Customer Reviews

Sharx Security VIPcella-IR SCNC2607 Wifi Wireless 802.11 Security Network Camera with Infrared Night Vision

5 star:		(51)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I recently purchased the SCNC2607 IP-Cam to use as a video server that I could access from within my home on my PC's and iPhones, as well as to access the video from anywhere outside my home LAN if I want.

Not requiring any special software to access this camera is the single most important item for me. If you want to be able to log into a camera from anywhere in the world, on any machine that has a connection to the internet and a web browser of some type, this is the one. There is also an included application called "Multi Live" which allows you to view up to 4 cams in one window.

The camera itself was pretty easy to set up, and the image quality is superb! No tricky setup decisions are necessary by the user to decide what type of streams are available to whoever logs into it from whatever platform. If you log into it on an iPhone through Safari, the iPhone negotiates with the camera server software and automatically appends the URL with the "/en/mjpgmain.asp" extension. If logged in from Internet Explorer, the basic URL automatically appends the "en/avmain.asp" extension. All you need to do is type the URL of the camera into your browser and the rest is taken care of automatically.

Safari on the iPhone will not process the audio stream, but this is not a problem with the camera, it is a limitation with Safari. I have read that Safari on a Mac computer will also not process the audio stream. I have tried various iPhone applications to process the audio stream, without success. But the designer of IP Vision by TTrix software has written me that an upcoming version will process audio. I have also tried this camera on a Sony PSP-3000 with the current firmware version (installed on 02-10-09) and current Flash update, but the device chokes up on memory limitations and can only process the jpeg still image. Some tablet PC's and/or WiFi portable media players like the Nokia N810 or Archos 605 might work, but I haven't tried them.

The default image quality settings don't need to be tweaked to lower quality settings unless your upload bandwidth gets maxed out. For one login to the camera (over the internet from work) I was able to use the maximum quality settings and didn't see or hear any problems. My connection at home is cable internet with about 128 Kilobyte upload and 5 Megabit download, so I was worried about upload speed. With 8 users logged on, there could be issues requiring some settings tweaks, but that's more than most people are probably going to be worried about. If you connect within your LAN then you don't need to be concerned with upload bandwidth, because the data isn't passing through your modem.

There is a color setting, moonlight setting, and night vision setting, but I choose to let the camera do what it thinks it needs to do and have left these controls in automatic. The night vision works even in absolute darkness, and the image is crisp and clean. There is a setting for motion detection, with variable parameters to offset alarms or recording from occurrences like ceiling fans or a bird flying past a window.

When viewing the camera on your browser, you have some easy control buttons available to take snapshots in either .bmp or .jpg formats. You can also record to your hard drive, in the .asf format. Recording can be stopped and started with the "Record" button, or started with the button and stopped by a maximum file size input that anyone logged in can specify. These picture and video controls can be run by anyone you authorize in either the admin account or any user accounts you set up.

The user accounts (an account created that is not the admin account) has no access to your settings for the camera, so it's a good one to send to Mom and Dad or your crazy aunt. When they get to the logon screen, if they choose "Enter" they can see what's on your camera and record what they see and/or hear. If they try to enter "Settings" then they are presented with the login username/ password box again. As long as they don't have your admin password, then you are safe from unauthorized changes to the camera settings.

For up to 8 concurrent logons, you don't need to create 8 separate guest user accounts. One will suffice. I have logged onto one guest account through a browser on my PC over the internet, through my iPhone on WiFi over the internet, and also through another browser on the same PC but using the LAN IP address. That's pretty cool to be able to log on over LAN or WAN while connected through the same router the camera is connecting to. Like if somebody chops up your internet cable connection with a ditch digger, you can still see the cam by using the LAN address.

The instruction manual supplied with the camera is very good. I only found one typo and it wasn't important. It was not translated three times from an original language using obscure clucking noises and hieroglyphic symbols. An email to tech support was answered promptly and with great attention to detail. The techies are REAL ENGINEERS, not some morons in monkey suits with a license to confuse and aggravate.

I mentioned before that the camera "itself" was easy to set up. That is true. What might be a bit challenging for some is the router configuration. I suggest while waiting for the camera to be delivered, brush up on your router's help files. Find the range of IP addresses your router is assigning to devices automatically, such as 192.168.1.25 through 192.168.1.125, because the IP address you choose to assign to the cam to make it a permanent host will be somewhere outside of that range. Also check to see if your router has the latest firmware. My Trendnet TEW-452BRP had a glitch with running DDNS updates, even if all the fields were input properly. This would have caused me great frustration had I not checked the website first.

If you want to access the cam from outside your LAN, then read up a little bit on DDNS. I'm using a free account from "no-ip.com" and there is a brief primer on using this service in the camera instruction manual. Check your router to see if it has an automatic function to update your current IP Address to a DDNS server. It doesn't have to, as your PC can do it for you automatically every time it boots with a free program you get after registering, but why not be redundant if you can? If you decide to set up DDNS so as to access the cam through WAN, then find out how to give the cam TCP and UDP privileges on a specified port number, typically using a function called "Virtual Server." Otherwise you would open "DMZ" or perhaps "Special AP" to give the cam connectivity rights.

