Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 58
 A Good wifi camera solution. August 24, 2008
J. Hayward (Dothan, AL)
45 out of 46 found this review helpful
Over the last 4 years, this is my fourth D-Link wireless Camera. I started with the DCS-900W which was a 802.11b camera.
I use the cameras to watch my three dogs while I'm away.
The Pros:
1. The price is right, generally less than $100.
2. The picture quality during daylight is good (not V.Good, nor Excellent)
3. The speed this camera transmitts to my router is far faster than my other camera, a DCS-G900. (The DCS-920 position replced my G900 a 802.11g)
4. I use the D-ViewCam and like it a lot. Rather useless unless you have at least 2 cameras or you want to record.
The Cons:
1. Digital Zoom on the DCS-920 is near useless; it gets so blurry the added digital magnification is near useless.
2. The setup with a linksys router can be trickey and requires some serious understanding. When I got my first one, several years ago, I called D-Link Tech Support and they were fantastic!!! They guided me through every step. (It was an American Tech support guy in the USA) I have used the knowledge I gained from that setup over the years as I bought new cameras. Have never used a D-Link router.
3. The unit is in no way moisture proof, let alone weather proof. It is solely for indoor use.
Clear image convenient network attached camera at reasonable price February 20, 2009
Y. Xu
43 out of 46 found this review helpful
I bought DCS910 in Nov.2008 and DCS920 one month later. I am quite satisfied with both of them and I did not meet any problem till now, or say I could solve the problems that I have found.
The network attached camera supports up to 640x480 in resolution. It is higher then lots of other network attached camera which has only 320x240. So the image quality is quite good. It has good vision in dim light. you could see image or video on your web browser. It supports both MS ActiveX and Sun Java for live video monitoring but it does NOT support sound :(
You may need to install ActiveX control plug-in and Sun Java plug-in for your browser to support live video.
The supplied DViewCam software also supports monitoring up to 32 cameras and you could record videos into computer hard disk. I have not used video record feture till now because it requires turning on computer and consumes too much router/switch band width. I think check from web from time to time is good enough for my needs.
It support user account management, NTP time sync, DDNS name service, FTP and email deliver of photos at the frequency you defined.
The device does not support SSL protocol, so your password could not be encrypted for delivery. So you could not use https or ftps for secured communication. But this is understandable because encryption cost too much resources for the embeded system. You could not expect too much from tiny embeded device. Anyway, normal web access and FTP upload are good enough if you do not have too much security concern.
It is quite simple to access the device from within the internal/home network because you PC and the camera are in the same network segment. But if you want to access the device from external/Internet, there are some other things to take care. You need to have some basic networking concept for the setup.
I have seen one user complain the tech support and blame the device to be not usable. I could understand the mensioned situation. It is not the user's fault nor the product's fault. Tech support is not wrong on what they said but they should explain clearly on the technical background and guide the user for a smooth set up. User is not network expert so it will be a little difficult for them to understand and follow the network rules.
Normally, ISP will only give one dynamic IP address to a user. The IP address will change when you turn on the router or after a certain period of time. So you need to keep track to your current IP address on the WAN port of your router. This is usually done by register a DDNS service(free or paid service). Most router support DDNS auto update service and this camera also supports it but you need to set it up in your device. All the devices in your home network will share this single IP address. Network applications will monitor communication port for TCP/IP communication. Different devices in your network have different unique IP address. The IP address for a specific device is unique in the network. So if you want to access your camera through the internet in a remote location, you need to have DDNS service set; set up a internal static IP address to your camera; setup your router port forward to your camera IP address. For example, use http://dcs910.mydomainname.com:9011/ to access your camera, you need to buy(or register a free child domain name from some website) your domain name 'mydomainname.com'; register your domain name to a DDNS server(paid or free service); setup your router to auto update DDNS for your current IP address; set router to forward 9011 port request to the 80 port of the static internal IP address that you have assigned to your camera(such as 192.168.0.3 depends on the settings on your router and camera). You may need an experienced friend to help you for the setting.
