Panasonic BLMS103A Network Camera Bundle Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I can monitor and control the camera's from anywhere in the world using the internet, as well as monitor and control the camera's on my tv.The keyword here is MONITOR.These Panasonic camera's are basically webcams, and should NEVER be compared to a professional grade CCTV security camera system.Even their own website refers to them as "pet cams".

I previously purchased a single BL-C30A camera that worked so well that I needed more for other areas of the house.The BL-MS103-PK ($500 less than the MS103-A version) fit the bill, plus I could connect and control each camera from my TV.The BL-MS103-PK comes with 3 BLC30A cameras, and a BL-WV10A monitoring unit (the part that connects to the tv).

Pros: Panasonic provided DDNS service ([...] which allows for internet viewing from anywhere in the world (apparently you can can also view from your pda and/or cell phone too, but I haven't tried).You can even Pan and Tilt the camera (and digital zoom) over the internet for versatility.

Cons:Cumbersome setup, but not much more complicated than setting up any other wireless peripheral.I used software version 1.23, but I saw they have 1.30 on the Panasonic website.I don`t know if that would have made it easier.I'd rate the difficulty of setting up the camera's as a 7 (10 being most difficult) for the first camera, and 1 for all camera's after it.

Generally I don't agree with the other 3 reviews on the BL-MS103-A.Trying to use a webcam as a security system is just foolish.Unable to view 3 cams on one page?I can view all 4 of my cams on one page, and if I had 12 cams, I could watch all 12 at once!To get a better idea of the review ratings, look at the reviews for the BL-C30A camera.This is the real meat of this kit.

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Product Description:
Bundle Starter kit - BL-WV10A & 3 units BL-C30A

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Panasonic BL-C111A Network Camera Wired Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)First, let me compliment Panasonic on its customer support. It may take a few minutes to get through, but they do know what they are doing. I needed them twice during setup and they came through both times.

Pros: This is a decent camera at a great price; decent low light performance; relatively easy setup; free web access hosted by Panasonic; compatible with any cell phone with a web browser (pics only); motion sensor; reliable.

Cons: slow shutter speed (anything moving is blurry) and really does not do 30 FPS as advertised.

Overall - recommended as a reasonable cost home monitoring system.

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Product Description:
Automatic Network Configuration, MPEG4, Universal Plug and Play, Set-up Wizard, Remote Pan/Tilt Control, Built in PIR motion detector

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Panasonic BL-C131A Network Camera Wireless 802.11 Review

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(More customer reviews)My wife and I wanted to keep an eye on the nanny with our baby from work.After researching the network cameras for several months, it seemed that only Panasonic cameras consistently received positive (usually glowing reviews) whereas cameras from other major brands like Linksys, D-Link, etc received mediocre or poor reviews.So I went with Panasonic.And after about a month, I have to say I am very impressed with it.Some background: I have a classic Linksys WRT54G 802.11g router, with 2 WinXP PCs connected to it via ethernet and 3 more PCs connected wirelessly; plus, I have AT&T/SBC DSL service via a Speedstream 5100 DSL modem.If you're moderately computer literate, you should have no problem following the included instructions to setup (view and control) the camera in wired mode or in wireless WiFi mode.

But if you want to setup the camera to be viewed (and controlled) from the internet, you need to do a bit more work.And this is where Panasonic's excellent, excellent customer support comes in.Panasonic's support line is 8_0_0-2_7_2-7_0_3_3; they are open Mon-Fri 9AM-9PM and Sat/Sun 10AM-7PM Eastern US Time; this tech support is available to you for the LIFE of the product.They will walk you through how to setup the camera, configure your router (for, among other things, port forwarding), and register with Panasonic's FREE Dynamic DNS web service.This last point is important: Panasonic network cameras include FREE Dynamic DNS hosting service for the life of the product; other brands offer the service for an annual fee.