Be warned that DMZ opens all ports, which might be dangerous. Special AP is for programs which require multiple connections that are blocked by NAT, so again that might be dangerous as well. Using Virtual Server only opens the ports necessary for functionality of this specific device, so it is the best way to punch that hole through the wall into the WWW. And remember, if you are restricting access to the router by use of MAC numbers, shut that off when first installing the cam or else you won't get it to connect. Later you can turn it back on.

None of this is rocket science, but if problems do occur, the Engineers at Sharx are competent and they are committed to not letting you fail. It even says so in the instruction manual!

Length:: 0:41 Mins

Sharx Security VIPcella-IR SCNC2607 Wifi Wireless 802.11 g Cell Phone enabled IP Network Camera with built-in Web Server, Microphone, Infrared and Moonlight Color Night Vision

If you are like us and many new parents, you may have purchased an inside-the-house video baby monitor - such as the Summer. In this day in age, however, an even better solution is one that works both inside your house AND outside your house on your cell phone or at work!

This Sharx SCNC2607 is amazing and perfect for our baby cam. Great picture during the day and absolutely awesome images at night when there is no light in the baby's room! This was exactly what I was looking for when looking at the more expensive solutions such as Axis, Sanyo, etc (which were going to cost me over $500!). I was concerned that the Sharx would be of lower quality but I've been very pleasantly surprised...

Here are some benefits we've found by having the Sharx SCNC2607:
1. When Daddy is at work, I can keep a small window of the baby's room on my screen to see my little girl whenever I have a spare minute!

2. We have the camera setup as an icon on Mommy's iPhone so she can easily click on the camera and view the baby's crib. Whenever Mommy is away (and the Nanny, Grandparents, or Daddy is watching the baby) she can view into the room and see her little girl. Even inside the house we found that Mommy carries her iPhone around with her and its more convenient to have 1 consolidated device rather than also carrying around the Summer receiver.

3. We setup the Grandparents with an secure account to be able to look into the webcam and see their granddaughter anytime... We actually turned off the audio though to ensure we maintain some privacy in our conversations within the baby's room :)...

4. Screen size using the Sharx and the iPhone is 2x the Summer screen and has a much larger viewing angle.

So how hard is this to setup? I'd rate it on the moderately technical side. If you have any experience setting up a wireless network at home then it should be a breeze but you need to configure some things in your router. You'll take the camera out of the box, plug it directly into the router, run their little IP Finder software, then go into the camera and setup passwords, user accounts, etc. On the router (I have a Linksys), you'll need to go to the Applications & Gaming tab and setup Port Forwarding so you can securely tunnel into your home network to see the camera. Not difficult but I can see how someone with no experience may struggle a bit. Good news is that the camera comes with one of the best installation guide's I've ever seen that walks you through it all and even gives you steps to setup your own URL (through DDNS).

There is one thing you should keep in mind when going with a webcam instead of an inside-the-house monitor - the webcam is a `passive' device. Meaning you need to go to the webcam on your iPhone to see the camera. The inside-the-house versions that are `always on' enables us to put the baby to bed and listen to the monitor when she wakes. You can enable audio on the webcam but you still need to have it up on the iPhone to hear it (and likely Mommy is doing Facebook, etc). If I were to do this over again, I would simply buy a cheaper audio-only inside-the-house monitor to hear when the baby wakes up and use the Sharx for the video whenever I want to see the baby. (Or I could go old school and just listen for the baby to cry but what type of a techno-daddy would I be then :)?)

I'll finish with the customer service I received by the guys at SecurCam. One word - fantastic. I first purchased the SCNC2602W. However, I didn't realize that this camera didn't work with my iPhone or non-Internet Explorer browsers. I contacted the folks at SecurCam and they explained the issue and very quickly helped me out by selling me the 2607 even before the product was officially launched! They've been awesome at responding to my technical issues, have a great online support setup, and flat-out great products. In the day in age where everyone is cutting back and outsourcing their support to overseas - these guys set a new standard in personalized support. I'd not only purchase additional cameras from them, but if they went into business on other items I would not hesitate to purchase them also. Keep up the great work guys!!!

The manual is very well written and easy to follow. I got streamed movies to my iphone in 30 minutes. However, the camera has very limited wireless range. The signal drops to 1 bar when my laptop still has 4 bars of signal. At this point, the image quality and frame rate deteriorate to almost unusable. The weakness seriously limits where you can install the camera and render the "wireless" part almost useless, because at such a short distance, you can probably wire the camera for better data transport and security. I am not impressed by the image qulity as well. In a well lit room, the color of image is purple-ish and blurry. On the other hand, the software appear to intuitive and stable. Simply put, nice software (including the manual) but mediocre hardware. At this price, I cannot say that the money is well spent.

Everyone needs to know that there are at least three versions of this camera floating around. There is, 1) this camera (Sharx SCNC2607), 2) Y-Cam Black SD, and 3) LTS LTCIP830MV-B. All three cameras are EXACTLY THE SAME. They are all the same camera (all the internal parts are the same), just re-branded. The only difference between them is PRICE. Sharx's camera costs around $300; the Y-Cam's camera costs around $285; and LTS's camera cost about $150. Newegg sells the LTS version for $150 + free shipping; I bought mine from an Altex store for $160. Y-Cam makes housing units for these for $100 if you want to mount them outdoors. So, there is absolutely no reason for anyone to pay more than $150-$170 for this camera.

