Wednesday, January 1, 2014

New Dynex 1080p v1.3 HDMI Video Cable - 6ft (2M)!

New Dynex 1080p v1.3 HDMI Video Cable - 6ft!i bought this item a long while ago, and it still works great! i use it with my desktop computer

I bought a few of these HDMI cables for connecting together my home theater. I've got one between my PS3 and surround sound receiver, another from the receiver to the television, and one from the receiver to a computer which I only connect and use occasionally. The cable was easy to put in place, plugs in without a problem, and operates as expected, even with repeated disconnecting/reconnecting.

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Purchased 5 cables. The cables came promptly but were only 6.33 feet long (aka 6'4"). They were not 6.6 feet. Besides being too short, everything else about them are perfect. If you don't need the couple extra inches like I did then these are for you.

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Canon PowerShot A310 3.2MP Digital Camera

Canon PowerShot A310 3.2MP Digital CameraAs an owner of two other canon cameras (G2 & S50) I'm obviously pleased with the products they put out. When I decided to look for a smaller lightweight anytime camera I again went with canon. I did look at nikon, fuji, and sony, who all had nice features but for the money and options this camera looked best. After playing with it for a bit I'd have to say the point and shoot pictures are very good--outside. the load up time is short, and I can simply snap away without a problem. The pictures come out very bright and clear for a 3.2mp camera--some nice stuff. Now when taking pictures inside, the story is a lot different..the flash drains serious battery power (a310 takes AA or nimh rechargables) and takes close to 30 seconds to 'recharge' before you can take another picture. Luckily I don't plan on using this inside much, but if you are this is definitely something to be worried about. The lens is fixed, but there is a 5x digital zoom that works pretty well between 3-4x once you get to 5x its very grainy. Size is good, it's about the same size as my s50 but much lighter, the power-on mechanism is the same, using the front lens cover as the switch. it's rather secure compared to the s50, i don't feel that it will open up accidently often. To wrap this up, my overall feeling is that I'm pleased with the purchase, the battery life is short, my first set of AA batteries died in about 45 minutes, the features are good, the pictures come out nice and the video option works fine. indoor pictures aren't so hot, but if you change the ISO speed and exposure you can pull off decent pictures with or without the flash. It's a great camera!

I bought this for my daughter because it is inexpensive and easy to use, and it's been a lot of fun. You will be hard pressed to find a better 3.2 megapixel camera for the money. Picture quality is excellent, operates on two AA batteries (get rechargables with a recharger because battery life is short), downloads your photos in seconds to your computer through a USB cord that comes with the camera, has a zoom (the 5x max zoom is not sharp; you are better off cropping and enlarging a non-zoom photo image on the computer), the flash is decent, and the features are functional. My daughter loves it. I have been a confirmed film camera purist and still prefer my Nikon with its hefty 28-210 zoom to a pixel image, but why lug that around when we have this little pocket wonder? A perfect introduction to digital photography...

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I was looking for a good camera for a good price, and found the a310. Since I don't need great photos, even though this camera gives great photos, it's great. All the controls are very user friendly; you can switch from camera mode to movie taking mode with a mere switch, which brings me to the movie taking ability. Of course, you can't expect a great movie capability, but this camera sure covers what I need. With a decent sized card, you can get a whole lot of movies. However, on the highest resolution, you can only take movies up to 30 seconds long, which is okay for me since most movies longer than that get boring. I use a 512mb card, and can get about 450 seconds of high resolution video(30 seconds each)and more than 1000 seconds on medium. on low resolution....wow. I find myself using the movie capability more than the pictures. If you're starting out in photography, or just want a decent camera for a great price, you've found it.

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I bought this camera on a friend's advice. I have been very happy with it. It is packed with loads of features. I find it easier to use than my old point and shoot analog camera. The only drawbacks are, battery life, and the small CF card it comes with. I bought a 512mb card which allows me 300+ pics on the highest setting. I also bought re-chargable NiMH batteries which give me about 200 pics before they need to be replaced.

