Question 1

Why is this considered wireless? You plug it into Ethernet for it to work?

Accepted Answer

It has the capability to connect wirelessly to your internet.  I would connect this camera the first time using the either net cable to my home network and do the initial configurations where you assign it a static IP address (something like 192.168.1.10 or so).  Once that is completed you can take the camera any where with in your wireless network's signal range.  The user manual has step by step instructions. Hope this helps!

Question 2

Can this camera transmit to the internet without a computer?

Accepted Answer

Yes, the camera has a web page where you can see the live view of the camera in your local network.

Viewing over the public internet is another matter, separate from the camera. You will need to configure your router to port forward a particular port to the camera's IP address. Then you will need to find your router's public IP address assigned by your cable/DSL company. You could also use a dynamic dns service to remember your public IP address. Search Google for "port forward" and "dynamic dns".

Question 3

I was wondering how long the actual DC cable was and how easy would it be to hide the cable in a small household environment, also i plan on implementing an additional wireless router in the house on a separate channel dedicated to the cameras and it would be plugged into my router that is for my home lan and acts as a gateway, does the cloud software require port forwarding?

Accepted Answer

Cable wire is 5 ft. Dimension of the camera are 2+ by 3+ inches approx but with the stand, it looks a lot bigger. If your requirements are for a spy cam, then this is not for you but if you just need if for monitoring ie; kids in the living room while you're the in 2nd flr, then this would suffice. You can put in a separate network on your home but if you want to view externally then you need to bridge it to your gateway. I dont think this unit supports cloud services. D-link has one with cloud support for 20 dollars more or try TV-IP751WIC which is +10 dollars. The software at the time I used it was very buggy so I decided just to do my own implementation. The 2wire modem from att (dsl or uverse) supports port forwarding to any port so you can view via http in your DMZ secured with just a username password. Not sure if this applies to comcast or to other service providers. If you have a  hacker neighbor (who doesn't ? :-)  ) who might be doing a ip/port scan on the isp network, I suggest you want to secure it via ssh or a different software. Hope this helps.

Question 4

Is this camera compatible with Macs? I know there is an iphone app, but I wasn't sure about being able to install without a PC.

Accepted Answer

In a nutshell yes.  The regular computer interface is browser based.  I there is an installable plugin for streaming video live through that same interface but I honestly haven't tried the macos/Linux portion that's available because I simply never needed to try.

You can get the plugin that's Linux compatible (which is all a mac is) from Trendnet downloads.  They wouldn't let me post the link.  :\

Brand	TRENDnet
Model	TV-IP551WI

Camera Type	Day/Night Camera
Network Camera	Yes
Type	Wireless Camera
Connection Type	RJ45
Color	White

Wireless Standard	IEEE 802.11b/g/n
Wireless Frequency	2.4 - 2.497 GHz
Wireless Data Rate	Up to 150Mbps
Wireless Antenna	Built-in 2dBi antenna
Networking Protocol	IPv4, ARP, TCP, UDP, ICMP DHCP Client, NTP Client, DNS Client, DDNS Client, SMTP Client, FTP Client HTTP PPPoE UPnP
Ports	IEEE 802.3u 10/100Mbps Auto-MDIX Fast Ethernet

Pan/Tilt/Zoom	Digital Zoom: 4x
Sensor & Detector	1/5" CMOS Sensor
MAX Resolution	640 x 480
Video Capture Resolution	640 x 480, 320 x 240, 160 x 120
Frame Rate	Up to 30fps
Lens Type	Board Lens Focal Length: 4mm F/No: 1.5
Security	64/128-bit WEP, WPA/WPA2-PSK
Night Vision	Built-in ICR Night vision (IR) up to 7.5 meters
Audio	Built-in omni-directional microphone Sensitivity: -38dB +/- 3dB (5 meters max.) Frequency: 100~20000Hz S/N: >60dB Format: PCM

Operating Systems Supported	Windows 7 (32/64-bit), Vista (32/64-bit), XP (32/64-bit) Windows Server 2003, 2008
Features	Wi-Fi compliant with IEEE 802.11n standard Backwards compatible with IEEE 802.11g and IEEE 802.11b devices One touch WPS connection button 1 x 10/100Mbps Auto-MDIX RJ-45 port (for optional wired installation) Power and activity LED indicators (can be disabled) 1-way audio Reset button Night vision of up to 7.5 meters* 4x digital zoom Dynamic DNS support Supports up to 640 x 480 pixel MJPEG resolution at up to 20 frames per second Image controls: Brightness, contrast, saturation, flip image vertically, mirror image horizontally, and day / night mode Define a recording schedule, continuous recording, or event based recording Create motion detection fields over the viewing area Supports TCP/IP networking, Email, HTTP, and other Internet protocols System controls: Define up to 64 user login accounts Set the date and time or synchronize with an NTP server Supports wireless encryption up to WPA2-PSK Quick Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) installation Complimentary SecurView software: manage up to 32 cameras ** SecurView software compatible with Windows operating systems Mounting base and mounting hardware included * This camera is designed for indoor use. For outdoor surveillance applications we recommend TRENDnet outdoor cameras ** Monitoring multiple cameras may require a high performance CPU.

TRENDnet TV-IP551WI 640 x 480 MAX Resolution RJ45 Wireless N Day/Night Internet Camera

Video Specs:

Audio Specs:

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SecurView Pro Camera Software:

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Item#: N82E16881102060