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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 26 found the following review helpful:
 Awesome camera! Oct 26, 2010
By Kevin J. Lang
"Hard Nose Jerk"
Pros:
- Decent pivoting on camera (very decent range of movement)
- sharp picture (though you have to focus manually on the camera)
- pretty easy to setup if you are technically inclined
- lots of features like motion detection with emailing and ftp, video recording, etc.
- Night vision works perfectly; integrated controls for 4 cameras.
Cons:
- You do need to be technically savvy to set this up. There is very little documentation on how to do this. But it is very obvious how to do it if you are in the field. There is no GUI wizard to help set this up.
- No zoom
- When camera is using night vision you see a ring of red dots around the lens. So hiding can be a challenge.
- No SSL or encryption options. The web controls for this thing runs on HTTP. So capturing packets and seeing your passwords is very easy. So security is kind of an issue.
- I'm not sure about any support (Hardware, software, replacements, etc) because I haven't had to use it. But looking at this I have no idea who I would contact.
- Firmware updates - There is no option for the camera to go out and discover firmware updates. So you have to search for them your self.
- For some reason I needed to factory reset the camera to start using it when I received it. Not too much of a con but it made me think that this was refurbished or something.
Honestly, this camera being around $99 and having all the features that it does is pretty awesome. Other cameras with only half of option this has costs about $250-300ish. This camera looks like something that someone created, sold to a bunch of other companies (who just stamp their name on the front), and they are the ones who provide support for it. So you can get updates from them even if you didn't buy the camera from them.
For the money it's a great camera. It's not perfect but I'm certainly not going to spend $300 on one like this.
17 of 17 found the following review helpful:
 Wansview NC541/W Mar 29, 2011
By CP44
I ordered 2 of the "Wireless IP Pan/Tilt/ Night Vision/ Internet Surveillance Camera Built-in Microphone With Phone remote monitoring support" cameras from ATC LLC and received 2 "Wansview NC541/W" IP cameras. They were as they appeared in the pictures, and featured internal web servers with configuration options and settings that seem to be shared by similar IP cameras. The box and web-based control interface did not match the pictures, but were fine. The motion detection seemed a little weak; would recommend "MJPEG Surveillance 2.0" at 12oClocker.com to handle motion detection and recording, but the actual camera features are fine - if a little hard to find. The cameras I received support up to 8 users with different passwords and 3 access ranks (view-only "Visitor", pitch/pan "Operator", full "Administrator"), changing the HTTP server port, static and dynamic IPs, wireless with security off or on (WEP, WPA-TKIP, WPA-AES, WPA2-TKIP, WPA-AES), and turning off the blinking status light. There are also different viewer and control pages for Internet Explorer (ActiveX), FireFox and other supporting ServerPush, and mobile viewers. The IE/ActiveX web page and the included IPCMonitor software (also downloadable from Wansview) support listening to the camera's microphone and talking through speakers plugged into the camera's Audio jack.
Warnings:
The colors do not seem to be quite right, even after adjusting brightness and contrast. There is no zoom function, but the outer lens is manually adjustable for focusing (twist the ring). It is possible to unscrew the focus ring/tube until it falls out - I say normal users should avoid doing that. (I did it to add a black ring to block the infrared LEDs - long story). The IR LEDs do not seem to have a "disable" function and are controlled by ambient light on a photocell.
I would highly recommend this camera if you can get this exact model. A problem with having the brand name unlisted is that stocking companies may consider similar/rebranded cameras all interchangeable. My research leads me to believe that their design and web server software are mostly the same, with each company changing as much as they want to and re-marketing the product. If you can find out how to contact me, I can try to answer more questions.
13 of 14 found the following review helpful:
Amazing Review. Technical Experience needed but amazing camera. Jun 09, 2011
By L. Hunter
"Candyland"
The camera itself is very good, it has a 15-20 foot IR range, with a maximum of 640x480 broadcast size. I've tested it with both sunlight, artificial light, and nighttime and the camera adjusts very well for all settings, and tweaking the brightness can hep a lot. The controls are very smoth and the speed it adjustable, it can move as quick as ~270° in 3 seconds or set to fine control that operates it in very small and accurate adjustments. The is no freedom of play in the parts, and the motors are very smooth and precise.
Got mine set up in 30 minutes (Opening box, setup, mounting) and I'm now about to order a second shipment of 2. These are perfect and high quality cameras for the low-budget surveillance needs, as they can be up to (I believe) 16 cameras in synch. They have their own customizable IP configurations or has auto select options, and upnp.
Very good, quality product and amazing price. 5/5
Pros:
Accurate and smooth PT mechanism.
Very good camera and IR.
RJ-45 Network interface for direct network attachment
Free Multi-camera software included.
Cameras are compatible with more then 1 in the same network.
At night the IR LED's look like GLADoS' cameras with a luminesent red glow around the lens.
Camera controls are moderately hard to set up but most could accomplish it.
Documentation is included (on a micro-cd)
Camera has embeded alarm hookups (4 pin)
Camera has external port for external speaker
Once you have it setup, viewing from inside your LAN/WAN and over the Internet is very easy
The cons:
You have to know how to do basic port forwarding on your router to get the wifi working.
