So now that Mona has resumed her hectic full time school schedule, our 5 month old little puggies are going to spend more time home-alone.  They're housebroken and generally pretty lazy, but I've been thinking that I'd feel better if I could check in on them from work.  Enter the wonderful world of network enabled webcams.

 
IP Cameras have to-date been used for security and surveillance for small businesses, and recently have made appearances in consumer product lines from labels such as D-Link and Linksys.  Fundamentally a simple concept, IP cameras are essentially web-cams with an embedded server that can stream the video over HTTP or RTP RTSP.  Add in 802.11 b/g/n on the packaging and you'll shell out an extra $50-$75 for a wireless network cam.

Beyond the wired/wireless, the other main differentiating feature in network cameras is whether the device is fixed or capable of Pan, Tilt and Zoom (commonly referred to as PTZ).  The ability to move the lens around a room will roughly double the cost of the camera (new of course, but I've found that the more mature models are so new that the second hand market doesn't provide any better than a 15% discount).

After some typically obsessive research, I had my choices narrowed down to the Panasonic BL-C111A and two Linksys models WVC54GCA.  I decided that Pan, Tilt Zoom wasn't critical, but wireless would definitely be a requirement.  I settled on the WVC54GCA and ordered one up from Amazon.

After unboxing this neat little camera, and promptly tossing aside the manual and included CD (who needs directions), I plugged the device into my switch and powered it on.  The single blue LED in the front blinked a few times (which I later learned indicates the camera is booting up), and helpfully stayed on solid.

... Now What?

It turns out that configuring this thing is probably quite straightforward on a vanilla home network (managed by a dandy Linksys router no doubt) with few changes from the manufacturer's settings.  Of course, no such luck on my network.  Its not that I'm some uber hacker with obtuse or complex configurations at work, but I do have DD-WRT running on my router and have changed my internal network addressing from the default 192.168.1.255 subnet to 30.30.30.255. 

Next problem: I don't have a PC.  So even if I did swallow my pride and tried to use the "Discover cameras on my network" option on the installation CD, I would be out of luck.

After nearly a half hour of poking around (banging my head against my desk), I found this helpful tidbit on identifying new devices on your network; especially if you run macs at home.

Once you land on the Linksys web-based admin page, I have to admit it was pretty smooth sailing.  I'll point out a few points I wish I had stumbled upon sooner that maybe helpful to others, but first, my complaints:

1. I wanted to check in on my pups from work:  I didn't realize how much I had to compromise on performance if I wanted to rely on the wireless part of my wireless network camera.  I have a 15/3 cable  connection at home, and viewing my camera feed over the internet was dog-slow (ha ha!).
2. I thought it'd be cool if I could view my feed on my iPhone:  Documentation on RTSP support on the iPhone is rather sketchy.  I just found a fantastic app called Streamer that supports RTSP streams and does a terrific job with the WVC54GCA's feed.  That said, its still reliant on the quality of the network connection:  both on the iPhone, as well as your network that's attempting to up-stream the feed wirelesly from the camera.  In my case, with the camera just 30 feet from my wireless-N router, I couldn't do better than 10 fps.  Disappointing.
3. I wanted something plug/play/forget:  What can I say.  BonJour and zero-conf networking on the Macs have spoiled me.  Took me 2 hours to get the camera setup, streaming wirelessly, and accessible via the outside net.  And having it operational for just over 5 hours now, the camera has already dropped off the network twice.  Granted it came back pretty much on its own, its a bit frustrating when you're out to lunch and want to check in on something that ate up a chunk of your morning only to find the picture choppy, then stuck and then gone.

Lessons learned:

1. The default ip the camera grabs is 192.168.1.115 (admin/admin) .   This is useless on any customized network.  You'll need to figure out what the device's IP is using either a broadcast ping or something similar to these directions
2. The access key if you want to secure in mobile mode must be numeric only!  (You'll know what this means if your web-wizrd tells you that your text-overlay is invalid)
3. The fixed lens on the camera has a pretty narrow field of vision.  If you want to look at a room of any decent size ( I wanted to cover a room about 20x15), you'll need to either mount this thing on the ceiling in a corner, or accept a failry substantial blind-spot.
4. You need some seriously comprehensive wireless coverage wherever you intend to install the camera.
5. RTSP streaming is quite impressively supported on the Streamer iPhone app.  Get it!

Bottom Line:

1. I'm going to upgrade my network with a couple of wireless repeaters and give this camera another shot.  But I have to say, the performance better rock, otherwise, this thing is going back to the store.
2. I haven't given up on network cameras, but to get my approval, the wireless performance has to be much better, and I ill not compromise on the PTZ feature next time around.

YMMV, so I'm looking forward to feedback.