You can download the firmware and software upgrades only from Y-Cam's website (which makes me believe that they are the original manufacturers of this product). On Y-Cam's site, click on "Downloads" on the left side. A page will load asking you to register; scroll down to where it says "Don't want to register?" and click the link to access the downloads. The firmware will be for the "Y-Cam Classic - 2nd Generation." From this page, you can also download the latest MultiLive program (free). MultiLive is the software bundled with the LTS version of this camera (I assume it's also bundled with the Sharx and Y-Cam version too). When I upgraded my camera's firmware to 3.38, it kept all my wifi , detection, and other settings, so that was nice.

For $160 (what I paid for the LTS version), this was an excellent buy. I don't think you can get any better than that. The night vision is great compared to any other sub-$200 IP Camera. The WIFI range is also good. I have the camera mounted outside above a floodlight on the front of my garage (12 or 13 feet above the ground) while my router is at the other end of the house, about 50 feet away. The camera gets about 2 bars of signal strength, which is good for that far away considering how many walls it's communicating through, and the picture is still great.

The web interface is on spot for a $160 camera. You can adjust everything from the light frequency, microphone volume, 11 different streaming modes, on-screen display (if you want the time and date displayed on the picture), nightvision settings, etc. There also a plethora of options for motion detection, alarms, and automated scheduling. You can set it up to automatically upload videos and pictures to an FTP server or other off-site location, and email you when an alarm is triggered. You can also set up different areas on the screen with different Motion Detection thresholds and sensitivities. For instance, if you have this mounted above your driveway, you can configure the camera to make your entire driveway super sensative with a low tolerance for movement (to monitor for intruders wanting to break into your car or garage), and you can configure the sidewalk and street to have a lower sensitivity and higher movement tolerance (to prevent false alarms triggered from random cars driving by or neighbors walking on the sidewalk).

The MultiLive software that comes bundled with it does a pretty good job too, though I'm sure that there are more advanced professional versions for commercial use. But for home use MultiLive is good enough. MultiLive knows when the camera sets off an alarm, and it immediately starts recording and saving the video to my computer. A one-minute video takes up about 5.4MB of space. That's with the highest quality setting the camera can handle. MultiLive allows you to specify how long you want it to record video whenever an alarm is triggered. For instance, I have it set to record for 15 seconds whenever an alarm is triggered. That way if false alarms occur during the night (which they do every few minutes thanks to my motion sensor floodlights turning on whenever a bug flies in front of it) then you won't be using up too much disk space for false alarms.

The picture quality is pretty good for a 640x480 resolution picture. There is some low-light ISO graininess when recording in low-light indoor settings. The night vision picture quality is okay. Not the worst, but not the best. For me, the picture is a bit washed out. The edges of one of my cars blends in to the dark ground and is hard to see. But that may be because I have a 20w CFL lightbulb turned on all night lighting up the driveway.

This camera is really for indoor-use only. However, I have it mounted outside anyways. I sealed the edges of the lens and shell of the camera with clear silicone, so we'll see how well it holds up. Alternatively, you can order an outdoor housing unit for it for $100 from Y-Cam's website.

The web interface works best with Internet Explorer. It does work in Firefox, but it's a little glitchy, and the camera doesn't display in Firefox. I haven't tried a Mac or in Google Chrome yet.

Pair this camera up with a router that supports dyndns accounts, and you can view your camera from any internet connection.

I'll update this post as I use this camera more.

I purchased Sharx SCNC2607 camera for home security, so I needed it to be easy to set up, reliable, have good image quality, and work in all lighting conditions. I have tried similar cameras from other major manufacturers, and none of them work near as well as the Sharx. I normally write very brief reviews, but this one is worth a deeper look:

Setup:

First, when I unpacked the camera, I found a very thorough 44 page instruction manual that came with the camera, and it was all in English (how often do you find that these days?). I followed the setup steps which are simple. Plug the camera into a wired network connection, figure out what IP address the camera is (use the software included on the disk to do that), open internet explorer, and http to the camera. I did have to disable the windows firewall, as it was causing the video to be disconnected after a short period of time (same thing happened on other brand cameras). Once I did that, I never had another problem. My first impressions of the video quality were holy cow, this is really good quality compared to other brands.

Included Software:

The included software is pretty decent, especially considering the price point of this camera. This is not a professional megabuck camera, so I wasn't expecting professional grade software. It allows viewing and management of up to 4 cameras at the same time, is pretty easy to use, and ran on my XP Pro computer without a hitch. You can set recording schedules, motion detection, max file sizes, and supposedly max amount of disk space to use. There was no help menus or documentation provided for the Multi-Live software, so you are on your own for this. Fortunately, it is pretty intuitive. I played around with max file sizes, limiting them to 2mb each. I did this so that in the event of a break-in, the files would break on about 30 second intervals. I have my security computer mirroring files to a hidden NAS device elsewhere on my network every 30 seconds, so if someone were to break in and take the computer, there is a pretty good chance the video would be copied to the other drive by then. Anyway, the only problem I found with Multi-Live is that it does not seem to limit how much space it will write for video files. In other words, if you are not monitoring your hard drive, it looks like it will just fill it up until the computer locks up due to no free space. I have an email into tech support on this issue. Other than that, I noted that you must have the Multi-Live software running in order to record video. You can also record video on motion detection with just the camera, and not install the Multi-Live software, but I also found that you must have an Internet Explorer window open, and be pointed to the IP address of the camera (have it on-screen). If you do not have an IE window open, or the Multi-Live software running, the camera will not record video. I was hoping for a direct feed to a NAS device, but this is not currently supported (tech support says it is in the works, but a fairly low priority). Again, not a deal-breaker, but a nice to have option.

