TriVision Outdoor Security Camera, Wi-Fi, POE, 1080P HD Home Camera Waterproof with Wide Angle, Super Low Light IR Night Vision, Long Range Motion Sensor Recordings with SD Card, Google Drive, Dropbox

The media could not be loaded.  Update 1/15/2018:I have increased my rating from 1 star to 4 stars, and likely would have given the camera 5 stars if the problems were not present when the camera was purchased, or if the problems were fixed within the first month of ownership. While I recognize that not all problems are easy to fix, the problems mentioned in the review below are finally fixed (other than occasional stuttering in recorded video and requiring Internet Explorer) with firmware version 6.60B which was released on or around 12/25/2017. A week ago TriVision also corrected a problem with their servers that permit remote access to cameras. Prior to that fix, I could access neither the NC-250PW nor the NC-350PW cameras remotely, and at most 5 of 23 cameras that I have defined in Camera Live would display if I used a 2013 version of the program, and zero would display if I used the 2014 or newer version of the program. After the servers were fixed all cameras were accessible remotely again (the NC-250PW and NC-350PW cameras had to be rebooted after the servers were fixed).I am hopeful that TriVision will work toward addressing similar problems much faster in the future. TriVision's support department has historically been fast to address reported issues. Thankfully, the company did not give up after so many months of continued problems.Update 10/8/2017:I have lowered my rating from 3 stars to 1 star due to continued problems with the camera and countless hours trying different settings to work around bugs in the camera's firmware. Much to my disappointment, after six months and the installation of three firmware updates, I have never been able to use the NC-350PW camera for anything other than verifying that the camera firmware updates have NOT corrected the camera crashing and rebooting problem (crashes may happen as often as four times in 30 minutes) that results in lost motion detection video clips. When the camera records motion triggered video, there are often unexpected pauses in the video recording and it is frequently a problem for the bottom 170 rows of pixels to be either completely corrupted or black. The camera’s debug/syslogd page provides an indication of what is happening – I have been able to predict approximately when an unexpected reboot problem will happen, so I have collected the syslogd page contents before and after such a reboot happens. After encountering continued problems with the second firmware version, I provided samples of these syslogd page contents along with an analysis of what is happening to the manufacturer’s support and I am continuing to see similar problems in the syslogd page after installing the third firmware version. While the third firmware version fixed most of the new problems that were introduced with the second firmware version, video no longer appears in the Motion Detection task window, which makes it difficult to detect the motion detection regions (this problem may have been introduced with the third firmware version, appears to rely on Adobe Flash, and does not work with Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, or Google Chrome).My analysis of what is causing the crashes and lost motion trigger videos:1. The camera experiences “bitstream overflow” internal errors after automatically rebooting due to a previous crash – these errors are written before the camera receives the current time of day from the time server.2. The camera encounters an “unhandled page fault” internal error (sometimes the page fault will also include a stack trace showing: __do_user_fault, do_page_fault, do_DataAbort, __dabt_usr).3. The camera starts reporting “bitstream overflow” internal errors, which likely means that the specified recording Kbps data rate is insufficient for the video stream to be fully encoded (I have tried various settings including 4Kbps, 8Kbps, 12Kbps, 16Kbps, reducing the MJPEG quality setting to the point that the video quality is worse than a 640x480 camera, reducing the frame rate, etc.)4. The camera’s recorded video shows blocky artifacts (corruption) in the bottom rows of the video (possibly the bottom 170 rows – lower 15%)5. The camera uses the curl command to upload to the FTP server the video that was recorded just prior to the “unhandled page fault” error.6. The next time the camera senses motion, it will reboot and be unresponsive for more than two minutes.The above steps are shown in the below sample from the camera’s debug/syslogd page that shows some of the