TRENDnet Wireless-N IP Camera with 2-Way Audio / 2 dipole antennas / MAX Resolution 640x480 (TV-IP512WN)

Pros: now works great outdoors and nighttime - a simple setting i overlooked-- see other thoughts

Cons: price

Other Thoughts: installed this camera in a outdoor housing in parking lot over a year ago, it was terrible high contrast in day so bad could not see anything and no pic at night. did not have time to do anything and just left it there useless

i upgraded my router yeaterday and decided to check out this camera, been so long didnt remember anything about it. so i set it up with the new router so i can view it then logged into camera and i was extremely disappointed a washed out Image so bad could not see nothing so i tried changing setting in(Image Setup), nothing Image was still washed out. well at least the audio was working so i decided to turn up the volume in ( Video and Audio )

and noticed a setting ( Camera Environment ) enable "Outdoor" mode. it was off ! i turn it on and WOW the Image was perfect !

also a setting for " Enable Night Mode" turned it on and WOW night time viewing !

To all using it outside----

You must turn on login to camera go to " configuration " then go to ( Camera Environment "outdoor" ) and enable it. it works finally after a year of not even using it i discovered why and now it works. ok so maybe i didn't read all instructions my fault but now a happy camper :)

oh and i upgraded the lens today to higher quality and wider view looks much better then stock lens

Pros: None

Cons: - Fuzzy Video Images... Basically a waste of money and all and more of my monthly phone minutes calling Tech Support... I would NEVER buy this camera again!

Other Thoughts: Bought this as a replacement for a Trendnet TV-IP100W that died after 5 years... thought that cameras might have improved after the last few years, but the TV-IP512WN was a poor replacement for the simplicity of software and great video images of my TV-IP100W which I had set up looking out a window for outdoor surveillance. Downloaded various software (Secureview Pro, IviewPro2) which offered more options that I didn't need for just 1 camera and had a hard time using the captured video files in Windows Media Player. The videos are fuzzy even after adjusting focus as much as possible - not sure if it's because of a bad lens or the software (IPViewPro2)... Trendnet support says that this camera is not made to record outdoor video through a window, but my older TV-IP100 did a great job in the same location. Spent a month trying to get this camera to work as well as my older camera, but haven't been able to and since 30 days have passed, I can no longer return it to Newegg for a refund...

Manufacturer Response:

Valued Customer,

We are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you. Please e-mail us sales@trendnet.com, reference "New Egg Product review" and someone will contact you immediately.

Regards ,

TRENDnet Sales Team

Pros: - Easy to set up - be sure to update firmware asap.
- Wireless signal is good (also supports WPA)
- built-in software features are good (samba, email, ftp, etc).
- dependable (I haven't had problems with resets, etc since I set them up).

Cons: - the lens isn't the best. Has a very shallow DOF under 30 ft and doesn't handle high contrast (shade/sun) very well.
- no IR illumination, so doesn't work after dark.
- motion detection features not great
- Trendnet IpView Pro software doesn't seem to do anything that isn't already built in to the camera, and consumes cpu like a mad man.
- no SSL SMTP support, but supports SMTP auth and alternate ports.
- not an "outdoor" camera. You can get enclosures for them though.

Other Thoughts: This camera works relatively well, with a few caveats - motion detection being the number one issue. I will buy another one in the future.

I expected a slightly wider coverage area - the view is probably around 35ish degrees with the stock lens. Which isn't good or bad - just something worth knowing.

The bad part is that in general, motion detection gets set off by anything in the field of view, regardless of where you draw the zones in the browser. It's livable when the camera is pointed down, but if your view includes a street with cars, motion detection will hammer you to death and makes motion detection worthless. I had to angle my cameras down so they wouldn't see cars, even after playing with sensitivity and the zones quite a bit.

I like the email and movie capture modes. I dump movies generated by motion detection into a samba directory and also email a snapshot to myself.

The camera also works well with the IP Cam Viewer app for Android.

Pros: Many features. Works as advertised.

Cons: Lousy mounting bracket is nearly unusable

Other Thoughts: My biggest complaint is with the included mounting bracket. I chose to install the camera at a right-angle, with the bracket attached to the wall not the ceiling. Big mistake! Against the wall, the bracket is too short and does not give enough clearance for the camera. Only by removing one of the antennas would the camera fit against the wall. Also, the way the bracket screws together, you cannot simultaneously align and tighten the bracket. The swivel joint also is not very strong and stiff, making the camera prone to tilting.

Mounting against the ceiling should be better. But don't try mounting this against the wall with the included bracket.

Pros: Works with the Synology Surveillance Station app.
FTP image upload works. Recording to SD card works.

Cons: Won't stay up for more than 3 days.

