Reviewed by: N/A on 27-Nov-08 Rating:

Strengths:zoom, picture quality, remote viewing

Weaknesses:tech support

Summary:I own my own business and got hired by a client who needed people who knew how to work security cameras. I didnt think it would be that hard. They needed security cameras for a national card game held 3x a year in different places all the time. They wanted us to watch or catch possible cheaters or disprove a cheater. I started out with 4 cameras.It was amazing. Loved how it could really zoom from far away and the picture quality. I could read people\'s suits in their cards from 100 feet away. But when I upgraded to 8 cameras,it started to become a problem.Using the DVIEW CAM program,8 cameras started to freeze or cut out.I was also using a dlink DIR 450 router and had a sprint air card attached to it(since it is what they recommended to use with these cameras)but what they failed to mention is that the more cameras you have,the more problems you will have too.The sprint air card(and any other aircard you buy)only provides a limited bandwidth.And to divide that to 8 cameras will really decrease it a lot which will then give you an unstable connection.The only way for me to solve this is to have a solid internet connection like comcast internet.But since I am always mobile with this system,I cant do that.I wish I knew that before I spent 4 additional cameras.Now I have to buy another router and air card and laptop to split 8 cameras into 2. Their tech support will take you hours. When you first call, you will be helped by a novice and if they cant help you, will transfer you to a higher level tech support, and if they cant help you wil transfer you to another higher level tech. They are quick to say that a product is defective even if it isnt. So you want to be sure you did everything you can. I know more about these cameras than I want to know. I had to change settings for the cameras, the router, ports, static IP\'s and everything technical. Also, make sure the computer you use is a 32-bit operating system because this is NOT compatible with 64 bit. Anything more than 3GB RAM will be 64 bit.

Reviewed by: msowen on 16-Apr-08 Rating:

Strengths:10X digital zoom, easy setup, works well on a wireless network, PTZ easily controlled via the internet, motion detection.

Weaknesses:Sound quality is poor.

Summary:We have been using the little brother of this camera (DCS-5320G) and had been very happy about all of its features (especially the price vs features). This little powerhouse sends the camera over the top for us. This is the most feature rich camera we have found for the price, and except for the poor sound quality all works as advertised. This camera adds night vision, digital zoom, and F 1.8 lens, and a wider range of motion.

Reviewed by: johnkuhn on 26-Jul-06 Rating:

Strengths:sharp image. great features. great optical zoom. easy setup.

Weaknesses:Pan/Tilt/Zoom motor burned out in 10 minutes!

Summary:This camera has a lot of great features in its user interface and I thought the construction and quality of the materials was very good. The optical zoom is very good. The sound feature worked well. I was using it to monitor my younger kids playing the basement while I was at my computer in my home office. It worked great for that. The problem is that the Pan/Tilt/Zoom feature went out 10 minutes or so after I took it out of the box and started using it. So that was a major bummer. I don\'t know if that was an isolated fluke or if there is problem with the components D-Link uses. So obviously that was a huge strike against it, and I sent it back for a refund. I was really looking forward to using the camera for its great features and ease of use. I would give this camera high marks for its features and a good high-res image that is very clear.

Reviewed by: sfodom on 24-Dec-05 Rating:

Strengths:Lightweight, easy to hook up and set up, clear picture when still.

Weaknesses:Hysteresis in pan/tilt, slow to focus, noisy gears, ActiveX controls do not always download with higher browser security settings.

Summary:This is my second D-Link camera. For this amount of money I expected a lot more. Sometimes this camera cannot focus automatically at all. The presets I originally set are no longer where I set them, the slop in the gears made sure of that. I cannot view this camera from work, D-Link says it\'s because the ActiveX control won\'t download, and that is my problem. They say I should speak with Microsoft and my company\'s I.T. staff. The zoom would be fantastic if it could focus better. This could be a nice camera, but stops way short of my expectations.