entries just before and after an unexpected reboot:Dec 31 19:00:23 grain-media kern.warn kernel: [favce]{chn0} bitstream overflow, res 1920 x 1088, bs buffer size 940032 (qp 25)…Oct 8 09:29:04 grain-media kern.debug kernel: ipcamd: unhandled page fault (11) at 0x80aa9df5, code 0x00dOct 8 09:29:04 grain-media kern.alert kernel: pgd = 8323c000Oct 8 09:29:04 grain-media kern.alert kernel: [80aa9df5] *pgd=00a0041e(bad)…Oct 8 09:29:06 grain-media kern.warn kernel: [favce]{chn0} bitstream overflow, res 1920 x 1088, bs buffer size 940032 (qp 21)…Oct 8 09:29:09 grain-media kern.warn kernel: [favce]{chn0} bitstream overflow, res 1920 x 1088, bs buffer size 940032 (qp 26)Oct 8 09:29:13 grain-media user.debug syslog: curl --disable-epsv ……Oct 8 09:29:14 grain-media user.debug syslog: storage ftp: upload /home/disk/IPCAMERA/Record_On_Alarm/2017-10-08/0/NC-350PW_2017-10-08_09-29-03.mov complete. (The next time the camera senses motion it reboots)Jan 1 00:00:10 grain-media syslog.info syslogd started: BusyBox v1.21.1Jan 1 00:00:10 grain-media kern.info kernel: NET: Registered protocol family 17…Dec 31 19:00:19 grain-media kern.warn kernel: [favce]{chn0} bitstream overflow, res 1920 x 1088, bs buffer size 940032 (qp 20)The original review:I bought my first TriVision camera in April 2012, and have since then purchased well in excess of 30 TriVision branded cameras. I recently purchased a new TriVision NC-350PW to compare with a spare TriVision NC-336PW, and a TriVison NC-250PW camera to compare with a spare TriVision NC-239WF – both of the newer TriVision cameras have Sony image sensors which clearly produce a better daytime picture. My reviews for the NC-350PW and NC-250PW may appear similar in spots, but this review is specific to the NC-350PW. As is the case for all of the other items that I have reviewed on Amazon, I paid full price for the cameras. See the “TriVision cameras long-term reliability” section near the end of this review for a summary of my long-term experience with TriVision cameras.Why the poor rating for this camera? Simply put, it is not yet reliable enough for use as a security camera, it seems to miss an uncomfortable number of motion detection events during the daytime with near continuous recording at night with the same settings, and seems to be experiencing occasional partial image recorded video corruption similar to what I experienced with a similar appearing (but slightly larger) Y-Cam 1080P Bullet YCBLHD6 that I reviewed in 2012. If TriVision fixes the problems with a firmware update, as they did for the majority of the initial problems with their NC-336PW camera, this could be a five star camera. If the problems are not addressed, this could very well be a one star security camera. The camera shipped with the 6.32 (build 20161228) firmware. The reasons for the three star review:* In a 48 hour period, the camera randomly rebooted at least four times (2:34 AM, 11:24 PM, 12:38 AM, 10:40 AM, 5:17 PM – the attached video shows two of those reboots captured by another camera) while the TriVision NC-336PW that was plugged into the same power strip worked continuously for the entire 48 hour period. The random reboots not only make the camera unavailable at random times, but could also cause complications for third party software that is using the camera’s video stream.* The camera ignored some motion detection events that were picked up by the older NC-336PW camera when set to the same threshold and sensitivity settings, although when it does sense motion, it does so as quickly as the NC-336PW. For example, on 4/21/2017 between 7:53:49 PM to 8:09:57 PM, the NC-350PW camera recorded 10 motion triggered video clips for a total of 1 minute and 53 seconds. With the same 5 second pre-record, 15 second split time, sensitivity, and threshold settings, the NC-336PW recorded 48 video clips for a total of 10 minutes and 21 seconds. The same sensitivity and threshold settings caused the NC-350PW to record motion triggered video nearly continuously at night due to passing bugs reflecting the camera’s infra-red light. Two of the video clips that were captured by the NC-336PW, but not the NC-350PW are at the end of the attached video.* While the still frames of the recorded video looked great, there were frequent random pauses in the video recording (the TriVision NC-336PW had this problem when first released, but that problem was fixed with later firmware releases). The beginning of the attached video shows a head-to-head comparison between the NC-350PW and the NC-336PW recording the same scene at the same time.