In the early days proceeding the Internets commercialism between 1993 and 1994 I used to review CD-ROM discs and in fact founded the usenet newsgroup alt.cd-rom.reviews. Upon discussing this history with a client called Practical Solutions who markets web cameras for surveillance manufactured under the trade name GrandTec by GH Plastic Manufacturing Co., Ltd. of Taiwan it was suggested a review of a web camera might be a lot of fun.

I agreed to offer my unbiased opinion without compensation or fee other than I'd not have to ship the web camera back and could keep it for a momento of my web came review.  A couple of weeks later the best model manufactured by GrandTec called the "Grand Pan/Tilt Wi-Fi Camera" was delivered by my United States Postal carrier. My 10 year old son Jeremiah was impressed with the stamps promoting the 2008 Olympics in Beijing China with Chinese characters 

I promptly ripped the package open carefully to save the stamps from the island of Taiwan which China claims like a kid celebrating a birthday. The web camera was packaged in an attractive box which was written in the English language that included a CD-ROM driver and software disc in addition to well written documentation. Even though I'm a fairly astute guy when it comes to technology I decided to read the docs and follow the instructions exactly.

The web cam package included:
the Grand Pan/Tilt IP camera,
A power adapter (DC 12V,2A),
1 RJ-45 Ethernet network cable,
a Quick Guide,
a mounting bracket and screws,
and a CD-ROM Driver disc.

The first thing that caught my eye was that the software upon installation gave a choice of several languages which includes: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, German, Italian, Russian, French, Japanese, and Traditional Chinese. WOW, this impressed me from the start because even though I only speak English it demonstrates the intent toward Worldwide distribution and that means it has a chance at getting support from the open source programming community for potential third party features!

The second thing was that got my attention was that I saw the web cam also supported more than the Microsoft Operating System although the IE Recording function is not available in Windows Vista and the Remote Listen In, IE Recording and Digital Zoom In (Out) and UPnP functions are not available in Linux OS. Gee Whiz, I didn't see anything regarding the MAC OS anywhere, but that's OK, because I plan to kick all the tires ;)

The third thing was the minimum prerequisites to operate the web based network IP camera and software.
The System Requirements include:
Router (with DDNS or PPPoE function) is required,
10Base-T Ethernet or 100Base TX Fast Ethernet,
Pentium 800 MHz or Equivalent or above,
64M RAM or above,
VGA card with 8MB memory or above,
Microsoft DirectX 9, and
Internet Explorer 5.0 or above.

Since I have a Microsoft Windows machine which I use for the few programs that aren't available in either FreeBSD UNIX, Ubuntu Linux, or My Mac OSX notebook, and I have all the system requirements, I decided to follow the instructions verbatim on my MS Windows machine. The machine I used has a 2.8 Intel processor, 2GB memory, 256 MB nVideo card, DirectX 10, Internet Explorer 7, and independent of the OS I use a Belkin wireless G Router accepts either 10Base-T Ethernet or 100Base TX Fast Ethernet ports available.

Before I plugged the Grand Pan/Tilt PTZ Wi-Fi Web Camera in, I installed the software and followed the prompts to plug the power to camera in and reboot. The process went smooth enough and I had to plug my ethernet cable into my computer to configure the IP based web camera. It was in the web camera configuration process that the cameras specifications got my attention. It has everything and more than I expected! It appears they also gave much thought into such features as the Network Time Protocol (NTP) which frankly is handy to have accurate time if it should be recording a crime by it's motion detection feature? Hey don't laugh, my config.com office got broken into on April 14th 2005 and took thousands dollars worth of my clients computers which I had to replace. We sure could have used this full featured camera then! 

The Specifications include:

Camera-Image Sensor;     1/4” Low Lux VGA CMOS Sensor (Omni Vision)

Features;         Supports Pan (350°) &Tilt (135°) Functions
            IP Address Auto Detect and Setup
            Built-in Motion Detection
            15 Level Digital Zoom in (out)
            IE Recording (AVI format)

Motion Detection-Action;    E-mail

Remote Management;    Configuration can be accessed via Web browser

Multi-Language;        English/ Spanish/ Portuguese/ Dutch/ German/ Italian/ Russian/ French/ Japanese/Traditional Chinese

Network Protocol;    NTP/ SMTP/ FTP/ DHCP/ PPPOE/ DDNS/ UPnP/ HTTP

Network (Ethernet);    10/100Mbps Fast Ethernet

Network (Wireless);    802.11g/ b/ a Wireless

Wireless Operating Range;    20 meters (indoor)

Video Encoder;        MJPEG

Audio;            Built-in Microphone for listening remotely

Video Resolution;    Up to 30fps at 176x144
            Up to 30fps at 320x240
            Up to 15fps at 640x480

Security;        IP Address Hidden (prevent the ping command)
            Administrator and User Group Protected

Browser;        Internet Explorer V5 or above

Surveillance Software (model 2);
    1. DivX Capture (supports video recording only)
    2. Video File Management: Video file database and playback control.
    3. Storage Recyclable: When running out of disk space, files with the earliest date will be overwrite automatically.
    4. Motion Detection: Detect any movement in the mask area and invoke the alarm as soon as movement is detected.
    5. Supports 4/ 9/ 16 cameras preview and record.
    6. Multi-Languages OSD: English / French / German / Italian / Dutch / Spanish / Russian / Japanese / Traditional Chinese.

Power;            DC 12V/ 2A

Power Consumption;    4.2W (12V * 350mA)

Operating Conditions;    0 degrees Celsius - 70 degrees Celsius

Dimensions (L/W/H);    119.5mm x105mm x 126mm (not included Wi-Fi Antenna)

After I got the the Grand Pan/Tilt IP web camera installed I placed it in the second floor bedroom of my 2 year old daughter Shoshanna just in time for her nap and for me to continue playing from my outdoor patio. Just as I took my Mac Powerbook to the patio Michael Stankiewicz a friend and business peer of mine who is also a retired law enforcement officer and former Chief of Police for the Brady Lake, Ohio Police Department came by to work on his web site. I told him I had to finish checking out this IP web security camera first which got his attention ;) I proceeded to pull up every browser except MS Explorer on my Mac Powerbook and Mike allowed me to use his Windows notebook to test the IE browser. 

The software worked in Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer! The first thing I played with was controlling the camera position which had a wide range of angle flexibility.

Looking through the image capture settings we set the web camera up so that   it'll transmit images to a remote server so that if a burglar should shoot the camera, it'll have already transmitted his picture ;) We are now researching available discounts from our insurance company.


The Web camera manufacturer is:
Grandtec Electronic Corp.
8F, No. 268
Lien Cheng Rd.
(Far East Century Park)
Chung Ho City
Taipei
Taiwan 235
Tel:  (886 2) 82273588
Fax:  (886 2) 82273589 /  (886 2) 82273599
http://www.grand.com.tw/sur_wpantilt.html 

and this great full featured security IP web camera may be ordered online at:
http://www.ps-gps.com 

Wireless IP Camera Grand Pan/Tilt PTZ Wi-Fi Camera
Sale Price:$179.00 (Regular Price:$315.00)

I recommend this web based IP security camera very highly!

Best 'net regards,

Joe Rinehart

(I reserve the right to edit this review as software is learned and or developed and frankly I'd also like to incorporate the various images I acquired during this review)

UPdate: I've decided to share a few photographs taken using this camera in different lighting conditions for your review: