Toshiba Camileo P100 HD Camcorder with 5x Optical Zoom and 3-Inch LCD Screen (Black)

I'm on my 3rd Toshiba camcorder. I'm having problems with it. It's also defective and I'll be returning it just like I have the past two that were defective. It's very clear this company is knowingly selling a defective product. It freezes up and will not shut down until the battery is drained. The same problem has happened on the previous two. I've asked for a refund ... they give a coupon for the same product. I have to go to the post office, stand in a line, pay for the postage, pay the tax on each each returned unit and deal with an outsourced customer service rep who barely can speak english. I forgot to mention how long a person must wait for their phone to be answered. If anyone would ever suggest that this company is legitimate they are in dreamland or a paid reviewer. A nightmare purchase ... an uncaring company who hides from complaints. The worst product I ever purchased. Shame on Toshiba for knowingly and deliberately dumping their mistake on the public. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Did not work out of the box. I ordered this and tried to cancel when I read the many, many bad reviews and when it arrived I used the quick start guide and it did not work. Turned on, tried to ficus and locked up and had a ticking sound. Junk. Returned for a refund. Do not recommend this or any Toshiba product.

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Done. Well, almost. My story begins on Fathers day 2011. My beautiful wife buys me a Toshiba S20 from Amazon. I read the specs and i was in heaven! Slow motion? Time Lapse? HD? Several other wonderful options and all packaged in a small handheld device!? Thank God for Toshiba!lol Maybe I celebrated too soon...

1) It worked decently enough but didn't come with all the accesories promisedso I have to file a claim with Toshiba because they can't send me the acc. (mini tripod, case, all of which was right there on there website saying it was included.) so I do but I have to pay for shippingsmall price to pay if they're going to fix the problem right? They email me a Toshiba in store coupon for $200+!! Wow I thought!

2)So I upgraded to the S30. Waited weeks and then it came....the S30 was aweful!It came with the acc. but the slow motion was HORRENDOUS! It was pixalatedit was zoomed in so much that you had to stand 300' to tape your subject! Spoke to Toshiba for hours it seemsthey tell me create another RMAsend it back. Shipped again on my dime...get the email Toshiba in store coupon for $209.00by that time the P100 had just came out. Surely they have to have the bugs fixed in this by now right? Waited for weeks and a few phone calls to Toshiba who claimed they never received ituntil I got the US Postal service to provide them proof it was delivered! (get insurance and delivery confirmation people!)

3) The Mother of All GodForsaken camcorders has arrived! After much anticipation and hope waiting on this P100I would love to say Toshiba got it right! But sadlynot so much. The design is beautiful as far as handhelds go. As much as it pained me to do so, because i wanted so badly to play with my new toy, I charged it first. Turned the unit on and I immediately started taping and it takes fairly good video. Tried to replay it and the unit froze up on me. WHAT??? WaitI haven't even seen the slow motion yet! Took the battery out (pretty sure that is a crappy way to have to restart your camcorderengineers are you taking notescrappy way!lol) and went to the flaw in the S30 that I wanted so badly fixed...same thing! Way pixalated and overzoomed! (Maybe Toshiba shouldn't hire engineers with big coke bottle glasses to design their products anymore!). Bravely marched ontried to make a video of the kids and I doing the yard with the time lapseand 40 min. later checked the camera to find out it froze 10 min into the video. Tried to view the vid but, DUH!, the cam was frozen! So out pops the battery! (crappy procedure engineers!) and the video is gone. UHG! Thank you Toshiba for making me want to do the yardbut you stink for the dissappointed kids faces I got when I told them their funny video didn't work! FrustratedI decided to try the little camcorder again since it hadn't messed up in a week or so (we optimist are so ready to forgive...idiots more like it!) so I take my anger out on an old wall clock! Who doesn't like to destroy things when they're angy right? But better yetdestroy in SLOW MOTION? Oh yeah! Set up like 50' from the clock on the wall (I assume that's how far the coke bottle glasses engineers on crack stood for their tests) and pitch at the clock with various objects! MISSED! Missed! Missed again! Each time checking the unit battery and resultsworking perfectly fine except for the middle aged guy's pitching armno fault of Toshiba. Last try..I HIT IT!! What an explosion of plastic pieces! Parts flying everywhere!Giddy I run to my camcorder only to find the Satan Spawn Camorder had froze again!!!! Tried for an 20 minutes to retrieve the movie without reseting the batteryno luck. Took a deep breath and prayed for a good out comeout pops the battery! (sounds like a good Toshiba nursery rhyme!lol) Movie gone. wonderful.

4) Sitting here at my desk and I've just sent in for another RMA... going to give Toshiba one last chancewish me luck! (I know....S-U-C-K-E-R!lol)

Read Best Reviews of Toshiba Camileo P100 HD Camcorder with 5x Optical Zoom and 3-Inch LCD Screen (Black) Here

Just locks up when using it. Have to remove battery to get it to restart. Then is just locks up again. Paper-weight.

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My P100 takes pics and movies but the touchscreen doesn't appear no matter what I do. Without the touchscreen it's very limited.Toshiba Camileo P100 HD Recording with 5x Optical Zoom and 3-Inch LCD Screen (Black)

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Meade LS 8-Inch ACF (f/10) Advanced Coma-Free Telescope

Someone finally made an easy to use telescope. My Meade etx-90ec got probably 4 hours use in the last 10 years. We used the etx-ls for 4 hours already in one night. The alignment process is very simple and takes about 8 min. You don't even need to be around for the process. Mine came with software version 1.6a, the very latest as of today, and I've had no issues. You can buy a cheaper scope and you can buy a better scope, but this will be the most used scope. Great job Meade. There are a lot of features I'd like for this scope, but overall it's just about perfect.

UPDATE (12/13/2010):

Telescope broke rather quickly. It was working great, then one day it just started giving a power error and the LCD stopped working. I tried to get it up and running again, but ended up having to send it into Meade (what a pain to ship it back!). Hopefully things work out, because the scope was awesome while it worked.

UPDATE (1/5/2011):

Got the telescope back. It's even more broken then before I sent it in. I was having power errors before, so I went to check that repair, but the scope can't even find GPS satellites now. I called the company I ordered it from (not amazon), and it's past their 30 day return window, so I'll have to deal with Meade more to get it fixed.

Meade's response was to ask me to reload the firmware onto the telescope and to try to realign the camera. I don't quite know why realigning the camera would have any affect whatsoever on acquiring GPS satellites, but their customer service agent said it's just the way it works. Which, translated in my head means, "please just figure this out on your own since this is my first day on the job." I don't understand how a telescope that is designed to just work out of the box and take care of itself now requires me to be realigning CCD cameras and putting the exact same firmware on it that it already has on it. I'd also like to point out that when the telescope was returned to me there was a checklist where their QA department tested everything. Either they aren't doing their job or the telescope got damaged being returned.

I have had my LS-8 for about 7 months at the time of this writing. Overall, I am giving it 5 stars. It is perhaps the best telescope I have ever owned (currently own 6 scopes).

When set up in a relatively open area, it does its magic very well. Simply turn it on, and in around 10 minutes it will be aligned and ready to go. GOTO's and tracking are excellent. The optics are exceptional, as I have come to expect from most Meade products. The appearance and workmanship is outstanding.

I should mention mine came with firmware update 1.6a which seems to have solved the problems reported by early purchasers.

Now, for some specifics. The GPS unit is very sensitive to where the scope is set up, and if there are any large objects nearby, you wont get a GPS fix. The way around this problem is to keep batteries installed in the LS. These will maintain the date, time and location. So in setup, you just tell the scope to NOT use GPS, and it will go through the alignment process just fine. And yes, use an external power source do not rely on the internal batteries because they will be used up too quickly.

The other thing to look at is stability. The scope shakes a bit more on its tripod than other scopes I have used of this size. This is a potential problem when focusing. I ended up purchasing a Meade electronic focuser attachment and this solves the problem nicely, albeit at a price of around $250.

The LS meets many needs. For the aging experienced amateur (me), the automatic alignment is a godsend, saving the pain of assuming contorted positions to center alignment stars. And the GOTO's and tracking are excellent so you simply sit in a chair and let the scope do all the work. And the optics are as good as I have seen in this design.

For outreach at star parties, the LS's talking feature is a great attraction for people.

For the newcomer, it is not a bad choice provided that you are comfortable using computer and electronic technology. Trying to learn your way around the night sky can be daunting the LS does the work for you, giving you time to simply observe. And in time, you will learn your way around the stars.

So, while not a perfect telescope. what it does do has earned it 5 stars.

Buy Meade LS 8-Inch ACF (f/10) Advanced Coma-Free Telescope Now

Just got this today. I was rather worried given the feedback on earlier versions. But the firmware version 1.6a does just what they promised. Well packaged, it arrived in great shape and did not need collimation. The set assembles easily and quickly and is not a heavy load I can carry the entire assembly in both arms without straining. The startup was a bit scary because it asked to reload firmware but after that the software runs fine. GPS was less sensitive than my car GPS and would not align in cloudy skies but did just fine when I tried it later in the evening. The Goto works like a dream and slews to objects just fine, though it will need centering once I figure that out. I bought the Meade 4000 eyepiece set and it got the kids and I up and running observing Jupiter immediately. Overall I am totally satisfied with this purchase and would highly recommend it. It is also a relief as I live in Singapore and would not be able to return it easily if it wasn't working. Well done Meade! (just need to sort out the firmware message)

Update 31/7/2011

Turns out the firmware message did mean a problem. The firmware did crash in the end. However I would say that the Meade telephone support is not half bad. This is important as I do not want to send the telescope back if I can avoid it. Basically needed to reload the firmware. I did this using a microSD card in a miniSD adaptor (2GB)downloaded the firmware through the Autostar software then transferred the card to the telescope miniSD slot and turned it on. Once the firmware reloads, the telescope is back to normal. Just a point to note, you may have to download the firmware more than once to get it properly set up on the miniSD card. I suggest keeping a dedicated miniSD card with the telescope so it can be ready for use if required not had to repeat the firmware reinstallation since I did it but you never know. The version is still 1.6a, which does the trick just fine. As it is an automated telescope, it helps to be somewhat computer literate just in case something happens.

Read Best Reviews of Meade LS 8-Inch ACF (f/10) Advanced Coma-Free Telescope Here

I enjoyed the ETX-LS 6 ACF so much I upgraded to its bigger brother, the LS 8 ACF. The increase in light gathering over the 6 is apparent, yet its still very portable. The GPS issues are a thing of the past, I have done test after test and it has worked 100% of the time. The GoTO accuracy is wonderful, I can consistently put objects in the field of view of a 14mm eyepiece. I love the ability to interface the telescope with a computer without the need for adapters or expensive programs, it worked without a hitch with free programs like Stellarium. The Meade optics continue to impress me, and the ACF optics are fantastic, so much so that I can honestly say that I'll never own a standard SCT again. I've been use to the Astronomer Inside feature from the earlier ETX-LS 6, and not much has changed with the LS 8 ACF, its still fun and downright informative, and a big hit when your sharing the view with family or the public during star-parties.

I recommend a few things. One, obtain a large PowerTank, the largest you can get to supply power to the LS 8 ACF, batteries just aren't going to cut it. Two, get an AC adapter, so you can plug it to power from home or a camp site. Three, purchase a miniSD card. I purchase a Kingston from Amazon. You will need this to upgrade your firmware if needed down the line. I used 1.6a, and its been very solid for me.

Some things I didn't like. The finder LED is too bright, and the tinted plastic makes centering challenging sometimes. The AutoStar Suite is outdated software, just use Stellarium like I do. There is some vibration noticeable when your focusing with this telescope. This has more to do with single-arm 8" scopes then anything else, the Celestron's have the same issue with their 8" models, this direct from some of their owners. Although this initially was irritating to me, I don't even notice it anymore.