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Was very excited to finally receive this camera through mail. Tried it out but was amazed of how quickly the included batteries died. Nothing major that rechargeable NIMH batteries couldn't fix. Loved the quality of the pics, but even loved it more when i figured out how to set it on the Superfine setting. The sliding lense cover both acts as a protective cover and the power switch which makes it very easy to use. The included USB cable and power adapter makes transfers to the computer an easy process. My favorite feature on this camera though, is the video mode with sound! The lag between each shot with the flash on is pretty aggravating though. Overall, This camera performs very well for the price and I take it everywhere I go!

Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS20 Waterproof Digital Camera (Orange) Kit. Includes: 8GB SDHC Memory Card, Me

Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS20 Waterproof Digital Camera Kit. Includes: 8GB SDHC Memory Card, Memory Card Reader & Table Top Tripod, LCD Screen Protectors, Hard Case & More!This is a great camera to have as an extra for vacations, parties etc when you don't want to bring a big one (we have a Canon Rebel as well). Picture quality is good, movies too. Its really waterproof, I took it snorkeling and got some good underwater shots.

The case it comes with is too small, hence the 4 stars, the other accessories are ok. There are probably cheaper models which are good, but I have had a good experience with my other Lumix.

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Panasonic Pro AG-HMC150 3CCD AVCHD 24fps Camcorder

Panasonic Pro AG-HMC150 3CCD AVCHD 24fps CamcorderI received my 150 a little over a week ago. Bought it because I wanted to move up to HD and get out of the tape business. It did not come with an SDHC card. Bought an 8 GB to carry me over until my 16 GB cards arrive via Amazon. I am still on the learning curve on it. Especially liked the large comfortable color view eye piece. I was also amazed by the clarity of the video play back on my 48" LCD screen. Used the three cable output first, that came with the camera( Video, Lt. Rt. Audio )

Very clear video, much clearer than my trusty old Canon GL-2 It does not come with an HDMI cable. Bought one locally and tried it. Plugged one end into the HDMI out port on the camera and the other end into the HDMI port of my TV. I was blown away by how clear it was !! The video was clearer than some of the stations I view in HD.

On playback, you are given a thumbnail of the first frame of each scene you shot when you turned the camera on. On playback, you can skip around the scenes you want to view , or delete if needed. The focus assist is another nice feature. When you use it, it momentarily zooms in on the middle of your next shot so that you can fine focus if needed.

It has many other features that I have not tried yet. On editing, bought the Pinnacle 12 Ultimate because it is set up to handle the AVHCD format and a PC with the AMD quad Phenom processor with 3 GB of RAM. Waiting for a more powerful graphics card to arrive before trying to edit in this new format. The battery that came with it is small. Would recommend buying the larger battery as soon as you can to balance it out. Right now, it feels a little out of balance because of the smaller battery. Also liked the solid magnesium body. No plastic anywhere ! Overall, I am impressed with this camera.

Panasonic AG-HMC150

I shoot weddings and I have used The HMC150, the Canon AH1.

From the beginning let me first tell you where my opinion is coming from price tag: $3500

First off, neither of these cameras are brilliant in low light. They have 1/3 imagers. I don't care if they are made of gold and there are ten of them.

1/3 imagers are too small to gather enough light, even if you attached the Hubbell telescope to them.

To put such tiny sensors in a $3500 is poor, cheap engineering especially when SLR have larger sensors, shoot HD and don't cost this much.

Who are these camera angled at?

Videographers and indie filmmakers.

As a videographer what are you most concerned with Low light.

Why? Because you cannot control lights at weddings at parties, etc. So your camera has to be able to handle it.

As an Indie filmmaker what are you most concerned with The ability to look like film. It does, with 24p and film gamma, it's about all you need. But you are paying a premium. But for me, equally important to film look as 24fps is lens choice. Here you get none. While 24fps is what is ingrained in the everyone's consciousness as what film should look like, they also don't realize that shallow depth of field and variety of lenses is too. With these camcorders you get no choice, a 13x zoom with extremely wide depth of field at most every focal distance, because it's a zoom and because the imagers are tiny.

Good news The AG-HMC150 can handle most lighting situations.

Bad news AVCHD codec, is noisy in even bright sunlight afternoons. The image is made of blotch.

Measuring image integrity by zoom factor at 100% AVCHD compression is clearly visible. 200% the image is a swarming, infected mess.