* For a four hour period on a sunny day (cooler than 75 degrees F), sections of the bottom of the recorded video clips were randomly distorted. One of the problematic video clips is included in the attached video – several of the affected video clip seems to show the internal clock being reset, which might suggest that the camera randomly rebooted just prior to the image corrupt. Motion detection also seemed to fail to trigger video recording immediately after an affected video was recorded.* Does not work with some camera software that works fine with the NC-239WF and NC-336PW.* The mounting stand that ships with the camera is flimsy compared with the mounting stand for the NC-336PW (and the mount for the NC-306Ws that I bought in 2012). While the mounting stand for the NC-336PW will work with the NC-350PW camera, that mount will apply constant pressure to the camera’s reset button, preventing the camera from turning on (unless the supplied male-female adapter commonly used for top-mounting the camera is screwed into the mounting hole in the bottom of the camera before attaching to the NC-336PW mount).* The trivisiontech.com website is still not available – per feedback from my review of the NC-336PW, it was supposed to be available by July 31, 2013.Description of the video (when attached):The video was recorded using an NC-350PW camera that was mounted to a custom stand that also had a NC-250PW, NC-239WF, and NC-336PW attached. The video clips were recorded at the camera’s maximum frames per second (30), maximum bit rate (4096 kbps), and 1920x1080 resolution to a new SanDisk 32GB Class 10 micro SDHC memory card, and then automatically pushed by the camera to a Synology DS415+ NAS using FTP. The individual video clips were assembled using the free Windows Movie Maker and output to MP4 format at bit rate 5040 kbps, 26 frames per second, and 1920x1080 resolution with no apparent quality loss (the video quality will likely be reduced by Amazon when uploaded). The video clips demonstrate the camera’s recording capabilities in a number of different lighting conditions, with comparisons to the NC-336PW where appropriate. The end of the video also shows a few clips that were captured by the NC-336PW camera, but were completely missed by the NC-350PW, and a few of the NC-350PW unexpected reboots that were captured by the NC-250PW.Much like the NC-336PW, the NC-350PW packs an impressive set of features into a very small package. While I have always bought and installed 32GB SanDisk micro SDHC memory cards into the TriVision cameras, and configured the cameras to record motion-triggered video to that memory card and then asynchronously transfer the recorded video to a Synology NAS using FTP, the TriVision cameras also have many other features, including the ability to easily remotely view the live video stream from the cameras using either a laptop or a smart phone. Optional camera tasks are available to schedule periodic captures of still frame JPG images and send those pictures to email servers (the feature is not compatible with all email servers, the manual recommends Google's Gmail - not tested with this model), FTP servers, HTTP web servers (not tested), and to storage (either the configured memory card or a NAS). Additional optional tasks allow sending one or more still frame JPG images to the same destinations when motion is detected, and to push motion detection notices to mobile devices running the free AnyScene app.The camera’s live video may be viewed on a PC through the camera’s built-in web server (supports Internet Explorer as well as other web browsers), using a custom-built web page that displays the video streams for multiple cameras in a single web page, using the supplied CameraLive software, and many other programs that are able to use RTSP H.264, RTSP MJPEG, RTSP audio, HTTP M3U8, HTTP MJPEG, or RTMP H.264 video streams. However, unlike the NC-239WF and NC-336PW cameras, the new TriVision NC-250PW and NC-350PW cameras disappointingly would not work with the MultiLive software that shipped with the TriVision cameras that I bought in 2012 (the MultiLive software is able to simultaneously display the video feed from 16+ cameras, while the CameraLive software seems to cause computer lockups when simultaneously displaying half as many video feeds; RTSP MPEG4 is no longer listed as an available video stream, but I am not sure if this is the cause).The camera ships with two printed, reasonably detailed manuals that are easily understood, even without being written in perfect English. The new manuals seem to be more detailed and helpful than what shipped with the earlier TriVision cameras, and seem to include a few suggestions that I posted in the questions and answers section on Amazon. The configuration user interface is essentially identical to what the earlier TriVision cameras used, but with a few notable enhancements/changes:* Enable 3D denoise in Camera Setup* 30 frames per second recording is an option for 1920x1080 resolution (25-28 actual as reported by Windows), while the NC-336WF was limited to 18 frames per second (15 actual) at that resolution – the motion in the NC-336PW’s video is smoother despite fewer frames per second.