Remotely monitoring premises using internet protocol (IP) camera equipment is a relatively new technology arrival even more so with wireless equipment capable of pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) with wireless connectivity. I purchased the D-Link 6620G for the rich feature set and this article briefly summarizes the good, the bad, and the ugly of this unit.

As an owner of a holiday property located thousands of miles away from my home residence, I was seeking to deploy surveillance technology that would enable me to know in real time of any intruders or events at my property. The ideal solution was presented with the D-Link DCS-6620G as a wireless IP camera that could be accessed over the internet from anywhere in the world. Does it work? Yes, well, sort of – read on.

Once it is all setup and functioning properly, the interface to pan, tilt, zoom is very straightforward. Clicking a snapshot is a breeze as well as jumping into the configuration. The interface here deserves high marks.

Unless you have a PhD in Computer Science, you will likely struggle to get the unit working. The manual and help line to D-Link are of little value – prayers to religious icons and perseverance are your best resources here. Unless you have extensive experience and training, the connectivity is probably the worst trait of this technology. The manual is absent of any detail or worked examples. First, the SMTP server details do not require you to enter 'smtp.' or 'smtp:' in front of the smtp server details field Likewise, for FTP, do not enter 'FTP://'. For your wireless connection, be sure to get the SSID of your wireless access point or router first and type it in exactly. The Site survey feature did not see my access point in the lounge at all, only the router in the study. You'll also need to know to open Audio, Video, HTTP, local FTP, and Server FTP ports on your router before you'll have any joy with this camera. Not to mention establishing Dynamic or Static DNS hosting details (which there is only a drop down menu for these and unless you subscribe to one of them, you are out of luck). The documentation is sparse on all of this and calling D-Link for over 2 hours each on 4 separate calls frankly did not help me to resolve. Thanks to my local ISP technician who had already installed a TrendNet camera who was able to assist me joggle through it.

Once operating, you will notice the base of the unit gets very hot and given only 1 mounting point leaves this $800 unit very vulnerable to being bumped about or snapping off and falling to the floor. Images are very clear until you zoom on an object. I disabled digital zoom in order to limit the camera to the optical zoom, but even when zoomed 70% (like on a license plate on a car) you cannot focus the unit enough to distinguish the numbers.

You cannot use both FTP and SMTP (e-mail) settings simultaneously - you must select either one or the other. The camera only uploads snapshots to FTP or e-mail, not video. For video playback, you must record real time motion to a local computer running bundled software. This is not a problem for situations where you have a local computer on the LAN, but presents a considerable problem for a remote installation where you do not necessarily need computer equipment. For a remote installation, about the best you'll get are a few snapshots of the event, not real motion video uploaded to your e-mail.

Finally, the wireless works only within a few feet of your router or access point. Moving the camera further than 15 ft (5 meters) resulted in such a wireless signal loss I could not operate the controls of the camera. So get ready to stretch some wire if you think you'll have great wireless yards away from the unit.

Strengths:

Internet access Pan, Tilt, Zoom with remote access is a very leading edge technology. Only D-Link and 4XEM manufacture units to this specification at the present time. The video clarity is better than most on the market.

Weaknesses:

The manual. The help line. A new firmware is needed - for example when you untick some boxes, there is no 'save' button leaving you wondering if the changes have been saved. The FTP and E-mail alerts should not be exclusive. The lens focus needs to be improved to take full advantage of the optical zoom capabilities.

Summary:

A niche unit with only 1 real competitor in the market manufactured by 4XEM. I would suggest most users wait 6 months unless you are desperate to get on the leading edge early. Wait for another firmware upgrade or two, more powerful wireless, and hopefully improved optics.

Readers are encouraged to visit http://www.esentepe-seaview.com where the author has installed 3 DCS-6620G wireless IP cameras to remotely monitor with security surveillance.