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Panasonic BL-C131A Network Camera Wireless 802.11 | 
| Brand: Panasonic
Category: CE
Buy New: $449.21
New (2) Used (1) Refurbished (1) from $209.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  252 reviews
Sales Rank: 3500
Format: Cd
Platform: Windows
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Operating System: Windows
Native Resolution: 320 x 240
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 2.9 x 2.9 x 3.9
Legal Disclaimer: Warranty does not cover misuse of product.
Warranty: 1 year warranty
MPN: BL-C131A
Model: BL-C131A
UPC: 037988845156
EAN: 0037988845156
ASIN: B000NVR9SM
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | Place anywhere you'd like to keep an eye on things, with no PC required at the location | | • | View and control from a standard web browser, video display, or compatible cell phone or PDA | | • | Point the camera where you want with eight shooting position presets | | • | Built-in heat sensor allows record and/or notify by email when someone enters the room | | • | Connect wirelessly with standard 802.11b/g devices, SSID filtering and 40/64/128-bit WEP encryption |
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| Accessories:
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Wireless Network Camera 802.11g MPEG4 Automatic Network Configuration Universal Plug and Play Set-up Wizard Remote Pan/Tilt Control Built in PIR motion detector
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| Customer Reviews: Read 247 more reviews...
 Buyer Beware! July 13, 2010
If you buy a used or refurbished camera chances are it has been registered by the previous owner with [...]
This means you will have to call Panasonic with a bunch of information after you get the camera working on LAN to issue a request to [...] to unregistered the camera otherwise you can't use the camera via the Internet. And here's the real crappy part... It can take up to 5 days to get the cameras account cleared. Had I known this I wouldn't have bought a refurbished camera.
Can't say how the camera preforms through the Internet because I'm stuck waiting for the old account to be reset.
I spent over 8 hours trying to make this work before finding out this problem, so I'm rather pissed about it.
Panasonic needs to be able to expedite this account clearing issue. I bought the camera because of it's good reviews, but I didn't see this issue and I hope it helps to know before hand and maybe save you some time and frustration.
OK, but Moderate Quality and Short on Image Tuning June 25, 2010
This was a "Good as New" Panasonic-refurbished camera from Amazon. The software CD was physically broken on arrival, and the manual it contained could not be downloaded from Panasonic, which resulted in more dollars spent. I spent about $10 of cell phone time waiting for support and bouncing around the Panasonic phone tree. Panasonic charged me $18+ to replace the CD.
My application is a webcam that sends still JPGs to my web site. I have had experience with several other wireless webcams. With pre-knowledge about this camera, I was able to get it working without the CD (but, I did want the manual). Be aware that the viewing angle is fairly wide, which for my application (view of mountains from window) was a disadvantage. The advertised 10x digital zoom is evidently unavailable for still JPGs.
Pros:
- A good choice of trigger features.
- Ability to FTP to a web site (without DNS redirection).
- The FTP options include files with same name (what I needed), or sequential file-names.
- It mostly can be operated from a browser on a Mac.
- Setup screens are intuitive and sensible.
- This camera can handle sun-light terrain (unlike a TrendNew webcam that I tried).
- So far, operation has been stable (unlike the Axis 207W which had a tendency to hang).
Cons:
- Image quality is not as good as my Axis 207W, which died. Seems to have something like a pin-hole instead of a real lens. (Due to its small aperture, its lack of focus capability is not so important.)
- The JPG image quality could be improved, if a person had more tweaking options.
- The advertised 10X digital zoom seems unavailable, at least for JPG stills.
 Unreliable April 12, 2010
We have two cameras connected through a wireless router, in a very small house - they are both very close to the router. They are completely unrealiable. They will work one day and not the next. It's extremely aggrivating.
 Very good product, extraordinary customer support March 13, 2010
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I got this for monitoring my pet remotely. It has been completely reliable, the image quality is fine for the purpose and for such a small device, ease of remote use through my Windows mobile phone is good. It is compact and attractive enough that it doesn't look weird or obtrusive sitting in my living room bookcase.
I have had trouble setting it up, but that's because of my own lack of expertise configuring my wireless network. Configuring a wireless camera with a high level of WiFi security such as I use is complex and beyond my capability.
Fortunately the customer service is absolutely superb. Seth at Panasonic stayed with me on the phone until everything was working completely properly, he was able to figure everything out despite some ignorant and misleading input from me (I told him I didn't use MAC filtering, but I actually do, which sent him and me on a wild goose chase). Several months later I messed up my wireless router settings, and got Rachel at Panasonic on the phone. Rachel's support was equally professional, patient, and completely effective.
I wouldn't be able to use a device such as this without the kind of support Panasonic provides, and probably wouldn't buy another one if it weren't for the support I received. I am considering adding another network camera soon, and it will be a Panasonic almost without question. My experience with this camera and Panasonic's customer support has given me a very strong bias toward Panasonic in several other electronics purchases since then, including a cordless phone and flat-screen TV.
Wonderful! February 26, 2010
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I really like it as I have been watching my home while I am away at work.
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