* RTSP MPEG4 stream is no longer listed in the available stream types (did not verify if available)* Auto exposure speed added to the Image Setup, and the range of the options changed from 0-100 to 0-256* Global On/Off allows specifying the minimum number of seconds of motion before triggering a camera alarm – might help eliminate some false alarms from bugs or passing car headlights.* “Use date as subfolder” option in FTP upload task* 16 color options for the on screen text for optionally displaying date/time and system name.* Camera defaults to UTC time and dd/mm/yy hh:mm:ss date format rather than the US standard mm/dd/yy hh:mm:ss (change the setting in Tools – Date & Time)A few other notes about the camera:* Works with IP Cam Viewer Basic app on an old Android tablet using Make “Unknown Brand”, Model “ONVIF Camera”, but not when using the Make “Sharx”, Model “Sharx” that works with the NC-336PW and other TriVision cameras. * The camera’s connection seemed to be unstable with Synology Surveillance Station 7.0 using ONVIF, although I did not notice the buzzing noise in the audio stream that I heard with the NC-250PW.* Verified that it is possible to power the camera using a roughly $17 power over Ethernet injector without an attached switch (camera continued to use the wireless network connection).* It is very hard to see the front power light when outside in sunlight, but that light is bright and flashes frequently at night.* The camera has a label attached that reads “FCC ID Z6BNC335SPW”. A Google search located a web page on the fcc.gov website that allows looking up information about products using that FCC ID, in this case the first three characters are the Grantee Code, and the remaining characters are the Product Code. The FCC application lists Shenzhen Anbash Technology Co as the manufacturer, and provides links to various internal and external pictures, as well as the manufacturer’s original manual.* The camera lacks the digital I/O ports and speaker output that is found on the NC-336PW camera, meaning that the camera cannot be used with an external PIR sensor, or used for two-way conversations.* The large diameter Ethernet cable coming out of the back of the camera is short in length, and will likely require a one inch diameter hole to allow the cable to be pushed through an exterior wall of a building, compared to the 3/4 inch diameter hole required for the much longer cable used on the NC-336PW.* On Windows 7 computers, the recorded video clips will show in the Extra Large Icons view with a black frame around the edges - that black frame blocks a portion of the video preview. That black frame can be disabled by importing the following information into the Windows registry, and then rebooting the computer (save the text shown between the --------- markers in a text file with a .reg extension and then double-click the file to import the settings).---------Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\video]"ThumbnailCutoff"=dword:00000001"Treatment"=dword:00000000---------* If your Windows 7 computer’s Windows Media Player refuses to play seemingly every other video clip recorded by the camera with an error message stating, “Server execution failed”, run Services.msc, locate the “Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service”, double-click that item, and set its Startup Type to Disabled.The full configuration of the camera might seem difficult at first, but the configuration interface is fairly well organized. A typical first time buyer of this camera might need 30 to 60 minutes to completely setup the camera. The seven minute install method that I use with my TriVision cameras follows. Install a micro SDHC memory card (not provided with the camera), then power on the camera and follow these steps:1. Run the Camera Setup program on your computer - that program is installed from the CD that ships with the older TriVision camera (for the newer Cameras that do not ship with Camera Setup, install the CameraLive software from the CD).2. The Camera Setup program should find your camera. Double-click your camera in the list when it is found by the Camera Setup program (for the newer cameras that do not ship with Camera Setup, run Camera Live, click the Setup button, click the Search button, click a camera, then click the Browser