Got this a few days ago. Very easy to configure. Had mine set up on my wireless network in minutes. Much better video quality than I expected for this price.
Definitely meant to be used indoors in low light. When I point it out the window, the image just washes out and goes all white. But indoors, with normal lighting, the image is great. Night time image is very good. The built-in IR LEDs work well to about 20ft or so. Beyond that, things are pretty dark. I tried an experiment and turned on a desk lamp with a very low power fluorescent bulb and the camera had enough light to see everything in the house in full color. Really good low light performance.
The microphone is also very sensitive. Almost too sensitive. It picks up every sound in the house. I can hear the ceiling fan, air conditioner, TV in another room, people talking in other rooms etc. Has 2-way audio but haven't tried it yet. UPDATE- two way audio works great. You need a powered, amplified speaker; I used an old computer speaker.
Super easy to operate. You don't need any special software to remotely view, just Internet Explorer. You can view with Firefox, but you lose some features. When viewing remotely over the Internet, you can click on any point in the image and the camera centers itself on that point.
Tons more options and features but, you can read about them on the manufacturers website.
If this had a true optical zoom, it would be just about perfect but, full Pan Tilt and Zoom cameras cost a lot more than this one.
I am pleasantly surprised with this camera. I've tried several 'affordable' cameras over the past few years and have been quite disappointed with them. The only really good network PTZ I've found is a nine hundred dollar Panasonic. Too expensive for me and it does not have audio.
If you need audio and full range pan ant tilt, but don't need zoom, this is probably your best choice right now for any price. Panasonic makes a nice, small, wireless camera with audio and pan and tilt but it does not have the range of motion that this camera has and this camera has much better low light image quality.
REVIEW UPDATE- I've had mine now for several months and it still works great. I changed the video setting to "outdoor" and now it works perfectly in full sunlight. And it still works just as good in full dark as it did with the other video settings. I was having some problems with the camera losing it's wireless connection to my Linksys router. I would have to power cycle the camera to get it to reconnect. But then I started having other problems with the Linksys router so I replaced my old Linksys router with a newer D-Link router and the problems have gone away. The camera has not lost it's connection since I replaced the router.
Because this camera is UV sensitive and does not have a switchable mechanical UV filter, daylight images sometimes look a little fuzzy, as if the lens is dirty. This is most noticeable when viewing indoors with a lot of sunlight coming in through the windows. I have other UV sensitive cameras and they exhibit the same behavior.
Overall, I am still quite pleased with this camera and just wish Amazon would make it a Gold Box deal so I could get another one!
Amazon recently put the Panasonic BLC131A wireless network camera on sale for about 1/2 price so I got one to try. The Trendnet TV-IP422W is far superior to the Panasonic; it has much better image quality, sound quality and range of motion, and the Trendnet configuration screens seem much more intuitive to me.
If Trendnet would add a zoom lens and a mechanical UV filter, this camera would be perfect. TRENDnet SecurView Wireless Day/Night Pan/Tilt/Zoom Internet Surveillance Camera TV-IP422W (White)
Hopefully you will find this review helpful for your setup. I know I rely HEAVILY on reviews and feedbacks for my purchase.
First off, don't expect much from the wireless feature. It's nice to have, for portability e.g. but not for reliability nor stability.
I bought 4 of these cameras, mounted them all wirelessly with (a) front door, (b) back door (c) kitchen and (d) foyer, to keep an eye on our dog. I figured I may be able to skip on pet hotel fees and get a big peace of mind at the same time. I setup my routers, sort out the remote web access and even got them to work via my iphone using the $5 eyecam app. The $25 IP PRO View app does not work with the IP422W's data stream.
When I was still home and before my first trip that truly tests out these cameras, one of the cameras would be missing from the network and never to be seen again even after a reset. Amazon promptly sent out a replacement but only after I discovered you really need to leave these cameras disconnected for more than a few minutes before it was really re-initialized.
Then we went on our vacation and after a few hours into it, 1 of 4 cameras were MIA. Still, it was fantastic to able to see our dog through the other working cameras. However, by day 2, we were left with only 2 cameras working and on our way home, only 1 camera was working. Of course, bear in mind, there's NOTHING you can do to fix it unless you get someone to go to your home, unplug and replug the camera's A/C adapter (a reboot).
The following week, we went On our 2nd and longer vacation and it was pretty much the same story. First, it teases you with much relief that it's working but then it never fails to disappoint with a non-functioning camera by day 2 or 3. On our way home from this 5 day trip, only 1 camera was working.
When we got home, I was bent on researching this further and opened two tickets with Trendnet, the 2nd one, they didn't even bothered replying. Now dizzy with the experience of being able to check on the house when we're away, I was prepared to send the Trendnets back to Amazon and swap them for far more costly Toshibas, Sonys or Axises.
But after much research, I quickly concluded that almost all of these IP cams just don't have very robust wi-fi components. Most reviews were plagued with widespread reports of losing connections, reboots and the like.
Still, I pushed forward, upgraded the router's firmware to DD-WRT, bumped up its transmitter range, added another router in as a repeater, relocated the routers to higher ground e.g. I even tried swapping the antennae on the furthest camera with a longer antennae that came off an older Linksys router. By now, there is probably sufficient signal strength in my house to service the neigboring five streets!!
But of course, one camera or another will still continue to drop out, never to be heard from again until they are rebooted. I supposed it would have been great if they will self re-connected again sometime later but they never did, not even once.
The geek in me then went into innovation mode, perhaps I can set up a script, reboot them every two days, use X10 power modules and restart them remotely. Then my wife gently reminds me we just spent a grand on cameras that have questionable functionality.
At this point, I bid kudos to those who have written about this same topic, about futile attempts to troubleshoot wi-fi problems, about even with the router next to the camera, it STILL loses connections. The optimist in me finally agreed, my wi-fi network is not the problem, THESE CAMERAS DON'T WORK WELL WITH WI-FI. Not that the wi-fi don't work at all, it's just that they don't work consistently.
So finally, I bit the bullet and reluctantly HARD-WIRED ethernet connections to all the cameras. I had explored using POE and possibly Homeplug to ease the installation pain but they added more point-of-failures and cost quite a bit more as well. I eventually opted to punch holes into the wall, fishing e.g. and did the hard-wired routine.
It's been a week since my wiring/stucco/drywall/painting work has just completed and the cameras have been live 24x7 without a hiccup.
All in all, the IP422W is great, has a good enough picture, decent IR, great low-light capabilities to 15 feet, unmatched panning angles and more importantly, good value for the money. Just don't expect an optical zoom or a continuously functioning wi-fi. - Wireless Camera - Night Vision - Network Camera - Security Camera'
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