capable, but rough around the edgesSETUP
The first step in setting up this camera was connecting it to a PC. Following a quick visit to the website to download a searcher program (not specified in the manual), the camera was detected and could be set up. Putting in the wireless network & password then allowed connection from a mobile device.
QUALITY
Unfortunately, despite being branded as a 720p, the quality of the video stream is lower than i would have wanted. There is no "zoom" feature, which limits the ability to really home in on one object. The vast majority of the time, regardless of the setting chosen, the quality dropped down to "low." This was frustrating as even when connected to the same WIFI, you couldn't get the best quality.
CONNECTIVITY
The connectivity gets mixed ratings. First off, it seems to drop out randomly. The video stream will be running, and then freezes all of a sudden. You know this happens because there is a time mark overlayed in the top right hand corner, and the seconds stop counting. Most times you have to back out, disable the stream, and re-enable it.
The update speed of the settings is quite slow. If you change a quality setting or something similar, you get about a minute of update time before the image returns. When the video is running, however, there is about a 1 second delay from live feed until the change occurs on the video( on the same WIFI).
The one unexpected feature in this camera is its remote ability. Once you have it connected to your device on the same WIFI, you can access this camera from ANYWHERE! I was literally laying on the beach, near a free WIFI connection, and i decided to see if i could access the camera. Low and behold, as soon as i started up the app, there was the live video stream! I am quite impressed with this camera's ability to get outside of the local network and firewall and be accessed without any additional settings. Pretty cool.
APP & IMPLEMENTATION
I download the app on both an Android Smartphone and an Apple iPad. The Android device seemed to drop out more, and the up-down movement was not accessible with swiping the image. You had to use the arrow buttons on the bottom. There is an app made for the iPhone, but not the much bigger iPad. I downloaded the app for the iPhone, and the iPad by default enlarges the entire thing to fit the screen. This made the previously mentioned "low" image quality even worse, as it was magnified. But at least the app worked.
FEATURES
Excellent night vision illuminates a very large room rather well. The infrared LEDs illuminate automatically once the light level drops down to a certain point. Unfortunately, you can see the LEDs in the dark, and it gives the camera's location away quite readily.
Lots of wall mounting options are included in the box. The power cord, however, seems to be a bit too short, at just around 4 feet. Most of my outlets were around the 5' mark, limiting where i could place the camera temporarily.
The audio was mostly clear from the room, but i didn't get a chance to test to speaker.
SUMMARY
This IP camera gets the highest marks in ease of setup, easy of application use, and ability to connect remotely. Lots of nice features such as two-way microphone along with remote pan & tilt elevate this camera to the big leagues. Unfortunately, connection & quality issues, along with un-refined apps for both Android and Apple mar what could have been a stellar product.
by Steve