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I find it appalling that a camera this expensive only supports the flawed WEP WiFi encryption protocol.It leads me to believe that it is an older model that hasn't been updated in a while.I returned mine.
I bought this camera two months ago and was very disappointed with the image quality, wireless range and software. Therefore i returned it and bought the panasonic BL-131A camera instead. The panasonic BL-131A is a newer model that comes with better software.
This Panasonic outdoor camera is a great little product. The only issue is finding a powered outdoor speaker for use with two-way communications. It is used outside our condo and it has operated in temperatures of -5 without any issues. An attached SD card allows many photos to be saved on a chip and the zoom lens allows us to see things pretty close. Panasonic wasn't able to provide a vendor and we haven't been able to find one on our own. Except for this issue the camera works as advertised.
Fortunately for me, I managed to configure it successfully and I'm no system administrator.Physical installation was straight forward. If a prowler saunters into camera shot at 2:00AM, I wouldn't see him. For example, if you don't know the IP to your DNS, you're in trouble. Note that with the BB-HCM371A, you still have to run wire for power, which sort of defeats the wireless concept.Be warned that you still need an ethernet cable to plug into your router for set up.Speaking of setup, if you don't know your network settings, this camera will be a pain to setup. I purchased this camera because I didn't want to run Ethernet cable to my router. What the heck kind of image format is that.Another gripe is that night vision isn't great. I either get the first few seconds or the last few seconds. For example, I cannot acquire a time lapse movie of an overnight shot.
Once you play it once, you cannot play it again. Panasonic really should have come up with a safety system where you can tether the camera while you screw it in place.My biggest gripe is the web-based software. If this is not a problem for you, I would recommend you check out the BB-HCM311A. There's also a bug when you play the time-lapse motion image. I mounted my camera high and I was afraid I was going to drop it while threading it to the mount. It's feature-rich, but I cannot capture images the way I like. :-(Also, downloaded images are in PCN form. In this day and age, a camera like this should perform better in terms of night vision.
The BB-HCM371A is easy to setup if your router supports Universal Plug'n'Play (I'm using a late model Linksys 54G). Picture quality is good for a camera in this price range. If you're using several other cameras in addition to this one, you may have do some manual configuration of the router ports. Panasonic's setup instructions are adequate but clearly they've been translated from Japanese. Camera is best mounted out of direct sunlight. underneath a roof overhang is ideal.
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