Gadspot King of Gadgets Wireless Webcam NC1200 W10

[gsownsby2]

I purchased a "Gadspot" webcam via an eBay auction (160020777840) about a week ago. Summarized the description read:

"Wireless Internet Network Webcam/IP Cam Security Camera • Night Vision • 802.11g • 30fps@QVGA • Up 20 Users Log in"

While I am not totally dissatisfied with the camera, there are a few points of which that prospective buyers should be aware.

1. It is NOT intended to be pointed toward the outside (no views of outside scenes...read this as can't use in natural daylight).

2. Advanced features require knowledge of your mail or ftp servers IP address...a common mail server reference like mail.bellsouth.net doesn't seem to work.

Regarding item 1, I immediately noticed when the camera was hooked up that even a sunless day would completely overpower the image and result in a completely unusable image (over-exposed). No amount of manual adjustment of brightness, hue, contrast, gamma, will overcome this.

I "webchatted" via KingofGadgets.com website with their tech support. They confirmed that the camera could not handle exterior lighting conditions. I said that it would have been helpful if their eBay Auction would have clearly stated that. The "tech" agree. (I have the complete text of the web chat). The eBay Auction text did not mention interior or exterior use of the webcam though I always assumed that it was not for outside use since it did not have a waterproof enclosure box.

I had planned to use the webcam inside my home looking out into our heavily-wooded backyard. I think that most folks would understand the idea that "interior" means the device is not rated to handle water, snow, humidity, etc. I DO NOT think that most of us would mean that "interior" means the webcam can't even be pointed toward the outside.

Regarding item 2, advanced features like email alerts, ftp, functions based on motion detection require use of an IP address as the target of the action. Most mail and ftp servers are usually domain name-based and most folks probably don't even know the IP address of their mail server. I have not gotten the advance features to work so far. KingofGadgets tech support says a domain name-based reference should work but so far I haven't been successful with setting the webcam up to use them.

Interestingly, our webchat session lasted about 20 minutes consisting of LONG pauses of no responses from KingofGadgets. Ultimately, the tech said he would have to quit because he had some paperwork to do. Our "conversation" was cordial and not argumentative. I thought it a bit odd to quit a technical support discussion because of "paperwork."

I had sent two emails to tech support at Gadspot and KingofGadgets regarding the over-exposure problem (before I did the webchat). To date, neither has replied to my emails.

I have experimented with placing a sunglasses lens over the webcam lens and gotten better results. I intend to do continue experimenting with conventional camera filters to see if I can overcome this problem.

At a higher level, the problem is that there does not appear to be any wireless webcams with auto-iris, auto-exposure, auto-color correction, etc., in the sub-$200 range...I guess I'm dreaming...hoping there would be. KingofGadgets said their Model 1000 had those features for under $100 but wasn't wireless!!

On another note, whatever is used to display the camera's image into a web page (ActiveX?), this particular version tends to crash IE and is blocked from running by the browser settings on my office PC. Those settings are locked down and cannot be changed by the user (me). So if you intend to view this webcam's output in a "corporate" environment, you might want to check it closely for compability with your office browser settings before purchase.

I intend to continue to use the camera with interior lighting and experiment with lens filters more. Again, I'm not putting down the webcam or KingofGadgets but, more disclosure of the limitations of the webcam would have been appropriate and helpful.

As a closing note, it appears that at least a couple of websites selling Gadspot webcams are really the same company but using different names. Being an "old webmaster" and peeking at their code and domain name registrations, supports that contention. While that may just be a marketing technique, it gives the appearance that Gadspot webcams are popping up all over!

I think Gadspot cameras (especially the one I have) are basic entry level webcams...at least in the price range I paid $125.00 (US).

[Administrator]

Nice review.

Some IP cameras do have trouble when looking outside. If it is possible with your camera, I would try getting an auto-iris lens. See if your camera has an auto-iris connector.

The settings for FTP and email alerts can be a pain sometimes. It is a shame the camera cannot use DNS names. I don't think I have heard of that before.

I have to admit that Gadspot's tech support is very poor. Infact, I have never received a response from them.....ever. I have never dealt with KingofGadgets before.