Okay, step-by-step, here's how to config the camera for internet viewing:
First, if you use DSL as I do (as opposed to cable broadband), you have to configure the DSL modem for "bridge mode." (If you don't use DSL, then you can skip this step.)This is because DSL modems act as a router, and port forwarding cannot work behind both the DSL modem's router and (in my case) the Linksys WRT54G router.If you want, you can call your DSL tech support to ask them to walk you through how to "bridge" your DSL modem.But here's what I did.
1. Login to your DSL modem (for me, it's 192.168.0.1) using your DSL account (for me, it's my SBCglobal email address).
2. Select Advanced >> PPP Location
3. Select Bridged Mode (PPPoE is not used), then Change PPP Location
4. When prompted, restart the DSL modem
5. Login to your router (for me, it's 192.168.1.1)
6. Under Setup> Basic Setup >> Internet Connection Type, select PPPoE and enter the DSL login & password info you normally would enter in your DSL modem to authenticate your DSL service.
7. At this point, the "bridging" should have been successful.To check that bridging has been successful, click Status >> Router, and check that you are "connected" with an IP address showing.If successful, you should also see that your DSL modem's "internet" LED light is off while your router's "internet" light is on.What you basically have done is to move the point of authentication for your DSL service from the DSL modem to your router; your DSL modem merely acts as a bridge for the DSL service to your router.
8. Now, we move on to configuring the camera itself.I assume that the camera has already been configured for wired and wireless mode.Login to the network camera (for me it's, 192.168.1.253).
9. Click Setup.Change the Port No. from the default of 80 to 50000 (fifty thousand) and enter the IP address of the camera (for me, it's 192.168.1.253).Click Save, and the camera will restart.When it finishes restarting (taking as long as 1.5 min), it'll bring you back to the "Top" home page of the camera config screen.
10. Log back into your router, and go to Applications & Gaming, where you'll be able to set up port forwarding.
11. In the Port Range, enter 50000 as "Start" and 50000 as "End."Enter the IP Address of the camera (for me, 192.168.1.253).Check Enable.Save Settings.
12. Now, log back into your camera. Go to Setup >> DynamicDNS.Select viewnetcam-dot-com, then Next.
13. Click on "Your Account Link" to bring up the viewnetcam.com registration page, where you then select New Registration.Enter your desired registration info and select your domain name at viewnetcam-dot-com (e.g. yourname-dot-viewnetcam-dot-com). Click Choose.
14. Now, you will be shown a page confirming your registration.Under DDNS status, you will see Active-waiting.You need to wait up to 10min as the domain registration occurs, at which time, the status will change to Active.
15. We're almost done; stay with me!From WinXP Start Menu, click Run and type "cmd" to bring up a DOS window.
16. In the DOS window, type "ipconfig/all", which shows your computer's various network information.Under Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection, copy down the two addresses under DNS Servers.
17. Log back into your camera, select Setup, and enter the 2 DNS Server addresses from ipconfig/all in the 2 DNS boxes.
18. Go back to viewnetcam-dot-com, login to your account, and check that the DDNS status is now Active. If so, then you're all ready to go!
19. Go to yourname-dot-viewnetcam-dot-com:50000 to see your network camera on the internet!

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Product Description:
Wireless Network Camera 802.11g, MPEG4, Automatic Network Configuration, Universal Plug and Play, Set-up Wizard, Remote Pan/Tilt Control, Built in PIR motion detector

