Considering that you are paying less than $100 for a wireless IP Camera that provides PT (no Zoom), infrared night vision, motion detection, and automatic email of alarm photos, there is very little one can criticize about this camera. Yes, it's tricky to set-up if you have never done port-forwarding before and yes, the frame rate and resolution are both a little low, and the audio is crap, but remember that you paid less than $100 for this thing. If you need audio, higher frame rates and better resolution, you should buy a more expensive IP camera.As far as setup goes, if you understand networking and port-forwarding, these are my recommendations:
1) Do NOT install the software on the CD.
2) Connect the camera by Cat-5 wire to your router.
3) Login to your router (via browser) and find the IP address assigned to your camera.
4) Login to the camera at that IP address (via browser) and IMMEDIATELY turn OFF the DHCP.
5) Give your camera a fixed IP address on your network and fill in the subnet mask with what you normally use.
6) The Gateway and DNS fields should normally be the IP address of your router.
7) Fill in the SSID, encryption type, and share key used by your wireless network.
8) Pick a 4 digit number to use for the HTTP port number. (I have no idea what "Network Lamp" is so I left it checked.)
9) Disconnect the Cat-5 cable and re-boot the camera.
10) Re-login to the camera at the new fixed IP address to verify that everything's working.
11) Login to your router and set a port-forwarding entry to map to the fixed IP address and HTTP port you gave your camera.
12) Use the "What's My IP" site to find your outside IP address.
13) Enter your outside IP address and HTTP port number into a browser and verify that you can get into the camera from outside your house.
14) You're done.
UPDATE #1:
Under the Mail Service Settings there is a checkbox named "Report Internet IP by Mail". If you check this, when you ISP gives you a new external IP address or when the camera reboots because of a power failure, the camera will email you the current external IP address and port! A very nice feature for those of us who prefer not to use DDNS services.
UPDATE #2:
The best app I've found for viewing IP camera feeds on a smartphone or tablet is IP Cam Viewer by Robert Chou.
UPDATE #3:
While I am still pleased with my FosCams, two things have happened recently that make me wonder about the business practices of FosCam. First, out of the blue they have raised the price $10. Second, FosCam.us is given me the run-around about an RMA to return a camera I purchased directly from FosCam. If you do decide to purchase a FosCam camera, buy it through Amazon. Amazon will not give you the run-around over a return. FosCam seems to be money-grubbing and anti-customer.
For setup, I have found it easier to just plug them in using the Ethernet connection, and then log into my router and find their IP address, and set them up from there. The only thing you have to remember during setup is that the new camera's port may be set the same as an existing camera. In this case either shut down any existing cameras, or use the FosCam install software and let it find the new camera and port number.
I have the FosCams mounted in our business for security and their range of motion and quality of imagesincluding infraredhas been invaluable. Also the sound quality is good from the camera. Talking through the cameras to someone is weak, but there. I am replacing older D-Link DCS-900 cameras which are fixed position only provide pictureno sound or two-way communication capabilities.
One feature that would be good in my case would be the ability to zoom in on an object. Zoom is not a function of any of the FosCam models I now have.
I monitor the cameras from my IPad, my Droid 2 and 3 phones using an excellent app IP Cam Viewer from Robert Chou. I also use IE and Chrome browsers.
You do have to use port forwarding on your router so you can find the cameras via your business/home location's IP address. If you don't have a static IP address, you can use dyndns.org to track your dynamic IP address.
Buy Foscam FI8910W Pan & Tilt IP/Network Camera with Two-Way Audio and Night Vision (Black) Now
Summary:This camera, and the company itself, clearly has some shortcomings. However, at this price you'll be content, if not ecstatic. It works well as a security camera and baby monitor. After using it for 1 week I've bought 2 more. Details below.
Research:
After researching Wireless IP cameras for a few hours I concluded that this camera is the best value. I compared it to all other wireless IP cameras including TrendNet TRENDnet TV-IP422WN SecurView Wireless Day/Night Pan/Tilt/Zoom Internet Surveillance Camera Logitech Logitech Alert 750e Outdoor Master Security System with Night Vision Foscam 8918 Foscam FI8918W Wireless/Wired Pan & Tilt IP/Network Camera with 8 Meter Night Vision and 3.6mm Lens (67° Viewing Angle) and the high end ones Panasonic Panasonic BB-HCM531A Outdoor Pan/Tilt PoE Security Network Camera (Silver) and this amazing one from Axis Axis 214 Ptz Network Camera Pan Tilt Zoom Day/night 2 Way Audio. Not to mention this camera is light years ahead of a TrendNet camera I bought a few years ago for the same price (Newer Model) TRENDnet ProView Wireless Internet Surveillance Camera TV-IP501W (White).
Setup: I couldn't find the software available for download on Foscam's website so I actually had to use the CD (People still use CD's?). Once I installed the software, I hard wired the camera to my router Linksys E2500 Advanced Simultaneous Dual-Band Wireless-N Router, opened up the software, read the manual, typed in the default use id and password, read the manual again, played with all the setting and then set it up to connect wirelessly. Then I closed the software, unplugged the camera from the router, unplugged the power to the camera, plugged the power back in, opened the software back up and everything worked fine.