button).3. Click the Setting button in the web page that appears on the screen.4. Near the right side of the web page you should see the word "Task", click that word.5. Four options should appear, click "Task Management"6. If you want the camera to record a picture to the memory card when the camera senses motion, put a checkmark in the box that is between the number 7 and the words "Snapshot to storage on alarm".7. If you want the camera to record video to the memory card when the camera senses motion, put a checkmark in the box that is between the number 9 and the words "Record to storage on alarm".8. Click the Apply button.9. You must then configure each item that has a checkmark. For example, if you put a checkmark next to "Record to storage on alarm", click those words on the page (access the link to the settings).10. The settings that I like to use here are as follows:--- Record from: Primary stream--- Post-recording time: 15 seconds--- Split duration: 15 seconds--- Record thumbnail: Disable--- Record file name: type a unique name for the camera here--- Suffix of file name: Date time11. Click the Apply button.12. Click the Back button.13. If you put a checkmark next to "Snapshot to storage on alarm", then configure those settings too.14. At the right of the web page you should see "Motion Detection", click that item. This is where you are able to control how sensitive the camera is to motion. By default the camera is likely not sensitive enough.15. Under the "Window 1" heading, slide the Threshold setting to the left so that it is at 25% (1/4 of the distance from the left).16. Under the "Window 1" heading, slide the Sensitivity setting to the right so that it is at 75% (3/4 of the distance from the left).17. Click Apply.18. Watch the blue bar that is between the Threshold and Sensitivity setting (this bar did not seem to appear on a Windows 7 computer running Internet Explorer). Any time that blue bar reaches the location of the Threshold indicator, the camera will perform the tasks that you previously selected. If you find that the camera is generating too many false alarms, slide the Threshold bar to the right slightly or the Sensitivity bar to the left, then click Apply. If you find that the camera still is not sensitive enough slide the Threshold bar to the left slightly or the Sensitivity bar to the right. Don't forget to click Apply.19. The camera will sometimes be a little slow at reacting to motion detection events, and Windows 7's "Extra Large Icons" view seems to show a preview image from roughly five seconds into a video clip. The camera can be set to start recording video three, five, or 10 seconds before it detects motion - I find that having the camera record five seconds before motion is detected to be ideal. At the right of the web page, click Camera.20. Click Stream Setup.21. Under the Primary stream heading, change Prerecord to "5 seconds"22. Click Apply.---TriVision cameras long-term reliability:Purchased 2 NC-240WF cameras in December 2013, one died in December 2016, where the infrared lights would occasionally immediately turn and stay on when the camera was powered on, but prior to December 2016 it was possible to unplug the power supply from the back of the camera for a minute while leaving the power supply plugged in to recover the camera to a working state. The other NC-240WF is still working without issue. Bought another NC-240WF camera to replace the one that died.Purchased 12 to 15 of the NC-239WF cameras between February 2014 and March 2017 (two were purchased to replace NC-239WF cameras that died). The first two NC-239WF cameras are still working without issue. One of the NC-239WF cameras purchased in September 2014 stopped working in November 2016, where the infrared lights would immediately turn and stay on when the camera was powered on. I used the firmware recovery procedure that is covered starting on page 59 in the latest version of the manual, and was able to make the camera work again for a short period of time - I bought a replacement NC-239WF for this camera in December 2016. One of the two NC-239WF cameras that I bought in April 2015 that was subjected to temperature extremes in an unheated/uncooled building died after about 15 months, so I replaced it with another NC-239WF. The other NC-239WF cameras work without issue, although it has been necessary to unplug a couple of them for a minute after some power outages if the cameras are unresponsive.Purchased four of the NC-326PW cameras in June 2013. The memory cards tend to become corrupt in these cameras quite frequently. One camera became night-blind (IR cut filter likely stuck) after 15 months, and was replaced by the manufacturer under