Customer Reviews

Panasonic BB-HCM547A Power Over Ethernet Dome Ceiling Mount Network Camera with 4.6 Zoom Lens and 73° Wide Viewing Angle

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I got this last year to keep an eye/ear on my backyard and hot tub. This camera has performed flawlessly. It was easy to install, it has POE so you only need one internet cable to run it. It comes with its own website so that you can control it from any internet connection or your iPhone. I use motion and audio triggers to limit the recordings to real events and am averaging about 1 Gb file/day on high resolution. The 4.6 magnification is enough to monitor my entire backyard (~.5 acres). The camera website is easy to use and gives you full control, however I use SecuritySpy (~$50) for my Mac which interfaces nicely with this camera. Works well in low light and exceptionally in normal daylight (very crisp and clear pictures). Can't think of any negatives for this unit.

Rock solid camera with real outdoor durability. Excellent pan and zoom capabilities. Power over Ethernet works perfectly for single-cable installation, just add a PoE injector or use an Ethernet switch with built-in PoE. I used the Trendnet PoE injector which was well reviewed and had no problems. The camera's pan angle is good enough that mounted directly over my front door, I can pan down far enough to see if there is a UPS package on my doormat. The network connectivity has been rock-solid with zero weirdness.

The installation instructions use rather unclear small drawings that made installation more difficult than it should have been. Much of the installation was counterintuitive and there are a lot of parts involved (bear in mind, I am a very technical/handy person, I would not recommend this for novices). Make sure you test fit everything in order and examine the drawings closely before going up on the ladder.

Daylight performance is great, low light performance is middling, and Panasonic will not answer the support ticket I opened 3 weeks ago asking if the camera is compatible with IR illuminators and if so which IR frequency should be used.

Like most network cameras this model has a built-in web server, built-in motion detection, recording, etc. All of its built-in web capabilities are functional but very Web 1.0 clunky and you are much better using third-party software to manage the camera. I use a Synology NAS which eliminates all of the clunkiness and even provides an iOS application with fingertip pan and zoom control.

This dome camera worked great, I mounted it in my eaves and was able to see both sides of my house. The resolution is good (although not as good as the BB-HCM735) and even the audio works well. It's fairly easy to set up and I'd definitely recommend it.

Let me start with my security requirements. I want a camera that (1) can record video internally based on a motion trigger and (2) be able to view the captured video remotely.

The camera specs state this is possible but with major tradeoffs.

First problem: If MPEG-4 is the chosen video capture format then once motion is detected only 20 Seconds (max) of video may be captured. This is a joke with with a 4 GB flash card inserted. True, the camera can record sequential files of 20s each. So if 5 minutes of action is to be recorded this results in 15 separate M4 files. Not practical; painful.

Second problem: If JPEG is the chosen recording format, then recording can extend to any length until memory full. This is good. However the JPEG (implied MJPEG since this is the stated capture mode)stored images cannot be played back in real time. Yes, there is a playback mode to review the captured images but playback is jerky and painfully slow (can be 1/10 rt). I experimented with many combos of permitted capture variables and each mode yields an unacceptable playback experience.

Third problem: Panasonic provides software to record a live camera and respond to triggers. The external recording SW runs on a PC that must be on 24x365. This is not practical for residential use.

Of course there are many other camera features that could be commented on but I will leave that to others. I am generally happy with the other features and the ViewNetCam.com remote live viewing is great.

Bottom line, if you want to use the camera to capture motion triggered video and playback, this is not the camera for you. I spent countless hours on the phone with Panasonic support and even they don't appreciate the limitations of this camera. I learned through lots a experimentation with eventual confirmation by Panasonic support.

I purchased this camera and it works great under the eave of a building. However there is a street light close by that gives some problems at night. The camera seems to really focus on the brightness and I lose most of the video. I also purchased the D-Link DWL-P200 Power Over Ethernet Adapter listed as "Frequently bought together", but they would not power the camera. I had to return them and order the TP-Link TL-SF1008P 8-Port 10/100M Desktop PoE Switch. It works great and also gives additional POE ports for future expansion. I am happy with the camera and use StarDot DVR software for recording since some other reviewers mentioned the camera's software is not that great. The picture is clear and the wide angle is great for getting a lot of the street. It is easy to control and configure from the web interface.

Camera and components are packed very well. Every component is high quality, right down to the stainless steel mounting hardware. Decent instructions, although it might take a second read to completely understand what certain steps require. It definitely helps to have the components in hand while reading through the instructions and visualizing how the actual install will go.