All in all, the LS 8 ACF has great optics in a very portable package that has made stargazing downright easy and fun, from novices to experienced observers. If your a visual observer like me, I can't imagine you not enjoying the LS 8 ACF. Big Fun.

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I received my Meade LS 8" ACF two weeks ago fom another dealer, but I only took it out yesterday, 3-30-2010. Upon switch on, the handbox controller read:

"LS 1.4a

Flash error

Reload firmware".

In spite of this message, it proceeded to align, supposedly finished the alignment, but was way off. I shut it down, and repeated the procedure.

Same error appeared, but the alignment seemed better, so I did a "goto" Mars.

Mars was not in the field of view (FOV) of the supplied 26mm eyepiece. I managed to get Mars in the FOV after 7-8 manual movements at speed 5.

Next "goto" Saturn: nothing in view, could not get to Saturn although I could clearly see Saturn with naked eye.

I tried the Meade webside to see if I could reload the firmware LS 1.4a. It does not exist. Meade's customer service says they do not have the firmware either, and the only option is to send the scope back for a replacement!

Is this a joke or what?

If the new one works it promises to be fun.

Foscam FI8918W Wireless/Wired Pan & Tilt IP/Network Camera with 8 Meter Night Vision and 3.6mm Lens

• Great for security purposes, as a nanny cam or even a baby monitor that hooks up to your smartphone!
• Features: Wirelss, High quality video and audio, pan/tilt, remote internet viewing, motion detection, night-vision as well as a built in network video recording system.

This is a budget camera so the picture quality isn't HD or anything but works just fine. The set up was pretty straight forward and in no time I had port forwarding set up on my router and I was able to view the video feed on my phone from a free ip camera app. Hopefully, it will last and I think it will.

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Cisco-Linksys Wireless-N Internet Home Monitoring Camera

Here's the scoop: I was rather concerned about reading the wide range of ratings on this camera, seeing that there were some one star reviews coming in, so I was fully ready to return this puppy if it didn't live up to my pretty high standards.

That said, here is my experience:

I have a Linksys Dual Band Wireless N Router running in a single level ranch about 50 yards from some pretty serious power lines. On the network is a Power Mac connected via ethernet cable, and 3 laptops (a PC, an older Macbook, and a newer Macbook Pro) via wireless. Off topic, I'm not impressed with the range on the Linksys Router, but it provides some pretty quick bandwidth in the home with two networks to connect into, so I live with it.

I unboxed the WVC80N, which came with an ethernet cable, a CD, and some instructions/manual. I followed the instructions to the letter, which instructed me to put the CD into a computer first. I put it in the Power Mac. The CD worked fine and opened up a set-up guide. The set-up guide told me what to do... it detected the wireless devices on the network, then told me to plug the ethernet cable into the camera... I clicked 'next', then into the router... 'next', then plug the power in on the camera... 'next', and turn it on... 'next'... it detected the camera via the ethernet cable with no issues, and continued to lead me through the set-up... I had to create user name and password for the camera, etc., then something awesome happened. I used to be pretty technical, but now don't like to mess with having to figure out how to make something work... I just like it to work. So to my pleasant surprise, when I clicked 'next' this time, ALL THE ADVANCED SETTINGS that allow the camera to be seen via the internet (through secure login and password) were done AUTOMATICALLY for me while I watched. No port mapping. No WPA set-up. No hassles! Awesome!

Then it led me to the TZO set-up (free for 90 days) for the service to be able to look at the camera from anywhere on the Internet any time you want. To explain the technical side of this to non tech folks: If you have a normal DSL or cable internet service, you get what's called a "dynamic IP address" assigned to you from your cable company. This IP address is a number that allows other computers to be able to find your computer whenever you ask to see something (like pulling down video from or getting search results from google it's a "send the video to this address" kind of thing). But a dynamic IP address can change every time the power goes out or your modem reboots. The internet provider just gives you another one from the ones they have laying around. So where your IP address at your house might have been 123.456.789.123 yesterday, it could be 123.456.789.456 today. So when you are out on the Internet looking to view your camera, you need to know what your IP address is for your house at that particular time. Enter TZO. TZO is an IP mapping service that has your camera send out a message to them saying "here I am". Then TZO writes down that IP address (automatically) for that day and gives you an address at their site to log into (), which then forwards you to your house and your camera. The service costs $25 a year, or discounted for multiple years. NOTE: You don't have to have this service if you have a static IP address or can figure out your dynamic IP address without this service.

So I set up a TZO domain (and will probably pay the $25, because we got it to show the family what's going on in the nursery for a new baby... and it's a simple web address for the grandparents can bookmark. FYI, the camera allows you to set-up user accounts and passwords for different users.), and here's where another magical thing happened. I clicked on "show video"... and it just worked. FROM THE INTERNET ADDRESS... IT JUST WORKED. Amazing. So now I started to play with and test to see what the limitations of this device are:

First, we had two family members log on simultaneously to see frame rate response. It worked at almost 30fps for three simultaneous users at maximum resolution of 640x480. Cool. So let's play with the settings:

The camera is a smart device, and if you've ever seen your Router's set-up menus after logging into your wireless router... there's the same type of interface here inside the camera. You can change basic settings like dynamic or specific IP address, tell it whether or not to turn the power LED on/off on the front of the camera, etc.... you can change image settings, to large, med, or small resolution, set frame rate, etc... you can add or delete login accounts and passwords (add: grandma password: grandchild for grandma to use when she clicks on your camera's web address), and you can change the settings for automatic motion detection, automatic timed recording, etc. The camera will send you an email with still images or short 5 second video clips every time it detects a change in the camera's environment (if you want it to fully customizable), and it works well if you set the outgoing SMTP server (google this).

My experience with network response in the home with the camera on:

I've seen the complaints about the camera interfering with throughput to other computers in the house, bogging down the network, etc. I tested this camera two ways: 1) I put everything on one side of the dual band router (simulating what it would be like for a normal wireless router), then 2) I put the camera on one side of the router, and everything else on the other. FYI, we cancelled cable/satellite as soon as Hulu started putting the good stuff online, and use that and podcasts as our sources of entertainment. As that can be a bandwidth hog (streaming hi-res digital video usually is), I fired up hulu, set the camera to it's maximum resolution and frame rates, and did some tests.