I usually suggest to customers that they try D-Link or 4XEM for low entry level IP cameras. Both have cameras around the same price range. (Provantage.com sells their cameras for a good price). Good tech support goes a long way.....
_________________
Administrator
NetworkCameraReviews.com
www.networkcamerareviews.com

[gsownsby2]

Hi Wes,

Thank you your reply and suggestions. I'm pretty sure the webcam does not have a means of adding an auto-iris feature but I'll double-check that. I think the only add-on that was possible with any of the Gadspot cameras was a different lens and it was for a specific model only.

I will definitely look into the D-Link or 4XEM brands. I'm still tinkering with the advanced settings for email and ftp but still no success yet. I guess the thing that bothers me the most is the ActiveX component is blocked out at my workplace so I can't use it for what I had planned.

Thanks again for your reply and suggestions.

[gsownsby2]

And the band plays on...

I purchased a Cokin 30.5 mm Neutral Density ND8 Filter (#10424) for camcorders in hopes that it would help with correcting the over-exposure condition when using the Gadspot camera for outdoor scenes. The cost was about $12 from our local Ritz (Wolf) Camera Shop. According to the sales clerk, the filter has the effect of stopping the lens down about 2 f-stops.

Though the filter is a screw-on type, it will not screw on to the Gadspot camera as the camera does not have a threaded lens for use with accessory filters so I used a piece of vinyl tape to hold the filter to the lens. The threaded part of the filter does perfectly fit into the slightly larger Gadspot lens so it does not wiggle around much. The vinyl tape works fine...just use a little care to not tape the focusing ring to the stationary part of the lens ring.

The filter does help a great deal. The camera can be pointed through a window looking outdoors on a sunny day though lighter colored areas like white paint on house siding, etc., will still be too bright for the camera to present well.

We have used the camera all afternoon today watching birds come and go at our birdfeeders. The color balance is still off with or without use of the filter. No amount of manual image adjustment (saturation, hue, contrast, etc.) will correct the colors. Without the filter, the camera displays a completely over-exposed image which is totally unintelligible.

Interestingly, leaving the filter on for indoor use also seems to help with interior scenes (daytime--window light). Even a bright lamp will over-power any subject nearby resulting in a scene that widely varies in illumination and color balance. The filter seems to help with this problem but does not eliminate it.

The camera seems to do best inside with subjects 2 to 10 feet from the lens.

[dylanpugh]

I Recently bought two ip cameras, the NC1200 and the NC4000, I was hoping to use them for security purposes, basically to watch the coming and goings at my house.

My problem is that they cannot be used outside unless you give them some shades, and the software that comes with them is truely awful.

If anyone has been able to get good quality images from these cameras, could you please let me know what you did.

[gsownsby2]

I can only comment based on two week's experience with my Gadspot NC1200 Webcam. I think your cameras are very similar to what I have in terms of capabilities and limitations.

Unfortunately, I do not think you will find much success in using either for "outdoor" scenes, i.e., sunlit or bright daylight (without direct sun). The Gadspot cameras don't appear to be able to handle such bright scenes and such bright scenes completely over-power the imaging. You might try using a neutral density filter (see my previous post). It does offer some help with the brightness. Sorry.

[gsownsby2]

See this posting for additional commentary regarding solving the problem of viewing ActiveX-based webcams in a corporately-controlled environment when the browser is locked down.

http://www.networkcamerareviews.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1748#1748

[mattchase]

I have had a pair of Gadspot NC1200 cameras for a couple of months and have experienced some similar issues. I have also done some research on security camers in general and think I can help a bit on your outdoor camera brightness issue. I was initially disappointed with the lack of outdoor abilities myself, but I am using the cameras indoors so low light ability is more important. I still have some minor issues with brightness with one of the cameras (it points down a long hallway with an exterior door at the end), but it is tolerable.

The lens on the Gadspot camera is a fixed 1.4 aperture lens. This is a very large aperture, and apparently the cameras shutter speed isn't fast enough to make up for this with bright objects. This is why it blows out so easily. You can't get an auto iris lens as there is no way to hook it up to the camera, but you can get a lens with manual iris (aperture) controls for about $35. I don't know the exact apertures that some of these lenses have (they don't all say), but I would guess they have a range of between 1.4 and 22, which should be enough to get the camera working for outside viewing. I say should because I haven't tested this, I am only going by what I know on how things should work. My coworker has a lens like this that I am going to see if I can borrow and test it on the Gadspot, and will let you know how it works (hopefully this afternoon).

