Cool network camera, on-sale.

S

sbessel

Active Member
I found this camera at Radio Shack on sale for $179.99, $149.99 after rebates.
(Panasonic BL-C10A)

It was extremely easy to setup and so far works great. I can see that it would be very easy to interface to HS... I like the ability to go directly to the camera using my mobile phone... It has FTP and SMTP built in. The only downside I have seen so far is that is not wireless, and I am not yet sure about the night vision capabilities. It has a built in buffer and motion sensor, so when the sensor is triggered you can get the images captured *before* and after the trigger, easy and cool..

This one also does pan and tilt, plus they have a great support web page that will provide programming info on how to directly access the camera and how to integrate into your web page. Also it has a mobile phone mode built in so you don't get all the frame and annoying updates...

I have used the little dlink wired and wireless units and they were worthless, they went back...

So after playing with it for a couple of hours I love it, now I just have to figure out how to convince the wife I need 5 more. ;)
 
Nice find, I know a few people looking for one, probably will get them one of these, thanks for sharing!
 
Does it have an external way of triggering the alarm (frame grabbing)? This would be good to interface with our home security systems.
 
Scott,
Are all of the snap shots blurry? It seems it doesn't handle motion well at all. I was looking at frames ~26-30.
 
I don't really see any motion issues. The buffered/captured images are setup by me and I may just have them too far apart, but this way I can compress quite a bit of time... a lot like those time lapse VCR's
 
Ah Ha. Not a bad price for an IP camera. How's the quality? Does it feel well made?
 
Actually I like the quality, it has a good weight so the cables won't pull it off the shelf. You can wall mount it, it also has a tripod mount. It is almost silent for the pan/tilt operations. It does night work quite well, although I am sure some IR LED's would help the night picture. Overall I am impressed, and that is very hard to do!
I don't know that I would pay $200 for it, but $149 is a no brainer...
I also see they have a wireless version (BL-C30A) but it is a bit more... I would like to test one of those too.
 
Thanks for the demo. Can you turn some lights out at night and take a few screen shots. I would like to see how well it performs in low light.
 
I have two of these, and may get a few more. As far as IP cameras go, I think the price/quality ratio is fantastic. I have some higher end Panasonics and have seen the Toshibas and Axis - the BL10A picture is slightly lower quality, but at that price, these are a great.

It does not do well in low light, however - but then again - I don't think any commercial IP cameras do very well in the dark. I have not yet tried the interface these yet, but I did OK creating my own webpage with another Panasonic model.

Mark
 
Looks like RS doesn't have them in stock anymore in my area, hopefully they still have them in other stores.
 
Looks like RS doesn't have them in stock anymore in my area, hopefully they still have them in other stores.
Click to expand...

Don't hold your breath. If the Shack has it on sale, it's probably a closeout. ;)
 
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