Customer Reviews

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

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

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Install is a breeze.

Interface works well (java based so try safari for viewing).

Lasted through Dallas storm season and is now baking in the 100+ weather without issue.

This camera does everything well. It is a great value for the money. The led lights are powerful enough to light up an area within 20 feet of the camera. I am happy with my purchase as I am with my three other Panasonic IP Cameras.

I have four of these now and I must say for a low-priced camera these really rock. There is no other product made that compares to this for the money.

There are better cameras for the money available, Foscam comes to mind. I bought this camera in a hurry not taking enough time to research other options. If you have enough light the video is ok at best. The resolution leaves a lot to be desired. I bought the camera thinking it was PoE capable and found out it is not. The unit does get it's power over the ethernet cable, but it is non-standard PoE. If I had read the specs for the camera before buying, I would have seen that. My bad. But with PoE well defined and switch manufactures building to that spec why would Panasonic feel they should do something different? Beats me.

Pros: easy to configure and get operational
Cans: Poor video quality, poor low light images (even with outdoor lighting), non-standard PoE, flimsy mounting bracket.

Would I buy another one, no.

I've tried setting up web based security cams for the past six years and they were either very expensive, unreliable or flat out wouldn't integrate with all the rest of the components. This camera worked right out of the box and has been doing a great job at a remote location for the past several months.

Setup was a breeze, just mount the camera, run the ethernet cables and plug in the power injector for power over ethernet. Then load the cd and follow the wizard. Worked right the first time, including emailing photos via my email account that now can be seen on my iphone and home computer! No question what time people are showing up for work, or who is up there. It's all in a photo.

The only issues have to do with bright sunlight, which seems to overwhelm the sensor a bit, even though I've tried to "dial it back" with the software. The shadow details are still visible, so I guess that's what the camera is set for.

The complaint about night time visibility being poor is true, though I have been able to read the license plate numbers going out (the rear of the vehicle) at night with the existing setup. If you'd like better night time response, you should add some solar powered LED motion sensor lights near the camera.

Panasonic BL-C160A Outdoor Lighted MPEG-4 Network Camera (Silver)It is billed as an "Outdoor Camera" but when used for a month in a green house it stopped working. When returned to Panasonic support it was determined it had water damage and is not covered by warranty ($148 for a power transfer unit). Reading the fine print on the box specifies the "power adapter and the power transfer unit... are intended for indoor use only". Can't help but wonder how this fits with an "Outdoor Ready" camera.