Micro-SD card:

This camera has a micro-SD card slot in the bottom, which allows you to also record to the memory card at the same time as to a computer, or by itself with no computer. You can set continuous recording in specified segment lengths, or on motion detection. This works well, except for some unexpected behavior I noted. I was anticipating that when the memory card got full, the oldest files would be over-written by the new files, thereby keeping the most recent video on the card. Instead what happened for me is that as the card got full, the camera kept recording (or so I thought), and wrote 5 zero byte files. Once it figured out the card was full, the camera went offline for about a minute, while it erased the entire card, and then started recording again. It should be noted that the camera was offline not only for the memory card, but also for the Multi-Live software, and IE browser windows. In a nutshell, you better hope the card doesn't get filled up during a break-in, because you would lose everything, and have a minute or so while the camera was down. I had a 32mb (very small) card that I was testing, and got about 10 minutes of video at max resolution. The instructions indicate it will support up to an 8gb card, but don't state what type of card to buy (micro-SDHC I would presume, and nothing indicated about what class of card to buy). This is the only part of the owners manual that was lacking on documentation. As another reviewer indicated, there is zero information on their web site in the form of FAQ's or additional guidance. Fortunately, they have excellent and very responsive tech support. I emailed them Labor Day weekend on Saturday, and got a response within 1 hour. On a Saturday! It appears their tech support are actually well-educated in the product, are not located in India, and provide thorough responses. I only wish they would document their info on their web site in the form of FAQ's or a knowledgebase.

Performance of Camera in Low Light:

I tried this camera in all lighting conditions, from a well lit room, to zero light, and everything in between. Out of the box, the camera is set to go into night vision mode when the light is very low. It also goes into black and white mode when very dark. The quality of the images in a well lit room are outstanding. No graininess, good color, and it captures motion pretty well. In a low light situation, the camera goes into a moonlight mode, which cuts the frame rate by a factor of 4, and increases light amplification by a factor of 4. The result is very good image quality, but reduced frame rate. I think this is a great compromise. In a no-light situation, the infrared LED's come on to provide light for the camera. They glow a dull red, so someone would be able to spot the camera in a dark room. The video switches to black and white, and is of surprisingly good quality. The LED's provide good light for the camera out to about 15 to 20 feet. Plenty enough for even a pretty big room, but I would not expect this to work facing outside a window, into your driveway or yard. The manual states that the window would reflect the infrared light, and blind the camera. The video in night vision mode is good quality and clearly defined. The frame rate also appears to be cut down in night vision mode, as motion is not captured well. However, for a consumer grade camera, this works as good as I would ever expect it to. Very acceptable performance, and much better than anything else I have found on the market.

Other Thoughts:

I plan on buying more of these when the budget allows. The camera provides excellent quality video, is easy to set up, works well (albeit with a couple small caveats as noted above), and the tech support is outstanding (the clincher for me). Do not waste your time on other brand cameras. They did not work well for me in most respects. For me, if Sharx fixed the issue with the SD card, and fixed the issue of the camera consuming your entire hard drive when recording, it would be a near perfect camera. Otherwise, I rate it very good to excellent. I would have given it 4 stars, but the quick response by tech support on 3 occasions moves it up for me. On something technical like this camera, you need a company with good tech support. Sharx excels at this in my mind.

UPDATE:

Per Sharx' tech support, they can resolve the issue of the camera erasing all files on the micro-SD card once it is full, and have only the older ones roll off. I had no choice but to give them my login information to my camera, and have them update it remotely. Not my preference, but they did the update quickly. I am still testing the issue of recording to the micro-SD card. For some reason, the camera seems to lock up and shut down when recording continuously to the card. However, I was testing it using a 32mb card. Sharx tech support says they only currently support 1-4gb cards. This may be the issue. More to follow.

Overall review:
Excellent product. I have recommended to family and friends
I would give it five stars if one issue with short blanks in the video could be corrected (under Video section). I have not found a camera that isn't significantly more expensive than the SCNC2606 or SCNC2607 that would receive 5 stars.
If you are considering saving money by purchasing the SCNC2606, please keep in mind it does not have good low light capability and will not work at night or possibly evenings.

My setup:
SCNC2006 and SCNC2007 running firmware 3.39
The software was installed on a computer running Windows XP
I am using a Linksys by Cisco wireless router WRT320N
I viewed the cameras remotely on another computer running Windows XP and another running Windows 2000
I also view the cameras remotely using my Droid X phone


Hardware:
The camera hardware was fairly robust with a sturdy housing measuring about 3.25" by 3.25".
The infrared illuminators occupy an area about 2" diameter on the face of the housing, with the camera lens in the middle.
A detachable antenna protrudes from the top of the camera 4.5", although it does have a joint in it that allows it to be turned 90 degrees.
A metal base is included with a ball and socket joint that allows the camera to be rotated from side to side and pitched up (but not down from straight ahead).
The power cable is about 10 feet long, which allows the camera to be mounted quite a distance from an outlet. The power cable on other security cameras is not so long.
Also included is a short ethernet cable for setup, but if you have a wireless network it won't be needed after the setup.


