Recently at the KickStart Forum on the Gold Coast, I got a chance to take a look at D-Link’s latest consumer security camera line-up. Their network enabled, cameras allow for remote monitoring of your home from the web or mobile application. Using the new mydlink website, you can access the camera feed over Wi-Fi or 3G/4G connection.
The camera range starts with the DCS-930L, a 802.11N daylight-only camera. Naturally with an entry-level product this is the cheapest of the bunch and therefore has the most limited functionality. Look around online and you’ll find this for around A$80 (+postage) it offers decent quality and great connectivity for the price point. Speaking of quality, the video resolution maxes out at Up to 20 frames at 640×480, plenty high enough for most home situations. A great application for the DCS-930L would be positioned above the front door to see who’s knocking.
This is followed by the DCS-932L, a Day/Night camera which operates in low-light through a ring of Infra-Red LEDs. This means security is a 24/7 operation which is what most people will be after. For around A$110 online (+postage), it’s only slightly more expensive than it’s baby brother, making for great value for money.
Having visibility into your home while on the road is neat, but what if you want to record the vision locally? Good news, there is an unreleased version of the D-Link DCS range which will feature motion detection (pictured above) and built-in SD card slot for local recording. The recording can be configured to record only when motion is detected to save on storage space, no official price, but expect it to come in around A$150 RRP.
With any of these cameras, you can simply purchase more cameras to cover more of your house. D-Link say the most common scenario is 2-per home, which makes sense when most dwellings have a front and back door / point of entry.
Setup of the devices is pretty simply, just connect the supplied Ethernet cable to the camera and your router and they’ll get all buddy buddy. Signup to mydlink using the supplied DVD software (or download it from the site) and you’ll then have access to login to the cameras from the web or mobile device.
App support
Currently only iOS and Android mobile platforms are supported, however its believed that a D-Link WP7 app is in development. There is a 3rd party app called Private Eye on WP7 for A$2.49, but personally I’d wait for an official release. For all the information about accessing D-Link cameras remotely, you can check out http://au.mydlink.com/apps.
Using the smart phone versions, you have to view one camera at a time, but using the extra real estate afforded by a tablet, you can view multiple cameras at once. D-Link had received some criticism for charging for the iPad app after the consumer just spent hundreds of dollars on the cameras. In response, they have dropped the price (temporarily) from $4.99 to just $0.99.
D-Link say they are seeing 250 bindings per week, that means Australians are connecting 250 D-Link security cameras every week, so the product is off to a great start.
Disclaimer: D-Link provided the DCS-930L for review and doesn’t want it back, so don’t bother breaking into my house.