I don't know that the color balance will be any better for outdoor viewing, the camera may not have daylight white balance as one of it's settings. But there are also ways around that, granted it will take more experimentation. You can get gelatin filters from photo stores that are used for color correction, these are really thin plastic sheets that are a specific color to compensate for whatever color you are trying to correct. I would try a new manual iris lens first before getting more filters, as that might solve the problem by itself (again, I will let you know my results).

I haven't used any of the email or alert features so can't be of much help there.

The other thing I have had a problem with was keeping a reliable connection. I am upstairs, the cameras are downstairs, but it is a wood floor / ceiling and only about 30 feet to the cameras from my router. 30 feet is nothing for most wireless devices, but one of the cameras would work with some lag, while the other one would constantly lose it's connection. I ended up taking the original POS antennas off the cameras and putting 5dbi antennas on in their place, and all my connection problems have been solved. So to anyone looking at inexpensive wireless cameras, and especially the Gadspot or similar camera, if the camera isn't within viewing distance of your router you should plan on replacing the antenna.

[bjorn]

Many thanks to everyone for all great contributions to this forum. Having had some issues with the support from where I got my NC1200's (kgbcamers.co.uk) I felt a bit busted before I found this forum. I still can't connect to my email server, probably because they change IP address and the software that came with the cameras dont seem to accept standard SMTP addresses. Weird, especially since it accepts URLs to the FTP server, which works fine.
So many thanks for the link to alternaive software providers. Has anyone tested other software too? Has anyone tried to fetch the video stream directly into a media player?

Thanks,
Bjorn

[robgreenwood]

Hi, I'm very interested in your experiences with this camera. I'm in the UK and bought this camera after a recent burglery. I bought from gadspot.co.uk.

I'll post a more thorough intro later but I'm at work so pressed for time. I'm interested how MattChase changed the ariel? I'm having the same issues with connectivity and would like to change the ariel for a higher gain but it doesn't seem to be a standard fitting?

Thanks

Rob

[mattchase]

The antenna connects to a wireless PCI card inside the camera using a U.FL connector. You will have to physically remove the existing antenna by taking the case off the camera, and pushing in on the two sides of the antenna base. Be sure to unplug the antenna wire from the PCI card too. I don't know if you have Radio Shack stores or something similar where you are, but that is probably the best local place to get the parts. Otherwise you will need to order online.

I actually did my two cameras in two different ways, one of them I used a U.FL to reverse SMA cable that I bought ($20!) awhile ago, and used a standard 5dbi router antenna that I got at Radio Shack. The SMA end slides through the hole for the antenna, and I just left it loose since it didn't matter in my installation. If it did matter, a little double sided tape or hot glue would have held it well enough. This is where I got the cable - http://jefatech.com/c=vu8uvXEtFRPFFTRgjj0eGIHpb/category/cable_assemblies.ufl/

For the other camera, I removed the original antenna / wire, but then cut the wire from that antenna so I could re-use the plug (be sure to cut the wire closest to the antenna!). Doing this means you can now use any type of plug you want for the antenna, and I ended up using a chassis mount BNC connector because I already had a high gain radio antenna with a BNC plug. After cutting the wire, just strip an inch or so off carefully so as not to damage the shield, then using a needle or other small pointy object start unthreading the shield enough so that you can get to the center wire. This took me a bit of effort and it's kind of tedious depending on the tools you have (I didn't have a needle). I got the chassis BNC connector from Radio Shack, I think it was about $2.50, and soldered the wires to the appropriate spots. The hole for the antenna is just the right size for the BNC connector, so it is a snug fit and holds the antenna in well.

Unless you have access to cables with these specific ends on them, I think the easiest route is to get a chassis mount BNC connector and a good amateur radio antenna which are easy to find in BNC mount. SMA connectors are a little harder to find locally, and your antenna choices are more limited too. Interestingly enough, the amateur radio antenna I used on one camera was meant for 144/440mhz operation, but it works fine at 2.4ghz, probably because it isn't really putting out much power and it doesn't have to go that far. Even though it's for the wrong frequency, it is much better than the original antenna.