First, if no one is looking at the camera, or it's not sending you an email telling you about motion, it doesn't affect bandwidth at all.

When looking at the camera feed, the camera's operation with nothing else going on within the network is great. 640x480 comes through mostly 30 fps at about 1/2 second lag or less. When you fire up hulu while the camera is running (on the same channel) is when you can start to see a difference. Both the camera and hulu suffered a bit. Where I usually don't have to wait for hulu to buffer, it stopped to buffer once while the camera was on the same side of the router, but mostly... it was still fine. The camera was running at about 10fps, and I was watching a hulu show. I was impressed. WARNING: When I turned on motion detection and walked into the room so I could force the camera to fire off a "motion detected" email... both hulu and the camera ground to a halt. I assume this is because the camera was creating media attachments and sending them off via email.

So then I put the camera on the other side of the router's dual band capability, giving it some bandwidth privacy. The camera worked great. Hulu worked great. I could even watch then simultaneously in two different windows. When hulu was showing a video, the frame rate on the camera drops a little (20fps?), and lag time increases to a second or so. But when you're not streaming digital video from the Internet or downloading some torrent, it's a top notch camera that works great. I would highly recommend the dual band router however if you want to have fewer bandwidth issues.

Image quality:

It's not HD, but it's not bad either. Digital artifacts are non-existent in proper lighting, and if any light is existent in the room at all (a night light), the low level light operation is exceptional. The camera WILL go dark if there is no light present. It is NOT an infrared camera, does not have IR lights, and did not pick up anything when I turned some IR lights on in the room. But crack the door with the hallway light on, and you can see. If you want to have the capability to check in on the cats during the day, or have the grandparents watch while you feed/change/play with the baby, this will be a great camera for that. Color is good. Clarity is good. I can even watch it on my iPhone. Having see what the rest of the market has to offer, and with as hit or miss as Linksys has become now-a-days, I gotta give this camera 4.5 stars.

Linksys WVC80N cam review:

Positives:

Supports 640x480 resolution at up to 30FPS. Don't buy an ip cam that doesn't support 640x480 (i.e. some of the Panasonic ones)

The low light level performance is good. This cam claims to have a better CMOS sensor that the previous model but it's still not all that great in low light (if you want good images in low light you need an IP cam with a CCD sensor but this adds cost and complexity). This is not a Day/Night cam that has infrared LEDs that provide illumination in completely dark areas. (You need to have some level of lighting, and the more the better). Still, I think it's better in low light that some other IP cams.

Cam supports wired Ethernet AND 802.11n (Draft) WiFi. 802.11n is better for supporting multiple cameras (but see negative below).

Works very well with (3rd party) BlueIris software

The camera can time stamp the video with the current time/date. It can also display any text on the video (such as location etc) that you enter)

The user manual PDF is very well written and goes into technical details that other manufacturers leave out (such as CGI commands to control the camera without using the web interface).

Very reliable, especially with a wired connection. I run these 24/7 without having to periodically reset cams, which is a problem that seems to plague other IP cams.

Unlike some other cams this one has an integrated infrared lens filter, which means that outdoor images will have correct colors.

The status page indicates the current interface in use (WiFi or Ethernet). Some other cams do not indicate what the current interface is, and this is useful info for troubleshooting/diagnostics.

Negatives:

There does not seem to be a way to manually focus the camera lens. If you have stuff going on more than a few feet away you will not see details!

The power adapter cord is way too short! The cord SHOULD be at least 10-12 feet long. I never understand why manufacturers always give you a short cord do they feel that you always have a power outlet where you want to place a cam?

I don't like the mounting bracket. Two screws (NOT INCLUDED why?!) must first be screwed into the mounting surface and the mounting bracket slides into the screws and held by friction or gravity (depending on mounting position). This is in contrast to other cam mounts which must be screwed down and are unremovable without tools (this one isn't). In addition it is too easy for anyone to move the cam's position by hand. Also the mount makes the cam stand out more (more noticeable). There should be a cardboard template included to make it easier to drill the mounting holes for the screws (they must be spaced apart correctly otherwise the bracket will not fit). Also the design of the mount makes it impossible for the cam to mount against a vertical surface (side of bookshelf) and show a straight level display, because the side of the cam bumps into the base of the mount.

This cam is labeled as using draft 802.11n technology and features 1 internal antenna (according to the datasheet). For maximum range and speed 802.11n uses MIMO which requires multiple antennas. This may explain why the range may not be as good as it could be.

The cam's web interface should feature a WiFi scan feature which also displays all detected SSIDs, channel # and % signal level (so you can get an idea of signal strength and channels in use by other routers). Trendnet WiFi IP cams have this feature and it's a VERY useful one. It's disappointing that other manufacturers don't include this feature.

The image options web page allows brightness/sharpness to be set, but it doesn't display the image at the same time so you can observe changes.

The webpage "Live Video" displays video only using MJPEG, not MPEG. Other cameras (such as Trendnet) allow selection of video type. This does not mean that the camera only supports MJPEG but that's all you can get via the default webpage).

The camera is supposed to get current time by NTP protocol but this seems to be broken the cam's status log indicates "NTP: Failed to synchronize data & time with the NTP server". Unlike other cams you cannot change the NTP server and it is not even displayed so I have no idea what the problem is. This could be a big deal if you are recording to a Samba server as the time&dates will be wrong!

Comments on other reviewer's problems:

"Range problems" WiFi connections are tricky things, in that there are many factors to consider. Interference from other routers, distance/positioning of both router/cams, router firmware, cam firmware, MIMO capabilities of both, type of walls between router & cam etc. The only constant to reliable working WiFi is experimentation sometimes another router or cam will work better in a given situation. Wired Ethernet gives the most reliable results but isn't always convenient. If the web interface displayed signal levels it would be easier to troubleshoot wireless problems. Also this camera should have 2 antennas for MIMO support.