warranty - the replacement started experiencing the same night-blindness a couple of months ago, and still corrupts the memory card far too frequently (seems to happen if the camera is writing a video to the memory card when something, like a power outage, causes the camera to reboot). Another NC-326PW became very difficult to successfully start up after a power outage, requiring multiple attempts. I put the camera on a UPS (battery backup), and it worked perfectly for several months, until the memory card became corrupt and the camera had to be unplugged so that the memory card could be reformatted in a computer - the camera would not power up after that, so I replaced it with a NC-336PW in April 2015. The light sensor on a third camera failed, causing the camera to repeatedly turn the infra-red lights on and off at night - a replacement light sensor was provided by TriVision for free under warranty. I have not checked the status of the third and fourth NC-326PW in a while, so I do not know if the cameras are still working, but I suspect that the memory cards are corrupt by now. Half of the LED failed on at least two of the NC-326PW cameras, with TriVision providing me free replacements under warranty.Purchased 20+ of the NC-336PW cameras since June 2013. The original two NC-336PW cameras purchased in June 2013 are still working although one of those does not reliably 100% of the time power the infra-red LEDs at night (tried hot-swapping the LED board during the day without powering off the camera more than a year ago, but that did not solve the problem), so that camera is sometimes blind at night until the nearby PIR motion detection trips and lights up the area. Only one NC-336PW camera, purchased in September 2013, became unusable due to the camera's video becoming black and white and extremely pixelated (the camera survived the network cable connector short-circuiting due to becoming filled with moisture inside the supplied white water resistant enclosure, and an animal partially chewing through the thick white cable extended out of the camera - one of those two events probably caused the black and white pixelated video problem). The video processing module in three of the NC-336PW cameras (and one NC-316P) that are using power over Ethernet (POE) stopped working at least once, requiring the camera’s cable to be disconnected from the white breakout box for 60 seconds while the white breakout box is still receiving power from a power injector (this is an unpleasant experience) - simply disconnecting the power injector for a couple of hours would not fix the cameras. If a camera is configured to upload recorded videos to an FTP server, and the camera loses contact with the FTP server long enough for the memory card to fill up completely, the camera will repeatedly reboot roughly every 10 minutes, even if the FTP server becomes accessible; simply reformatting the memory card using a computer is sufficient to fix this problem. Recently, three NC-336PW cameras started rebooting roughly every five to 10 minutes apparently due to the memory card becoming corrupt; two of the cameras were fixed simply by instructing the camera to reformat the memory card, while the third camera's memory card had to be formatted using a computer because reformatting in the camera did not work. Overall, the NC-336PW cameras have been very reliable, but the memory card in some of the cameras becomes corrupt a bit too frequently.Purchased one NC-335PW in March 2016 to replace the one NC-336PW that became unusable due to the camera's video becoming black and white and extremely pixelated. The camera tested fine when connected to the power supply that shipped with the camera. After replacing the connector end on the Cat 6 network cable, and confirming that the cable worked with the NC-336PW camera that had the black and white and extremely pixelated video, I installed the NC-335PW in its place. The NC-335PW would not power on when connected to the same cable that worked with the NC-336PW. After a couple of months, I again replaced the connector end on Cat 6 network cable with a different brand of connector, thinking that the cable termination was bad again. The NC-335PW still would not power on when connected to the network cable. I replaced the NC-335PW with a NC-336PW, and the NC-336PW camera worked perfectly connected to the Cat 6 cable using power over Ethernet. It appears that the integrated Ethernet port on the NC-335PW camera is now dead, possibly due to corrosion. I have not yet been able to revive the network port using electric contact cleaner or rubbing alcohol, and the camera does not broadcast its default wireless SSID when reset to factory defaults.

