MAISI 831-C 720P HD 1280x720P Outdoor Wireless Wifi Network Home Security Surveillance CCTV IP Camera - White

I now have peace of mind when I am away from my home. I was initially dubious of this camera system but I now have 2 working properly in my house.These are my observations:Q. Ability to view the area covered by the camera on my phone and computer?A. Yes, for free. Using the downloaded apps for the phone and internet site for the computer. I have given my passwords to a neighbour and they can view the inside of my garage, if they suspect any intruders.Q. Ability to control the camera remotely?A. The phone app is better for that, for control of live video, photos and resolution features.Q. Wireless or wired LAN connection?A. Both! Wireless works but I use a wired connection. I have used my house ring main with BT adaptor 3 pin 240v plugs to get the internet all around the property. I have an electric consumer box in my garage and from a circuit off that, I am powering the camera through the BT plug adaptor and using the internet cable from the BT plug adaptor straight to the camera. (This means I just use one plug socket). I find it gives me better control of the camera from the mobile app using the wired connection.Q. Picture quality?A. Very good quality, in day and in night mode. I use one camera for daytime coverage and when it rains it can lessen the quality but overall you are able to still see the any movement in the covered area. The second camera is inside a building and is picture perfect in day and night mode.Q. Any problems?A. The camera has a movement/light sensor, so when it it changes from day to night and vice versa, I will receive a message and a photo to myphone. Now I know of these, I expect the alerts at those appropriate times.After the set up, using the scanning of the code and initially connecting the camera to the modem, I have had no problems with the cameras and recommend them for domestic use.

Physically the camera seems to be solid and well built with a nice compact metal case. The mounting bracket is fine and seems to hold the camera in a steady position. However the supplied mounting screw were far too short, especially for mounting onto a masonary surface (may be ok for a smooth wooden surface), so I had to bin the screws and use my own longer ones, otherwise the whole thing would have just fallen off the wall. There are exposed connectors that need waterproofing, but that seems to be the same with most IPcameras.The initial set up/config was easy. Just plug directly into the router using supplied network cable, then download the Zmodo app to a smartphone. once you've created an account and logged in, you then scan the QR code on the camera with the app and it registers it on the network. Then you use the app to select your wireless network and you can then disconnect the network cable and place the camera anywhere you want within wireless range.There then seems to be at least 4 ways of viewing/communicating with the IPCamera:1. Via the ZSight app - which gives you certain control over the camer setup, and gives you "alert" notifications and the snapshots of the alert events.2. Via the user.zmodo.com web site - this gives you access from anywhere with an internet connection, but fewer control settings.3. Via the Zmodo software on your PC - download and install. Seems to give a similar amount of control as the mobile app.4. Directly logging in to the IPcam via a web browser on your local network - i.e. type in the local IP address of the camera itself. This seems to actually give the most amount of control over the camera settings. This was the only place I could find to change the quality settings of the video streams.The video quality isn't bad, but not quite as good as Foscam IPcams I've used which have the same resolution, so I guess the optics aren't quite as good (but then again the Foscam's were twice the price). Night time view is very grainy.Overall I'm quite pleased with the device for the price paid. Picture quality is acceptable, intial setup easy, software could be a bit more consistent.** UPDATE Jan 2017**Made the mistake of updating the cam to the latest firmware - this now means I can no longer access the camera via the web interface on the local network, nor can I view video via the Zviewer PC program or 3rd party software on the local network.