Customer Rating:  
Summary: The way I resolved the WEP security issue
Comment: This isn't so much a review of the camera itself, as it is information on a way to resolve what I consider to be the camera's biggest downside (other cameras too!). This might get a little wordy though. In reading some of these reviews, I notice that a lot of people have trouble understanding Networking technology (BIG surprise), causing them to suffer through tech support calls. But, knowing even a few basics, can help avoid having to make that dreaded call... As most people now know, WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) is badly broken, and is only good for keeping honest people out of your WEP enabled network. The DCS-900W only supports WEP. My home wireless network is configured for WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access), which offers much stronger security, (but only as strong as you make your pass phrase). I didn't want to open up my entire LAN to black-hat hackers, by adding a WEP access point, just so I could add the camera. So, here's what I did to keep my network safe, and still use the WEP based camera... I happened to have another router, and another Access Point (has to be two separate units). I used my laptop to configure them through an Ethernet cable. First, I set the router's (that is, the additional router's) LAN address to an available address within my existing LAN: 192.168.254.253, (Use the same SUBNET MASK as everything else: 255.255.255.0). Then, I set the WAN IP to a static address of: 192.168.1.1. Then, I configured the Access Point to have a static LAN IP address of 192.168.1.2. Of course you also have to configure the wireless stuff (i.e. SSID, WEP, 64, or 128 bit encryption...). Now that the new router and Access Point have been configured, here's how to connect them up... Using Ethernet cable, connect from your existing router, hub, or switch, to a LAN port on the new router. Then, connect the Access Point to the new router's WAN port (It might be labeled "Internet"). Now you need to create a "static route" in your original router's configuration, that will allow users who's PCs reside on your network (in my case, on the 192.168.254.0 segment) to access the camera(s) which reside on the 192.168.1.0 network segment. The static route parameters (fields) should be something like this: Active or Enable, Name (of the route (it's just a name)), Destination IP (in my case, the added network segment address: 192.168.1.0) (It might need to be entered as: 192.168.1.0/24 (the /24 indicates 24 bits of the segment address or another way of saying there's 24 bits in the subnet mask)), Gateway (in my case, the LAN IP address of the new router: 192.168.254.253). If the router's IP is 192.168.1.1, and your Access Point's IP is: 192.168.1.2, then your camera(s) can have any IP in the range of: 192.168.1.3-254... At this point, you can access anything on the "1" subnet from the "254" subnet. Now, I haven't tested the following with my setup, so you might need to play with IP addresses here, to make it work? If you want the camera(s) to be able to access DNS (Domain Name System), and NTP (Network Time Protocol) servers, you'll need to open some ports on the new router. This is called "Port Forwarding" or "Virtual Server" or "Firewall Rules" (Depending on what your router manufacturer wants to call it). Anyway, you'll want to configure "Inbound Rules". For DNS, the Port is: 53 for both TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) & UDP (User Datagram Protocol). For NTP, the Port is: 123 for UDP. You want to "Allow Always". For the destination IP, depending on how versatile your router is, you might try giving it the LAN IP address of your original router, or maybe the actual destination IP of the server providing the service. Once the ports have been opened, the cameras and the Access Point should all be able to use DNS and NTP services. I've said all of that to say this... Having another router added to your existing infrastructure, provides a safe way to incorporate any equipment that is limited to WEP. Assuming your added router has NAT (Network Address Translation) turned on, Nothing malicious is coming through it, into your original LAN. And if your Access Point can disable wireless to wireless communications, then even if someone does obtain a wireless connection to the Access Point, the only thing they can even attempt to do is guess the Admin password to the Access Point. So, make it STRONG. But that's ALL they can do. Hope this helps a little.
Customer Rating:
Summary: DOA
Comment: This camera failed to work from the moment I plugged it in. The lights flashed virtually at random... the power light would sometimes blink on and off, sometimes it would stay solid. The ethernet light would blink once every minute or so at some times, and at others, even when it wasn't plugged into anything, it would stay solid. After a brief conversation with their technical support staff, it was determined that my product was defective. I tried two separate routers, and neither detected it. The reset button didn't appear to work, either.
I was really excited about this, but now I'm not so sure. I'll certainly be leery of purchasing a D-Link product in the future. I guess we'll see how well the replacement works.
Edit: The wireless capability is broken on the replacement unit. D-Link has earned my life-long enmity.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Easy setup but not a reliable performer
Comment: This camera was easy to set up just like the DCS-900's I own. I want to note that you can run this camera via ethernet cable if you want. In fact I do this because the wireless comes and goes for no reason and it is only 20 feet away from the router with no obstruction. The video is choppy like the DCS-900 but the quality is livable for those who can't afford the higher end ip camera's (like Axis who actually deliver 30 fps). Low lighting situations are horrible on this camera and making out faces is not easy to do unless you are in a well lit room.
Tech support by D-Link is present but be prepared to be dealt with "aggressively" if you email them about the frames per second not performing as advertised.
Have realistic expectations and if you can, go for the higher end cameras and be happier with your decision. Btw, I use this camera with SecuritySpy for the Mac.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good little security Camera for the price.
Comment: I picked this unit up about a year and a half ago. I needed to have this unit serviced after 7 months because I could not connect to the unit anymore. Soft Reboot, Hard Reboot did not solve it, DLink was nice enough to send me another unit. Took about 2 weeks turn around. That was about 9 months ago, I have had this camera mounted on top of my house over looking the front yard. In the day time the image is very crisp at 640x480, I only hope one day a 1280x1024 resolution would come out so I can view my entire yard just instead of my front porch. I have a piece of saramic taped on it, so the water will not get absorbed into the unit. It has survived the cold winters and also the rainy season as well. It holds up well outside, you just need to cover the unit.
Nite time viewing is not soo great, it is very grainy but what can you expect w/o a builtin night vision modular. I use webcamxp with this software to broadcast it over the web and also to send me email alerts triggered by the motion senor. I like to check up on my UPS and Post Man every once in a while to see what they are up to. :) I recommend using WeBCamXP with this unit because it has a lot of nice features which the DLink software does not have. The interface can be a lot better, but I just use it for its camera feature and nothing else, so it does not bother me.
I highly recommend this unit if you want to look over your new puppy inside the house or view your property. I currently have two of these units, one for the inside of the house with a Linksys POE connected to it. (Power Over Ethernet), so I can mount it anywhere without trying to struggle to find an OUTLET.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Novice review
Comment: Being tech. stupid, I read all the directions and got it up and running wirelessly in a few min.
Still can't view it outside my network. The only thing I can figure out is that there is a block on my server side to reduce bandwidth but the instructions cover that too. I have yet to try it but in the mean time, I use it to spy on my dogs in the livingroon while I'm working in another room. Good picture, average wireless range. I like it so far.
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