Although the Panny can holdup in low light. I shot in a dark club and there was still something to see.

It has a very weird auto iris mode, that brings in more light, even when you do exact settings in manual.

Don't know if there is a magic switch, didn't have it long enough to work everything out.

The Canon uses HDV and instead of compression codec noise, you get digital noise; unpleasant grain (not like film), and washed out video at 100%. At 200% it's like looking at a digital still from a 10 year old point and shoot. And trust me, once an image is washed out and grainy, there is very little you can do (Some gamma correction will bring the shadows back to life, but that noise is there to stay. And the drop down to SD doesn't do it any favors.

Bottom line the Canon sucks in low light, especially in anything other than auto mode. I shot in a low light room and the image was garbage. Despite some settings tweaking, which leads me to Canon's second biggest problem and a problem with these camcorders in general.

The LCD and the Viewfinder are too small to see how your image is holding up. Everything looked fabulous on the Canon's 2.7 LCD...and then when you get it back to edit. Noise city. So you can only use the LCD for just basic image checking.

The HMC150 has a 3.5 LCD, but the brilliant engineers made it a 4:3 ratio! You have black matting in the image! The camera can only shoot 16x9 and they put a 4x3 LCD on it...so in the end you only get about 2.7" of real estate and you see as much as on the Canon, unless you are in focus assist mode which zooms in and uses the whole LCD.

So you have to know your settings and be shutter/iris paranoid, hoping for the best image. What you see is not what you get, you have to know what you want, like with film and set the camera accordingly, knowing which settings will get you want in the END, not what you are looking at through the camera.

The HMC150 definitely benefits from the higher rez. The Canon is 1440x1080. You can see the difference.

The Canon is more professionally built. Both plastic, but the canon feels more professional, and weirdly the HMC feels like a Tonka Toy, hard textured plastic, but like a light and chunky toy. I can hear the optical stabilizer clunking around in it. The Canon aesthetically looks more professional.

Audio on the Canon is better, it has much better limiter, I don't even think the HMC's is useful, but if you plug one xlr mic into the Canon...the onboard becomes unusable. HMC lets you assign channels for the onboard. Bad news is the onboard mic on both sucks, the Canon sounds better because the HDV format has higher rez than the compressed AVCHD codec.

The HMC and it's tapeless/AVCHD codec does not save much time, the transcoding takes almost as long if not longer than real time (HDV tape) and sometimes there are errors, especially transferring from camera, the footage speeds up, the audio remains constant and you have shorter clips. Happened constantly. My guess, USB and it's non constant data rate. Another cheap short cut by Panasonic. The Canon has a firewire, which speed is constant, and they need it for the HDV tapes.

The HMC wins out with higher rez, native progressive imagers, resulting in two true progressive modes, 24fps, the other mode/rez are wrapped in pulldowns. The Canon's 24f, etc modes are fake and you can tell. Everything is interlaced on the Canon. I hate interlaced.

This review isn't structured very well, but I don't have the energy, since I'm so unenthusiastic about both, so they're not worth more time. But I thought I would let potential buyers know, the ones who think these two cameras are the Holy Grail. They aren't, and they aren't worth the high price tag, they are worth $2000 not a penny more. But the problem is, what else is there?

I returned the HMC, and I didn't the Canon wasn't mine, but would have returned it too.

I'm going to try the Canon SLR route. The closest thing you can get to film without shooting it.

Annoyingly these two manufacturers and Sony...are all sticking it to us. Instead of advancing things, they are taking baby steps, giving us one desired function at a time for a price.

If Canon can put a full frame sensor in their 5d II and can give it 1920x1080 30fps shooting, why can't they put that sensor in a camcorder, with a SLR interchangeable lens mount, with XLR inputs?

Because they want to sell camcorders AND slr cameras.

These camcorders are just big consumer cams. They don't have enough image improvement to warrant $2500+ more in cost. You are paying for features, limited manual adjustments, not image upgrade.

But of course I didn't have it for very long, two weeks.

I just couldn't get over the price versus video quality, and workflow.

They don't justify the price, especially when I think we are very close to getting some real breakthroughs in HD imaging.