Overall I think this is a decent camera for the price (less than one one five). However many improvements that I've listed can be made via firmware so hopefully this camera will be improved. And how about a True 802.11n MIMO version of this camera?

OCT2011 UPDATE: Just wanted to say a few more things. With regards to reliability these cams are rock solid with a WIRED connection. With a WiFi connection there have been a few times that the WiFi has "locked up" and the cam needed to be power reset. This seems to be related to distance from the router and I have seen it on the cams using WiFi that are located furthest. Like I mentioned above it's unfortunate that there is no sort of site survey that displays signal strength etc so you could troubleshoot this. Also, you may want to check out the TRENDnet TV-IP602WN ProView Wireless Pan/Tilt/Zoom Internet Surveillance Camera as a more expensive alternative. Hope this review has been helpful!

Buy Cisco-Linksys Wireless-N Internet Home Monitoring Camera Now

We've been using the WVC80N camera for a while on our home network with a Linksys WRT350N router. The WVC80N is the next generation IP camera from Linksys. It's older similar looking twin the WVC54GCA is good but had some issues that the WVC80N solves. You can see reviews of the WVC54GCA cam at myhomeserver.

The WVC80N adds Wireless N, an easier setup for Remote Viewing and best of all, direct writing to a NAS drive to record video! This means you don't have to keep a computer running, simply setup a shared folder on your NAS/Network drive and then add in the path,username and password into the camera and that's it! It will instantly start recording a AVI file to the drive directly that you can play in Windows Media player, etc.

Remote access is also better since it is now included as an option in the CD wizard. When you setup the camera, it asks if you want to remotely view the camera. Selecting YES will setup a custom domain name and then the wizard will set a static IP on the camera and setup the DDNS at TZO and set it up in the camera. All of this is done behind the scenes and it does all of the port forwarding and port selection automatically. This is a big advancement in camera setups..its actually easy

Great camera, I give it a thumbs up

Read Best Reviews of Cisco-Linksys Wireless-N Internet Home Monitoring Camera Here

It took me about three days to get my five cameras that I have installed at my house all dialed in.

They are very reliable; the cameras work VERY well with my wireless router; the motion detection works very reliably ONCE you have set everything up correctly.

Please note -I did NOT set these cameras up using the software. I programmed each by hooking them up on a computer that saw them at their default IP address of 192.168.1.115.

My network: C-cast cable modem, Router: Apple Airport Extreme, Cameras Connected Via: Wireless N

These cameras are set up default on the 192.168.1.xxx network at 115. If you are like me and use a different 192 network, you will need to bring up a machine on the 1.xxx network at your home to see and configure this camera.

Easy errors you can avoid when you setup these cameras:

1. You must click 'Apply' after EVERY modification you make in a tab. Some of the tabs, such as the Remote access user database allow you to add members, but until you click Apply, it is NOT saved on the camera.

2. When configuring your network access on each camera, I would strongly recommend that you use a static IP. You MUST include your gateway address and your DNS address (on a home local area network segment that should be your router address). Make sure you click Apply before going on to another tab.

3. If you are on C-cast and you want the motion detection feature to work to send you an email, remember to set your SMTP (email outbound) port to 587. Port 25 may work for about a day, but then C-cast will turn it off (web query , "C*mc*st Port 25" for more info on this).

4. Make certain that you click Apply after making each change on a tab.

You do not need to use or pay for TZO DNS. DynDNS works just fine for me (web query DynDNS for info). When configuring for remote access, make sure to follow these tips to avoid common errors:

1. Know AND understand how port forwarding on your router works.

2. Make certain the local IP Address and forwarded port for remote access is the same on both your Router and your IP camera. On my network my first camera is on port 1024, the second on 1025, and so on. Make sure you click 'Apply' every time you make a change to your camera's settings.

3. If you are using RTSP on your camera to view on a phone or software that supports RTSP, make certain the ports are open and correspond on your router and camera.

4. If you are using a lot of cameras at a location like I am, use meaningful names for your cameras and port forwarding schemes on your router.

With respect to the above tips, I found a lot of VERY useful information on this camera and how to set it up at: .

Test each camera that you add to the network.

1. Access the camera on your local network via your 192.168.x.x,

2. Access it the same and include your forwarded port in the web address; example 192.168.1.120:1024,

3. Access your camera outside your network using your DNS name, example: mywvc80n.homeip.net:1024 -include your DNS name and the port in the address,

Doing this in sequence will aid you in isolating any errors that you may have made in configuring your camera, your home network, your router, and your DNS settings.

Lastly, if you are using G-mail to receive the motion detection message with attached video clips look in your Spam email box. Mark these messages as NOT SPAM. Five second video clips vary in size from about 500kb to 1Mb. Fortunately, if you use meaningful email subject lines in the camera configuration, G-mail will organize each camera's videos into single conversations rather than a storm of repititious email traffic.

My Apple Airport Extreme with these cameras have proven to be very reliable with zero down time in three days. I believe this camera would have much higher ratings if the users were more successful in avoiding mis-steps with this camera and their network configurations.

~Kemo

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This is really a great camera. I bought this as a video monitor in my daughter's room so I could see into her crib at night. It was fairly easy to setup on my wifi in my house. Once attached to my wifi network, I am able to use the web-based interface to view the picture and adjust all settings. I am even able to view the video, live, on my blackberry browser! (all for free.)

You need to use the cd-rom to do the initial set-up (via an ethernet cable), then it has you unplug the cable and you are hooked up over wifi. I had no problems with my Fios router and my Win 7 machine.

There is software I haven't used to view the picture. I found that by just typing the camera's ip address into my browser, I can easily do everything I want to do without installing any software. I get great picture and sound.

You can have the camera email 5 second video clips to any email address when motion is detected and you can adjust the trigger areas of the frame.

