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Linksys WVC54GCA Webcam 640x480 802.11G Wireless Internet Home Monitoring Camera
See it at Amazon.com for $98.99Average Customer Rating
(3.0 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
Most Helpful First | Newest First | + Share2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Don't Buy this Camera
(1 out of 5) by John W. Babiak on Feb 8, 2009 (www.westfalia.org)I gave it one star because Amazon doesn't allow zero stars for a product.
This camera is pretty much useless for a couple of reasons.
1) It tends to freeze up and the only way to get it started again is to unplug it for a few seconds or so.
In my case, since the idea was to use this to remotely monitor my condo while I am away the only solution was to buy a timer that turns the camera off and on once every 24 hours "in case" it's frozen.
2) The motion detection activates for no reason whatsoever. It seems that the video image generated by the camera causes a shift in the image brightness. The motion detection software thinks that it has detected movement and you get an email with pictures of the scene. A few minutes later the same thing happens and it sends you another and another and another. Adjusting sensitivity from one extreme to another does absolutely nothing.
I checked the Linksys support forums and these are both common problems with no solutions.
I can't believe that Linksys (Cisco) would ship such a product. I'm also surprised that there have been no comments by Linksys on their forums in response to the problems. Also there has been no firmware update. It's still at 1.0 for this product.
Although the price is great, I'd suggest that you stay away at least until they upgrade the firmware.
This camera is pretty much useless for a couple of reasons.
1) It tends to freeze up and the only way to get it started again is to unplug it for a few seconds or so.
In my case, since the idea was to use this to remotely monitor my condo while I am away the only solution was to buy a timer that turns the camera off and on once every 24 hours "in case" it's frozen.
2) The motion detection activates for no reason whatsoever. It seems that the video image generated by the camera causes a shift in the image brightness. The motion detection software thinks that it has detected movement and you get an email with pictures of the scene. A few minutes later the same thing happens and it sends you another and another and another. Adjusting sensitivity from one extreme to another does absolutely nothing.
I checked the Linksys support forums and these are both common problems with no solutions.
I can't believe that Linksys (Cisco) would ship such a product. I'm also surprised that there have been no comments by Linksys on their forums in response to the problems. Also there has been no firmware update. It's still at 1.0 for this product.
Although the price is great, I'd suggest that you stay away at least until they upgrade the firmware.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Easy to use
(5 out of 5) by William E. Kline on Nov 19, 2008 (Brighton, MI)Purchased the Linksys WVC54GCA a few days ago to be able to monitor the dogs/dogsitter when we travel. I followed the installation instructions very carefully and it was extremely easy to install and worked flawlessly. The picture quality over the internet is very good and bright. I am able to access it with any of the browsers that I use (internet explorer, Firefox and safari (IPOD touch)). It was so easy to install and works so well that I plan to add a second camera. Highly recommend this product.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Excellent for mac
(5 out of 5) by Juan Vallejo on Aug 24, 2008 (Miami, FL United States)After lots of research over the web, I decided to buy this camera for my surveillance system at home.
I own a Mac, decision was not easy, because my restrictions...seems that to PC is much easier...anyhow, my requirements are:
Need to be wireless
Support MPEG
Color Camera
Compatible with iMac (securityspy software)
Finally I bought four of them...product is excellent for my needs. It is not as expensive as AXIS that starts at 200 and up... for 100 is definately the cameras I was looking for.
I am planning on buying two more cameras!
I own a Mac, decision was not easy, because my restrictions...seems that to PC is much easier...anyhow, my requirements are:
Need to be wireless
Support MPEG
Color Camera
Compatible with iMac (securityspy software)
Finally I bought four of them...product is excellent for my needs. It is not as expensive as AXIS that starts at 200 and up... for 100 is definately the cameras I was looking for.
I am planning on buying two more cameras!
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
DETAILED overview: firmware- software updates slow, support forum ludicrous, RTSP not as expected, otherwise decent
(4 out of 5) by Federalist One on Jan 31, 2009If interacting with your router is frightening this is not the product you are looking for.