Other Thoughts: Using this with a Cisco RV220W Wireless Router and WPA/AES security about 25' away. Haven't tried it with WEP or MAC based access but I shouldn't have to! It is a "security" device after all and should work properly with the more modern standards.

Pros: Non so far.

Cons: Can't upgrade firmware. Won't work outdoors without upgraded firmware. Right now I have a paperweight in the shape of a camera.

Other Thoughts: I've wasted too much time trying to upgrade the firmware so that I can use the camera outdoors. I have tried to contact customer service at Trendnet and gotten no response. When I try to upload the firmware, it tells me the image file is damaged.
Pathetic.

Manufacturer Response:

Valued Customer,

We are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you. When logging in to GUI, we would like to suggest that you click on the “outdoor” option located inside of the camera environment settings, under the video and audio tab. If this does not help please contact us at sales@trendnet.com, reference "New Egg product review" and a Sr. engineer will contact you immediately. We look forward to supporting you and restoring your faith in TRENDnet’s products.

Warmest regards,

TRENDnet Sales Team

Pros: Works great indoors. Granted, only used it for two days during internal setup and configuration

Cons: Works like junk outside in full daylight. White, washed out images with only faint outline of dark objects

Other Thoughts: IF YOU ARE BUYING THIS FOR OUTSIDE USE, STOP NOW!!! DO NOT BUY THIS!!!

There I've warned you.
If you are using this for inside use, this is a great product. Works great, configuration easy.

BUT SUCKS OUTSIDE!!!! Would have been nice to read this in the description on this site, which was nicely omitted for suckers like me. Thanx, newegg.

Manufacturer Response:

Valued Customer,
We are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you. Please ensure you reset the camera’s “image settings” to default, and keep the “white balance” set on auto. If this does not resolve your issue, please contact us at sales@trendnet.com, reference "New Egg product review", and a Sr. engineer will contact you immediately . We look forward to working with you directly and restoring your faith in TRENDnet products.

Warmest regards,

TRENDnet Sales Team

Pros: Awesome Cam, Almost Never needs a reset. Very reliable, But Newegg must have gotten hold of these with no lens and added their own. I currently own 4 of these 2 were bought from here (with a generic lens(Not IR capable)) With an IR Lens you will notice quite a difference at night but will sacrifice natural color during the day. Now about the IR led's, IR LED's will only last a year or more if your lucky so its best to have separate IR LED's anyway.

Cons: These do need little more work and I am surprised Trendnet has not done so, because it would be worth it.
To get the most out of the night vision you have to go the setup page and set it every night (pain in the booty :) an AUTO Day/Night Option should be added.
And as another user stated, there is no way to read the SD Card without taking it out of the camera, A simple browser option would do.
If I had the time to fool with it i'd hack the firmware myself.
This Camera is "Almost" perfect for the price

Other Thoughts: Stay away from Linksys/Cisco, like their routers, they need to be reset daily.
Trendnet Cameras are the best for your money and ima cheap bassturd :)
and if bought from here, plan on hunting down another IR capable CS lens.

Pros: Easy to set up, sends a snapshot via your app on your phone. Or set it up to record on a laptop or your main computer.

Cons: Can't quite figure out how to set sensitivity via motion sensor to where it dosen't send constant e-mails. Lol

Other Thoughts: None

Pros: After doing the firmware upgrade to 1.0.3, 5514 (which is ESSENTIAL!), this is the best of the five or six IP cameras I've bought in the past few months. It's the first so far that will output 640 x 480 at 30fps consistently via WiFi, which I'd begun to think I'd never see. It captures readable images under practically all lighting conditions, under either IR or visible light at night (one 23W cf floodlight lights up my whole back yard well enough to tell what's going on), while still giving almost natural colors during the day. (This is where the FW upgrade is essential; w/o it, the camera is totally useless in daylight.) The ONLY problem is the lens....

Cons: This camera has the very worst lens I have ever seen on any camera. It's as bad as a plastic spy camera I might have ordered for 19¢ from the back of a comic book in the 1950s, alongside X-Ray glasses and dogs in teacups. The focus is adjustable, but you can either get some things ALMOST in focus OR other things ALMOST in focus, but not everything, and nothing is really sharp. Even when things are as in focus as you can get them, they look like they're underwater. What areas are in focus almost seem random; at first I thought it was a center/edge thing, but the areas of clearer focus seem to be random. And it's not caused by shallow depth of field: things equidistant from the camera are almost clear while others aren't.

I didn't plan to use the standard lens anyway, and I have several on order, but a camera this good really ought to come with a usable lens, and this one just is not.

Other Thoughts: I'm hoping the lenses get to me from Hong Kong before the 30-day return period ends, because if this problem turns out NOT to be the lens (although it really almost has to be), I'm going to be a VERY unhappy customer.