You can also enable mobile streaming and use rtsp to get the stream to work on your blackberry for free. You do not need to use the paid service they suggest. It is a bit tricky to set-up (with port forwarding and funny syntax in your blackberry browser) but it works. Look online for instructions. Syntax is rtsp://[IP address]:[port]/[camera mobile streaming pin]

I deducted one star for the following shortcomings:

1) the power cord is VERY short this is stupid. It is barely five feet long. This makes it difficult to properly position the camera without using an extension cord. The adapter is reasonable in size not a huge power brick.

2) the low light performance is not great. In my daughter's dark bedroom, it is fairly difficult to see much detail even with a dim nightlight. I guess I could set up an IR light to brighten things up without bothering her, but I'm sure there are cameras with better low light abilities. That said, with a small amount of light, the picture is detailed and terrific.

3) there is a very bright blue light on the front to indicate "on" status and flashes when connecting to the network. I put some black electrical tape over this annoying light.

In all, I really like this camera a lot. Others had problems with networking and with the software. I had no issues getting this up and running and didn't even need to install the software.

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HDMI 6 ft Cable for Playstation3 (100% Compatible with Playstation 3 HDMI Cable) Jowow

The HDMI 6 ft Cable for Playstation3 works just the same as the $65.00+ PS3 HDMI cables do (that are sold at Best Buy) for a fraction of the price. I was so excited to find this deal on Amazon. The packaging says it comes with 24-carat gold-plated connectors; however I don't know whether this is really true, due to the super low price. The product, though, works as expected without any problems.

the cords do not work in a ps3 and it will cost double to returnsave your money do not buy this product....

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SecurityMan Remote Control Pan Base for camera (PANBASE)

This Securityman Pan base had me surprised as it exceeded my expectations, I've owned cheap pan remote controlled bases in the past, this one is better than them by far. I do not own a Securityman camera that the mounting bracket was designed for, but it didn't matter, I used a Uniden UDWC23 Wireless Video Surveillance Accessory Portable Indoor Camera (Black)& I affixed the wireless camera to the Securityman base and it works perfectly. I just bought a new home that has a 77' screened in lanai in the shape of an L and I wanted to be able to watch my cat while at work to make sure he didn't try to escape from the new home. (indoor only cat) I had two options, buy another uniden camera for $100, or buy a pan remote controlled base, I made the right choice as this product worked perfectly for my needs, no more rear of the home blind spots my security cam can't see.

Not to mention, my cat loves his new 77' lanai, my old lanai was 12' long, the Securityman has 370* coverage, I can remotely look at whatever my cat is looking at from my home office. This is a good product well worth the $29 plus shipping

We purchased two of these and have attached them upside down on the corner of the overhang of the roof. Had to drill holes and attach the hanger on the bottom to make it the top. The camera swivels great and reverses great, we can see all of two side of the house and yard for each camera. Biggest problem is the remotes are prone to break. The switch is a small spring and doesn't last long. We have had to buy another unit just to get the remote. Company needs to make the remote better and sell it separate.

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I BOUGHT 3 OF THESE AND AFTER THEY GOT HERE I FOUND OUT THAT THE ROMOTE FROM,ONE MAKES ALL 3 MOVE AT THE SAME TIME AND WHEN I CONNECTED THE PAN SYSTEM TO MY LOREX CAMERA WITH THE POWER SUPPLY FROM MY CAMERA . THE PAN SYSTEM WOULD NOT WORK. SO I CONNECTED THE POWER SUPPLY THAT CAME WITH THE PAN SYSTEM AND THE CAMERA WOULD NOT WORK WITH OUT LOTS OF LINES AND RAINBOW SPOTS ON THE SCREEN.

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I bought this a few years back and forgot to do a write up. I got this to increase security down the side of my house. With having roommates I had a lot of people invited over that could not be trusted...and later they came back to rob me and everytime my system has helped from me getting fully cleared out. (Had my video setup hooked up through a proxy to send picture messages of event triggers of possible break ins)

I loved the fact that it was on a remote so when i heard something outside I could stay put and just look over at the security screen and watch as the camera is panning over the yard and side yard. I had multiple cameras setup but this really helped close all the gaps were there was no coverage.

The one thing I did not like is the casing design. make sure the base sits flat and is not going to get rained on or have water run down the wires and feed into the Pan Base. Every once and a while the camera would stop panning. once I moved and uninstalled it i realized that water ran down the cord and into the housing...which filled up with water and would short everyonce and a while. Still works! just make sure its in a dry location. Oh and the range on the remote is pretty good. I would guess its equal to any 900mhz wireless transmission range.

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I used to like it, but this is my 3rd purchase and I am tired of forgiving my purchases. I pay extreme postage, then I wait and wait only to receive the items for them to work for a brief moment, then freezes up on me. Now I have a near 50.00 item that does not work. it is wireless and appears to be useless. Actually this is my 3rd item that has stopped working. I refuse to buy another.

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Logitech WiLife Digital Video Security--Outdoor Master System Camera

I like the ease of set up, the video quality; however it does not work consistently and I find this frustrating. I can not make sense of when it works and when it doesn't. I don't know if it's because my home's wiring is older or if the product is faulty. When it is working it is great. Another thing to be aware of is that it's very tedious to get rid of video footage that you no longer want. Each tiny segment has to be deleted one piece at a time. I haven't found a way to delete large chunks of time; such as deleting one day.

OK, I like the camera, seems to work most of the time but something keeps taking the cameras off line and requires a power cycle to get them back on-line. It could be the building power (Historic district, 80 year old house) and I'm running two cameras 300' from the main panel. Not the level of reliability I was looking for in my business, but finding a way to make it work. I went with the Pro upgrade and it needs more features. I should be able to control all aspects of the command center remotely but cannot change brightness (for example), but what is there seems to work fine.

I'm using snap shot alerts sent via multi media to my blackberry, they are slow and not considered useful in catching someone in the act. Sometimes I get the multi media alert 24 hours later. Could be AT&T, but haven't figured it out yet.

You really should have a dedicated computer to run more than three cameras, it chews up disk space and bandwidth fast. We noticed a serious slow down of our database applications when the cameras are on.

