Have you ever walked up to the door, wondering who was outside? Have you ever wanted a safeguard against theft or break-ins after your small business locks its door? Have you ever left home, and just wanted the reassurance that everything was ok? A common solution for these types of problems is an Internet security camera. We have received numerous requests to review something like this, and we finally have an item that fits. Directron.com / AxionTech.com supplied us the D-Link DCS-900 wired Ethernet Internet Security Camera to spend some quality time with for a review. Let’s get started!
Price Range
Under $100
System Requirements
For Internet viewing, you must have an active high-speed Internet connection and a router to plug the device into. You can monitor the camera on the intranet with simply a wired router with an open port. The remote management software can be used on any Windows Operating System version 98SE or above.
Features and Cool Stuff
This camera has some very neat features considering its price. The camera has a built in web server for streaming images to the internet, as well as a completely web-based camera configuration utility (standard D-Link web management). With the packaged software, you can set up remote management of the camera, including motion detection recording, scheduled recording, multiple camera views (say, if you have 4 cameras, you can view all 4 at once), and many other possibilities for customization.
Initial Impressions, Thoughts
When you first open the box, you find that there are several different pieces that are included. It comes with the camera, a mounting stand (which supports either tabletop or wall mounting), screws and anchors, the power cord, an Ethernet cable, the driver CD, the remote management CD, and a manual. For a low-end security camera, it does not short you on the essentials (think of all the printers that do not have included USB cables), and you can run the camera straight out of the box without additional purchases.
Assembling the camera and getting the mount set up is extremely straightforward and easy to follow. The manual does detail what you want to do fairly good. The mount is attached like a tripod to the camera. The camera happens to have a screw hole at the top and at the bottom, allowing you to mount it in a variety of places. The mount can be manipulated to fit the camera just about any way you like.
The camera is a little bulky, but not too bad. The design is not very sleek or obscure, something I think many would like in a security camera. It is big enough that it is very obvious what it is, and it is very easy to spot. Some may like the camera being prominent, but I’m not a big fan of it.
Setup and Installation
The DCS-900 can be setup remotely from any PC on the local network with a web browser. Setup is fairly simple – you pop in the driver CD, follow the onscreen instructions, and you are ready to go. The initial setup is a breeze to get running, but it’s the next part that gets more difficult.
The included manual is nowhere near the full manual – which you have to get directly from D-link’s website in PDF form. This is somewhat understandable considering the size of the manual, but the included manual is very vague about configuration. D-link could do a lot better from this perspective.
Another complaint is that the remote management software that is included with the camera does not even work with the camera. D-link does not show any indication of support for the software, or that they even make a version for this camera. I tested and tested this program, and it does not work.
Getting to the configuration is simple – you just type the IP address of the camera into the web browser, authenticate, and click on setup. The interface is easy to read and use, but some of the options are more complex than most users would understand without camera and/or security knowledge. The included manual definitely fails in helping. There are various options that are obvious, but many that are very complex and not explained well. I decided it was best to leave those default.
To set up the web server, you must first find a port that isn’t blocked by your ISP. Most home ISPs now block port 80 downstream, to prevent users from running web servers. For the camera, you need to set a secondary port in the configuration to listen to. Then, you have to forward the correct ports in your router to send to the camera. I had some difficulty getting the router to play nice with the camera, but eventually got it working correctly after I tweaked it some.
Play Time
After I got the camera all running, it was time to play around with some of the features. The remote viewing runs pretty well on ActiveX, but I found that Java was a bit slower processing. The FPS is steady enough to deliver a decent quality and decent sense of motion. It is a bit choppy, but not too bad.
Recording required downloading D-Link’s management software, IPview Lite, from their website. Once I got it and played around, I could set up motion triggered recording, scheduled recording, and several other little tricks. It works well, just hope that you have plenty of room on your hard drive for extended recording!
The resolution of the camera delivers ok quality, but it is grainy at its highest resolution (640*480).
Conclusions
While the camera has a very nice comparative price of under $100, there is definitely room to improve on user friendliness and setup. I had a difficult time getting the router to work with the camera, and as I mentioned above, the software that came with it would not work at all.
Pros:
- Price
- Web setup and configuration
- Mounting ease
Cons:
- Size
- Made for indoor use only
- User Friendliness
- Setup time
The camera is a good value for the price, but if you are looking for a serious security suite, I would look at a more expensive, better quality model.
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If you are looking for a quality camera, AXIS makes reliable network cameras for any type of application. I would highly suggest looking into them if you will be setting up a network camera.
I am having trouble getting my webcam to connect to the router. I have it plugged in and can view it from anywhere in the house but can not set up the camera to view from any internet connection. Please help amd maybe even with vista.
Hi Bryan,
You will need to set up port forwarding in your router. If you are able to connect on the internal connection, the camera is set up properly, you just need to configure the router. Some ISPs block port 80 though.
Post back with the router brand/model and your ISP and I’ll see if I can’t help you out.
Thanks,
Tyler
I’m fairly computer savvy, but this camera took me a full day of trying to get it to set up. It would work on my IP, but I could not view it with the software that came on the CD. I called tech support three times and found out, it cannot work with Google Chrome, I could not completely uninstall because it left a file in my registry, and finally, I could never find, and no-one could pinpoint me exactly where, to get the 2.03 softwared on the D-link site. So I have been through 3 tech guys and now I’m supposed to be routed to advanced tech issues. Don’t waste your money on it. It’s only a good deal if it works and you don’t have to spend days trying to get it work.