Customer Reviews

Network Camera Software

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

 

 

There are many products out there for a fraction of this price that do as much, and from what I read are more stable. I have not used the Panasonic software, I constantly play with lots of new web/netcam software products. I have been sticking Active WebCam from PY Software for years. Over the past several months I have been upgrading some very old wired and wireless cameras to Panasonic BL-C131 and BL-C111's. These work great with Active WebCam. The $89 top end Deluxe version of AWC seems more flexible/powerful than the Panasonic software. I do not work for nor am I in anyway associated with PY Software. There are at least a half dozen good products out there in the $50 to $100 price range.

For the price I was expecting many more options other than just recording and playback. Wish it had faster Tilt/Zoom capability and more replay options. Also recording quality is not that great if you are using it to record fast moving objects such as cars. Wish it could monitor & record while following an moving object with a pan/tilt camera.

I totally agree with other users in that for the price one expects a better piece of software.

I set the software up for my 12 panasonic cameras, and it seems to work in recording and local viewing mode. That's great, but I also need to be able to view the videos from anywhere in the world via the Internet. I installed the software on a laptop, separate from the computer which is doing the recording, and it did not work. When I called Panasonic about the problem, they informed me that I needed another $300 licensed version of the sofware to use it remotely. What a rip-off! I sure didn't see that in the "fine print". It kind of reminds me of those TV commercials where the girl can't ride the bike out of the circle, or the boy gets a cardboard replica of a toy truck. (If you don't watch TV, nevermind.) I'm not about to pay another $300 for remote monitoring when I already have "gotomypc" which can do the same thing for $99 per year (and securely, too). I've heard the the iPhone equivalent of this software costs $900, so maybe I shouldn't feel like I've been taken. But somehow I still do.

I've since found out that this software has the nasty habit of locking up its host machine at least once per day, and causing problems (like timeouts) when other devices on your network try to communicate with each other. Since I travel a lot, locking up my network or any machine on it is unacceptable. I sent it back. Let's see if they will honor the refund. I think this software does have a lot of neat features if you intend to use it on a network dedicated just to video security; however, when you put it on a general purpose LAN, there are numerous unexplained problems.

I heard so many negatives about this software I done some research and purchased "BLUE IRIS" recording software, it has too many features to list, including Remote Monitoring, Cell Phone Monitoring, Support for IP or other types of cameras.. and I've now been using it for 8 months without a problem.. its currently 49.00 dollars.. Have not found a drawback to it yet.. and I DO NOT WORK FOR BLUE IRIS... Many reviews are skewed on the INTERNET..this one is not.

This software works well with my cameras and is very easy to setup, loaded with features that have brought a world of value to my network and IP cameras. To be able to view up to 16 cameras at the same time is awsome.