Super easy to install, software is easy to understand.

Great monitoring tool, not a great alarm system.

Extra cameras are too expensive when compared with other systems.

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When I first got the system and installed it, I was excited. Installation was easy. It started right up. It was sending me email alerts. I could access my cameras from the internet. How cool was that!!

But now 3 months later the bloom is off the rose, and I am ready to scrape it or send it back. It is just too unreliable. I have my system at a location that I only visit once a week. I would estimate that less than 25% of the time does it make through an entire week with all three primary functions (local recording, email alerts, internet viewing) all working, all week. And it's not just one thing. It's multiples. Logitec's help system always has suggestions but reliability never improves and the same problems continue to repeat.

So unless you can physically access the system daily and/or are ok with parts of the system going down for periods of time, I would stay away from this product.

Great idea. Flawed execution.

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I purchased one outdoor camera to monitor my driveway. The 15-minute setup is not likely to occur, in my opinion. It took me about a half an hour. I had to change my firewall settings. Once it was determined that it worked, it took another hour to mount the camera outside. For this price, I am impressed. I asked my alarm company what they would charge and they say $4,000 or more. The quality is good, it is recording based on motion detection. The software is easy to use. I am not interested in remote features so I can't speak to them. I think this is a great product, and am considering to add another camera.

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I initially bought this camera system in Sept. 09 to mount on the front of my house to figure out who was walking their dog late at night and letting it poop up and down the sidewalk on my block (was an on-going regular problem for months). I was able to adjust the brightness and contrast under the camera set up options in the command center to get a good night picture on a dimly lit city block. With the adjustments, the picture was good enough at night to see who was passing by, and it even captured opossums at night. There was a lot more activity on my street than I was aware of. I was able to set the camera recording area and sensitivity to not pick up movement across the street, just on my side of the street. And I caught the culprit...

After figuring out who the inconsiderate neighbor was, I moved the camera next to my raised pond in my backyard, where my turtle (Stephen Colbertle the Turtle) lives. I've wanted a turtle cam since building the pond! Stephen is a red eared slider, so I hardly ever get glimpses of him out of the water. Now, I can see him up close and personal whenever he gets out to bask in the sun. I've adjusted the camera sensitivity so it doesn't record (video on my computer) when the wind blows the pond plants a little, and I've set the brightness and contrast to auto-adjust (which works with the sunlight changes thoughout in the day). I've set up a free account on the wilife website so I can even log in and check on my turtle when I'm at work. It doesn't make for super exciting viewing but its pretty cool (okay, has been called geeky).

When the camera was in my front yard, it was close to my computer inside the house (just one wall between camera and computer). Now that it is in the backyard, there are three rooms between where the computer and camera are, and some yard space, and there are no problems with the picture.

I haven't had any problems with the camera, and I think the software program with command center is very easy to use and intuitive. If my camera dies, I will buy another one (if out of warrantee), and I am considering buying some additional ones to add to my system (watching for price drops).

One thing I would recommend to anyone purchasing, rather than using the CD that comes with the camera to load the software, go to the wilife website and download the most up to date software for the system.

I didn't expect the camera to work as well as it has (but I was tired of the dog poop on the sidewalk, and stopping that was enough motivation to give the camera a try). So far, it has worked great for me and I am very pleased with this product.

EDIT 12/1/11: I bought a second outdoor add-on camera in Dec. 2009, and both of my cameras are still working two years later.

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OEM Samsung MHL HDMI Adapter For HDTV Connecting Micro USB W/ 5-11 Pin Adapter Plug - Black

This works 90% of the time for my Sprint SGS3.

some times I would loose video and had to disconnect and reconnect.

I say it's this and not my SGS3 because I gave it to my friend and he has the same issue.

This Adapter Worked Like a Charm!!!!!!!!! After ordering a few of these MHL HDMI Adapters and sending them back because they were not compatible with my Samsung NOTE II, I finally found one that worked. I highly recommend this device for all those who wants to display their phone items to their Television. Thanks

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I had bought one before this one and it wasn't original. It didn't have the seal, barcode, and compared to this one even the box, the colors, packaging and the way the brand Samsung was written on it was different. It said it was made in China. This one is made in Korea. This one has everything and Samsung is engraved, not painted. The 5 to 11 pin adapter was included and the other one didn't have it. No wonder it wasn't working. This one works beautifully. Be careful on which you choose to buy. I got it from SF Planet. Great service!

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Olympus E-20 5MP Digital Camera w/ 4x Optical Zoom

What an amazing machine this is. After suffering through the flimsy plastic trinket cameras with little or no real optical quality, I finally own a truly versatile digital camera. The E-20 (as with the E10) offers extraordinary flexibility in digital photography. Prior to my recent purchase I spent at least a year and a half researching and waiting for this last pixel jump. The E-20 offers all of the flexibility of a high-level SLR which is missing on most other digital cameras.

Good Points:

The feel... It has enough weight for good stability, and it fits your hand very nicely.

Excellent lens with the ability to add extenders, filters, what-have-you.

Super Image Quality

Good bundled software (Adobe PhotoShop Elements and Camedia)

Image control

SmartMedia, CompactFlash, AND Microdrive compliant with the ability to use more than one card type at a time (you can switch between the cards).

True SLR (some competitors offer interchangeable optics, but still have you look through a viewfinder. What's with that? I want to see what I'm taking.).

Great accessories! (I can't wait to get the lithium polymer attachment)

Drawbacks

I'll have to get a better strap

Flexibility & control vs. ease of use trade-off... there are roughly 30 buttons to learn (but most of us will want that kind of control).

It doesn't come with a case... even a cheapie

I need to buy stock in a battery company

Remembering to turn it off whenever I open the media bay or change power source

This is probably not the camera you would buy for your instamatic dependent Aunt Sally or Uncle Jimmy-Bob, but if push came to shove you could always tell them to just put the big knob on "P" (Program) and snap away.

When you pick your camera, don't go by statistics alone (or reviews alone for that matter). You've got to get out there and see how the camera feels in your hands. If you've a history with good quality 35mm SLR's you are going to love the E-20.