Pros:
The rotation works great. If you set the speed to 0 it moves fast.
At far distances, the lens itself is decent enough to get more than just general idea of what is going on. At close distances it's sufficient.
Works great with the iPad.
According to my Kill A WATT P3 International P4400 Kill A Watt Electricity Usage Monitor it only uses 3 watts.
Camera Cons:
Either the quality control is off or something got mixed up because I ordered this camera in white and it came with a nice multifunctional mounting bracket. However, I ordered the silver/black version of this camera and it came with 2 antennas, but no mounting bracket. I contacted Foscam about this. They apologized, didn't question me, and sent me a mounting bracket for free.
The body of the camera fees a bit cheap, which maybe it is. For example, the top half of the camera does not fit snugly into the base. However, I have not had any problems rotating it.
The edge of the picture has a slight bow to it.
The resolution is not HD. You couldn't make out a license plate from more than 20 feet away if that.
While transferring a large file wirelessly from one laptop to another using my E2500 router, the camera would pan erratically. As soon as the file transfer stopped the camera worked fine.
I couldn't get the speakers to work even with a microphone NADY SP-4C Dynamic Microphone plugged directly into the unit or into my computer. (Not sure what to do here.)
I couldn't get it to play/record any sound either. To improvise I bought a baby monitor NTM-910YLW Sony Baby Call Nursery Monitor.
Runs hot, but it hasn't affected its performance and again it's only using 3 watts.
Supposedly you can't use this outside. I may test that theory. If I do I'll let you know.
Software Cons:
You can't change the size of the camera view.
You can't digitally zoom in on one spot.
If the alarm triggers it records for 1 minute. The only thing you can adjust is the sensitivity.
You can't adjust screen size, which is really annoying when you use the multiple camera view because the screen size of each camera is tiny.
Tips:
If you have multiple monitors, double click on the picture and it will open up a full screen view on one of your other monitors. This is especially helpful if you're using the multiple camera view because the picture is small.
Camera Suggestions:
The company details the limitations of the camera, but you don't realize how nice it would be to have some features until you use it.
This camera should be able to turn 360 degrees instead of just 270. It's quite annoying to not be able to see behind the camera.
Software Suggestions:
The alarm settings need to be much more adjustable.
The screen size needs to be adjustable.
You need to be able to click on an area of the screen and zoom in.
Anyone else have a sneaky suspicion that someone in (guess where?) is looking at what I'm looking at? Maybe that's why they're so cheap?
If you figured out how to get the sound working or have a solution to any of the other problems leave me a comment!
UPDATE 1:
I was able to get the sound and microphone working. I had to add the camera's IP address to my trusted sites. The manufacturers website has a forum with answers to questions like this.
UPDATE 2:
I have 4 cameras total. 2 black, 1 white and 1 silver. The silver model appears to have some problems. I have a tripod that will easily screw into all but the silver one. Also, after about a month of use the IR filter will not turn off on the silver one so the green grass looks like a purplish gray. I've just started the RMA process and will try to update.
UPDATE 3:
After a phone call to tech support, an email to the sales department, and about 3 weeks of time I have a new camera in black. They didn't have a silver one and I don't wonder why.If you carefully read most of the 5-Star review, you will notice that they are written by Foscam's own people. And majority of the reviews do not have "" stamps. I believe that their tech support is one of the worst in the industry however, these reviewer mentioned name such as Sean, Calvin, Ricky and many more (all fake name) and give them a credit for wonderful support. I have tried to call for support many times, but nobody answered my call at all. I have also noticed that they are adding 5-Star reviews every day. Total reviews are double in last few weeks which is not normal since this product is not really the hot cake in the market.
This product does NOT deliver all promised features. Installing process is not user friendly. Remote view is not possible for non-tech people. You have to go through different venders for software installation and pay for it and there is no free app designed for this product. I do not think that your privacy and security will be maintained properly using this product because they are not renowned and trustworthy.
Using this product with Apple's Airport extreme base station is not as easy as I thought. I spend long time to make this product works but finally gave up. Nobody wants to spend their valuable time in the complex and junk product like this since there are plenty of easy options available in the market.
I do not recommend this product. If you buy it, you have to spend your paper, ink, tape, gas and time to return it. I suggest amazon to genuinely verify purchase and stop fake reviews. Amazon, please delete all fake reviews otherwise product return volume will definetely rise.I read quite a number of the 5-star and 1-star reviews on this product before purchasing it one week ago. Back then I couldn't believe in either side of story, so I decided to try it myself. After trying it for a couple of days, I think the fact is like this:
1. This product is built OK physically, but its software is close-to-impossible to use, and its user instruction/manual is absolutely terrible;
2. Therefore, almost any user has to call customer service to set it up properly;
3. After setting it up, the customer service would ask the user to leave a 5-star on Amazon.com;
4. Here comes all those 5-star reviews -not necessarily fake, but not genuine either.
Now back to the product itself: I don't like the way it is set up for internet viewing -through port forwarding and the use of a free domain somewhere. This is very insecure.
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