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Y-Cam Black SD review

in IP cameras

Y-Cam Black SD

Verdict

A simple but nonetheless very likeable camera for day and night surveillance

Review Date: 13 Jan 2010

Reviewed By: Darien Graham-Smith

Price when reviewed: £154 (£181 inc VAT)

Overall Rating
5 stars out of 6

Features & Design
5 stars out of 6

Value for Money
5 stars out of 6

Performance
6 stars out of 6

PCPRO Recommended

Details
Part Code Black SD
Review Date 13 Jan 2010
Price ex VAT £154
Overall rating 5 stars out of 6
Performance 6 stars out of 6
Features & Design 5 stars out of 6
Value for Money 5 stars out of 6
Specifications
Sensor type 1/4in CMOS
Video frame rate 30fps
Wired adapter speed 100Mbits/sec
WiFi standard 802.11g
Power over Ethernet no
Compression scheme MJPEG, MPEG4
Software
Web interface? yes
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User comments

Y-Cam

I have had one of these camera's for a year now and have been reasonably impressed. I use mine outside as you can purchase a shell which protects the camera from the elements. I have had issues with setting up email triggers as it can send far too many pictures. I also have had problems with setting up wireless connectivity using encryption (works without). I therefore installed a CAT6 cable which circumnavigates the issue.Since I have mounted the camera outside of my house I have yet to have any repeats of anti-social behaviour although I do have to display a CCTV warning sign as the public footpath is in clear view.
For a live view of my camera: http://78.32.184.35:8150

By Dr_Aspirin on 17 Jan 2010

Y-Cam used externally

I have had one of these camera's for a year now and have been reasonably impressed. I use mine outside as you can purchase a shell which protects the camera from the elements. I have had issues with setting up email triggers as it can send far too many pictures. I also have had problems with setting up wireless connectivity using encryption (works without). I therefore installed a CAT6 cable which circumnavigates the issue.Since I have mounted the camera outside of my house I have yet to have any repeats of anti-social behaviour although I do have to display a CCTV warning sign as the public footpath is in clear view.
For a live view of my camera: http://78.32.184.35:8150

By Dr_Aspirin on 17 Jan 2010

£180 for a camera?

Not good quality judging by the above live view!

By skgiven on 21 Jan 2010

It depends on whether you mean day or night. The camera is mounted at 3m and therefore night vision isn't going to be great. During the day I think it is reasonably clear. Forget the pink tinge - it's normal for this camera for night vision.

By Dr_Aspirin on 21 Jan 2010

Great little device

I picked up the white version of this camera (Knight SD ) a few weeks ago and its been nothing but a god send for me - I've had a few ip cameras over the years and the picture quality of this camera far exceeds the panasonic and d-link cams I had - and with built in SD card, it means the NAS I was using to record on to has now ended up attached to my media centre ;) haha. Great camera for the money

By bonkerz on 1 Feb 2010

cant see your live view

Dr Aspirin, its asking for username password to view your live view. I would like to view it if thats ok to see the quality?

By chrisbather on 26 Feb 2010

cant see your live view

Dr Aspirin, its asking for username password to view your live view. I would like to view it if thats ok to see the quality?

By chrisbather on 26 Feb 2010

poor night vision

I have one of these cameras & can't understand how it got full marks for performance? The daytime image makes grass look pink & fuzzy and the night time picture is none existant with the waterproof shell in place! All you can see is the ir led's reflecting in the plastic covering the lens. I bought this camera on PCPro's recomendation but I'm afraid it's very poor quality & I'm sending it back. If you Google y-cam you'll see loads of people have had problems with it. If you want a good picture on any camera don't put the led's inside the case, you need a seperate infra red floodlight.

By GlidemanUK on 24 Apr 2010

Like the camera and support

I bought Y-cam black SD and a waterproof shell a week ago. I was having same problem as GlindmanUK. was so upset about the led´s reflection from the plastic cover. calling them to complain. I found out it was my installation problem. ( like most people I guess, I have not learn to read the manual before setup ;-) ). now it is working perfectly. a bit embrassing, that is why I leave this comment.

By jakie on 12 Aug 2010

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