Initially using the RJ-45 and included disc you can use it instantly and use (through the camera control's) to setup your wireless.
Wireless WEP/WEP2 Mixed Wifi Password types were not compatable (However a quick switch to WEP2 Personal fixed this).
The audio controls are touchy at best and I could not get it to work properly. Not a big deal.
Camera is Black and White. Amazing, but B&W.
No cake is included with purchase.
5 of 5 found the following review helpful:
Good camera Aug 17, 2011
By Potion99
"potion"
Camera is decent for the price. Setup is a little confuse with included manual but after reading it carefully it should be no brainer.
Here is step how to setup your IP camera:
1. Plug camera to your router with network cable included (DO NOT USE WIFI for initial setup).
2. Factory setting for this IP camera is static and they set it as 192.168.0.178. So if your router IP look like this 192.168.1.xxx (usually linksys) it will not pickup the camera on the software included cd or web browser. So this mean you need to change your router ip to 192.168.0.x subnet (if you don't know how call the router manufacture tech support or google it).
3. Once your router is set to the above ip (192.168.0.x) and the ip cam is connected, open your browser and type in 192.168.0.178 it should pop up with a username / password screen, here what you will type in for username: admin / password: 123456 after successfully log on changes whatever needed IP to your existing subnet.
4. To view it from WAN side meaning from work, iphone bla..bla.....you need to create a free account with (dyndns dot org) or use the camera factory provided.
5. If you use factory dyndns skip this part. Once DYNDNS is setup go in to Network tab in camera setting and put in your info Host name: xxx.dyndns(dot)org and put in the port default is 80.
6. Now log in to your router and find PORT FORWARDING option, should be burried in one of the tab menu. Type in the camera ip this case it is (192.168.0.178) for mine which is factory default and where it read TCP/IP put in 80 for port and make sure you check the box next on the menu of your router or click on apply to save all changes before closing them.
Now take a coffee break after all the hard work you just did and give dyndns few minutes to register your IP with internet DNS. To access your WAN view just open up your browser I suggest Mozzila firefox brower and type in xxx.dyndns(dot)org and that it you're done.
For Iphone apps they recommended LIVE CAMS.
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Great camera for the money! Jun 21, 2011
By M. Morales
These are a great deal for $60! I agree with all the positive things the other reviewers have written. You get COLOR, wireless, pan and tilt, infrared (works in pitch black), two way sound, motion detection and 30 frames per minute video plus a bunch of notification options. Once you have them set-up accessing them from the internet with PC using IE or an Android phone is super simple. I hooked up two of them last night and I'm really pleased with the value. One of the posters below said they were only black and white. That is not true, I get color when the light is sufficient. They switch to black and white when it's really dark and they begin using the infrared spectrum.
My only concern and the reason that I knocked off one star (would have given them five), is that the instructions and setup software are confusing. The setup software works fine, but it's difficult to understand the interface and some of the translation is funky. The same is true of the instruction manual. I've included some tips below for those familiar with networking.
TIPS: Generally, be aware that camera will reboot after some operations and it takes about a minute, so be patient. Also, after changing some settings you have to exit your browser and then go back in to re-establish the connection to the camera. Make sure to press the "SET" and/or "APPLY" buttons after you make changes.
Getting started:
Put the included disk in and use the IPCAM Finder program in ADVANCED mode to set the IP address and port number of the cam(s) first, USING A CONNECTED NETWORK CABLE, then once you have the IP set, point to the address with your browser and the port number you set (like 192.168.1.XXX:81) then USE THE BROWSER BASED INTERFACE to set up everything else (like the wireless settings and passwords.) Once you've got the wireless setup up you can disconnect the network cable then disconnect the power cable and reconnect, that should put the cam online wirelessly.
You need to make sure you set the cams up with static IPs in you home network or you may not be to access them from the outside after their DHCP lease expires. Don't choose an IP that is within your DHCP range and don't let the cam use DHCP to get it's address.
On my own setup I had to forward port 81 and port 82 in my router to my two cameras (obviously you have to set up each with with a different IP and port number during setup) because I wanted to hit them from outside my home network.
When you scan for networks in the wireless setup sometimes you have to click SCAN two times for it to list them. Once you have the list you just click on your home network and set the shared key (wireless password).
If you don't have a static IP, go out to the web and sign-up with dyndns then you can use a URL to get to them from the outside. For my two cameras it's like URL = "myowndomain.dyndns.info:81" (or 82 depending on which cam I want to use.) My router is capable of updating the DNS server at DYNDNS without a client installed on my PCs. If your router can't do that you'll need to install the update client from DYNDNS on your PC.
Once you have the cameras all setup accessing them is simple from Android phone or IE browser. I tried FireFox on my Linux netbook and it works fine too.
The software and manual are a little funky and some of the translations are weird. For example: to turn off the green light in on the camera, you choose "been extinguished" in the drop down.
There is a focus ring around the outside of the lens, you can adjust the focus with this if you need to, but mine came from the shipper with good focus.
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