Software:
MultiLive software is included for recording videos onto a computer on the same network. Installation is easy. The software is fairly straightforward and easy to use. You can record video from multiple cameras simultaneously using MultiLive. See more below under section titled "Computer Recording (MultiLive Software)"


Setup:
A printed, 56 page instruction manual is included with the camera. Don't let the length of the manual scare you. It is written in great detail so that anyone can install the camera. It was also clearly written in English first, not a foreign language poorly translated into English. The manual leads you through all the steps to get the camera fully functional, including wireless network setup, adjusting camera settings, allowing access to your camera from the internet with a password, setting up a free DDNS for remote viewing, night vision settings, emails, ftp uploads, recording to a micro-SD card, recording video on a computer, and viewing videos from a smart phone.

I consider myself moderately skilled with technology and the installation was not difficult. It took me about 4 hours one evening to do the complete setup, and maybe an hour or two over the course of a week to make final tweaks to settings.

The camera supports WPA2, as well as WPA and WEP for wireless security, with password lengths from 8 to 63 characters long.

In the camera setup you can create a schedule by day (Monday through Sunday) and time (12:00 am through 11:59 pm) for when to send email alerts. So if you plan to be out of the house between 8 and 5 Monday through Friday, you can set the schedule for that.

The tech support for Sharx is essentially only through email. They do not provide a phone number to call, only an email address. This certainly concerned me, with all the setup difficulties I had previously with cameras from other manufacturers. However, they are extremely prompt and very thorough in their responses. They usually responded within 15 minutes of my email, even after normal business hours (but don't assume this will be the case - I'm sure they want to go home as much as everyone). I only had to email them a few times, and never required a phone call to explain what I was having trouble with (mostly setup on my Droid X). In the event that you are truly stuck, they say they will call you when both parties are available.


Operation Overview:
Once you get the camera set up as you want, it basically needs no effort from the user.

The camera detects motion based on detecting a difference in video. It does not matter if that difference is just due to a pet, or the reflection of a car headlight through a window at night. The motion sensitivity settings, including threshold to register as a change and sectors within the viewing window to evaluate for changes, can also be adjusted during setup. You can adjust it so that a person walking in front of the camera will be considered "motion", but clouds breaking the sunlight and thus changing the lighting conditions of the room slightly will not be considered "motion".

When the camera detects motion, it will send an email with a picture of what it sees and it will start recording video.

Videos can be recorded to either a MicroSD card installed in the camera (sold separately) or to a computer on the same network using the provided MultiLive software. The camera can also transmit videos stored on the MicroSD to an FTP site. See more details under "Computer Recording (MultiLive Software)", "MicroSD Recording" and "FTP Recording".

If you get an email from the camera, you can log onto the free DDNS website you created to see the live video from the camera. When viewing live video you also have streaming audio, so you can hear if someone is in your house. However, there is some random "noise" with this - you might hear a knock or bang that isn't actually there.

If you are trying to view the live video from your cell phone, but don't have a strong network connection, another option is to view the continuously updated photos. These are uploaded every few seconds and are nice if you don't have a strong network connection on your phone and can't view the video.

If you don't see or hear anything going on, but want to see what triggered the camera, you can also log onto the camera's settings and download the recorded video (assuming you're recording onto a MicroSD card).


Video:
The recorded video quality is pretty good. The quality is probably good enough to identify someone if they are within 10 to 15 feet of the camera. However, if they move very fast or if they never face the camera, this may be more difficult. I recommend placing the camera so that it points towards where an intruder will slow down to pick stuff up and possibly face the camera.

The transmitted video quality is decent on a phone, although probably not good enough to identify someone. The transmitted video is usually a lower frame-rate than the recorded video so you can watch over a cell phone service's wireless network, but this can be adjusted in the setup.

There is a slight delay between a change in the scene (motion detection) and when the recording begins, but this is less than a second.

The cameras have auto-exposure and adjust to changing light conditions during the day and early evening.

The video recorded when in night vision mode is obviously not in full color with somewhat reduced quality. It is still good enough to see if someone is in your house and all your stuff is still there (or not).

The video frame-rate and resolution are both adjustable in the camera setup, as is the length of the video clips recorded. Each clip will be stored as a separate file.

I have found that some slight blanks in video (sometimes up to 2 or 3 seconds long) do occur and sometimes frequently. This is both on transmitted and recorded videos. I have not found a solution to this issue and was told by Sharx that the cameras may not be capable of recording at the resolution and frame-rate that I chose without causing this issue. Unfortunately, I want the resolution and frame-rate in case I need to identify someone using the video evidence. I can live with this, but this is definitely an area for improvement.


Motion Detection Notifications (emails):
The cameras are very good at detecting motion without being disturbed by slight changes in lighting. You can easily adjust these settings so that it will trigger when you want it to. I've only had a few false alarms (a couple times heavy clouds blocking the sun did trigger it, a fly flew in front of the camera once, and a piece of plastic film fell off my TV).

When the camera detects motion, it will send an email with a picture of what it sees. Overall this works very well. There have been several times that I have come home early and forgot to disable the email option on the cameras and received a picture message on my phone shortly after walking in the front door.

You don't need an email client on your home computer, and you don't even need a computer at all. The camera contacts your mail server, for example a free Gmail account, and instructs it to send an email on your behalf. You can program the camera to send emails to 3 different email addresses. These email addresses can also be those assigned by your mobile phone provider so that you can receive picture messages on your cell phone, even non-smart phones.

