REVIEWED: D-Link DCS-942L cloud camera
A perfectly fine cloud camera for your home, but it doesn’t do HD
Reasonably priced and with most of the features you might want from a Wi-Fi camera (spying on your home while travelling), the D-Link DCS-942L is nevertheless a little behind the times. In the box is a set-up CD, which will create worrying chuckles among those with CD drive-less ultrabooks and newer laptops.
Easy set-up
You can just download the set-up software (www.mydlink.com/download), though we had to Google the product to find it sine there was no information in the box. Set-up is relatively straightforward and means hooking-up the DCS-942L to a Wi-Fi router using an Ethernet LAN a cable. With Wi-Fi configured, placement is as easy as the other cloud cameras here, with live streams viewable via both desktop software and on a mydlink app.
Take photos & video
It’s then possible to take snaps and film video from within the app, though be careful using it at night; the night vision mode comes with flashing LED lights, which could disturb whoever’s being filmed.
Non-HD resolution
Rather like the Samsung Techwin SNH-1011N, the DCS-942L films only in basic 640×480 pixel resolution, though it does manage to get to a relatively smooth-looking 30 frames frames per second. Rather oddly, there’s a removable 16GB micro SD card in the side, which stores the photos and videos, so you don;t need to subscribe to cloud storage) the latest scrounging attempt by the makers of cloud cameras).
Motion detection
Videos can be kick-started using basic infra-red motion-detection tech, there’s a built-in microphone and external speaker input for 2-way audio, and everything can can be viewed via the app with no restrictions. That’s great – and perfect for swerving subscription fees – though the need to use a PC to set-up the DCS-942L makes it appear a little behind the times.