D-Link SecuriCam Network DCS-900 Internet Camera
Color - CMOS - Cable

[My setup] I own four of these cameras and have them placed aiming outside at my home residence. They are great for seeing what is going on outside in our large yard or even seeing the weather. One of my favorite uses is during severe weather because I have battery-backup (UPS) devices on every camera, networking switch, and many computers. Therefore, I can watch the cameras during severe weather even if the power goes out. [Software] I didn't realize it at first but there appear to be two available pieces of software. Get the D-Link DView software--it is amazing. First of all, I'm running four cameras (which the box says is the limit) but the software appears to support 16, assuming you have a powerful machine. The software is at v 1.30 right now and I emailed two lengthy suggestion emails to Dlink. They seem very receptive and are still working on the software. Considering how big home security hardware is becoming I guess Dlink sees the importance of having their own security software, which manages these cameras and many of their other models. The key is that you should probably stick with one brand so the software works best with all the cameras and Dlink looks great so far and definitely looks to be getting better and better. It does demand a reasonably recent computer for multiple cameras, especially if you are using motion capture. [Quality] The big complaint with the Dview software is that it keeps reverting the cameras to qVGA resolution (320x240). I bought these because they are capable of 640x480. When in VGA mode, the picture is good enough. It always looks a little soft to me, mainly because I have a large variation of distances that could be focused on. I also spent a lot of time changing the brightness, contrast, and saturation. I prefer keeping the saturation around 100 and the contrast higher than brightness. It would be nice if the camera could perform an auto-level type function to bring the darkest points to nearly black because overall, the image feels grey and can be greatly corrected in a photo editing program. Before night, the image starts looking horrible. I am surprised how late in the day I can see things and they are quite good in this regard but the graininess overpowers the brightness and the quality is very poor. In pitch darkness, there is a lot of fuzz and it is no where near a consistent black image, but this is not a big deal. [Overall] I am very happy with the revision B version of this camera. At one point I got a revision A version and immediately returned it because of many reasons. But I am very happy with my four cameras so far. The software has a 1, 4, 9, 16 camera view at the moment so I use the four camera mode to see all at once and can then easily view one camera full screen for more detail if I wish. It is great to know that if I wanted, I could get a 5th - 9th and then I would just move the the 9-camera mode. I even built a small, clean web site with tabs at the top for all four cameras and it is our Firefox homepage. It makes it very easy to view a camera without having to use the camera IP addresses and default web interface to the cameras.
 
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If you don't really need wireless, this is the way to go. We have it pointed down the driveway shooting out a back window and it works great. Never goes down or needs reseting. You can use the provided interface or access the current image directly from other applications.
 
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This is the best deal going for anyone looking for an internet camera that is packed with features at an affordable price. I have been using this camera for several months without any problem. To get real-time streaming, you will need to install an ActiveX control (only works with Internet Explorer) and having an understanding of networking will make the installation easier. D-Link also offers a wireless version of this camera DCS-900W that is not that much more. I am looking to buy one of those soon.
 
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