Panasonic BL-C160A Outdoor Lighted MPEG-4 Network Camera (Silver)

by Panasonic

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 10.4 x 4.2 inches ; 3.1 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 21 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B001BBMWBW
• Item model number: BL-C160A
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 19, 2008

Product Description

Manufacturer Description

See there when you can't be there. Monitor your home or office, live, in color, from a web browser or compatible cell phone with the Panasonic BL-C160A outdoor network camera. The splash-resistant body expands the scope of applications by letting you install the camera outside, like on house or store eaves. The included Power Transfer Unit supplies the camera the power through the LAN cable. It allows you to install the camera anywhere, like on the ceiling where no power outlet is. In dark surroundings, the built-in LED will light automatically when the sensor detects the movement of people or animals.

Simultaneous MPEG-4 and JPEG
Cameras simultaneously send MPEG-4 images in three resolutions (VGA, QVGA, and SCIF), and JPEG images in the same three resolutions in favor motion, standard, and favor clarity image-quality types. MPEG-4 is recommended for viewing smooth motion images, and JPEG is recommended for recording higher quality images.

Built-in Human Detection Sensor
The sensor detects people, animals, etc., due to temperature changes. When detected, the image or a series of images is sent to you by e-mail or FTP data transfer for easy checking.

Motion Detection Function
In this mode, the camera captures an image only when motion is detected based on the preset threshold or sensitivity of the camera. The image can be stored temporarily in the camera, or sent to you by e-mail or FTP data transfer.

Image Transfer Function
In accordance with preset settings, the camera will automatically transfer images and a data log by e-mail, FTP, or HTTP. This lets you check images only when needed, and helps prevent you from forgetting to check them.

10x Digital Zoom Function
It's so reassuring to see your pet's happy face while you are out. A simple mouse operation is all you need to enlarge the image, using the 10x digital zoom, so you get a clear view of your pet's expression.

Multi-camera Capability
You can register other Panasonic Network Cameras to this camera and use the multi camera page to view images from multiple cameras. After you have registered the other cameras to this camera (up to 16 cameras can be registered), follow the procedure below to view camera images.

Color Night View Mode (3.00 lux)
When the subject darkens, the camera automatically adjusts the brightness to show you the image. You see clear, easy-to-view images even in the dark.

Cell Phone Monitoring
Still images from the camera can be checked on any cell phone that is capable of Internet access.

IPv4/IPv6 Dual Stack
These are the world's first network cameras with standard IPv6 support. Thanks to the dual-stack IPv4/IPv6 structure, they can be installed both on an IPv4 network today, and on an IPv6 network in the future. By passing the stringent requirements for Phase 2 certification, these cameras have also become even more reliable and interoperable.

HTTPS support
This system supports HTTPS data encrypted communications. By encrypting the network camera's image and other data for network transmission, it prevents electronic eavesdropping for greatly improved security.

Recording Program (Included)
You can record the moving images captured by the camera on your PC. This lets you enjoy natural motion that isn't possible with still pictures.

Product Description

Panasonic outdoor fixed camera with lights. Splashproof, low temperature, mjpeg.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Lots of potential, but a disappointment, February 4, 2009

By 

J. Canfield "John - old geek" (Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Panasonic BL-C160A Outdoor Lighted MPEG-4 Network Camera (Silver) (Electronics)

This cam was to be a replacement for an old Toshiba web cam which was slowly dying. The specs looked *great* and I loved the PoE (power over Ethernet) feature with the included injector (normally $30-60 extra.)

Performance of this product was very disappointing unfortunately. The major issue I had with it was the lack of picture 'tweaks' - for example you cannot fine-tune and permanently set the white balance. White balance can only be adjusted on-the-fly while viewing a live image. Not believing how poor the white balance was, I tried different angles of the camera and moved it so it pointed North to eliminate any odd lighting situations. The results were always the same. Even indoors, our cream colored walls were a light green.

If your requirements are *only* viewing motion video, you can alter the white balance when you are viewing the cam and get a reasonably decent picture. If you will be uploading (or emailing) still images to a server (like I do) for viewing, the white balance will be horribly off. Naturally there is always the chance I had a defective camera, so perhaps other reviews will appear with a validation (or not) of my problems.

The other issue was the quality of the picture - I was disappointed with the resolution.

On a positive note, the cam's administration interface was quite well done, very intuitive and easy to use. Toshiba should take a note of this well-designed interface.

After a few hours of trying to get the cam configured, I realized I was never going to get acceptable picture quality and packed it up and returned it to Amazon and ordered a Toshiba IK-WB15A. The Toshiba has a myriad of picture adjustments available and a better resolution (although not *nearly* as good as my old Toshiba IK-WB11A.)

This was the first time I ever had to return a product to Amazon, and I was pleasantly surprised how easy the process was; don't be afraid to try this cam out if you are in the market for one, maybe you will have better luck than I did.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good during the Day, Not so good at night, November 25, 2009

By 

E. S. Gibson "Barefooter64" (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Panasonic BL-C160A Outdoor Lighted MPEG-4 Network Camera (Silver) (Electronics)

This camera has been installed for a few days. It is monitoring the driveway.

This is my second network camera that is used for monitoring the outside of my house. The first is installed inside and is a Tendnet PZT wireless. If the tendnet camera could be installed outside that would have been my first choice. To get a panasonic with PZT and outdoor capability would cost an additional $200 and still wouldn't provide the range of performance of the Trendnet.

PROS:
As with most panasonic gear this is a well built unit. Detailed installation instructions are provided and all needed parts are available. The included PoE is proprietary but it works well.

Daylight performance is good. It doesn't adjust well to an image with a wide range of brightness so there are portions of the image that are over exposed.

Motion and heat sensor performance is good.

MANY options for how to capture images and to save them. I never found any good documentation that described what all the options are intended to do. It required playing with it for a few hours to understand all the options. It supports saving a series of JPG images based on motion/sensor events. It is configurable to store a number of images before and after the trigger event.

Web Interface is a bit quirky but after a little time with it it's perfectly functional. I'm able to access it from my Palm Pre phone. The Pre can't play the MJPEG stream but does fine with the 3 second update of JPG images. I've seen comments that an IPhone plays the MJPEG stream as expected.

Provides a free internet addressable service so that the camera can be accessed from the internet. I did set this up at first, but oppted to use a Dynamic DNS service that i was already using with my TrendNet camera.

CONS:
Doesn't support streaming video to external storage based on a motion or sensor event.

Night performance is VERY poor. This camera needs a lot of light to be able to get a good image. I've got it paired with a 200W motion light to get images with any amount of detail. Even at that the quality of the captured images is marginal. In comparison the Trendnet is geared towards night vision and even support IR illumination. I've not seen evidence that the C160A is sensitive to IR.

COMMENTS:
When setting up this camera having some understanding of networking is a big help. I'm no networking person and I stumbled on some of the setup of the DDNS. The web interface provided hints regarding what was important in setting up the camera but I didn't always understand what was meant. After some tinkering it's setup and working as expected.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Huge disappointment. Not recommended., February 7, 2010

By 

D. Grams (Northern California) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Panasonic BL-C160A Outdoor Lighted MPEG-4 Network Camera (Silver) (Electronics)

I purchased 2 of these cameras and mounted them outside. Within 2 weeks both cameras were dead even though the environmental conditions never even got close to exceeding Panasonic's claimed humidity and temperature ranges. In no way would I recommend this product.