Panasonic Wireless Network Camera and Pet Cam (BL-C20A) |  | Brand: Panasonic
Category: CE
Buy New: $399.99
as of 7/30/2010 17:15 PDT details
Seller: Action Packaged, Inc.
Rating:  33 reviews
Sales Rank: 22857
Platform: Windows XP
Color: White
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
Operating System: DOS
CPU Manufacturer: Intel
CPU Speed: 1
CPU Type: AMD Athlon
Processors: 1
System Memory: 128000
Memory Type: DRAM
Hard Drive Size: 1
Graphics Card: This is the description of the PC Graphics
Graphics RAM: 256
Graphics Card Interface: AGP
Native Resolution: 640x480
Display Size: 669.2913385826772
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7 x 9 x 3.5
Legal Disclaimer: Warranty does not cover misuse of product.
Warranty: 1 year warranty
MPN: BL-C20A
Model: BL-C20A
UPC: 037988845057
EAN: 0037988845057
ASIN: B000FBOF96
Availability: Usually ships in 6-10 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 | | • | Connect wirelessly with standard 802.11b/g devices, SSID filtering and 40/64/128-bit WEP encryption | | • | Simple plug-n-play operation | | • | Built-in heat sensor allows record and/or notify by email when someone enters the room |
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Product Description
Box Contents: Wireless/Wired Network Camera, bracket, power supply, mounting hardware, CD-ROM, software and instructions. There's a wise saying, "Be safe rather than sorry." The Panasonic BL-C20A Wireless/Wired Network Camera is designed to help you keep watch of anything inside your home using your PC. Use it to view your children or the new baby while you sit in another room. This color surveillance camera allows remote video monitoring of a home or business; Remote home and business surveillance just got a lot more affordable. Wireless installation is playing an ever increasing role in flexible communication, and this Panasonic is compatible with a wireless system based on IEEE 802.11b/g (wired use via Ethernet cable is also available) for viewing on your computer monitor. Receive an e-mail image when the home security camera detects motion -- you'll always know what's going on at home or at your business. The 10X digital zoom and color night viewing makes sure you don't miss a detail. It's easy to install, easy to operate and requires no additional software for viewing on your PC. Indoor use only.
Server Features: Image Buffer--About 250 frames (320 x 240, standard image quality). Image transfer via e-mail (SMTP) or FTP. View snapshots and control them from a compatible cellular phone. Supports up to 12 cameras. IPv4. Multi-Language Interface--English, German, Spanish, Italian, French and Japanese.
Camera Features: 1/4 320,000 pixel CMOS image sensor. 10 digital zoom. Viewing Angle--53° horizontal, 41° vertical. Auto exposure Aperture - F2.8. Illumination - 10 - 10,000 lux (normal), 4-10,000 lux (night view). Motion Sensor with Email Alert. Auto & manual White Balance. Network Connection - RJ45 Ethernet (10Base-T/100Base-X). System Requirements - Windows 98SE, 2000, ME and XP; Internet Explorer 6.0 or later. Camera Dimensions(WxHxD) - 3-3/8
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 33
 Definitely - NOT - for Macs...read on for new info! June 25, 2010
looking around (Centennial, Colorado)
First, these cameras DO NOT work on the (up-to-date, circa 2010) Airport Extreme. The modern AE works ONLY in WPA/WPA2 or WPA NOT in WEP - these cameras ONLY work on WEP. After reading many, many reviews, not only of this camera, but of other models also, and seeing that many Mac owners were happy I decided to take the "plunge" - save yourselves the headache and the frustration! many praised Panasonic's "customer service" - my experience was 180 - I explained my situation (having a WAP router vs. a WEP router) - Panasonic's answer: "well, sir, it is IMPOSSIBLE for you to make the cameras work!" - which is true, but they did not even give me any alternatives, suggestions, work around, NOTHING! - they left me pretty much "dead-in-the-water!" - NOT a good impression of a so-called "stellar" service!
I managed to run the cameras through two Airport Express that I have in my network (attached with an Ethernet cable!) - they also work as iTunes streamers in conjunction with the cameras (I guess a plus here!) All this on my WPA/WPA2 network.
Also, I found that the Panasonic software is pretty useless, other than for watching the live feed of the camera or watching a buffered .jpeg shots (making a small movie.) Thank heavens, I found a very good software that overcomes a lot of the limitations of having this camera, the software is the Security Spy for Mac. It sends you emails upon motion triggering, also saves a MPEG movie in your local server/Main Computer (i.e. Mac) - only disadvantage is that you have to let your system turned on - all the time! (or at least for a set window that you want covered.)
Am I missing something here? Can anyone give me any advice? (Point me in the right direction?) I wanted so much for these cams to work on my mac on a wireless ( BL-20A) set up!
Also after reading ALL the reviews (I spent 4 hours reading on Panasonic network cams - solely based on the reviews!) and seeing that a lot of Mac owners were happy with theirs, I feel a bit cheated! Furthermore, none of the reviews point out - a MOST IMPORTANT POINT - that you need an ISP based -mail - comcast.net, qwest.net, etc - none of the web based email systems will do, i.e. Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, etc - to receive the trigger movies/snapshots! In my opinion, this renders the software, pretty much useless, for those of us that have Macs and have web based emails!!!
