Panasonic BB-HCM511A Network Camera with Two-Way Audio Review

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(More customer reviews)For a while the Panasonic BL-C111a and BL-C131a were my favorite of the Panasonic lineup for monitoring the pets and vacation house. Now I discovered the BB-HCM511A and this amazing little cam is THE BEST! It has a 1/4" CCD detector instead of a 1/6" CMOS in many of the other models. I can get a night time view of the ranch because the CMOS goes down to 0.2 lux instead of 3 lux. That's about the limit of human night vision, or a moonlit night. I couldn't do that before with the BL-C111a cam that this replaced. Also the CMOS sensor has much better dynamic range, which simply means more colors. So whereas with the BL-C111a the shades of green on the plants look flat, the BB-HCM5111a gives the scene much more definition with all different shades: slightly bluish green, slightly reddish green etc. and this has the visual effect as if it had greater resolution. I love the PoE feature because I can just run a network cable without running a separate power cable. To take advantage of this you need a cheap PoE injector or a fancier switch that supports PoE. I use the SMC GS8P-Smart switch for PoE, which is a newer model router with good reviews. I also use the CoconutView Vista sidebar gadget so I can always see all of my Panasonic cams on my desktop. To download this gadget go to the Microsoft Windows Live Gallery on the web and search for CoconutView or Panasonic. There's also an outdoor model, the BB-HCM531a but it's almost twice as expensive and from the installation manual it appears that the BB-HCM531a just has a cover on the back that you screw on and tape over the cables to protect the connectors from moisture. So I think this one is a better value for placing under eaves and protected outdoor sites, unless your plan to install it where it will be directly exposed to pouring rain. Ok just buy it, you will be happy with this cam.

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Network Camera with 2-Way Audio. Use of the built-in microphone and a separately purchased amp-equipped speaker enables two-way voice communication2 (transceiver system) between the network camera and a PC used to monitor the camera image. In addition to conventional monitoring of images and sound, voice messages can be transmitted from the PC to the network camera. Voice transmission and reception can be switched easily from the PC used to monitor the image.

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