While a change in the video scene will trigger an email alert, sounds will not. So even if you can hear people talking on the live video, unless something changes in the visual scene in front of the camera, you won't get an email.


Remote Viewing (via PC):
Remote viewing from a PC works very well. The video and sound come through pretty good, although the video will likely not be at the same quality and frame-rate as the recorded video.

You can log onto your camera using the camera's external IP address or you can use DDNS to help you remember a name instead of a numeric IP address to see live video or still images continuously updated (every few seconds). The free DDNS service I used for remote viewing, no-ip.com, works very well. Sharx recommends no-ip.com along with [...]. Both provide free accounts, but they do require you to log in at least once a month to let them know you're still using the free account.

DDNS should only be installed on one camera for an entire network. If you install it on more than one camera, there will be too many updates and the DDNS provider will block the free account. With one hostname (updated by one camera) you can access up to 252 devices on your network, just by using the different port numbers.

When logging on remotely you can also adjust the settings of the camera. This is helpful for a few reasons. If you come home from work early and need to disable the email alerts, you can adjust the schedule before you leave work. Also, if you receive an email alert, but watch the live video and don't see anything, you can access the MicroSD card and watch the video of what motion the camera detected. You also have the capability to adjust the motion detection sensitivity, but I would not recommend this without being there to test in person.


Remote Viewing (via smart phone):
Remote viewing from my Droid X works very well. The video and sound come through pretty clearly, but again the video quality isn't the best.

Basically, everything that I wrote for the PC Remote Viewing applies to the smart phone remote viewing.

I created bookmarks on my phone's browser to access each camera's video as well as the main setup menu for each camera. When selecting a camera's video bookmark, I have to then click on the live video button "3GPP Live", the continuously updated photos button "Picture Live" or "Setting" button. The main setup menu bookmark takes me to all the setting I can adjust, such as schedule and motion detection sensitivity.

I've only experienced a few issues with watching the videos over my Droid X.
1) When I added the second camera it seems to have some issues processing logins for multiple cameras. My phone kept giving me an error that the video could not be displayed. This may have to do with password processing on the Droid X. I finally figured out how to overcome this pretty easily and quickly. I go to the video bookmark and select "setting", then click on the "back" button. This takes me back to where I can select the video button "3GPP Live". This then takes me to the live video and only takes another couple seconds to complete.
2) When trying to access the MicroSD card from your phone, it is very slow. The phone is trying to evaluate a lot of information, so it makes sense this might take a while.
3) The last issue is just bandwidth on the phone's network connection. If you're in a poor service area, you're not going to be able to view live video.


Computer Recording (MultiLive Software):
I found that recording to a computer was unstable. I never could determine if the network connection was lost, if the router was overwhelmed, or a problem with the software or computer, but I frequently came home from work to find the computer had stopped recording. When this happened, the only way to restore the connection between the camera and the recording computer was to power off the camera then turn it back on. Recording onto a computer also required the computer to be on 24-7. An additional concern with this is that if someone breaks into your house, it's very possible they will steal a computer, taking all your video evidence of the break-in with them.


MicroSD Recording:
Recording onto the MicroSD card works well.

The card has to be 1 GB or larger, and from one of these 4 brands: SanDisk, Lexar, PNY, Kingston. Both MicroSD and MicroSDHC work fine.

If the card is ever filled, the camera will automatically over-write the oldest files first.

You can adjust the recording rate over a very wide range (over 100:1). With typical settings, you can record 24 hours at medium resolution (320x240) with a 2 GB MicroSD card, or 60 minutes of high resolution motion detection recording per GB.

If you want to adjust the frames per second, it is adjustable from about 2500 kbits/sec to 20 kbits /sec. For kilobytes instead of kilobits, divide by 8.

If the camera is powered off while it is recording a video, the video file may be corrupted. Consider this when selecting the video clip lengths in the setup.


FTP Recording:
I haven't actually used FTP recording, so I can't comment on how well it works.
Here's what I do know about it:

With the addition of a MicroSD card (1 GB or larger) the camera can automatically transfer the video or snapshots from the card to a standalone hard drive that has the FTP server feature. No software is involved, no computer involved, just directly from the camera through your router to your hard drive, such as the MyBook World Edition. If your drive does not have the FTP server feature it wouldn't work, so it's important to check. NetGear ReadyNAS will work too, Apple Time Capsule won't because it doesn't have FTP and is always dependent on a Mac to be connected.


Night vision
The night vision capability of the camera is pretty good. The video is not the best quality and is in black and white, but is sufficient for determining if someone is in the area in front of the camera. Sharx claims the SCNC2607 can use its infrared night vision to see in total darkness up to 35 ft, which I believe is probably true. The infrared illuminators light up the room nicely.

I highly recommend buying the SCNC2607 over the SCNC2606, unless you don't care about the camera working in the evening or night, or if you have good lighting in the room 24x7. The low-light capability of the SCNC2606 is poor.

The night vision does have three minor issues:
1) The camera lacks an optical filter to remove colors not seen by the human eye, sometimes changing the colors in the video when in daytime mode. This only happens in some lighting conditions and with some materials. In the daylight the colors on my camera look pretty good. Even when the colors are somewhat modified, it shouldn't prevent you from identifying an intruder.
2) The infrared illuminators do transmit some visible light (red). It's not very bright, but in a totally dark room you can definitely see them. This could be an issue if an intruder saw this and found the camera.
3) The infrared illuminators also may attract bugs when this is the only light source in a dark room. I keep a clean house, but there have been at least two occasions when I received a message from my camera that it detected motion in the middle of the night. Upon reviewing the recorded video, I see what appears to be a small bug flying across the camera, brightly illuminated by the infrared illuminators. Not a big deal, but something to keep in mind so you don't freak out if the camera alerts you to motion in the middle of the night.