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One thing you need to keep in mind is that editing AVCCam/AVCHD is a P.I.T.A. I'm using CS4 on a 2.4 quadcore with 8gig of RAM and Vista64 and it's sluggish with frequent lockups. I'm getting Cineform ProspectHD v4 when it comes out to compensate. Vegas 8.0c and Edius works well I'm told, and FCP need to convert it to ProRes (or whatever it's called). I think Avid needs to convert it to a native codec as well. Panasonic does offer a free converter to DVCProHD on there website

[Update 6/5/09... Premiere CS4 4.1 update is out, and editing is much easier. Also, Prospect v4 is out, and editing with the demo I've been trying has been a joy]

That said... the camera itself is awesome. Really. I'm coming from the DVX, and this is leaps and bounds above that (which is saying something). The images I'm getting are beautiful. I'm planning on going out now on my days off to shoot just for the fun of it.

I really can't add anything that hasn't been said already by others. But if you're looking at the HVX200a or HPX170 (they all share the same chips, and the HMC shares the same glass as the HPX), but don't want to deal with the costs of P2 or need all of the features of the HPX or HVX, I would HIGHLY recommend buying this instead.

Just be prepared for some editing headaches at first (the problem with bleeding edge technology is sometimes you need to get stitches).

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I knew I would have to do it sooner or later. Even shooting Super 16mm is (a) too expensive and (b) too heavy. I have seen so many good documentary films that originated on HDV or AVCHD based camcorders that I thought I should really make an effort to go digital.

As it happened, I attended a Panasonic seminar that convincingly touted the value of a modern H.264 type codec for the "filmakers" vision. So the Sony and Canon alternatives were effectively eliminated as options by the smooth presentations given by Panasonic. This left the choice of cameras down to the HMC40 (cheaper and lighter) or the HMC150. Both can do the things I need to do (24P being a requirement)and both are designed to create a "film-like" look to the image.

My choice of the HMC150 was based on the feeling that 3 1/3" imagers are going to be less noisy than the 3 1/4" imagers installed in the newer HMC40 camera. I did not do any side-by-side comparison testing but I am guessing that I am correct in this assumption although the degree of difference may not be noticeable in the final image.

It has been about two months that I have been using this camera. What it can stuff into a tiny SD memory card is amazing to me. The images have been outstanding for a television camera and really not too bad for a cinema camera. I miss interchangeable lenses and controllable depth of field but I don't miss changing the magazine after a few takes and I dont miss heavy battery packs and Nagra sound recorders.

I did find that the manual iris control on the camera is impossible to use while shooting and that manual focus is also clumsly and can create sound noise while filming if you are using the on-board mic or even the mounted shotgun. The simple solution was a Vari-zoom remote and that fixed the two biggest operational problems I had.

The camera was packed with GVG's Edius Neo. That works a treat with AVCHD and as long as you have a decent modern laptop with sufficent speed and memory, it is fast enough to operate and to render out edit files to disk or SD card. I prefer to have the final finishing completed by a real editor (probably using FCP) but I can manage the rough edits with Edius without too many problems.

So, I am not sorry. This is the first digital cinema type camera that I have purchased and it will probably be the gateway drug to a Red One or something like that. I miss film but if you are not making a feature film with multiple rented 35mm cameras (paid for by someone else), why not use a camera like the HMC150? The cost of the hardware is more than offset when compared to running a S16mm camera to create 60 minutes of finished projectable film. SD cards are cheap. Digital projectors are getting better and DI from inexpensive digital cameras to 35mm film neg is possible if the content is good enough to justify the cost.

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Much has been said, but I'll add a bit. We use this camera for live events and produced videos. Here's what we've learned in 6 months.

1) Buy the 150. We also have the 40 which does what the 150 does, but for pro use, the features are slow and cumbersome to access on the HMC40.

2) Great if you use Adobe Premier C6. Not so much if you use Final Cut Pro 7. We have both. Premier is native to AVCHD. With Final Cut, the transcoding is almost worse than tape ingestion. With Premier, you can preview the videos easily, edit them easily, and you aren't so dependent on rendering.

3) Watch the errors. We had one interview error after 45 minutes and lost it. It's the first in 7 months of usage, but we lost about $4000 worth of footage. Panasonic has a recovery tool, but it didn't work. We were using a Transcend card (cheaper) on that shoot, so we won't do that again. We'll go back to Sandisk.