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included software cd NOT required to setup camera!
Amazon shipped this with firmware R24 which is the latest to date so it is also likely the latest hardware.
The RTSP feature does not play well with VLC (VideoLAN), MPlayer, or NetTransport *especially* with authentication enabled in the camera.
Claims to be RTSP multicast capable.
do NOT pay to use TZO. Use a router (firmware) that allows use of a free dDNS provider like DynDNS. OpenWRT, DD-WRT, and tomato are excellent router firmware choices for this purpose. Or rely upon an always-on client to update/publish your public IPA.
No problem accessing the camera within LAN. Expect heavy trauma if behind two NATs from WAN side (camera connected physically via wireless bridge for example) .. though this will heavily depend on the type of router(s) you use and their respective firmware
Video streams inside firefox3 without hideous activeX kludge
If you have tweaked ConnTrack UDP for SIP you might experience added fun with this camera.
For least pain change the camera's default web port to other than 80
Master saintly patience before seeking support from linksys (forum)
Either assign a static IP address outside your DHCP scope manually within the camera config or set a DHCP reservation (by camera MAC).
WPA/WPA2 supports *only* TKIP and NOT AES. It will play well if your router/AP offers TKIP/AES (mix)
capable of 640x480 @ 30fps
This is a COLOR camera. if you want better low light performance find yourself a B&W camera.
I expected it to use a broadcom chipset as it's from cisco/linksys. It does not seem to support either AfterBurner or Frame Burst.
Do not expect this .. or much of anything else .. to play well with vista or windows 7.
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[...]
------------------
included software cd NOT required to setup camera!
Amazon shipped this with firmware R24 which is the latest to date so it is also likely the latest hardware.
The RTSP feature does not play well with VLC (VideoLAN), MPlayer, or NetTransport *especially* with authentication enabled in the camera.
Claims to be RTSP multicast capable.
do NOT pay to use TZO. Use a router (firmware) that allows use of a free dDNS provider like DynDNS. OpenWRT, DD-WRT, and tomato are excellent router firmware choices for this purpose. Or rely upon an always-on client to update/publish your public IPA.
No problem accessing the camera within LAN. Expect heavy trauma if behind two NATs from WAN side (camera connected physically via wireless bridge for example) .. though this will heavily depend on the type of router(s) you use and their respective firmware
Video streams inside firefox3 without hideous activeX kludge
If you have tweaked ConnTrack UDP for SIP you might experience added fun with this camera.
For least pain change the camera's default web port to other than 80
Master saintly patience before seeking support from linksys (forum)
Either assign a static IP address outside your DHCP scope manually within the camera config or set a DHCP reservation (by camera MAC).
WPA/WPA2 supports *only* TKIP and NOT AES. It will play well if your router/AP offers TKIP/AES (mix)
capable of 640x480 @ 30fps
This is a COLOR camera. if you want better low light performance find yourself a B&W camera.
I expected it to use a broadcom chipset as it's from cisco/linksys. It does not seem to support either AfterBurner or Frame Burst.
Do not expect this .. or much of anything else .. to play well with vista or windows 7.
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[...]
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
Linksys WVC54GCA Wireless-G internet home monitoring camera
(1 out of 5) by John Tauber on Oct 31, 2008 (B.C. Canada)I unpackaged this camera yesterday, then spent 3 hrs. trying to follow their instructions to connect it to my system. ...No luck. My router (Zyxel G-4100 V2) would not recognize it. ...I phoned Linksys technical support and spent the next -can you believe it-- 6 hrs on the phone with them assuring me that their product was compatible with my system. The technician even took control of my computer and tried every possible route. ...Finally she hung up on me (her quiting time I think), leaving my computer's firewall down, and God only knows what else. I am sorry I purchased this item... In spite of what they may say, I think they're only compatible with the Linksys routers.