Wireless IP Camera thread

[geckoSG]

For vstarcam only 1 sole distributor in SG, no other resellers. Local warranty is by these shop. If they tell u its ur device. High likely it shows that they know nothing on how the products works. That is why I seriously do not recommend anyone to buy from parallel importers tat are trading firms. They will only try to push fault away from their products instead of working with the client to see if indeed product have a bug. You will rather see a distributor that identifies the problem n reflect to factory. Ultimately its how the factory handle these issues. Of cos, some consumers may also be very demanding in terms of features, so test demos and have a feel before buying. Tats the rule of thumb of buying a product.

 

[geckoSG]

Btw, linxiaobei, you can immediately ask for refund. Lemon law applies against them as what they post on qoo10.

 

[linxiaobei]

Btw, linxiaobei, you can immediately ask for refund. Lemon law applies against them as what they post on qoo10.

Alright. Thanks a lot!

Because they didn't reply to my email.

I'll give them a call before heading down to ask for refund.

 

[Gribber]

Honestly, all distributors task is to market product n follow up on RMA n reflect problems back to manufacturer. How do you expect them to solve problems? Lolz.

if that's the case, stick with proper manufacturer. As i have put across.

 

[Fuzzywuz]

All complaining connection issues here. Is this batch related? Is this network related?
How can we tell? Those complaining, please highlight how u use the camera? Please provide information such as distance from router. Network congestion and etc. There are factors that can determine if the system as a whole is stable.

 

[Fuzzywuz]

Finally, to be safe, buy from the seller with engineering background. IT and EE with wireless will be good. Be sure to get seller guarantee to provide setup and installation support. And most important, after service support.

 

[Fuzzywuz]

On site service support is also important. Google the website and look for support page.

 

[linxiaobei]

All complaining connection issues here. Is this batch related? Is this network related?
How can we tell? Those complaining, please highlight how u use the camera? Please provide information such as distance from router. Network congestion and etc. There are factors that can determine if the system as a whole is stable.

I have refunded my buy but I don't mind sharing my experience.

I have no idea on what happened to the camera that I have bought. I set it up as per normal, got the stream from the camera to my laptop using the software provided online. There was no CD included inside the package. Only a very simplified user manual asking me to download their software on a website.

It works but after some period of time, the whole camera will go offline as shown by the software. Offline as in not just the connection to my router is down, but it will not even record on its microSD card until I switch off everything and switch it back on before it works for a while.

The distance of the camera from the router is less than 2 metres. Which shouldn't be any issue but apparently this was not the case.

All of my devices connected to the router is working fine and will not disconnect. Just that camera.

The day before I went to ask for a refund, I have to switch off and on the camera for around 20 times or even more. Sometimes the time gap is just less than 5 minutes before the camera went offline.

Luckily those people selling me the camera didn't ask me to connect using LAN cable. Or else I would have retorted back to them saying why will I want to use LAN cable if I bought an wireless device.

I even asked them whether any buyers encountered the same issue. They told me that some encountered the same issue but the issues are solved by upgrading the firmware, fixing a static IP for the camera etc. Which I find it not really believable as it happened to not only 1 camera, it even happened to the one which I went down for an exchange.

I got very afraid of China brands already. I would rather pay slightly more for a better device. Lesson learnt.

 

[Fuzzywuz]

Well my experience with China brand defers from your's. I must say I was somewhat lucky to have some engineering background and I bought my China brand IP camera and fixed it up for almost 3 years. Till today, its still up and running and I never had to reset it.

But I do know some people who may have similar experience like your's. I will always try to experiment and most of the time, I found disconnection problems when there were many wifi channels and the received signal strength of these are quite high at the camera's antenna input.

There may be also the batch related problem. Some are just not stable so you got to swap cameras to try.

 

[geckoSG]

Most cameras are made in china. If u really wanna buy, make sure you check which company is doing the software part, some companies uses Chinese hardware but they revamp the firmware portion.

I have plus n minus experience with diff brands including Foscam, EasyN, Apexis, etc. Major manufacturers but can be disappointing as they focus on sales but technical support wise is taichi style which many local self declared agents do the same.

Luckily for U, U get your refund. There are a lot of dont know get from where stocks on the market nowsaday, just b careful will do.

 

[linxiaobei]

Most cameras are made in china. If u really wanna buy, make sure you check which company is doing the software part, some companies uses Chinese hardware but they revamp the firmware portion.