Wireless:
The wireless range on the camera is pretty good. I have my wireless router located in one room with the cameras in other rooms. The signal from one camera has to penetrate two brick walls to reach the router, but still manages to do it.

Here's what Sharx told me on the wireless range:
Wireless range depends on what's between the router and the camera. In a typical US wood frame/sheet rock home with wood or vinyl siding you can go up 2 floors or 2 rooms over. If your router is centrally located in a 3 story home you can get good reception everywhere provided you don't have lots of metal furniture. If there was no obstruction, like outside line of sight or a very big hall, you can get over 150 ft.
General guideline - If you take your laptop to the location where you'd want to use the camera, and if your laptop can get 50% signal strength from your router, then you should be okay. However, if your laptop has trouble getting a signal from your router before you even buy one of our cameras, then buying a camera won't magically cure your existing wireless networking problems.

I would like to point out two potential issues relating to any wireless connections:
1) Interference - If there are a lot wireless devices in your area (apartment building) or you use a cordless home phone you can have interference in the wireless network.
2) Dropouts - Whether the cause is the camera or the router, wireless networks can lose connection. This has happened to me a few times (not many) in several months. I recommend verifying the connection every week by checking if you can still see live video remotely. If the camera loses connection to the network, it will still record any video, but it will not send you an email when it detects motion. When the network connection is lost, just pull the power plug, wait a few seconds, then plug it back in.


Pros (most of which are very important):
Pretty good video quality
Fairly good sound quality
Motion detection works very well
Motion detection emails with pictures is very reassuring when away
Night vision is effective for determining if an intruder is present or if your belongings have been disturbed
Remote viewing of live video from a computer or smart phone is great
Remote viewing of recorded videos is helpful
Recording options are good (MicroSD card or possibly FTP, not so much for the networked computer).
Wireless network connection allows you to place the camera anywhere within a reasonable distance of a router without running cables
Setup is easy compared to other wireless network cameras


Cons (most of which are minor issues):
Wireless connection can be lost (true for any wireless device)
If an intruder steals the camera and you only record onto the MicroSD Card they take the evidence with them
Video blanks for up to 2 or 3 seconds, sometimes frequently
Slight delay from motion detection to start of recording
Random noise in viewing live video
Infrared illuminators are visibly red and may attract insects
Power turned off during recording may corrupt that video file
More difficult to hide than 2606 model, due to infrared illuminators

We've recently had some trouble with neighborhood kids setting off acid bombs and we wanted to try and catch the hooligans in the act. I did quite a bit of research on outdoor cameras, but all of them required coax wiring and AC wiring to the mount point. It just wasn't worth the effort, especially given the high price. That's when I found the Sharx SCNC2607.

I was a little apprehensive about spending so much money for this camera, but I was swayed by the many great reviews. I have to say that I'm impressed by the feature set of this little guy, and the image quality is outstanding.

Because I want to keep an eye on the front of the house, I have this camera mounted with 3M Command Strips and pointed out my home office window. During the daylight hours, this works incredibly well. However, once darkness hits and the IR kicks in, the reflection of the IR illuminators on the window make night vision completely unusable. This isn't a problem specific to this camera. All IR cameras pointed out of a window experience the same problem. I have chosen to solve that by purchasing an IR illuminator (about $60) that I have put in the front of the house. This works incredibly well and I can see quite clearly at night. The IR illuminator looks like a bright spotlight shining out into the yard when viewed through the Sharx, but it's invisible to the human eye.

The only other minor issue I've encountered is that the ActiveX control used to view the video in Internet Explorer will cause IE to crash if you change a lot of settings while watching the camera. Fortunately, IE recovers well from this and the tab is recovered and video continues. The only reason I mention it is that there doesn't appear to be any servicing path for the software (downloadable updates), so it's hard to know if these types of problems will be addressed. However, it's not a big deal since once you configure all of your settings, there's really no need to reconfigure anything. Therefore, no stars knocked for this.

You can use Windows Media Player or QuickTime Player to view video on the camera as well. If you're on Windows 7 or Windows Vista and you're using WMP, you'll need to disable audio on the camera due to a licensing issue with the audio codec necessary to play audio. On QuickTime, you'll want to disable 3D acceleration in QuickTime preferences. URLs also differ based on what you're using to view the camera. You can view the URL for any stream by clicking links when you are setting up streaming.

You can also use third-party software to record video and watch more than one camera, assuming you aren't happy with the MultiLive application that ships with the camera. I am using LuxRiot to record video, and even though it doesn't list Sharx specifically as a supported camera, the SCNC2607 puts out a standard stream that LuxRiot can easily consume and use.

If you're looking for high-quality hardware in a security camera that has the flexibility to meet your needs as they evolve, this is a great choice! You definitely get what you pay for in this arena, and this camera is one that I highly recommend.

I've been very pleased with the Sharx camera and its performance. After running the Sharx camera for a few weeks, I've also discovered a lot about IR cameras, wireless cameras, and the Sharx itself.