This is a 4-star review for the Trivision NC-350PW HD 1080P outdoor camera.I am writing this review after an initial one week testing period, using it with Linux. I'm new to IP cameras but thought I'd share what I've figured out. I wanted an outdoor camera that can handle very brutal weather, and I wanted to access it from Linux, at least for a live view. Motion detection and security footage considered a bonus if they worked. I may explore some of the smartphone capabilities, but I wanted to be able to use it without a smartphone involved. Overall it is working well.Security Note: I'm not impressed with the security of this camera, eg made in China, phoning home, connecting to the internet at its pleasure. The Trivision 336 model was included in a major and ludicrous IoT hacking exploit some years ago. So connecting this kind of device to a network, especially considering it is also a camera on your property, has security implications to evaluate. For the average home user it's probably adequate if used with care.Note that the camera will attempt to use uPNP to open ports on your router without askng. Unless you plan to access it from the internet, it's probably best to disable uPNP in your router, which is a good idea in general. Otherwise you've got an IoT device running an open server on the internet. But this is required if you want to access the camera directly away from home. Or you can have it upload to something like Dropbox, and access that instead, which is probably better security.I looked over the intructions, which immediately recommended installing PC software or apps. Instead, I plugged the device in via ethernet, and I guessed the IP address just by adding numbers to my computer's LAN address until I found it (entered the IP in a browser, a Firefox clone). Or one could look to see if the router lists the IP of connected devices. Usually it's easy enough to find by trial and error.Once that was found, the web page it serves is like a router configuration page, uses fairly basic Javascript, should work with most any browser. Only thing that requires more is if you want to define motion detection fields. Then you need IE with ActiveX, or a Firefox-type browser with Flash. Flash seems to run okay, but I haven't had need to define the motion detection boxes. The rest of the interface works okay and is all is needed. The Live motion software and such is not required.I set a new password which it offered when I logged in. Then I setup the wireless network settings per the instruction booklet. Basically just choose the network and enter the password. Then click the Test button and it worked. I unplugged the ethernet, and the camera continued responding at the same IP address, now connected via wireless. I then had it format the SD card.The instruction booklet is fairly useful for explaining the rest. It lets you define a few live streams and their quality/bitrate. It can also do recording based on motion or continuously. It can then email, FTP, etc. the data.Given the choices, I eventually decided to setup a basic vsftpd server and have the camera upload motion detection images and recordings to that. I allow only uploads to it, no downloads (though it does need dir listing ability). This way the camera can upload to the server but the data won't come back out. I then wrote a script that watches the ftp directory using inotifywait, and use this to trigger almost-instant motion-detection alerts on the computers. On motion, it takes about 2 seconds for the images to be delivered to the ftp directory, with the script sounding an alert and automatically showing the image, and typically another 20-40 seconds for the video of the event to arrive. So this creates a fairly quick and direct connection between camera and Linux, without third-party servers.Linux's 'motion' and other software probably will work with this camera, but I really don't see a need for it. The default motion detection is actually pretty good. There are false alarms, eg weather, sunlight changes, wind, etc., but that is common with motion detection in my experience anyway. Trying to get it free of false alarms is a waste of time, easier to put up with a few. It's good enough for when I want motion events, and motion-based recording creates an adequate record for review without using crazy amounts of space (a 16 GB card would have been plenty but I got 64. It uses about 1-2 GB per day the way I have it set, which the wireless connection easily accomodates.) During any kind of snow at night, I turn the motion detection off because it generates events constantly (not to mention a wild-looking picture). Instead I can set it to continuously record a low bandwidth stream at night, and ftp that to the server every 10 minutes or whatever. That also uses about 2 GB per day for continuous recording. Daytime snow doesn't usually trigger many events, but the LED lights catch it at night.I have had a recurring bug in the software, where the ftp uploads stop. If I browse storage on the camera, it shows a dir listing error. Rebooting the camera cures it and the ftp uploads resume automatically. No recordings are lost, and motion detection continues while the ftp stops. I've had this show up every other day or so. I haven't yet tried getting updated firmware. It seems to occur when there is heavy ftp activity. That and the fact that it refuses to continuously record the Primary stream are the only software issues I've encountered. (It will continuously