4) Low light is much worse than SD, but I guess all HD is. It works for us because we light everything. Wouldn't work if you don't have lighting control.

5) We really wish it had a 20x zoom. The 13x is a compromise from our old 100A's.

We'll probably buy another one, but we're waiting to see if Cannon comes out with an SD card based HD camera.

Macally Air-AlarmI D.I.Y. Wireless Home Alarm System Kit

Macally Air-AlarmI D.I.Y. Wireless Home Alarm System KitThe purchase of this product was a knee jerk reaction/purchase to being broken into last fall. The choice of having nothing vs having to subscribe to an alarm service was not pleasing. A relative has a similar DIY alarm system and said they were happy with it and this provided a middle ground.

As stated, the instructions are a little hard to digest at first, but once you understand it, it's fairly easy to program the unit and sensors. (The picture shows the alarm having an extendable antenna as well as the sensors, but the unit received did not have any.)

The supplied no name batteries didn't last very long. The one motion sensor that is in a high traffic area died with in 3 months and the replacement battery is not doing so well (brand name). So don't be surprised if you have to replace the 9V battery twice or three times a year in high traffic areas. The remote control battery is an odd ball size that I only found at Radio Shack (didn't look online, it was actually stocked). I purchased extra motion sensors and the door sensors I have not mounted yet. Keep extra batteries for the sensors around and check the sensors that they are working.

The unit is suppose to have a battery backup, but I have yet to see how that works. If you have to manually switch it over, then it's pointless (only skimmed the manual). I unplugged the unit expecting it to keep "alive" and it went off. If I want it to last/work during a power outage, I might as well get an uninterrupted power supply they use for computers. Also, when the unit is plugged into the phone line and you are using it, it makes a beeping or chirping noise that is heard. If the phone is plugged into the unit, it actually hangs up on you! Factory says this isn't right, but I don't want to sent it back and NOT have protection.

I purchased two units, giving one to a friend who has experienced multiple break-ins. Since then, he has been broken into once since it was installed. The unit did call him and his kids and he called me to check his home (less then 5 min way). He also did not use the door sensor, only relying on the supplied motion alarm. The alarm will scare people off, but be warned, there is still time between activating and actually getting someone thereat least 5-7 min or more. If you want a faster response time, then pay for a monitored alarm service. (Or purchase the external siren to alert neighbors quicker.) Once I walked into my house forgetting to disarm the unit with the remote control, it went off using the motion sensor and called me with in 5-7 seconds of going off. I test my sensors at least every 3-4 months to make sure they set the unit off and to make sure it calls me.

I have experienced one false alarm. The unit went off and called. Upon inspection of home, the unit reset it's self (I didn't memorize all the codes for remote operation)all doors and windows were secure. Unit was still armed when entering (used remote to disarm). It is unclear if it was a malfunction, or if the motion sensors detected a movement. We have never had any issues with drapes and heat vents in the past, but we suspected it. Unless someone was trying to jimmy a sliding glass door and brushed up against the blinds creating movement(?)but I have not tested that idea.

It was recommend by local law enforcement that an external audible siren be also used. The internal alarm and unit going off is enough for 'noise' inside the home, but for an alarm to work effectively, an external siren is suggested to alert neighbors of any problems. (I maybe ordering more internal plug in sirens or one or two external battery powered sirens.)

Would I recommend this alarm? Yes and no. Does it work... yes, but not perfectly. Are there better out there, I'm sure there are. Do your research, see what is available. I have it already, so I'm making do.

(Alarms are just one tool to help secure a location. It is not a substitute for not having good door locks/dead bolts. Next step in home defense is to install cameras to record the exterior and any visitors. That way, intruders 'risk' being identified if they try.... Multiple layers of protection will HOPEFULLY deter intruders from choosing your home. And yes, dogs are part of that layer also!)

PS-

IMPORTANT NOTE---IMPORTANT NOTE

IMPORTANT: When using an alarm system that does NOT call a security monitoring service, DO NOT tell people that. It's better to make people think it is a MONITORED service. If you tell "friends" and the word gets around, the wrong people could find out. And then the wrong people know that they have "time" before someone actually shows up. Right?

