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Overall its a great product. Solid product, installation was easy but you will need some networking background to install it @ first attempt. I like the tilt/pan feature, but no zoom.
Where are the other, no pan and tilt model BL-C101A supports https. The product works well when it works, it's very neat to be able to control where the camera is pointing. But requires a reboot about every two days.Even with the latest firmware, this device doesn't support https.
And even then, I had to spend several hours securing my router PERFECTLY since I was now hanging out on the 'net, fully exposed (my router logs now show port probes occurring 2-3 times a minute).So, I take off one star of an otherwise very well designed product for Panasonic trying to make it look like a "plug 'n play" solution via uPnP, (very optimistic at best). Mine did, after some discussion (a rural WDSL service) but charged $20.00 extra per month. A lot of ISP's simply won't let you do that.
Finally set up and I can hit it from anywhere on the Internet. I'm an IT guy (not networking specific though) and already had a handle on some of these concepts, but learned more than a thing or two along the way (which is good). I bought one of these cameras through Amazon about a year ago, had some problems with my router and set the camera aside until I could get that sorted out.One new Dlink DIR-655 router later, I came back to it.
However, this is NOT "plug 'n play" by any stretch of the imagination.The really MAJOR issue most people will encounter is-- your ISP will have to set you up with a public, static IP outside their firewalls if you want to hit your camera from anywhere on the 'Net. For some people maybe, but not for most. However.Panasonic's advertising is misleading, IMO.
To make this thing work the way you want, get ready to learn about:WAN side vs LAN side addressing, DMZ's, static IP's, gateways, subnet masks (extending range to.253), DHCP, Dynamic DNS, MAC addresses, ports and port forwarding/triggering, virtual servers, UPnP, RTP, SMTP, POP3, RTSP, RTP, Multicast, IPv4, IPv6, etc., etc.
The included recorder software with viewer is not the most intuitive, but once I figured it out, it was easy enough to use. I was impressed with the video and audio quality for a camera of this price range. If you want a good camera with motion detection recording for a decent price, I'd recommend this one. Extremely easy to use. I had this camera up and running on my network in a matter of minutes.
Please let me know if you have any suggestions, I would really appreciate it. I still have not had any success setting up remote access for this device. I don't think it should be this difficult, and I'm guessing it's something with my modem, but I am not sure there is a way to fix it. I have tried setting up this camera for a week now. Thanks for reading. When I tried to get the camera setup where I can access it remotely, I keep getting an error message saying that setup has failed, and that I need to enable UPnP settings.I have internet and a wireless modem through Verizon Fios. When I'm at home on my laptop it works perfectly, and I can see and hear everything. I accessed my Fios modem and enabled UPnP settings, and reset the Panasonic camera.
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