Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Its a 4-star buy for the price (its dirt cheap), but if you're expecting high-end surveillance imaging quality you need to keep your expectations in check.
Here are some basic thoughts on the camera:
-Wireless:It works and works well.I've attached it using WEP.Didn't try WPA, etc. The wireless is stable and the camera does re-attempt connections if it drops. The camera Wifi link appears to be able to hold stable to 40 feet (through floors) using a consumer WiFi router, showing about %50 signal degradation at this distance.BTW, the on-board wireless chipset is the RA-2561 in my revision-A camera.
-Wired: Works well, obviously faster performance if you go through copper instead of wifi.
-Software: Didn't use the included software beyond the IP setting utility which worked quite well.
-Firmware: Appears stable so far and I haven't noticed any memory leaks or oddities yet, appears easy to update (though the update took significantly longer than I would expect off a hard connection). Two annoyances: there appears to be a 3 second delay on the image acquisition API, and the flashing "Register here for support, warranty, and upgrades." banner present on the configuration UI (right clicking on this makes it go away...until the next time you go into the config interface... GRRRR!)
-Inside:The folks in Asante put this together using some commodity parts (good).Think of it as the early generation WRT54G's, which also happened to be the best ones.I opened the Voyager 1 up (==voids warranty) and discovered a mini-PCI card with the Ralink 2561 chipset.The rest of the guts appears to be commodity chip-level components mounted on a custom daughter board (i.e., the Realtek 8139 chipset is on there for wired-ethernet support)
-Configuration options:Extensive including basic system status and internal camera system event logging, video/image size & compression settings, basic flip/mirror & image info overlay settings,slow shutter control, sensor sensitivity, image/video size, day/night override, audio codec selection & settings, gain, basic IP filtering/firewall, motion detection, privacy masking, etc.The configuration options are actually consistent with cameras significantly more expensive than this camera.
-Optics:This is where you take a hit at this price point.Image quality is similar-to-or-a-little-better-than that of a cell phone.Even though this camera is equipped with a megapixel sensor and the pixels are there, you can't read a license plate at 30 feet+ in clear daylight conditions (NOTE: this is an indoor camera, but I used this one outdoor example to test this camera's range with). No IR filter... in other words, daylight shots will have unusual colors. Camera does allow manual focus correction. Also, lens shows distortion/focus issues around edges, but again, keep the price in mind... a 5D-Mark 2, this is not.
-Install HW:Camera provides a metal pedestal with a ball-lock head so the camera can be positioned in almost any pitch/yaw/roll.Since this is a basic indoor camera, there is no tamper protection and everything is accessible unless specifically domed-off (NOTE: doming this camera may be a challenge: reflection from the IR illumination LEDs is tough to tackle if you're DYI'ing a dome or enclosure on the cheap).Same IR reflection will be a big issue when placing this indoors just inside a window.
-Power: 12V, 12Watt color-matched wall-wart included, ok cord length.
-Support: Capable, and responsive, but it appears that they may only be reachable via email and not by phone. Turnaround time for email support was good however.
All in all, for its price, this camera is a good buy and you'll easily get what you paid for, but I wouldn't recommend this camera for anything beyond basic surveillance and at limited distances indoors, resulting in images that are on par or a little bit better than commodity cell-phones, etc.I tried to judge this camera at it's price point, but deducted 1 star because I think the optics could be just a little better.The IR capability does add a bonus feature however, and a wireless IP megapixel IR camera in this price range may be a one-horse race for now.For the DYI'er:
The 12V supply requirement can open up some DYI ideas for applications.
If the optics were a little better, this camera would be a truly industrial strength choice.
For now it wins in price... and since its cheap go ahead and take it apart... paint it... file off the edges... sand it down... whatever... if you break it, you won't go broke replacing it (just don't try to send it in for warranty services after you've worked your magic on it :-)
Regarding capturing still images for DYI software, here is how to do it: [...]
So... for example, if your camera is at 192.168.0.100, your username is bubba, yourpassword is 777... the requester URL would be [...]EDIT:
The URL above gets removed automatically by the anti-spam-bot.
Here is another try... To request still images from your camera make an [...]and this should get you the picture in any browser/application that can form an http request.EDIT #2:
After some more testing, it looks like the stock lens provided with this camera is appx. a 4mm monofocal lens with a field of view of about 90 degrees.Upgrading (voids your warranty) to something around 6mm makes license plates legible at a distance of about 30-40 feet, but you lose quite a bit of field of view (loss of about ~15 degrees or about 10 feet of view-width at a distance of about 30 feet).Also note that if you try to replace the lens you may not be able to use the stock plastic focus ring/bezel or the stock lens tensioner spring.
Also, the provided lens does have some IR filtering/correction so if you get something that has no coating you'll let all the IR come through and the camera images will no longer provide any usable color data IMO and should be converted to B&W in your app.Summary: if you don't mind voiding your warranty and doing a bit of surgery, this camera can be hacked and alternate lenses be used.
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Asante Voyager I 1.3Megapixel CMOS Day and Night IP Security CameraProduct Description: Voyager I is perfectly suited for SME/SMB, education and SOHO/consumer. Built around a very sophisticated single-chip architecture and latest technologies, the Voyager I delivers true Digital Video quality for security application and totally over IP network seamlessly. It also comes with additional capability of wireless 802.11b/g, video management software, motion detection, and isremotely accessible.Greatest quality of video from flexibility, lighting condition and pricing. It competes with AXIS product M10x0 series with better affordable to consumer market.
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