Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #8103 in Camera & Photo
- Brand: Panasonic
- Model: BB-HCM371A
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 5.50" h x
7.50" w x
11.60" l,
.78 pounds
Features
- Two-Way Voice Communication
- CCD Sensor for Enhanced Image Expression
- SD Memory Card Recording
- Simple Ethernet Connection - No PC Required
- One Year Warranty
Panasonic BB-HCM371A Outdoor Wireless Network Camera
Product Description
Outdoor Wireless Network Camera with 2-Way Audio
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
106 of 110 people found the following review helpful.
Excellent video webcam
By Nathaniel Gildersleeve
I looked for a long time for a remote camera to keep an eye on a vacation residence. Reviews of other similar cameras like the Toshiba IK-WB11A were spotty at best especially when using in wireless mode. Panasonic cameras seemed to get good reliability reviews, so when an outdoor wireless-G came out I decided to give it a try. I had some difficulty getting the ports forwarded through my router. The directions are pretty sparse when it comes to setting up your router. I guess there is a fair variability in how each different router is set up. Once that problem was solved it has been rock solid. In the 4 months I have had it running, I only had to reset it once, after a 3 day power failure. Actually, I think it was the router, not the camera that needed to be reset, but I reset everything. It does everything it is advertised to do although I don't use the audio feature. The motion detection feature works better than other webcam security software that I have tried.Addendum:I have now had this installed over 4 years and it continues to function as good as the day I bought it. As it is in a vacation home and I am frequently gone, I have had some problems with loss access via the internet. It appears that this is secondary to flaky DSL router. I finally purchased a simple timer at the hardware store. It turns off the router every night at midnight and then turns it back on a minute later, effectively resetting the router each day. Since then no problems. It doesn't require a computer to be running so both the router and the camera boot back up following a power failure.
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful.
Worth it
By Archer Koch
I've used this camera for the better part of a year now. I've used it in a variety of locations and conditions. It's presently mounted outdoors and transmitting wirelessly to a router sitting indoors 340' away. I use dynamic DNS to access the camera remotely via DSL. The framerate is decent, but still-picture quality (clarity) could definitely be better -- especially when the subject is moving. The motion detection is good and triggers reliably to upload images to an FTP site. The camera is very configurable, but best-suited for the tech-savvy. Plus, it's evident that a lot of the instructions written into the camera firmware were done by a non-native English-speaking individual. I've successfully viewed the camera remotely via my Motorola Q. Sound quality from the camera is very good. I can hear the frogs chirping in a nearby riverbed right now.For what it's worth, I also own a very expensive Axis camera. The bottom line is that, although this camera has room for improvement, it still comes pretty close to justifying its cost.
34 of 41 people found the following review helpful.
Bad Quality Camera
By W. Wong
I am extremely unhappy with this camera. On the surface, the camera looks great--it offers SD recording, wireless connectivity, and remote management. But this is a really poorly made camera with poor supporting software. Firstly, it took me 3 nights trying to set this up--and I'm a long time techie. I followed the directions EXACTLY... got wired connection working fine... but the wireless was terrible. The camera kept telling me it wouldn't connect, even though I had all the settings correct. I even reset my wireless router to setup the most basic wireless LAN, and it still didn't work. Then all of a sudden, for no apparent reason it worked. Garbage. I still don't know why it worked.The remote management was interesting and I like the fact that it let me control and move the camera remotely. It also lets you setup specific times to allow "triggers"... but the trigger software is spotty. The sensitivity controls for when the triggers set off didn't work well at all and it basically capture everything or nothing. Axis has much better event management software.Finally, the picture quality is TERRIBLE. It claims that it can record up to VGA at 12 frames/sec, but it doesn't even COME close to that... at VGA it records maybe 1 or 2 frames/sec at best. Even at that quality there are noticeable artifacts and blurriness. I researched all the other cameras at this price level and amazingly this seemed that it had the best specs, but I suppose there's no subsitution for first hand experience. This is a terrible camera... I ended up buying the Axis 207w. It doesn't have movement capabilities, but for half the price, it's picture quality is 2x better and setup was a breeze.
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