IP CAMERA LEARNING & RESOURCE CENTER

Home security is not a new concept. People have been looking for ways to protect their home for many years and are now beginning to look at new technology to help them in their fight. Traditionally the solution of choice for the home security aficionado would be the humble burglar alarm. This represents a good deterrent but is of little use when it comes to catching intruders in the act or capturing evidence for the authorities (and let’s face it, would normally do more to annoy neighbors than catch crooks).

IP camera technology has, over the years, moved from the realms of a fancy gadget to a serious home security solution and this is no more evident with the launch of Panasonic’s latest offering the BL-C160.

Aimed at the home user the BL-C160 offers plenty of advanced features at an entry-level price which represents great value for money. It is a static camera with a fixed lens offering viewing angles of 58 degrees horizontal, 45 degrees vertical and like other products in the Panasonic’s BL-range of cameras it’s easy to set up and use.

For more information and purchasing please see:

US - Panasonic BL-C160A Outdoor ready static IP camera (available soon!)
UK/Europe - Panasonic  BL-C160 Outdoor ready static IP camera

Features

Outdoor Ready

The BL-C160 comes with a splash-resistant body (IP54 equivalent) which expands the use of the camera by letting you install it outdoors (with a little protection from the eaves of a building or garage). The main benefit is that the camera requires no additional housing to protect it from outdoor conditions resulting in an attractive camera you wouldn’t mind having installed on your property compared to a large CCTV enclosure. It’s compact too, measuring approx. 4 inches wide x 5.5 inches high making it ideal for discreet monitoring.

Power

The BL-C160 is also designed so that it is easy to install, indoors or out. The camera supports a proprietary form of Power over Ethernet which allows the camera to be simply installed using a single standard Ethernet cable of up to 30m in length. This cable will supply both the power and the data connections to the camera. This means to mount the camera you don’t have to worry about hiring electricians to route power cables for you, especially for outdoor installations. All you need do is mount the camera in position and run an Ethernet cable from the supplied Power Transfer Unit to the camera.

Unfortunately because the technology is proprietary the camera will not work using standard IEEE802.3af rated PoE devices. It will only work using the supplied Power Transfer Unit. A pity.

Setup

The cameras from Panasonic’s BL-range are all aimed at the novice user and the BL-C160 is no exception. The setup software is easy to use and camera operation is very straightforward. They also throw in a useful dynamic DNS service so you can set up external access to the camera from the Internet and a free 1-camera licence for their Network Camera Recorder recording application.

Panasonic provide the tools which mostly automate the initial setup procedure. Their “Easy Setup” tool will allow you to set the initial IP address of the camera and once you’re logged in the wizard in the camera will guide you through the rest of the process.

Anyone who is familiar with Panasonic cameras from the BL or BB ranges will feel at home with the look and layout of the BL-C160:

From the single camera page you can adjust the brightness, white balance, refresh rate, resolution and compression. There’s also a new option to enable/disable backlight compensation, more on that later…

Shedding Some Light on the Situation

The more observant among you would have noticed the camera has a pair of eyes. Well they’re one of the more notable features of this Panasonic model and are actually bright white LEDs that can be used to capture images in low-light conditions or simply as a deterrent.

The light can be set to operate in a number of ways:

The distance the light throws is estimated at around 3m so it’s probably best used for specific outdoor applications such as monitoring a door, window or garage entrance. When used in an indoor environment the light distance may travel further due to reflections from walls and surfaces but that is dependent on the size of the room and what is contained within it.

Here are some low-light examples:

Panasonic BL-C160 - Color Night View Mode enabled - 0 lux - Light off
(640×480 VGA, standard compression)

Panasonic BL-C160 - Color Night View Mode enabled - 0 lux - Light on
(640×480 VGA, standard compression)

The image quality may be grainy but this is to be expected when trying to capture images at 0 lux (which is basically pitch black). We think the images above speak for themselves. Clearly in an indoor environment the light will brighten the room considerably allowing you to catch an intruder unawares, especially if you have it set to activate on detection. However we feel that any form of facial identification would be tricky at long range but this is probably the same when using the camera throughout the day too. A little bit of thought about how to best position the camera could yeild great results.

Deterrent

What we didn’t expect was just quite how bright the LEDs actually would be. As a deterrent the lights would do a remarkable job as they are very bright and the light generated from them is not directed in a straight line like a torch but can be clearly seen from a wide angle too. It’s got a good spread.

Through Glass?

We get asked this quite a bit for a wide range of cameras so we tested this too. No, you cannot place the BL-C160 indoors looking out and still be able to use the light. The light reflects too much on the window pane and you see nothing, as our results below:

Panasonic BL-C160 - Color Night View Mode enabled - 0 lux - Light on
(640×480 VGA, standard compression) Behind Glass

Daylight Images

Image quality throughout the day is good too for a camera at this price. The images captured are detailed and the colors are fairly natural and realistic:

Panasonic BL-C160 at dusk - Color Night View Mode enabled - approx. 50 lux
(640×480 VGA, standard compression)

Panasonic BL-C160 at dusk - Color Night View Mode enabled - approx. 50 lux
(640×480 VGA, standard compression) 10x digital zoom

Conclusion

If you are considering using a camera to protect your home or property then we would have no problem in recommending the Panasonic BL-C160. It provides good image quality and low-light performance in a camera packed with advanced features at an entry-level price. Its flexibility has a wide range of uses from taking intruders unawares, acting as a deterrent, keeping an eye on elderly relatives or even checking in on the household pet and it can be installed in any location, even outdoors!

It’s a perfect camera for the first-time user. It’s incredibly easy to install (with no electrician required) and the initial setup and day to day running of the camera is the most user friendly on the market today. We think this is going to be a popular camera for Panasonic and rightly so.

Alternatively

Y-cam Black Outdoor Bundle

The Y-cam Black offers night vision by having 30 infrared LEDs activiate automatically in low-light. It also supports audio and wireless connectivity and can be placed outdoors when installed in its own housing, the Y-cam Shell.

The housing is a bit larger than the Panasonic camera and looks a bit bulkier when installed but it’s still a lot smaller than conventional CCTV enclosures and it will require a power outlet or electrical mains to be run to the camera when installing outdoors which would be a job for an electrician.