Reviews:

Good camera, a few caveats [Posted on 2007-06-02]
This is a pretty decent camera for a decent price, providing that:

1. You have realistic expectations regarding its image quality.
If you expect HDTV-quality video, you will be disappointed. It does not produce good results in low light and is better suited to outdoor images. In practice, image quality is at least as constrained by limited bandwidth as it is by inferior optics. If you are interested in better picture quality and have plenty of bandwidth, there are other more expensive alternatives.

2. You have sufficient upstream bandwidth.
I set my camera to 640x480 and 'auto' frame rate. At 1 frame per second the camera consumes about 200kbps of upstream bandwidth, which is close to the limit of many residential broadband connections. If you want more than 1 fps, you may need to reduce the resolution to 320x240.

3. You are comfortable adjusting your router settings.
Your router must have port forwarding set up for the camera to be visible to the external world. Several reviewers here indicate that their camera is accessible from within their local network, but not from the across the router. This clearly indicates a network configuration issue, and not a problem with the camera. I don't think it's fair to expect D-link to troubleshoot router setups, and give the camera low scores when they can't/won't.

Nevertheless, it did take me a bit longer than I expected to set it up. I initially left the camera set to accept connections on port 80 and forwarded external port 8100 to port 80 on the camera. Static images and the web interface worked, but not video. I discovered that the Java/ActiveX applet on the client was trying to connect to port 80 (instead of 8100), which was blocked by the router (and probably by my ISP as well). Therefore the easiest way to set up port forwarding is to make sure the port the router is forwarding to and from are the same. In my case, I changed the camera port to 8100, and set the router to forward from port 8100 to port 8100 on the camera. I suspect that this may have tripped up some other people as well, although I found no mention of it. I also noticed that in this most recent version of the firmware there is no longer a separate image transfer port (e.g. 8481), simplifying setup a bit.

Overall I am satisfied with this camera. I use it to view an outside location with plenty of light and little motion. I have not noticed any reliability issues that others have mentioned, but it has only been up for about one week.

Price is good, frames per second blows [Posted on 2007-06-17]
If you are wanting nice smooth video, do yourself a favor and get the Axis 206 ip camera. I have a Mac, run SecuritySpy, and have two of the DCS-900 and one wireless version. This camera was easy to setup and get running out of the box (you most likely will need Windows for initial setup Mac guys but after that you can access it via Safari) but the video is choppy and I have tried every compression setting, frame rate, and option. It appears after reading on the web that the DCS-900 series is known for this problem on all operating systems.

The cameras are used at my home for security purposes.

Great product in this price range [Posted on 2007-07-11]
Setup was a breeze - I had to basically hook up the camera to a PC and run the installation disc which installs the control software and you assign the camera's IP address. Then the camera can be placed on the network.
The software is easy to operate - there is
The view is fine for the price range - you can definitely see what is happening on the screen.
The bundled software can operate 4 cameras - record the movement, take still shots, and can be also set to auto-sensing mode to start recording when a movement is noticed.
The mounting screws and swivel stand work to attach the cam sturdily. The view can be flipped via the software so it doesn't matter which way you install the camera - you can monitor it properly.
This cam also has a web feature - if you want to view remotely or don't want to use the built in software you can enable this feature and access the cam via its browser ip address. This could be more cumbersome to set up since most home users don't have static ip addresses.
The only thing that you need to be aware is the camera's lens view angles - for my needs the room was a bit too small for this type of lens (10x12) so it could not encompass a full view.
Overall - I've had a very pleasant experience with this product as it was easy to install and operate.

It works very nice even with MAC-Leopard! [Posted on 2008-03-31]
I have tried this product with PC and MAC(leopard) I found no problem. I can say that the image quality is a bit low with MAC but it works fine. I recommend to everybody. You can even use it as a security camera!

net cam [Posted on 2008-04-14]
this works pretty well. It is a low priced camera and works like one. It needs a good light source. it can only be mounted as it looks in the picture, the mount does not give you much movement to get it completely turned 90 degrees either way to the side. if your software will rotate the picture you can mount it anywhere

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