There are a lot of instructions on this product, although complicated at first, if you follow the instructions correctly and take your time to read them, it will work.

The package come with the included sensors already paired with the base, so, all I needed to do was to change the passwords and include my phone numbers.

When it calls me, I can hear what is going on ONLY if the alarm is in the silent mode, since it has a pretty loud noise coming from the base (where the mic is).

The door sensor works pretty good, every time I forgot to disarm, it goes off. The motion detector, it is not the most reliable, but it also works, I believe the reliability has to do with the fact that it seems to read the environment every 5 seconds or so.

I live in a small apartment, and I don't know what is the actual range of these devices and cannot say if they work well in large houses/apartments.

So far, it is working OK.

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The instructions for this product are terrible and make little or no sense. The "chapters" follow no logic and it was written by someone who does not speak fluent English as seen by the multiple spelling and grammar mistakes.

Though I was able to get the basic features to work with this alarm, I was not able to program the phone features. You cannot remotely access the alarm by phone if you have a home answering machine.

On two occations the alarm went off for no reason(not armed) most likely due to radio frequency interference.

The entire unite shuts off without an alarm sounding if you simply unplug it from the wall, so I am not sure why it has rechargable batteries.

Nobody answers the toll free customer service number and they have yet to respond to my voicemail.

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DO NOT BUY THIS THING!! Has got to be the worst piece of crap I've ever owned.

Agreed with most other reviewers the instructions (esp. syntax of commands not to mention the English grammar) are HORRIBLE! But the main problem overall is that it is simply God-awful UNRELIABLE! I've had it for about 6 months and have experienced at least 3 false alarms. Not armed, sitting there in my family room just watching TV and all of a sudden one of the sirens starts blaring for no reason. Another time my wife and I were awoken in the middle of the night with the thing ringing. We did NOT arm it at night. Not only that, but it won't always shut OFF reliably! 3AM and my wife and I are frantically pushing the disarm button on the remote, siren still blaring away. Sometimes the remote works, sometimes not (yes, it and everything has fresh batteries oh, but they discharge within a few months, even name-brand). Then, the range is terrible. We don't have a big house, single story, but some of the further away door sensors don't trigger the alarm. I also (regretfully) bought the outdoor siren. Works maybe half the time, and it's only about 30 feet away from console. Then there are the motion sensors, which only sense a motion every 5 seconds. I can walk past the range of one easily within 5 seconds and the light never flashes. Sometimes to get it to flash I have to stand in front of it and wave my hands wildly. (I suppose if a burglar did that it might ring...) I'd give this piece of junk 0 stars if I could.

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I don't write many reviews but this alarm system is such junk that I felt compelled to warn everyone way from it because, at least for me, it took a bit before it started acting up. And it's only after I've had mine for little over a month now that it has reached the point where I just hate the thing. The funny thing is that at first I was somewhat satisfied with it due to the ease of installation. I bought the system and additional motion sensors and door/window sensors to cover the entire house from a popular electronics warehouse. The sales guy at the store told me to buy fresh batteries because the ones supplied were most likely dead and shouldn't be used. So when all tallied up was a pretty hefty price tag. But installing was a breeze and even though the instructions were difficult to understand I managed to get it installed in only a few hours. Unfortunately the thing is totally unreliable because of numerous false alarms. At first only one false alarm per week but now three or four times a week and it's only a month or so old. At least their support is reachable and I've tried their suggestions to no avail. I guess the next step is to swap it out. Still, I wish I had read the negative reviews here before purchasing this home alarm system. To me, the system definitely isn't worth the pain of the constant false alarms. My take on it is to pass this one by and try another system.

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HooToo® HT-IP207F(White) Indoor 0.3 Mega Pixel RJ45 Wireless IP Network Surveillance Camera (802.1

HooToo® HT-IP207F(White) Indoor 0.3 Mega Pixel RJ45 Wireless IP Network Surveillance CameraThis camera met most of my criterion for outdoor (see caveat below) monitoring.

Setup was a breeze, connected it first to the wired network, you do not need to install any of the s/w which comes with the box if you know how to locate the IP of this camera on your router.