Even if you have set everything correctly, it not necessarily means you could watch live video in your office. You should be able to access static current image from web browser in your office but live video is another story. Normally office network is protected by firewall on gateway. Most office firewall uses proxy and only open ports for web requests and some predefined application ports and bann all other communications. The ActiveX and Java live video of this device may need dedicated port connection to open communication session but this will not be allowed by default on the proxy. So unless you know your network administrator and could ask them open the port for you, you will not able to access live video in office. This is not the problem of the device, it is the rule of the network security. But anyway, you could see still image of your home which is good enough.
I have used my DCS910 and DCS920 for 3 months and I am quite satisfied with the device. I would like to highly recommand this device to you for its clear image, easy setup(if you understand networking in and out), and resonable price.
I Love These Cameras....!!! February 14, 2010
Jorge Millan (Austin, TX)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I have 6 of these cameras and I'm ordering 3 more today and 3 more somewhere in the future (for a total of 12). I love them, they are easy to set up and install. I had some problem with the D-View software because I have Vista 64 bit operating system and this software does not work with 64-bit operating systems so IF YOU HAVE 64-BIT OPERATING SYSTEM THE D-VIEW SOFTWARE WILL NOT WORK... However, you can still see the cameras over the internet and you can setup an FTP server on your PC and receive up to 3 images/per second/per camera which basically functions as a recording device. I use my iPhone and the "Live Cams" app to see all the cameras real-time from wherever I am. You have to know how to open ports in your router and use Dynamic DNS to make the cameras available over the internet. If help is needed, contact D-LINK support and they will help you set it up (if within 30 days of purchase for free support).
Little personal story before finishing my review: Someone attempted to break into my house twice within a week. By the second time, I had the cameras up and running. Because the camera is kind-of big and with a green blinking light, this deterred the burglars who ran away when they realized they were on camera. The police came, I gave them the pictures, and 20 minutes later they had captured them.
So in conclusion, these are nice cameras, with an excellent price. I recommend you guys to buy if you are patient enough to set up an FTP server or similar software. Interested? You will not regret it.
Great camera March 27, 2009
YM94116 (SF, CA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I have two of these and use a lot of the advanced features of this netcam.
- The dynamic dns function to view live pics over the Internet
- The ftp function to snapshot images to my DLink DNS-321 1TB NAS device
- enabling port forwarding to enable Internet viewing
- setting up a static IP address rather than using DHCP over the home router
- guest accounts so others can view the pics without admin functions
Other cool features include being able to flip the image upside down or right-to-left so that you have flexibility on how you mount the camera.
BTW, I like to use the term netcam to describe this because these are not webcams in the sense that they do not need to be connected to computers. The DCS-920 works well with both PCs and Macs and works well in both a wireless-g and a wired network. The wired method is also very helpful in setting up static IP addresses.
The email function doesn't work for me as well. Ideally, I would send snapshots using gmail or Yahoo mail but the email settings do not provide enough of the advanced security settings these email services require in order to send mail through their servers.
I had the old DCS-900W and I think DLink has made 5 giant leaps forward with the DCS-920. One thing that hasn't changed for the better is documentation and troubleshooting help or manuals. Setting up dynamic dns, ftp and email and other settings, the manual does not provide a wide range of possible configurations.
Overall, the user of the DCS-920 should have a medium to high proficiency level of computer literacy since the online help won't be very useful and I hear DLink support service sucks. I would buy these all over again!
Great Network Video Camera April 24, 2009
James E. Livingston (North Las Vegas, NV)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I purchased one of these DLink DCS-920's from an Amazon seller. When it was received, it was non-operational. I contacted DLink Customer Support, and received full and complete satisfaction. I mailed the DOA camera to DLink, and they sent me a brand new one.
The camera works exceptionally well. It has 640x480 resolution which gives very good quality picture. The software that comes with the camera works, but not as good as it should.
For under $100, this is a good item. You will have to spend $250 or more (per camera) to get better quality.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 58
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