I have plus n minus experience with diff brands including Foscam, EasyN, Apexis, etc. Major manufacturers but can be disappointing as they focus on sales but technical support wise is taichi style which many local self declared agents do the same.

Luckily for U, U get your refund. There are a lot of dont know get from where stocks on the market nowsaday, just b careful will do.

Yes, I count myself lucky to have my refund. Some will play some pattern in order to avoid refunding until your warranty is over.

Currently I got your suggestion and got samsung SNH-P6410BN, I'm also using iSpy to do my recordings on my laptop. So far so good.

 

[Dr_ARCHer]

It is the luck of the draw. If you are lucky, you end up with cameras that are consistent workhorse, but if you are unlucky, you end up with duds that may not be worth its weight as a paper-weight.

Over the years, I have had numerous cameras that failed on me. My cameras are on 24/7 so the use is almost continuous. Here are some of the cameras that have failed on me:

1) I have a Trendnet model that does not work wirelessly on Day 1. I ended up using it as a wired camera (set it just next to my router).

2) My first IP cameras were bought about 8 years ago (when my eldest was born). In fact, I had two Linksys WVC-200. One has died, but the other is still working.

3) Both my Dlink DCS-6660G and my LevelOne (same OEM model) have died. The heat generated from both cameras were quite intense, and their plastic antennae literally crumbled due to the heat over time.

4) I bought three Dlink DCS-5635 cameras. These listed as over S$1K during launch (it has 10 times optical zoom). Two of them have issues with the sound (crackling sound could be heard when viewing/listening to the camera). Only 1 is being deployed. Great feature set, but not much firmware update.

5) I have two Edimax, but one has failed after over 2 years. The other is in storage as a back-up/spare.

6) I have 3 China-made no-name brands that I bought from Mediapro (F series, H series and another that I cannot remember). One of them has its power adaptor failed on me. Replacing it with a multi-volt adaptor solved the problem. Guess what? All 3 are still in use in my home.

7) I have at 4 Aztech, one of which is a PowerLine camera. Couldn't get the Powerline one to work with my network (even though I was using Aztech Homeplugs at that time). Now sitting in the storage box. Two are deployed at home, and one is sitting as a spare.

8) I have three VStarCam, two with external housing. One of them is deployed, as is the 3rd. Both requires reboot occasionally.

9) I have one Samsung HD Pro. One of the newest camera for me. Requires the occasional reboot too. However, there are times when it just stopped working, but began working the next day with no rebooting.

10) I have one Foscam. Kept as spare and not deployed.

11) I have one Panasonic VT something that is being deployed. No infra-red, but doesn't require reboot as frequently as the others.

12) I have one TPLink. Deployed at home. Sometimes, cannot see anything, but then, it comes back up after a while.

I have two broadband connection, and set up two RT-AC87U routers (actually 3, but the 3rd was set up as a wireless bridge). All cameras are connected to only one (2.4 GHz bandwidth). Some like the WVC200 is still on Wireless G, while most are on Wireless N. No Wireless AC cameras yet, and no 5 GHz cameras yet. Thinking of switching to an AC3200 for better bandwidth control, but then if there are no AC cameras, not sure what value the AC3200 router would serve.

 

[geckoSG]

I thought Samsung ones support AC signals.

 

[Fuzzywuz]

Thanks for sharing on the experiences. By the way the cam I'm using is the old EasyN F-M136

 

[benedict888]

hi guys.. looking for 720p and above ip cam
any recommendations?

 

[geckoSG]

cheap wise, vstarcam by marix, xiaomi's xiaoyi. Or any dlink to samsung if budget allows

 

[Gribber]

hi guys.. looking for 720p and above ip cam
any recommendations?

skip vstarcam if you don't want to fall into a pit of headaches.

 

[Imperado]

Im looking for a wireless camera to monitor baby(only when shes sleeping and my parents is in the living room)

Don't require it to be connected to network nor storage.. just mainly a live stream view and preferably on mobile phone and have internal battery

Thinking to get those in-car camera where they already have app for wireless view... any other recommendation?

 

[benedict888]

skip vstarcam if you don't want to fall into a pit of headaches.

Thanks for the warning.. seems like it's either xiaoyi or dlink for me..

 

[geckoSG]

For those who think vstarcam is bad, you may test their demo before u actually buy it. This will let u know if product is bad or not. Best test for a few days before pressing that buy button. Mine still working pretty fine, still on old firmware