I thought I'd share this here as it might save you some time with your own decisions. There were some unexpected issues I encountered, but this is more related to IR & wireless technologies than to this camera.

Quick Background on my set-up:
I purchased this camera when looking to set up a system to monitor my home for security purposes. I live in a dark neighborhood, and was looking for a solution that was web-enabled. After searching for the right products, I liked all the features the Sharx offered and bought 1 of them, for its IR & wireless capability. I also purchased two D-Link DCS920 Wireless-G Internet Camera ($85 ea.).

---------Sharx Camera Pros---------
1) Good manual, with excellent explanations and walkthroughs (you can tell Sharx is a small shop by the detail in the manual)
2) Fairly easy setup. I had it running in a few minutes.
3) Nice day-time detail in the images the camera creates
4) Web-access is awesome. We love being able to check the front door image from anywhere, by connecting to the camera's web server.
5) I can also use my iPhone from anywhere to check the real-time video.
6) the wireless connectivity performed well for me
7) the camera's software is stable - I haven't had to reset the camera.

---------Sharx Camera Cons---------
1) Price is high! But the camera does have a lot of value in IR/nightvision, its integration with web software, size, wireless support, etc...
2) Probably not so easy to set up if you're not technical. Have someone help you.


So, that's what I can pin on the camera. But, since you would be purchasing a *Wireless IR* camera, there are a few things you should know first.

---------IR Cameras Can Be Tricky!!---------
1) IR cameras don't see in "normal" colors. For instance, blues and greens and up looking purple. Think about a security scenario in which someone robbed your home. Cops ask, "What color was his jacket?". You'd say, "Purple!". Well, you don't really know the true color of that jacket. In that sense, this camera won't help you.
2) You _cannot_ point an IR camera out a window and expect it to see outside that window. The IR illuminators will reflect off the glass, blinding the camera. To get pictures at night you will need to mount the camera outside. (in a safe, dry place)
3) Nightvision can only see so far, and that's limited by how far the IR illuminators project. In my installation, it's about 10-15 feet from the camera.

---------Wireless Cameras May Not Be Your Solution---------
This camera did fine in relatively perfect wireless conditions: 1 wireless camera, and not much interference from neighbors.

But, If you are thinking about setting up more than 1 wireless camera, then you are asking for trouble. Wireless technology is not great at streaming video. I ran into issues with 2 cameras, which started to degrade video performance very quickly. 3 cameras was terrible, and the video was so bad I couldn't rely on it for security purposes. Again, not the fault of the Sharx.

Wireless is __GREAT__ for not having to hard-wire cameras to your network, which can be a pain. But, it's just not reliable like a wired connection. Additionally, the video quality on a wired network isn't an issue at all, with more than 1 camera.

---------Compared to the D-Link DCS920--------- D-Link DCS920 Wireless-G Internet Camera
The DCS920 is cheap, does not support IR, and is fairly reliable.
Well, the DCS920 isn't a bad day-time camera, if the sun is out. But the biggest hindrance to this camera is its inability to see in low light. It's pretty bad. It does not have IR, but it still has a lot of trouble at dusk or when most folks would think this camera *should* be able to deliver some sort of image. But other than that, it's a fine camera for the price. I use this camera in coordination with the Sharx, as it serves as a day-time camera that actually sees in true-color (unlike the Sharx).


---------Summary---------
Overall, the Sharx is simply better quality in all aspects. Is it $200 better? For me, yeah.

Think of the Sharx as a high-end, does-it-all camera. It's got wireless, IR, a built-in web server, authentication, mobile phone access, and microphone, all-in-one. Pretty cool!

After trying different crummy baby monitors out there, switched to this and we love it. The picture quality is great, and the setup was very easy. The manual is very detailed and walks you through much more than you will need to know.

I would recommend to anyone that you read the directions on your router and assign the camera a reserved IP address - what that means is that anytime the camera is turned on, your router will always give it the same IP address, say it is 192.168.0.10 - then in any web browser on your network, all you do is type in "http://192.168.0.10" and hit enter, then when you get to the camera Save that page as a Bookmark. Then drag that bookmark to your desktop and voila at any time you just double-click that icon and instantly you are looking at what your camera sees.

When you first setup a reserved IP by the way you will need to first connect the camera to the router, then in the router settings find it under Connected Devices (or however that is worded in your router), and write down the Mac ID (00:24:F4:.....) those digits, then plug those into the reserved IP section and name your camera something like Sharx1 or such. Most devices you buy tell you the Mac ID somewhere on the box or on the back of the device, this does not so you have to dig it up.

In an iPod touch (I have that but not an iPhone), if you do also then open safari, type in the same address as above and get to where you can see the camera (iPods can see but will not have sound so you know), hit Save to Main Page and then you permantly can just hit that icon as well and boom are right in. (These directions are for when you are at home on the same network, enabling from when you are away from home is covered in the manual).

It's a very nifty device, I would give it 5 stars except I also seem to have trouble with the wireless from just a few rooms away from the router, seems it needs to be very close for wireless to work, I was ok because our house has Cat6 outlets everywhere so I just plugged it in and with that there are no issues, but be warned if you have to have wireless you will need to be somewhat in a near proximity to the router to work right from what I can tell so far.

I would not be discouraged from this though, the built in web server is such a great feature and it is sooooooo much better than anything else I have tried on the market, I would recommend anytime and am in fact going to add a 2nd one soon.