Deecam Ocean Wave Star Projector, Starry Night Light with Bluetooth Music Speaker & Auto-off timer,10 colors of Ocean Wave Galaxy Light Projector for Kids Bedroom, Party, Birthday, Home Theater

I bought this camera as a gift for my parents so they could watch over their cabin while they are away. As is customary in my family, I setup the electronics so they can use them effectively, and that is what i did with the Deecam D200 Wireless IP/Network Camera.In the box is the camera, ethernet cable, a/c adapter, instruction booklet, camera mount, and a mini-cd containing PC/Mac software (more on that one later).I followed the instructions and did the initial setup on an iPad, which included downloading an app from the Apple App Store, creating an account with Deecam, and "syncing" the camera with the iPad. Pretty straightforward. The image looked decent, once I was able to see it on the iPad. The app you have to download to view this camera is fairly mediocre, and only offers basic control.Installing the software from the included mini-cd onto a Mac or PC is fairly more complex. First off, the software is on a mini-cd. Last time I checked, Apple does not even offer a computer with an optical drive anymore, not even on their "desktop" models. This is also the trend for most consumer PCs. What is even worse is that the Mac I did have access to had a slot-loading optical drive, which meant the mini-cd would not work. Turns out that the only Apple computer I could find that could read the disc would be a MacPro tower, which Apple stopped producing in October of 2013. How convenient.I still have not had a chance to install the software onto an actual computer and not a mobile device as finding someone with an optical drive that would accept a mini-cd is trickier than it sounds. I was also not able to find the software online for download as it seems that Deecam does not have a website. This means that there will probably never be an update to the app.After realizing that my parents would be stuck viewing the images of this camera with only their iOS devices, I installed the Life Online app on their devices. After installing it, my mother wanted to change the password I created for something that would be easier for her to remember. We went through the process inside the app, which said we would have to confirm the password change in an email. Ok, that should be simple, except its been over 36 hours and there still has not been an email.As a result, I decided to do a full reset on the camera by sticking a paperclip inside the reset slot on the bottom of the camera. I setup a new account with my mother's alternate email, used the password she wanted and tried to sync the camera with the new account, but I was not able to because the camera has now been associated with the old account and a hard reset does not disassociate it. Well crap. And like I mentioned earlier, their is no website for Deecam so there is no easy way to login to your account and switch your password using a browser. It has to be done through the app and the app does not work. Please remember this if ever selling your Deecam product or buying a used one.Once I explained to both of my parents that they would have to use my complicated password, which they don't really need to use because the app auto-logs in for you (great security guys!), they seemed to like it.Personally, I would not buy this product again and would not recommend it to a friend or family member. There are other wireless ip cameras out there, from more reputable companies, that offer better support, software, and hardware.

First, a few things I noticed during installation:Setting up for wifi is a bi**h. You are told via the manual you add the wifi device and the password, save it, then disconnect the cable and you have wifi connection. It is not so easy. Had to turn off encryption on my router, get it connected (save the blank password, then disconnect the cable – this produced a new ip address) and save the ip address so that it was static. Then I had to reconnect the cable, turn encryption back on. With the window to the new wifi ip address still open, I added the new password, crossed my fingers and disconnected the cable. That seemed to work and I was able to get wireless. I will note there appears to be a wps button on the back of the device (I thought it was a reset button because the setup booklet SAYS NOTHING ABOUT THIS).If you install a new micro SD card that is unformatted there is a format button in the system – device state page. Now, how you get the data off the card I have no idea. It is not clear how you can delete individual files either.The web interface is clunky. In addition to the issues in #2 – there is no easy way to display video or pictures. For instance it would be nice if there was a thumbnail view.Updating the firmware is a mystery. The deecam (which appears to also be a "clone" of tenvis brand) does not appear to have a website associated with it.Now that I got things up and running - here are my thoughts, good and bad:Pro: Image quality is great, IR is amaze-balls, wifi is strong (once its set up it has never dropped a signal), daytime images are crystal clear, pan and tilt is smooth and quiet, Amazon says it can work on -20 degrees so having it near my window on a cold winter night should not affect it. The holder it ships with is very easy to assemble and use. Even tho the software is not great there are tons of paid programs like blue iris and soundhound (see below) that will work with it and offers a better interface.Con: Wish I could get rid of the watermarking and replace it with the ones that come with the third party makers. Are there periodic firmware upgrades? If so where do you find them? As indicated the manual is lacking, the software is not the worst I’ve ever seen, but it is not as elegant as it could be. Qnap does not support it (the qnap forum is a joke) which is a dig against qnap’s surveillance station more than anything else.I have my Deecam pointed out my window. At night the images are blurry (if I open the window and had the night vision on it would look great). IR function does not work through windows (which I knew) or screens (which I did not). Daytime no issues.As stated before, there are second party software that works with the Deecam. Best to use the open source ONVIF device manager or onvifer app on mobile. You can also try Blue Iris or Sighthoud, but they require a fee and are still limited. For instance with Blue Iris there is no way to access the SD card and record or view the video/pictures afaik.If you are unfamilar with ip cameras (as I was) it takes a few days to read up and get used to. But once its all in, the damn thing is amazing.

The camera is decent if used as intended. That's not why I purchased it. With a USB to 3.5mm Barrel Jack, you can power the camera remotely with an external power pak. I purchased two, a 10,000 and a 3,750mAh battery pak. The 10,000 came first, and based on the status lights, it would last 36+ hours powering the camera. The second was a combination router and battery pac. That one makes portability much more convenient for the tablet. No swapping between static and dynamic IP addresses. I assigned the camera an address range in the mask of the portable router which makes it easy to point the tablet at various SSIDs as needed. The software that comes with the camera is marginally OK. The pan/tilt jumps in random increments, and will sometimes trigger an unintended sweep. With enough fiddling with the buttons, you can eventually point the camera roughly where you want it. You can digitally zoom in fixed increments. You cannot zoom or shift position using the functionality normally found a touch screen tablet. In an ideally lit room, the images are good. Out doors and through windows, the changing light degrades the usefulness. In a basement, the camera was useful to about 30 feet. Too little detail for my use at 50 feet. I did not set up the remote viewing capabilities of the camera or software, because I have no intention of placing that stream on the internet. I did try another software package with the camera, and the picture quality was comparable, a little better use of the full screen, but no clearer. I've tried a couple of M12 lens swaps in this camera, but have not yet been able to display my down range targets.