The FI9821W adopts a high performance media processor and high speed video protocol processor making it capable of H.264 video compression for extremely smooth high definition video transmission, increased FPS and minimal bandwidth consumption. In addition, due to the small file sizes produced by H.264 video compression it has the ability to save tremendous hard drive space when doing video recording. Furthermore, the FI9821W also features a built-in DVR via on-board SD Card slot for direct recording on the camera itself upto 32GB.
The FI9821W features HD 1280x720p video, two-way audio, h.264 video compression, built-in SD card slot, wifi-N capability, pan/tilt, remote internet viewing, motion detection, night-vision as well as a built in network video recording system. In addition, it is smartphone compatible (Iphone, Android & Blackberry) as well as viewable over the internet network using the standard Safari browser (no app necessary). The camera functions well as an Iphone baby monitor or as part of a home or office security system with remote internet monitoring ability.
The FI9821W improves on the FI9820W in the following respects:
-Improved low light & night vision performance
-Wider viewing angle by 20° (even wider than FI8910W)
-Updated web interface with all features and options included in the FI8910W
-Enhanced MAC as well as Safari/Chrome/Firefox compatibility
-Multidevice viewing compatible with FI8910W and all other Foscam MJPEG cameras
-Free bounded DDNS service via MyFoscam.org
-Improved audio and reduced static on microphone
$ 159.99
Finally Foscam caught up with times and went “HD”,
UPDATED 1/9/2013
I’ve been testing various “HD” (at least 1MP) IP cameras over the years from brands such as Axis, Trendnet, Edimax, Zavio, Dlink and Zyxel, but stayed away from Foscam mainly because it just had low resolution sensor and awful looking web interface. Foscam changed this with the introduction of FI9821W. Overall this is a good entry to “HD” PT camera for the price, but not everything is to my personal liking.
THE GOOD:
1. Video Performance is excellent due to using h264 compression. Even when on wireless and running at 720p @ 30fps I get much better motion then my mjpeg cameras.
2. Web User Interface. Excellent! Very fast and easy to use and most importantly clean looking. Yes, you can toggle IR on/off. Love that you can set multiple foscam cameras in the web ui.
3. Good colors
4. Excellent coverage for built in IRs. Hopefully they won’t dim after sometime, like this happened in my previous cameras.
5. Wireless signal is excellent. I am about 20 feet away from the router (Netgear R6300) and get strong signal.
6. Built in speaker is a nice feature to have, but see cons
7. Lens angle is ok at 70 degrees, I rarely us PT feature in cameras, so extra degrees always nice to have, but extra angle come with some distortion at the edges.
8. Image masking is working well
9. Works in Chrome very well after downloading browser extension.
10. Setup was no different then any other IP camera I’ve tried. I connected it to my router using the ethernet cable, used the search tool included on the CD to get the IP address and Port and then double clicked on it to get to web user interface. Logged with admin account and enabled wireless settings and I was good to go. It’s no brainier to me, but for novice users this could be overwhelming just like any other IP camera.
11. Works well with IPCamViewer for Android. Most functions can be controlled via app.
12. Email alerts with gmail account worked well
I CAN DEAL WITH IT:
1. Most important thing on any camera is image quality and I really wish it would be better. For the price of this camera it’s decent enough, but by today’s standards I have to say it’s not that great. If you are expecting true HD quality out of this, then look somewhere else. I’ve compared it to my favorite Zavio F3206 and cheapo-mjpg-only Edimax 3115n.
2. Expected from the specs, but lens is not bright enough (F2.8 aperture) for night time viewing through the window without IRs. My Zavio F3206 with F1.8 aperture can handle this much better. Obviously if you do turn IRs on the camera and try to see through the window you won’t be able to see anything at all.
3. Limited video settings (can’t do custom exposures) so not much image control other then color, brightness, sharpness.
4. 2 LEDs in the back camera that you can’t turn off. This could be potentially added with the firmware update or put a black tape over it.
5. Manual focus ring a bit difficult to turn
6. Zoom up/down (should be called Zoom in/out) is a bit difficult to use. You have to right click on the image and then select zoom in/out and there is no control over how much you can zoom. So you have to click 52 times (yes I counted) if you want to zoom in all the way in and again 52 times to zoom all the way out. It should really be a slider on the left where all other image control settings.
7. Can’t seem to purge the log it creates which is in just couple of days already at 14 pages. Clear/Reset button would’ve helped.
8. Video streaming is not supported to media players currently such as VLC or QuickTime
OH THE HORROR:
1. H264 compression is reducing image quality on this camera. It would be nice if Foscam offered toggle between MJPEG & H264 and/or higher bitrate like some other manufacturers done. A lot of details are smeared with H264 and 2M bit rate.
2. The lag of 2-3 seconds seems a bit long between live image and what’s going on in front of a camera. I am running on wireless, but my other cameras have less then a second delay. The same delay happens when using PT controls. Not sure if it’s environment specific or camera, will be testing this out
3. Tilt down doesn’t go all the way. I don’t know if this is a motor limitation or a bug, but you can tilt down camera further manually if you have to. Hopefully, this is just a bug that could be resolved
4. Constant static noise from the built-in speaker
5. Motion detection appears to be useless. I’ve tried it with IRs on (pitch black room) and low sensitivity and it was sending out constant alerts. Will try in daylight setting.
6. Can’t control volume on speaker or microphone and there is an echo when you try to speak from web interface or android app.
7. Patrol mode, where the camera can pan or tilt automatically is a bit half baked. You can only do 4 points, either top most/bottom most and left most/right…
Read more
Was this review helpful to you?
|Better than the FI9820W but still needs some improvements.,
I had a FI9820W that FOSCAM replaced with a FI9821W because after three replacements the 9820 audio still buzzed and popped when using WiFi to access the camera. In nearly all respects I find the FI9821W to be a better camera. The audio works properly. The pan/zoom speed is adjustable. The web interface is much improved. The night vision is also much improved.
I do, however, observe to issues with the new model:
1) The wider angle lens in the FI9821W results in much more spherical aberration than in the FI9820W. Straight vertical objects on the sides of the view are very noticeably curved. Frankly, I liked the smaller field-of-view lens on the FI9820W much better.
2) Even though the web interface allows you to change the frame rate and key frame interval, no matter what values you enter the frame rate remains at 25 fps. My guess is that this is a firmware bug, but there is no new firmware available on FOSCAMs web site at the current time.
My camera has System Firmware Version 1.2.1.1 and App Firmware Version 1.1.1.7.
Was this review helpful to you?
|Poor software support & poor video quality,
The software that comes with this camera works fine but is very limited. For example you can also store your motion detected events to SD card. All other software like BlueIris or iSpyConnect currently does not support this camera.
Additionally I was quite disappointed with video quality, this does not look like 720P.
Was this review helpful to you?
|