I am now using the E-20N for our newspaper and have found it to be excellent for sports and news photography. The only drawback is the write time from buffer to card can be long and ties up the camera when the buffer is full. It is a little slow powering up, about 5 seconds. However, I am learning to overcome it and work around it. It takes excellent quality photos and does night football on the high school level very nicely with the FL-40 Flash. The flash is a necessary accessory. It is a wonder to handle, good focus, fast auto focus and love the manual flexibility it has. I definitely recommend it. I did not know if it would take night football, but it has done very well. I am still learning it and trying to master the many features it has. Very, Very good digital camera, it has all but eliminated our wet darkroom. we also use Nikon Coolpix 950s and 995, both very good digital cameras.

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The Olympus E20N replaced their E10 and now can capture 5 meg images. This is a key upgrade to what was already a very fine digital camera. The construction and materials of this camera put it into the upper echelon of consumer digital cameras and some would argue that this is a strictly professional tool. What I like about it is the balance of features, quality and design. Once Olympus manages to speed up the image storage process, the E20N will be worthy of 5 stars.

Many digital camera designers are scrambling to improve optical performance of the camera lens. The need for a zoom lens that covers a wide range is hamstrung by the small size of even a 5 megapixel CCD. This in part explains the poor image performance of many inexpensive digital cameras, but even in the lower price regime, Olympus has been an industry leader for years. But a designer of a more expensive camera like the E-20N ... has more latitude in designing optics and herein lies a key strength of this camera. The lens of the E-20N has a zoom range equivalent to a 35-140mm lens on a 35mm camera, with an aperture of f 2 to 2.4. One can sight through an optical TTL viewfinder or via a swivelable LCD screen. Excellent optics!

The control features of the E20N are also excellent, yet not perfect. Many adjustments are set by holding down a dedicated button while rotating the camera's control wheel, which can be difficult to do one-handed. The built-in flash has fairly decent range, but since the camera has a hot-shoe, an external flash can be added if necessary.

I like the ergonomic feel of the E-20N and I also like that it has four available operating modes: automatic, manual, aperture priority and shutter priority. By using the new progressive scan mode, one can take images with a shutter speed of 1/18000th of a second, but the image resolution is reduced by a factor of two. This might make you think this is an ideal camera for sports photography, but I'd disagree. The camera is just too slow at storing image data. It often takes over 8 seconds to store a high resolution image with the E-20N and this is the camera's most serious fault.

The bottom line for most folks is image quality and in this department, the E-20N does not disappoint. If you ever make the move up to a large-format printer, you'll want a camera of this quality. You can achieve excellent prints at 11x17" with the E-20N. For pictures requiring a slow shutter speed, the noise-reduction filter is very useful.

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The Pros: EXCELLENT IMAGE QUALITY and control. Very solid grip and feel actually feels like a real camera. The lens is bright and sharp, image quality is probably the best I've seen. The focal length of the camera is great. Best thing compared to most digicams I've used: there is no shutter lag the time it takes between you pressing the button (click) and the actual picture being taken. I hate that on some Sony cameras I've used in the past by the time the camera actually takes the picture a person's expression or light conditions can change... :-(

All in all, a great camera for this price and probably the cheapest in its class of SLRs (compared to Nikon D1X).

The Cons: SLOW WRITE TIMES, but you can get used to that and learn to live with it. FIXED LENS you cannot change lens with is good and bad. Good because the CCD elements are protected at all times and don't get dirt.. a problem with some digital SLRs. You can also get attachments that go on top of the lens for macro or wide angle, etc. The LCD screen is HORRIBLE don't use that for composing shots too often.

I am waiting for the new models to come out at PMA end of Feb. 2002. At that time E20 should get cheaper hopefully.

You probably must've read a lot of reviews by now. ....

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If you're looking for a great snapshot camera, look somewhere else. This isn't it. This Olympus is a workhorse of a camera good enough to replace your film cameras. After years of shooting 35mm, this is the camera I picked to test the digital frontier. My main concern about going digital was photo quality but I have been impressed. Shoot at (near) top quality, run through Photoshop Elements, download to a CD-R, CompactFlash or SmartMedia and run it through your local photo lab at Ritz or even Wal-Mart. The quality is admirable. I took this camera on vacation to Canada and was not disappointed. Could you do better? If you already have Nikon or Canon lenses, spend the extra cash and buy their latest models. But for the money, you'd be challenged to find a better overall camera that will let you explore your own photographic passions.

The best features:

* True photo-quality at 8x10-plus (gives you room to crop)

* Feels like a real camera

* Bright lens with decent telephoto range

* Variety of settings to let you go totally automatic or manual

The worst features:

* It is somewhat heavy (although the weight does give you a sense of comfort)

* Slow write times to memory

* Small cache that fills up with about 5 high-quality tiffs

* Lens range (without extensions) is a bit limiting, especially outdoors.

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Sony Handycam DCR-SX45 AV Cable - TV Video Cord for Sony Handycam DCR-SX45

I lost the original cord that came with the camera. Went to four different stores, they not have it in stock and could not order for me. I was very happy to find this one online. Works just like the original.

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SPY CAMERA HIDDEN CAM CCTV in a DIGITAL ALARM CLOCK for SECURITY with REMOTE CONTROL

This package was missing USB that would connect it to a Computer or Laptop. This arrived so late that I missed the time frame to return it back to the seller. The product works with several trial and error. I wouldn't say the images are sharp, there is hissing sound throughout the video. I believe the item was not new because it has scratches.

Save your money. Did not work because it was cheaply made. Tried to return but could not. A over priced clock.

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This product is cheaply made and does not work. I requested for return instruction but have not heard from tham.

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I bought two of these

Continuous trial and effort to get it to work!

wont work without remote

remote gave up after 3 weeks

useless cheap-ass product, dont be fooled! save your money

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This product did not work, It had no USB, no instructions. Nothing but the clock. I spent too much money on something that was not complete and was cheaply made. Thank you for the trash.