NEW PANASONIC REMOTE PETCAM NETWORK CAMERA BL-C111A $99.99 + s/h
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* Pan/Tilt/Digital Zoom with Presets
* Simultaneous MPEG-4 and JPEG
* 1 Lux Color Night View Mode
* Up to 30 Frames per Second CMOS
* Full-screen Monitoring
* Remote Monitoring from Cell Phone
* 4-up and 12-up Multi-camera Pages
* Built-in Web Server/IP Address (IPv4/v6)
* Built-in Microphone
* Thermal Sensor
* Image Transfer by Motion Detection, Sensor Alert, Timer
* Privacy Mode
* Plug-and-play Installation
* Free Web Address
* Multi-Language Interface
* 1 Year Warranty

Specifications:

* Image Compression - JPEG (3 levels), MPEG
* Quality Video Resolution - 640 x 480, 320 x 240 (default), 192 x 144
* Frame Rate - Max. 30 frames/sec (640 x 480, 320 x 240 or 192 x 144)
* Authentication - User ID/password
* IPv4/v6 - IPv4/v6 Dual Stack
* View Snapshot and Control from Compatible Cell Phones
* Zoom - 10x digital zoom (by area)
* Input - Built-in Microphone
* Network Connection - Ethernet (10Base-T/100Base-TX)

I need some camera for my store preferably network like the one in WalMart. Can someone please recommend? Thanks.

Good deal! Sells for much more elsewhere and reviews are above average even at that price range. Will put one up for my website for viewers to play around with.

Has anyone used this before? How are the controls for pan, zoom, etc. from a remote web browser?

i have the BL-C131A (basically the same camera but with wireless in addition to ethernet). these cameras are really good for indoor monitoring of kids, it comes with it's own webserver on the camera, and installs it's own activeX control for pan/tilt. It was essentially plug and play for me for the BL-C131A, and i would expect the same for this. The webserver also supports multiple camera viewing at once, in addition, each camera will also pipe the sound through the web browser. I'm getting this! thanks OP!

I have the older Panasonic network cameras BL-C10 (wired) and BL-C30 (wireless) and paid around $140 each for them on eBay - so this price looks good.

Unfortunately the ratings for schnoop - don't look so good - so buyer beware on this one: rating

The cameras are great for a low cost video surveillance system. I use the viewnetcam.com site to access the cameras from the web. You can access one camera or multiple cameras from one web page. Each camera is set to send an email when motion is detected. The email is sent to my cell phone as an sms message so I know that something moved in front of the camera. There are false positives - such as when the sun comes up - it triggers one camera that is aimed at a wall that the sun shines on.

When motion is detected the cameras are also set to ftp a set of images (that I can customise such as 6 images a second for a total of 42 images) to a password protected web site. The (theory) is I can go to that web site and review the images to determine who/what was triggering the motion detector. In practice what I find is the camera captures a blurry image - unless there is sufficient light and the person causing the motion is moving slow enough to allow for a clear image. Still - I end up knowing almost instantly (subject to any sms message delivery delay) that motion was detected - and if I feel there should not be any motion then I can go to the web site and review the captured images - and /or login to the camera and view live images.

bhoup said:Has anyone used this before? How are the controls for pan, zoom, etc. from a remote web browser?

I have used the 131, the 111, and the 10. All are quite good for general use. The 111 and 131 have workable tilt/pan with very good range of motion. Digital zoom is is pretty much useless, however.

One note. Beware of the software limitations in-box. The literature makes it seem like you can record multiple cameras at once, which you can, only if you purchase the software packages (a call into their customer support said it was around $300). The recording software that comes with the camera is TRIAL ONLY. You can install it to record/motion capture with one camera only. This is a limitation only if you are working with multiple cameras. If you plan on using just one, or if you are not using it to RECORD at all, it works fine - multiple camera monitoring (no record) is available through the camera's firmware itself, accessed through any web browser.

Audio is very good.

I have no experience with the retailer - the above info is my impression of the product only.

careh, you mentioned pointing one of the cams at a wall and the sun shining on it. Are you using it indoors or out? I'd find it much more useful to monitor outside of entryways. The unit doesn't look weatherproof though.

Website says "Cheating spouses, beware!!!".

Yeah, they aren't going to notice the Cat5 or Cat6 cable running from the room with the camera to the router.

The price is just OK, but the quality is very grainy in low lit conditions. Buy only if you are going to use it only in very brightly lit condition, otherwise these panasonics are not worth the time and effort and money. Panasonic also has a professional like of cameras if someone is looking for real security monitoring.