record the Secondary stream which is necessarily <1080p, and it will record either stream for motion-activated recording.)Both mpv and VLC play the network streams fine (which are setup automatically and the URLs provided on the setup page), and VLC can record them live. The 1080p stream at first would not play smoothly, but then after fiddling with the stream quality and going back to the original, it then worked for some reason. In general, lowering the bitrate reduces bandwidth usage the most while still keeping quality decent. But the 1080p stream with "Better Bandwidth" settings is working well over 2.4 GHz, providing an impressively clear image, even in pitch dark. It's tough to read something like a license plate unless it's within about 20-25 feet. Overall a good quality color image.The book mentions that turning Black and White mode off in the camera setup might be worth it, and it is. With it set to the default Auto, it will switch to B&W for night vision. But turning B&W off provides a decently colored image even at night. It does turn very pink at dusk and dawn, but otherwise is quite good.I ran only an outdoor extension cord to the camera site. I bought a roughly 8x5x3 inch weatherproof project box https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D23BF7Y/ and ran all the camera wires and a one-foot extension cord into that box. The plug-in transformer also fits inside the box, and I put it all in a ziploc bag inside the box for extra water protection. Just had to cut a hole in the plastic box the size of the extension cord plug, then I used epoxy to seal the hole and hold the wires in place. Thus the camera is connected to a weatherproof black box, which in turns plugs into an extension cord, nice and neat. I've seen it go down to -5 F all night without trouble thus far.The mount is very solid and quite flexible, should adapt to most situations. It holds pretty well even in wind thus far, though the locking ring doesn't do much, I had to tighten the mount screw itself. The nighttime LED lights give off a little red glow if you look at the camera itself, looks sort of like a round red driveway reflector in the dark. One should test it thoroughly before mounting it, as it cannot be returned for refund once installed outdoors.Overall I'm satisfied with this camera if it continues to perform at least as well as it has been. It offers quite a few ways to connect to it. There could be settings for a few more things, including for locking down security better, and I had the one software bug mentioned above, but overall it seems adequately done, and quite Linux compatible (I think the camera itself runs Linux). It's fun to play with for sure. 4 stars for now.

I am waiting to hear back from tech support, but until my issues are resolved I have to say AVOID THIS ONE STAR DEVICE.When connected, the camera seems fine, The problem is that I can not maintain a connection to the camera.Any time I make ANY changes to the network settings, the camera becomes inaccessible, even though it is pulling an IP address. The only fix is to reset the camera to factory settings.Factory reset requires the camera to be connected by hardwire. Kinda defeats the purpose of having a wireless camera.As it stands now, even connected by hardwire, the camera is not maintaining a connection to the router. Really frustrating, as the router is in a separate location as the computer I am using to access the camera, and the camera currently won't function at all without being connected directly to the router.I'd like to just return this unit and get another, but apparently that is not an option. I have to go through their 'tech support', which is only available a limited number of hours. Perhaps they will respond to my inquiry and resolve my issues by sending me a unit that works. If so, I'll be glad to change my review to a higher rating, but as is I can only say BUYER BEWARE. This camera MAY NOT WORK ON YOUR NETWORK.Also DDNS is not native to this unit. You will need your own DDNS service, but it will need to be one of the few already configured witihin the firmware of this camera to work.

I bought this camera a few months ago. Already at the outset I had problems. Tech support helped to fix them by changing firmware. Notably, the support was quick and friendly. However, camera has two main flaws for my needs.First, it does not work well in the cold. During the (admittedly cold Canadian) winter it stopped working several times and got disconnected from my home network. I had to bring it inside to reset it (not enough to push the on-camera reset button).Secondly, the ability to retrieve saved video files is limited. I set it to save single video alarms on a SD card. Then I found out that you can download only a few files at a time. Given your settings and camera location (e.g. driveway), you might have hundreds (or even thousands) of alarms in a few days. Hence, if something happens, but you do not know when, you will have to patiently download a large number of single files. The manufacturer should add a "select all" or 'select from time x to time y" option. I also tried to use a cloud drive (Google Drive). It worked, but only up to 5 Gb of video; after that it stopped saving files. I asked tech support for assistance; again there were quick to respond and friendly, but they had no solution. I was told that they would contact me back once a solution had been found. They never did.Bottom line, I would not buy it again.