Review on 👶 D-Link HD Wi-Fi Baby Camera: Temperature Sensor, Personalize Audio, 2-Way Talk; Local and Remote Video Baby Monitor App for iPhone and Android (DCS-825L) by Julie Lee

As a proud parent of a newborn daughter I wanted to build it into a baby monitor. I wanted an IP (WiFi) camera. It appears that non-IP cameras implement their own proprietary protocol for transmitting video to a display device. They appear to rely on frequency or channel changes for security reasons. It seems like a weak defense to me. So it was important to me to have a camera that uses WiFi (802.11a/b/g/n) and at least WPA, if not WPA2. Finally, I wanted a camera that didn't have to use the manufacturer's cloud service. I was able to fully set up the camera without creating the DLink "MyDLink" service or signing up. Anyway... here's my breakdown of the pros and cons. Benefits -1. Can be used as a travel baby monitor as it is powered by any USB charger/battery capable of supplying 5V/2A (required for most iPads).2. Pan/Tilt3. Direct mode ad hoc Wi-Fi network. Allows you to use the camera without connecting to another network.4. IR LEDs5. lullabies6. Speaker7. Microphone8. Temperature sensor9. Audio monitoring when the application is running in the background Cons -1. It is not possible to rotate/mirror the video if you hang the camera upside down on the ceiling or wall2. Does not support 5GHz 802.11n3. Does not have an RJ45 port for Fast/Gig Ethernet.4. Video quality could be better. Seems to have a little more compression than expected.5. digital zoom. Would prefer optical zoom.6. Physically large camera. Other. There are many hidden admin web pages for this camera. These hidden pages allow you to make many of the changes that come standard with other DLink IP security cameras. for example1. Mirror and flip video 2. Change video contrast3. FTP/Email setup Photo/Video during "Event" (Sound/Motion)4. Allows you to set a static IP address5. Allows you to set an NTP server to use as the date/time6. Set up video/photo recording on SD card and much more If only the video quality were better. I would probably give 5 stars.