D-Link DCS-935L: first impression

Well, I had ideas of utilizing some of my old stuff as wireless camera like Raspberry Pi (RPi) with an USB camera and WiFi. Or an old Eee PC netbook. The problem with the Eee PC was that is old, slow and a bit noisy. The RPi is also slow, with plenty of cables etc... An old Android phone comes closer for the purpose but... all would have had the very same problem - no real use in dark conditions.

So, I decided to buy a wireless web camera - something with decent resolution and hopefully with motion detection option.

The cheapest that have these specs (and I can easily buy) came to D-Link DCS-935L Home Monitor HD.

And straight to the good and bad of the camera.

GOOD: 

• neat, compact and simple design
• impressive wireless specs - some cheap models are limited to WEP/WPA and some more unexpected surprises
• there is an IR filter that is automatically removed for the night vision mode
• microphone - that was more that I was looking for

BAD:

• Java client to monitor on the local and the online web interface!?!
• kind of "last century" configuration interface on the device
• poor documentation (I still do not know what is wrong with the authentication and VLC) Update: fixed in V1.01b09 "RTSP Server - fix authentication failed issue when password length is longer than 4 characters."

Update 2015.10.20: It is second time that after a firmware upgrade some of the mobile applications stop working. I have all mydlink variants and after the last upgrade none of them could be used. "mydlink Home" shows the camera offline, "mdlink+" can show video from the camera but can't change settings. Support comes with partial solutions... Rather disappointing experience...

Setup
The easiest way to connect the camera is by WPS that I have disabled on all my routers. No problem  - there is another way. By default the camera is configured as access point, so one can connect to the SSID and make all necessary changes - not straight forward but somehow reasonable if you know what to expect. The manual and the hints on the interface are on the bare minimum side. The web interface looks almost identical to my 8 years old D-Link router ;-(.

Firmware
As a standard procedure, one of the first thing after I get a device alive, is to upgrade the firmware. Almost mechanically I went to the support web page and downloaded the latest firmware... and flashed it... Then I realized that the "latest firmware" was older than the one that came with the camera!?! Even on the sticker on the back it says 1.01 - the "latest" is 1.0.b27 !?!
Update 2015.02.17: And yes, today by accident I found that on the ftp2.dlink.com there is newer firmware V1.02b02 than on any EU page.
Update 2015.07.27: The latest firmware 1.06 did brake the compatibility for the motions setting with the Android app running under Lollipop 5.1.1 (4.4.4 still works)

Connectivity
Anyway, right now it runs the "latest" firmware that looks like the one in the manual. I still think that the original had some better functions that I had a chance to see before flashing. I have UPnP disabled on my router, but connecting to the cloud went surprisingly well. The Android app works just fine. The paid version has option for grid view of multiple cameras and some additional options to access the camera setup. To get all the options you need to login on the device, which perhaps makes sense.

The desktop viewer client, both on the camera and on the cloud are Java based - WHY?
Update 2015.07.27: Now it wants to install Uplayer plugin in order to work.

I have to admit that I am rather satisfied from the product. There are small problems and glitches but the camera is in functional state, configured to save video over FTP and as attachment to an e-mail upon detected motion. The easiest way to trigger the motion sensing mode is via the mobile app.

The picture quality looks reasonably well, the quality of the live stream can be configured separately from the file sent to you - nice if you want to peek over mobile connection.

Initially, I though that it was rather expensive buy, but comparing to the results I could have gotten from my RPi, Eee PC or the Android phone - it is worth every krona.

It seems that there is no easy way to couple the motion trigger with some other device, even from the D-Link family product line...

And briefly about the specifications:

Camera  Hardware

• 1/4” Megapixel progressive CMOS sensor
• 5 metre IR illumination distance
• Minimum illumination: 0 lux with IR LEDs on
• Built-in Infrared-Cut Removable (ICR) Filter module
• 4X digital zoom
• Angle of view: (H) 78.44° (V) 47.9° (D) 85.98°
• Built-in microphone

Video Resolution

• 1280 x 720, 800 x 600, 720 x 480, 640 x 480, 320 x 240 at frame rates up to 30 fps

Connectivity

• 802.11b/g/n/ac wireless with WEP/WPA/WPA2 encryption
• Operates on 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands