Package Contents:
Panasonic BL-C1A Wired Network Camera, bracket, power supply, mounting hardware, CD-ROM, software and instructions.

The Panasonic BL-C1A Wired Network Camera handles your digital photography needs at a price that won't hurt your wallet! This color surveillance camera allows remote video monitoring of a home or business. Remote home and business surveillance just got a lot more affordable. 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 x 3-3/8 x 1 Weight - 0.22 lbs Networking Protocols - HTTP, FTP, SMTP, TCP, UDP, IP, DHCP, DNS, ARP, ICMP, and POP3 before SMTP

User Reviews about Panasonic Network Camera and Pet Cam (BLC1A)

I have a Mac network, with an Airport, so I was a little worried about setting up the camera. Turns out it was a 3 minute job. The instructions provided by Robert Hoare (earlier review) are mostly correct, except for one important detail: if the camera gets it's initial IP address from your router (via DHCP), it could get any available IP address. Robert said it would default to xxx.xxx.xxx.253. Mine was issued 192.168.0.91. So in my case, the URL for setup was as follows:

[...]

Just type that into your browser and you are up and running. But the trick is finding the correct IP address. On a different network, the camera will probably get a different IP address. With the Airport, you can go to the setup and get the list of connected devices -- I think most routers have a similar feature. Worst case, it would just take a few minutes to run through every possibility, 2-255. Once you connect to the web server that's built into the camera, and set the username/password, you can set a static IP address and whatever else you want to set up. It has a whole bunch of other features. No worries.

Another important detail: I was setting up the BL-C210A, but I suspect they are all similar in this respect. -- No need for Windows - works fine with Mac OS X

Pretty dang good quality for $85.00. You can afford to buy multiple cameras later down the road at this price. Unfortunately, the DVR software that comes with the camera will not export a compressed MPEG video unless you purchase it for $350.00. All recordings will remain locally on your hard drive. -- Good bang for the buck!

Was able to set up the camera locally in no time at all. Turns out AT&T Uverse is a pain in the backside. I finally had to call into Panasonic support and they were great. Took about 15 minutes for them to walk me through a new setup. I had already spent 2 nights trying to configure the firewall on my own but they pointed out I had to change the setup in the camera as well.

To make this work you need to go to setup tab
choose static connection mode
change port number to 5000
for mine IP Address 192.168.1.253
subnet mask 255.255.255.0
default gateway 192.168.1.254
DNS server 1 192.168.1.254
DNS server 2 4.2.2.1

You will then need to go to the firewall of your router and setup an egress rule for the device using port 5000. This worked for me and I can now access the camera from anywhere.

I further setup up limited user access. For this you need to go to "administer" and choose "Do not permit access from guest users"

Then you go to "general user" tab and create the user account that you want to allow to access the camera. I set mine up to only allow "guests" to access the camera M-F 8a-6p. That was pretty easy to figure out as well.

Finally, if you want to buffer the images you can set that up on the "trigger" tab. I chose to just have it store the images in the camera at 1 per minute and get just over 4 hours that I can replay. I am playing with trying to get it to email tonight.

If you have AT&T then I hope these settings work for you. If not (or if you have any other problems) I highly advise you call Panasonic support before you give up. They are great and did not take too much time.

Update - 1-27-10
I struggled with the email settings for a while running multiple tests. Only after some time on the internet did I find an article detailing how to set up webcams to email. I found an excellent link[...]

However, if you are using [...], Yahoo you are probably out of luck b/c the camera does not support SSL login. My ISP is ATT and that defaults over to [...] so I am out of luck on both my accounts. Will poke around to see if I can find another way. -- Great Camera - Uverse is Challenging

I have 2 of these cameras, and the installation of just one camera is fairly straightforward if moderately complex. Adding a second camera was more challenging, but this is just about as easy as it can possibly be. The best part so far is the technical support available via the 800-number at 800-211-7262. I have used the phone support 3 times and spoke with 3 different representatives. Each one was professional, patient, courteous, and very familiar with the product. If you're wondering whether you can set up this camera, you can do it. (and if you can't, the support representatives will get you the help you need.)
Picture quality is better than i expected, and the video isn't as choppy as i thought it might be.
Ability to view your pet via cell phone is this product's best feature, in my opinion.
Highly recommend!
-- customer support via telephone is excellent

The camera is a good camera for the money, and I own three of these, and a couple Axis cameras ( see Axis 0199024 206 Surveillance Cameras Bundle) which are way better, but three times the price. The Panasonic is good bang for the buck, especially if the lighting is decent.

However, of the 3 cameras I own, two of the first ones I bought have already had their PQLV206 power supplies die. :-( Although to be fair: I've had power supply failures with the Axis cameras too; although Axis had great support and replaced them all with an upgraded version for free even after the cameras were out of warranty. -- Power supplies die too easily