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Panasonic BL-C140A Outdoor MPEG-4 Network Camera (Silver) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This review is going to be somewhat technical and I'll mention some other choices.I've installed more than 10 Panasonic network cameras across the product line; so how does this one compare?The whole series is rock solid reliable.As far as the practical use as an outdoor cam, the BL-C140A is a middle of the road compromise.As other reviewers have discovered, the night time image quality is not very good.The BL-C140A has a 1/4" CMOS sensor which produces a little bit better daytime image than the 1/6" CMOS on the popular BL-C111A and BL-C131A models.If you're looking for a cam to mount in an outdoor location that is protected from direct moisture (like hanging under a sheltered roof eave) then I'd recommend the Panasonic BB-HCM511A instead.The BB-HCM511A uses a CCD sensor (vs. CMOS) that produces a richer dynamic range of colors during the day, and has much better low light sensitivity.It can still show the scene under moonlight, whereas the BL-C140A would show a pitch black view.If you truly need an "outdoor" camera because it's going to be exposed to the rain, then the BB-HCM531A is an excellent outdoor model.The only difference between the BB-HCM511A and BB-HCM531A is that the BB-HCM531A comes with an extra plastic cover for the connectors in the back.Panasonic charges more than $200 for this piece of plastic, so it you're crafty you can make your own weatherproof cover for the BB-HCM511A cable connectors and save some money (hint: silicone sealant works).Note that if you don't already have a POE enabled switch, the BB-HCM series doesn't come with a POE injector so you need to order that separately.Coming back to this BL-C140A model, the other thing I didn't like is that the POE (Power Over Ethernet) is proprietary instead of using the industry 802.3af standard.So if you have a POE switch then it won't be able to use all the neat power management features.The BB-HCM series however does support the 802.3af POE standard.If your budget is just enough for this cam, the BL-C140A still a wonderful unit.If you can afford to pay just a little bit more then check out the other models I mentioned and you'll get a superior night time view.Here's another tip, if you want to have the camera view on your desktop all the time in Vista or Windows 7, go to the Microsoft Windows Live Gallery and search for Panasonic to download the CoconutView Sidebar Gadget.Then you won't even need to open the browser windows to get a peek at what the camera is seeing.

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Product Description:
Panasonic Outdoor MPEG-4 Network Camera

Get 26% OFF

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Panasonic Network Camera and Pet Cam (BLC1A) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)The BL-C1A is listed as "requiring" both Windows and Internet Explorer.After a bit of experimenting, it seems it doesn't, and is perfectly usable with Ubuntu (or indeed any OS) and Firefox.No need for Windows at all.

So, for anybody else who wants to use the BL-C1A camera with something other than Windows here's how.

First, ignore the shiny Windows CDROM in the box.Plug the camera into your router with your own network cable (they don't supply one!) and plug in the power supply.Wait a minute.If your router is 192.168.0.1, the camera should default to 192.168.0.253 (or 192.168.1.253 for a 192.168.1.1 router, etc).

From Firefox on the local network just go to the IP addess of the camera (as above) followed by ?mode=local and you should get the camera's built in web server. (The mode=local is essential, to activate it). Create an admin userid/password, hit enter.That's it.

Configuring the cameras for static addresses, different ports etc is all done via the web interface after that point, so still doesn't need Windows or IE in any way.

With a few lines written in the manual they could drop the Windows/IE requirement.

Camera works very nicely, and so does emailing, and the viewnetcam dynamic dns service (after a bit of a battle with router settings).One warning: you can't test the viewnetcam service from the same network that the camera is on, so before you think it's not working try it from elsewhere!

Camera does the job fine for the price, one point deducted for not having any non-Windows installation instructions.

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Product Description:

Package Contents:
Panasonic BL-C1A Wired Network Camera, bracket, power supply, mounting hardware, CD-ROM, software and instructions.
The Panasonic BL-C1A Wired Network Camera handles your digital photography needs at a price that won't hurt your wallet! This color surveillance camera allows remote video monitoring of a home or business. Remote home and business surveillance just got a lot more affordable. Receive an e-mail image when the home security camera detects motion--you'll always know what's going on at home or at your business. The 10X digital zoom and color night viewing makes sure you don't miss a detail. It's easy to install, easy to operate and requires no additional software for viewing on your PC. Indoor use only.
Server Features:
Image Buffer--About 250 frames (320 x 240, standard image quality). Image transfer via e-mail (SMTP) or FTP. View snapshots and control them from a compatible cellular phoneSupports up to 12 camerasIPv4 Multi-Language Interface -English, German, Spanish, Italian, French and Japanese
Camera Features -1/4 320,000 pixel CMOS image sensor 10 digital zoomViewing Angle -53