Once you have the IP from the wired connection, use chrome (other browsers may need video add ins) to directly http into the camera.

Setup the wireless connection, disconnect the wired IP and power off/on, the camera comes back on the wifi (of course with a different IP),

After this, I installed outside (CA weather is mild, and it is protected from rain).

Works perfectly, setting up automated emails upon motion detect is also easy provided you know your email provider's server and port details.

It does have a tendency to false trigger (ex. shadow of an object moving outside the capture zone, some of the times the pictures captured (6 snapshots sent for every event) have no one in them, so I have to play with the sensitivity and capture delay setting.

Default camera setting seem to work well for day or night (switches automatically).

They have a handy calendar option for enabling snapshots only for the days/times that you want.

My issue is that the angle of view is somewhat limited, so I have to play with "patrol" option and see how well the motion trigger works after that

Cannot seem to limit the range of the "patrol" motion, all or nothing

I have not yet set up FTP or DDNS access but do not expect it to be that difficult given the experience so far

All in all, great starter IP cam for the price/performance this offers

Caveat:

This camera was stated to be an indoor/outdoor in the description "Water-proof structure best for outdoor installation", not sure if this means it was already water proof or it needs a waterproof enclosure!

Foscam FI8904W Outdoor Wireless/Wired IP Camera - 3 Pack

Foscam FI8904W Outdoor Wireless/Wired IP Camera - 3 PackIt was touch & go to start with. Could not get it to work for like three days. my son-n-law came to take a look. It took him two days but he got it up and running. I put them up at our vaction home. Now I check every day to see whats up at the beach. They record when they detect movement. There is a begal a cat that run thourgh the yard form time to time. Anyway not very user frindly to put in but once it is up and running Alsome. Its nice to keep an eye on the vaction house from home. And i can tell when the grass needs to be cut.

I actually love my camera's! The picture quality is fantastic! I would have given them five stars but the mounts could be much better. Great camera but terrible mount. That makes no sense to me. Easy enough to fix/change if you the least bit handy yourself.

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Have 4 of these around the house and hardly ever an issue. Like most have said the brackets that come with it are crap so go buy a $10 mount and u will be totally happy. Easy config all 4 were up within 15 minutes. People that complain about setup must not know a single thing about there one network and honestly should probably not run one but have someone do it for them. Again love them thinking of buying another three pack to replace the dlink dcs3420 that I have that are 4 years old

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I'm not very happy with my purchase. I had previously bought three of the model FI8905W. I wish I bought more of them instead of buying model FI8904W. The main issue is that I have not been able to make them work on my dns website. They work fine with Blue Iris, but I can't view them on the web like the other ones. The other thing I did not like about these ones is that you can only mount them from underneath. The other ones have mounting options from the top or the bottom. I wanted this model because it is a wider viewing angle, but the 9105s were so much easier to set up. I wish I'd picked up more of those instead.

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Did have problems with one that took a couple of weeks to resolve. Ended up, with Foscam support on the phone, to determine there was a problem with the wireless. Foscam does not pay for return shipping. Noticed while this was going on that the serial number of the camera did not match the box. Makes me think the company is re-shipping returns. Did not appreciate that. Replacement camera works fine.

It appears this style camera is sold under different brand names. (I've tried a couple of others) Foscam brand seems to be the best. Instruction manual needs to be written better for all of them. To get full functionality of the software you have to use Internet Explorer (32 bit) and allow ActiveX. Don't like that. Software was obviously written by programmers and not driven by consumer. A major complaint is that when you get ready to leave the house and want to activate the camera alarm, you have to log into each camera to arm it. There needs to be a central piece of software that you can click to activate the motion alarm on all cameras in the network.

Setup is fairly simple if all you want is a live picture. I would suggest you give the camera a static IP address so every time there is a router reset (power dip) you will get the same IP address again. If you want to have remote access then you will have to learn a little networking to set up port forwarding. You can use a company server that is in the far east somewhere for remote access. I choose not to do that. I access the cameras via remote by direct IP address.

Over all I am fairly satisfied with the Foscam brand camera. It would be better if it were more of a wide angle. I will give Foscam a thumbs up for support. My experience is other brands have no, or hard to reach, support.