Installation was not all that complicated. The most time consuming thing was prepping my soffit to mount the camera (vinyl soffit with no solid backing required me to install a piece of 1x10 pressure treated wood and 2x2 mounting strips on each side). It worked great & camera is mounted securely. I created my own Cat5e cable, ran it through attic above garage and down into my basement where it was then connected to a Netgear GS108PE (POE) switch. This was another time consuming aspect of the overall installation. Installing the camera itself was pretty easy/quick.

Camera image is very good, but it's not HD. PTZ capabilities are great. The .02 lux capability is great, too. A half-moon gives enough light for you to view images, although it's pretty grainy and visibility isn't great. Street and house lighting really help a lot. My landscape lighting and post light illuminates the area pretty well. Late at night my landscape lights are off and my post, porch and garage lights are on, which gives good illumination. Note that infrared (IR) illumination does NOT work with this camera (I verified this with Panasonic support). Obviously that means it doesn't have IR built-in either. I was disappointed with this at first, so much so that I almost returned the camera. I decided to keep it after learning more about lux. All in all, I'd have to say I'm glad I kept the camera.

Logging into the camera (from a browser) is as expected and the user interface/software is OK. It does have some advanced/complicated settings, so if you're a novice to this sort of thing you'll probably get lost/frustrated pretty quick. It's not very user friendly and some of the options/features could have been programmed better. I installed the camera recorder software from disc provided and this is where it really goes downhill. It is old (BB-HNP11), very basic and not intuitive/user friendly. Panasonic provides a one camera version [(c)2007] as well as a 16 camera version [(c)2004] with limited features. You can NOT upgrade this software! Instead, you have to purchase a newer copy--at full price. BB-HNP17A appears to be the latest available and it costs around $255+. It is reportedly full-featured and supports 64 cameras (Panasonic models only!). I've been using the (free) single camera version primarily and I'm not very impressed. However, it is nice that you can record video and audio (MJPEG mode only). It also supports MPEG-4. It does the job, but I'm definitely on the hunt for better recording software that supports multiple camera models (I'm currently demoing DeskShare Security Monitor Pro, which is so-so). For remote viewing/control, you can login to the camera from anywhere--locally (LAN), via the Internet (after configuring/allowing it to do so), and using a mobile device (e.g. iPhone, iPad, iPod touch). LiveCams Pro works very well for me (note that they're currently working on an Android version). It supports PTZ, presets, etc.

As far as storing images and video, it can be done using the built-in SDHC card slot (it doesn't come with a SD card), your system's hard drive, or an external (NAS/USB) drive. I definitely recommend using an external drive for regular video/audio recording. I installed a 32GB SDHC card and only used it for snapshots initially. NOTE: I don't think it supports SDXC (64GB+) cards, but I haven't confirmed this with Panasonic support. Only the SDHC logo appears next to the slot on the camera. Anyway, I'm using a NAS drive exclusively now. I'll probably pull out the SDHC card at some point. Posting images via FTP and HTTP is also supported.

Bottom line: The camera itself is great. PTZ capabilities can't be beat (for this or any network camera). It eliminates the need for multiple cameras for most applications. I can view (and record) the entire area in front of my house--property line to property line and beyond using just 3 preset camera positions. As I said, this isn't an HD camera so don't expect to be able to read license plates, etc. The camera is great for above average surveillance purposes. The camera's built-in microphone can pick up conversations very clearly and even garage doors opening/closing from several houses away. It can also pick up the sound of deer biting into an apple approx. 40ft away (that we placed there for them)! With a separate amplified external speaker, you can even speak to people via the camera's software (haven't decided if I'm going to hook one up yet). There are also connections for external alarm sources like door/light sensors, etc. To me, the software Panasonic provides is sub-par. They should at least allow individual customers to upgrade it to the latest version at significantly reduced cost.

You're welcome to leave a comment if you'd like to know more. I may post sample images later as well (if there's interest). Thanks for taking the time to read my review.

I am taking away 1 star because the instructions are completely stupid. They put two sets of instructions in the box and they are for two different but similar cameras. I am talking about the actual mounting instructions. As far as any of the instructions go that came with this product they sucked.

The camera it out standing. The angle picture quality and even night quality wore very good. The camera is expensive so if quality is not a necessity Foscam would probably do fine for you at around $100 for similar function. The image quality and angle of foscam do not even come close to this camera.