Trendnet TV-IP100W-N IP camera review
Camera surveillance is a great way to increase the protection of your home and you can actually get quite advanced surveillance if you chose to do it with ip cameras. Many IP cameras come with wireless network and can be connected to your existing networking in a matter of seconds.
A IP camera is basically just and ordinary web camera that you already know of used for chat and video conferences, but instead of connecting via USB it connect directly to the network and has a build in web server to watch and control the camera. The build it web server makes it work in-dependable and you can connect to it from anywhere on the globe as long as you have Internet connection. The camera can
automatically send you a picture or short video to your email if there is movement or you can let it record what is going on to a NAS or a PC.
Trendnet TV-IP100W-N has besides ordinary network plug also built in wireless network B and G, it also comes in a model with out wireless network it is called TV-100-N and is a bit cheaper. Both cameras are identical besides the Wireless network. Trendnet TV-IP100N-W is made for indoor use but Trendnet also sells a outdoor house with build in heat and blower if you prefer to put it outside. The camera includes a foot in hard plastic that can be mounted either under the camera or on top of the camera, so it is possible to hang in the ceiling and the software can 
compensate if you hanging upside down. On the front of the camera there two led indicators one for power and one for network activities and can be turned completely off in the software so the camera is more discrete or it is placed outside in a outdoor house where the LED’s makes glares in the front window of the housing.
Configuring the Trendnet TV-IP100w-N
Trendnet TV-IP100W-N comes with a CD-ROM including both the manual and setup software, The installation software is actually just a small application that are able to find the camera on the network and configure it with a IP address. All other configuration is done on the build in web server, also it is important to mention that the camera has to be on the wired network when the initial configuration is done. The initial configuration went very easy and was quickly done, so i want in to the camera web server and configured it for wireless network, TV-IP100W-N supports WEP, WPA and WPA2 wireless protocols so it should connect to any wireless network.
Build in Web Server
After the first initial configuration is done, you can use the camera’s ip address as the URL in your browser and get to
the built-in web server, here you can make further configurations or watch live feeds from the camera. The live feeds and send though the browser using either a Activex component that’s only supported on the Windows platform or by using a jave script with will run on must platforms. The web server is protected by a password so you can keep your feed in private, it is also possible to configure a user account and a administrator account so only you have the rights to modify the configuration. if you want to be able to watch the camera from anywhere on the Internet, you need to NAT a few ports though to the camera in your router, it is all described in the manual.
Picture Quality
Trendnet TV-IP100W-N can deliver video feeds up to 640X480 pixels in Mpeg format with rich options for adjusting the quality/compressing. The picture quality is good in daylight but gets a little blurry in low light condition. According to the specs Trendnet says it can be used down to only 1 lux witch probably is correct but i am pretty sure
the picture you would get with 1 lux is useless.
Surveillance
The IP camera can record directly to a hard drive but unless you have allot of hard disk space it is preferable that would only record when there are movement in the picture, such a function does Trendnet TV-IP100w-N not have. You can send the recording to a ftp server or in an email in intervals you decide, this can be used to display it on your web page. If you want the camera to record when there is movement in the picture you would need to use the included software IPView that runs on a Windows computer, but the computer has to be turned on when you want it to record. Another option is to use a NAS with a build in surveillance software like Synology or Qnap.
Conclusion
Trendnet TV-ip100w-N does what you expect it to do, it is easy to configure and to a very affordable price. The product seems very well tested and i didn’t experience any problems doing the one and a half week it now has been running here. I would have liked it to be able to record on activity directly to a ftp or network hard disk.
What i like about Trendnet TV-IP100W-N
- Very affordable price makes it attractive to home users
- It works wireless you only need to give it power
- Works on JAVA and ACTIVE-X so many platforms are supported
What I dont like about Trendnet TV-IP100W-N
- No function to detect movement in picture and record
- Would have liked a version with night vision
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Tags: IP camera, review, trendnet, tv-ip100w-n
September 24th, 2009 at 00:16
Good review man, was looking at getting some of these setup for a security situation, though i hope the camera can record to a server for a set amount of time.
November 21st, 2009 at 13:18
IPview software – has motion detection. also, there are free programs that have it, also.
December 27th, 2009 at 23:36
Have just ordered a pair of these, party-based on your review.
I’m going to be using them to monitor nest sites in conjunction with a small solar panel to provide top-up power.
Thanks.