One thing to watch out for no matter how you do it is the circuit board. The board extends underneath the hole for the antenna, and if you were to push down on one of the antennas I have in my cameras you could push the connector down onto the board and risk cracking it. This is partially why I left the SMA mounted antenna loose, in order to get it to be snug I had to push it so far in that it was touching the board.

Also be aware that doing this most definitely voids your warranty and you do so at your own risk! Granted, since the antenna wire just unplugs from the camera the worst damage you can do is to the original antenna, and that's not much of a loss.

I don't have any pictures of the process but if you needed to see some I could take some.

[robgreenwood]

Thanks Matt, I'll give that a go. As you say it's pretty useless at the moment and judging by the quality of support I wouldn't be overly confident about getting any warranty support anyway.

[joewise]

Sorry for the late chime in on this subject. I'm a new member.

I've also found the 1200 to be pretty bad (which is to say, useless) for outdoor shots. However, the 1000, though slightly more expensive is much more useful for outdoor scenes. It has 3 settings for it's frequency of frame sampling, one of which is labeled 'outdoors' (60 hz).

I've owned a 1000 for about a year and a half and I've owned the 1200 for about 1 week. So far, I find the 1000 to be worth the extra expense.

I will say that I don't use alot of the features on these cameras. I don't use any DDNS (I've got them on static IPs), I don't use motion sensing and I don't use any ftp or emailing feature. I don't use the GPIO's yet, but I plan to in the next month or so. I currently have a 1000 and a 1200 sitting on my kitchen countertop running concurrently to try and keep an eye on them until I install them permanently. About the only thing I like better about the 1200 is the wider angle lens. Beyond that, the default page for the 1200 seems largely useless in mozilla on linux. The stream does work if you program it into an HTML page using http://user:password@camip:port/cgi-bin/getimage.cgi?motion=0 or 'motion=1' if you want video instead of a snapshot. The camera page does work in IE in wine on linux though, if that helps you.

I've found that the 1200 reboots itself about every 40 minutes if I'm watching it at 1 frame per second.

I really haven't had any problems with the 1000 to speak of. The camera page works in mozilla in linux, however, it doesn't have all the same features as if you access it with IE (IE in wine does work). For the most part, I have to admit that I've gotten everything I've needed out of the 1000. A wider angle lens and a few minor firmware changes would make this camera a darn good camera, IMHO. I will be returning my 1200's, though, as I personally believe that they suck for the reasons mentioned above.

So speaking of all this stuff, who do I have to buy dinner for to get the source code to the 1000? It's running linux and being able to hack the firmware would probably turn this into a great camera.

You can see my cams at "www.joewise.com/surveillance" There's also a link on that page ('How does this work') to how I chose the cameras and set them up. The 'Street looking south' is a stock 1000. The 'alley looking south' and the 'alley looking north' are a 1000 and a 1200 respectively sitting on my kitchen countertop, however, I did swap the lenses on them for testing purposes. (Both 1000's are currently set to 'outdoor' mode).

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
networkcamerareviews
at
joewise.com

[perfectswitch]

Being a slight networking 'tard, I've had to contact Gadspot support via several phone calls over the last few days. They've been very patient and exceedingly helpful. Not great at returning e-mail, but over the phone they were invaluable. I finally got my four cams working and all seems okay.

Scott

[mattchase]

I agree there are definitely better cameras out there, and I have heard good things about the 1000 model. Like you I don't use most the features built into the cameras either, I run Active Webcam to view and record the video, and pretty much never access the camera directly via it's webpage.

But, you are talking about a slightly different camera, that being the non-wireless G version. This thread is refering to the wireless version, and that is the one feature that I needed since running wires would have been very difficult for me. I'm satisfied with the image quality, it isn't great but it works well enough in my case, and the wireless G works well enough as well (albeit with replacement antennas), especially for the price. I'm by no means saying this is a great camera, but my last point is key, for the price, and with a little help, it works. If you can afford an Axis or other high end wireless IP camera (which start at about $250 and go way up from there), I highly recommend getting one of those instead.