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Panasonic BL-C131A Network Camera Wireless 802.11
Average Customer Review : 4.5/5 based on 125 reviews
Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price : $299.00
Price : $224.99
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Editorial Reviews
What happens when you're not around? Life is precious and valuable. View the things you value when away from home or when you're at another room in your home. View your property, your pets, even your children. You can even listen in! You can add extra eyes (through your computer) by adding the Panasonic BL-C131A Wireless Network Camera. It works with 802.11g wireless technology and it lets you monitor its "view" (what its lens sees) from virtually anywhere. Just log on a specially designated Internet site using a PC and instantly access camera images. You can even control the BL-C131a using your web browser to move the camera's pointing direction and modify its digital zoom to bring objects of interest into close view. Place this plug-and-play camera in your home, office, vacation home, or almost anywhere else you'd like to keep an eye on things, with no PC required at the location. Check your property, check your children, check your babysitter - from any location using your PC or an Internet equipped cell-phone or PDA. And the camera can be easily hidden from view. 1 Lux Color Night View Mode Simple plug&play mode Built-in Microphone - listen as well as view Privacy Mode- Privacy mode can be controlled remotely using your administrator password Camera can be set to automatically record video at certain times and certain speeds With optional, external sensors attached to the camera, it's possible for the camera to email5 or record when triggered by motion, sound, light, timer, or even a push button Compression Format JPEG (3 levels), MPEG4 Picture Sizes - 640 x 480, 320 x 240 (default), 192 x 144 Frame Rate (speed) - Max. 30 FPS (640 x 480, 320 x 240, 192 x 144) Integrated F2.8 fixed-focus lens - set for 20 to infinity Panasonic 1 Year Warranty Connecting the camera to the Internet requires Internet access and may require that you obtain additional hardware such as a cable or DSL modem,
Spotlight Reviews
Simple, Easy, and worth every penny (2008-12-02)
Customer Review : 5
The Panasonic cameras (we bought 3 - 2 for indoors and 1 outside) are exceptional in both quality and ease of setup. I read many reviews of people having issues setting up the wireless connection, but I found it to be very simple after discovering the keys to it - My NetGear wireless N router is set in B/G mode and you must set the cameras to B/G as well or they will not connect. Also, even though it tells you to turn the camera off and unplug the wired connection, DON'T, just flip the switch and then pull the cable. Works like a charm and connects every time thereafter.
Setting them up for outside access via Comcast was a breeze - admittedly I am a network engineer so I have done this for a living for 15 years, but even for me this was easy. The sound quality and image quality are both exactly what I expected (The sound is actually MUCH better than expected - I can hear the dog door in the basement from the camera on the second floor). For all those who said the image quality was poor - what did you really expect? It is not like these are HD cameras...
Bandwidth usage did not seem to be horrible - my wife and I were both watching the cameras at the same time with only the expected transmission delay and no choppiness or unresponsiveness from the cameras or the display page. Zooming is a little funky - my wife finally discovered that what the zoom directions are trying to say is that you hold down the right mouse button AND use the scroll wheel to zoom. However I could not see her zoomed in picture while watching - not that it is a big deal, but just something to be aware of.
I will definitely be adding to my camera setup, the multi-camera support is embedded into the cameras themselves so you only need to set up one to see all of them which is a nice feature for sure. I did not care about recording since this is more for real-time monitoring of kids and pets, but there are many simple and free recording software packages available that would simply integrate with these cameras.
In short the price premium is definitely there, but the product more than backs it up by delivering great usability and performance with simple and hassle-free setup to boot. A great camera system overall.
Works well on Macintosh (2008-12-02)
Customer Review : 5
I bought this haing read some of the reviews of success on Mac networks. The camera works as advertised. I eventually set it up on my network successfully - I thought I would add a few things I learned.
The setup is straightforward. You do not need the disc that comes with it or a Windows computer. You plug the camera into the ethernet of the router with the switch on the camera on 'wired'.
You have to find the IP address of the camera. Click on the apple in the top right of your screen>About this Mac>More Info..>Network Now scroll down to DNS:Server address. (Mine is 10.0.1.1) The address of the camera will change the last number to 253. So for mine, it is 10.0.1.253 - Now type http://10.0.1.253 into your browser and you should find the camera. If you have other cameras on the network, the last number might be lower (252, 251, etc).
So you set up the camera - give it a name and password. You have to type in the SSID of your wireless network. This is the name you see when you get on the network on a laptop or your phone. It must typed in exactly. Then you have to pick the encryption type - I choose "WPA2-PSK(AES)". This is where I got hung up.
I use an Airport Extreme. If you do - open Airport Utility, click Manual Setup>Wireless. I had the Wireless Security set on "WPA/WPA2 Personal" (which Apple recommends). This would not let the camera connect, though. So I changed the wireless security to "WPA2 Personal." And then hit 'Update'. For whatever reason, this did the trick, and the camera connected.
After these settings, you unplug the camera, disconnect the ethernet cable from it, and switch the camera to 'wireless' - then plug it back in. With any luck, you can connect your browser to the address you used for it when it was wired.
I have not configured the camera to connect to the internet yet. It sounds like it might be a little more involved with the Airport Extreme settings, but if I get bored, I'll try that.
I do not get sound from the camera using the Macs - I don't care, but you might. I think you have to run Windows to get sound - for the ActiveX plugin.
Good Luck
Excellent camera but not user friendly! (2008-12-02)
Customer Review : 3
Picture quality is excellent for a camera that small and the mic is very sensitive that you. However, as a normal user it was impossible for me to configure it to my router.
It was not the type of plug and play camera, I had to take it to an IT expert.
Good Camera (2008-11-30)
Customer Review : 4
Easy to setup I have setup a few wireless devices and by fare this was the easiest to setup
What more can you ask for? (2008-11-26)
Customer Review : 5
This product is hands down great... I love it- I bought it to keep an eye at home, on the new born baby and on 2 cats, I love being able to go to my private website that panasonic offers, using [...] and see everything at home as if I'm there. The ability to move the camera and really look around makes me feel comfortable and with the record function, I know I don't have to watch every moment and I can review what went on at home later that night.
Great camera! In fact, I went back and bought a 2nd one so I can keep an eye on 2 rooms now.
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