I don’t think there will be many differences between the firmwares. Most of the revisions from be each manufacturer had the exact same version number, which lead me to believe the actual OEM of the camera released a new master firmware (v3.12 or whatever) and then brands just put there logos and header info in and released it. So look at the file names and see who had the latest version; installation may reveal some other differences, but probably not.

For future readers, the TRENDnet firmware will not work out of the box (you will get an error message saying the model doesn’t match). You need a hex editor (I actually used notepad++, which isn’t a hex editor). Download the firmware (pck file) from Zonet’s webpage as well as the oldest listed TRENDnet firmware (you’ll have to update in steps, can’t just update directly to the latest FW). Open both in the hex editor and notice that near the very end is the model number listed. The Zonet firmware model is something like cs1013 (can’t remember the exact model off the top of my head), and the TRENDnet model is something like TV-IP312W (again don’t quote me). You need to change the model number in the TRENDnet firmware to match what is in the Zonet firmware. Also the Zonet model number is shorter than what is in the TRENDnet FW (I believe by 3 digits), so you should add 3 NUL characters AFTER it when you modify the firmware file. After that save the file and you should be able to update without problem now. Now that you’ve updated the firmware to one of TRENnet’s you should have no problems updating to the newest version of their firmware (without any more modifications needed). So just download and update as normal using the latest TRENDnet firmware.

I also found an app call “tinyCam” for android which I like better for a couple of reasons. You can zoom in and out, and you can do split screen and moitor muliple camers at once. And probably most importantly, it seems to run a little smoother on 3G than the SecurView app (if you’re just monitoring 1 camera at a time). It doesn’t list the Zonet brand and I had already converted of to TRENDnet firmware but I’m sure it would work even with th Zonet FW. just choose TRENDnet as the brand, and 312w as the model.

And Carlton, I’ll have to look into those other cameras you mentioned and see if their firmware might have any more features than the TRENDnet FW.

From what I can tell, the Airlink101 SkyIPCam500W (AICN500W) and the Micronet SP5521W are the exact same hardware as well. I looks like the OEM provides similar firmware updates to all brands, but that the brands may or may not provide the updates. The firmwares should all be identical, just need mod the file and put in the appropriate manufacturer code.

I also discovered that the trendnet android app call “SecurView Mobile” works with the Zonet camera (even with the original Zonet firmware). It’s a pretty nice yet simple app that allows you to view your camera’s live feed on you android phone as well as listen and/or speak, and take snap shots.

The Motion Detect window size and placement can be adjusted by draging it (or corner of it) so your time stamp won’t overlap the Detection Area 1 or 2′s Name. The Slider towards left means lest motion / contrast change is needed to detect motion(threshold line moves lower). That lower line is actually a scrolling right graph of motion for time so you can move withing the Detection Area and run back and adjust your Threshold Slider down until bisects the motion/contrast blip as it is still moving to the right and then off the graph… until someone makes motion changes again. It is like a motion histogram.

I need HELP setting up e-mail notification so I can get still frame alerts. The Event Server – E-Mail ‘Test’ button “Fails”… though the FTP ‘Test’ button successfully uploads a test file. Zonet Tech Support so far has not made it work even with admin access to my Cameras. For the different ZVC7610W model specifically (not ZVC7630W), you will need to update firmware from 1.0.0 Build 60 to 1.0.0 Build 84 to add “Port #” field to the E-Mail event Server. THEN it “Should” work with Gmail or any SMTP mail server. Here are the Port #’s for various SMTP E-mail providers: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090826172858AA1b3zi.

Otherwise, the only beef I have is the Ultra-View multi-camera recording software. There seems to be no way to auto login all the cameras… requiring me to Remove and Add back Cameras EVERY time I start that application… what a bummer!

One freaky issue I had was IE8 related where I could only see video from the Camera Internal Web Pages in ‘admin’ mode, and not in Live View mode… I used a different Vista user login, and walla! Cured. Now all my Vista User Logins work in Live View.

I hope this helps those of you with the ZVC7630W’s. These Cameras are FANTASTIC! The instructions are NOT. Zonet needs to Update the User Manual so their Tech Support Staff can take a breather.

www [dot] zonetusa [dot] com/ProductDownload/FW_ZVC7630_1.0.0(278)_20080202.zip

Only VLC media player is able to render the stream, but hey its a start!

Address to connect:
rtsp://your_ip_address:554/mpeg4

I can tell you that the camera definitely does not work with the iPhone, but no streaming video of any type does. Neither the iPhone nor any of it’s apps support RTSP or steaming video. The YouTube videos on the iPhone are progressive downloads, so they don’t stream either. The camera manual claims that 3GPP is supported, so pretty much any common cell phone should be able to steam from the camera, but as I stated, I couldn’t get steaming to work. If the phone has a browser with Java, it should be able to view the feed.

One work-around, if you are technically inclined, is to setup a separate web server and have the camera copy a jpeg image over to it every 15 seconds or so. Then just point your phone to the web server and refresh the browser window to see the latest picture. You could setup the web server using a computer in your house or you could get a hosted web server for $5/month. Not a simple or elegant solution, but it would work with pretty much any internet-connected device, as long as it can display jpeg images.

Where you able to test on a mobile device? Iphone/Android/javaME? Laptops are great but not always on my person.