Panasonic IP Camera, cable + file management

[stylo]

Hi, I have the Panasonic BL-C160. Initial testing this looks to be great. I was after an exterior cam that had a proper motion detector so this fits the bill.

My issues/questions that someone may know about are:

Cable length, I tried using 30m with no success, 25m cable I get flashing LEDs so I've ordered 20m cable that will probably belong enough - anyone else have similar issues or could it be my cable quality???

I set the camera up so it send images to an FTP server when movement is detected and also emails a notification. Only issue is that although I can look on the FTP server it is painful to open each image up to view it. Ideally there would be a magic bit of SW that would load the images one after the other in a kind of slideshow format - any ideas of how to create something like that? The FTP server is hosted so there is a webserver also which of course should help.

Any ideas appreciated.

Thanks
Adam

[hornydragon]

Which cable? Ethernet? should be good for well over 30m. Have your tried the panasonic software? there is a more advanced multicamera version you can buy.

[stylo]

Hi, yes Ethernet Cat5e. As the power is delivered over it not using the standards PoE I can appreciate that you won't get the full Ethernet range (usually100m) but I'm not even getting 25m. I ordered 20m of Cat6 so will try that. At least I found out before I installed the cable in my roof!

For the SW, I don't want to rely on a PC being on to do anything with the recording but I don't mind of course using a PC to view the images on a website using different SW - will take a look.

cheers

[hornydragon]

Check the panasonic software, I haven't used the BL-C160 but havent had issues on the ones i have used.

[Gussie]

Originally Posted by stylo

... Ideally there would be a magic bit of SW that would load the images one after the other in a kind of slideshow format ...

There is no magc software!

I'd like to use the BL-C20E to monitor a construction project - take one pic every 30 mins during daytime - so roughly 20 pics per day.

Can I configure the BL-C20E to send me an email once a day with the 20 buffered pics attached in one go and then clear the buffer for the next day. NO!

Reading the user manual - suggests to me that I'd have to contend with 20 emails every day - i.e. the functionality appears to allow only one image per email. CRAZY!

Disappointing to say the least - the whole point of having buffering functionality is to avoid having resources switched on all the time.

I guess IP camera technology has not yet matured enough for my tastes.

Also there is no firmware upgrade on the BL-C20E to provide WPA for the wireless functionality? The newer models with WPA are around £50 more expensive!

Gussie

[stylo]

Agreed - some apsects of the SW are fine but others not so good. I do find the camera pretty stable which is good.

Like you I have to deal with many more emails than I would like. For me, I use the in-built PIR motion sensor to trigger emails to be sent to me. Trouble is I have to have multiple images captured and sent in separate emails as I want to know what triggered the PIR and sometimes this isn't in view at the time of the trigger.... Also have all the images uploaded to an FTP server which I could view by a browser but it really needs a simple front end with a time based menu that allows playing of all images in sequence or something - one day I'll get time to find/write something.

cheers

[DaveChester]

Originally Posted by stylo

Hi, yes Ethernet Cat5e. As the power is delivered over it not using the standards PoE I can appreciate that you won't get the full Ethernet range (usually100m) but I'm not even getting 25m. I ordered 20m of Cat6 so will try that. At least I found out before I installed the cable in my roof!

For the SW, I don't want to rely on a PC being on to do anything with the recording but I don't mind of course using a PC to view the images on a website using different SW - will take a look.

cheers

I'm not quite sure what you mean by the standards bit but PoE should be good for 30m. We have several installations on much longer lengths running reasonibly powerful Day & Night cameras with decent current draws.

Are you 100% sure of your connections and power supply?

[stylo]

The comment re stds is that the power is not delivered from my switch using PoE but is from a separately powered unit - this is not a PoE compliant device.

The cable was fine for ordinary use and the power also so not sure why the distance was a problem - but it is OK now using CAT6 cable at a slightly shorter length.

If anyone else uses the same camera over longer lengths that would be useful to know.