So...no WPA/WPA2 network security (WEP is a joke as far as security goes!) - no web based emails for motion trigger - customer service is very limited for suggestions...I think the "setbacks" are way too many to consider this camera package any good for Mac owners or anyone with a WPA/WPA2 network security set up.
If you have some information that might help me (and change my opinion of this camera) - Please help me!
 One year and still working perfectly November 15, 2009
Jaylady
We bought this camera a year ago, and have gotten our money's worth out of it. We've moved it to different locations inside the house, to watch the bird feeders in the back yard, to check on the cats while on vacation, or as a security camera watching the front of the house and entryway.
Setup and maintenance are MUCH easier than our previous network camera, which was a Linksys model. The photos we get via the motion-sensor triggers are clear, and I really appreciate the flexibility with the various trigger options.
All in all, I recommend this camera. The only things I miss are the pan & tilt features of my D-Link camera (which died after 2 1/2 years).
I will try to post an update in a year, to see if it's still working well at the 2-year point.
Doesn't last September 27, 2009
-TMcN- (Snohomish, WA United States)
As so many reviews here say, this camera doesn't last very long. Mine died too, same symptoms. It's also not very good at low-light. I won't be buying another one.
Generally happy with the Panasonic BL-C20A NetCam July 31, 2009
Peter Harrison (Washington State)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
My wife and I wanted to install a video camera of some sort to monitor the comings and goings at the front and back of the house. Our list of wants was pretty short: We wanted a cam that would email us when there was activity and store images that could be accessed online. After trying some of the cheaper consumer Wireless IP NetCams and been disappointed by them in various ways we decided to try the Panasonic BL-C20A.
The BL-C20A looks like the answer we were looking for. Its low-light performance is pretty good and its a range of notification, image storage and image capture options make it very practical for our purposes. Rather than list the options, I'll just tell you how I set ours up.
After establishing the camera's basic settings by hard-wiring it to our network for a short bit, I switched it over to wireless networking and installed it on the ceiling. The most difficult part of that process was running the 10' long adapter power cable through the ceiling to a spot in a closet where I could install the wall-wort power adapter. Once installed there I found I could get great video of our front door and foyer.
The next step was to set up the camera's "triggers." The BL-C20A can store five different trigger configurations that dictate how and when the camera captures images and what it does with them. Each trigger has an on/off setting (so you can easily activate and deactivate saved settings), a setting for what time of day and days of the week the trigger is active, an option that allows you to capture images at specific intervals or when there is motion in the frame, a set of options that dictates the number, size and frequency of images capture when motion is detected, what to do with the captured images, and an email notification option that lets you know when the camera has detected motion.
Captured images can be stored on the camera's internal web server, emailed to a list of three recipients, or stored on an external FTP server.
I set up three triggers. The first captures two 320x240 pixel images every second there is motion in the frame and stores them on the camera's web server. The camera canstore up to 255 images before it starts deleting older images to make room for new ones.
My second setting sends 4 images taken at one second intervals to my wife and I by email when motion is detected. This has its positive and negative effects. On the plus side, we get real-time notification whenever someone comes in our front door, but since each image is sent in a separate 7K email message a busy foyer can fill up our inbox pretty quickly.
The third trigger stores two 640x480 images each second motion is detected on my off-site FTP server.
We plan to leave the first trigger on at all times. The second two triggers we'll turn on when we're away on vacation.
The biggest downside of the BL-C20A is it supports WEP wireless security protocol but not the more secure WPA encryption that is the current industry standard. Supporting WEP is better than nothing, but it is easily hacked. (There are downloadable toolkits that can do it in minutes, so I set the cam up on a separate network that's isolated from our primary LAN.) The frame captures aren't picture perfect. They have all the charm you expect from a security cam video capture and little more, but that's all we needed for our application.
Overall we're happy with this camera and plan to acquire one more so we can easily check on our house when we're away at work or out on vacation.
If you can run Ethernet to your camera location you might look at the wired version of this NetCam, the BL-C1A. Not only is it about $90 cheaper, but since there is no wireless it'll help keep your LAN more secure.
Difficult to set-up July 13, 2009
crombian
I must admit that while I am very satisfied with this product now that it is working correctly, I had a hell of a time getting set-up. I consider myself well beyond the curve when it comes to computing and general tech savvy, yet set-up for this camera frustrated me to no end. Adding to the horror that was setting this thing up was the poor English translation apparent in both the set-up CD and the online access component. However if you're patient enough, you'll likely get this thing running and will be happy with the result. My only technical gripes are that the unit does not support WPA2 network encryption (to my frustration I had to dumb our network down to WEP) and the sensitivity settings for the mo-cap component were difficult to tune to the appropriate levels.
UPDATE (10/21/2009): Like others who have reviewed this camera, my BL-C20A suddenly stopped working. While it has taken others about a year before malfunctions begin, my camera seems to have gone kaput in only 5-6 months. My camera was mounted to a doorway between my kitchen and dining room and has remained in the same spot since initial installation. Up until it stopped working, it was working perfectly. It's really too bad as I enjoyed this camera while it lasted.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 33
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