When I got an offer from Smarthome for the Vstarcam (T7838WIP) wireless IP camera with HD (720p) video for $85 it seemed like a good deal. I previously purchased a Wansview wireless IP camera with SD (480) video for $60 and expected a similar product with a higher resolution.
The Vstarcam web-based interface is fairly standard, allowing you to enter wifi passwords, set up IP address and port and so on. Pan and tilt controls work as expected. The main reason I purchased this product was the HD video. You can apparently only get HD video in a few limited ways:
1) Using Internet Explorer with a special ActiveX control.
2) Using the manufacturer's proprietary smartphone app when connected to the same wifi router.
3) Using the manufacturer's proprietary Eye4 product when connected to the same wifi router.
I have been able to get HD video using Internet Explorer with the special ActiveX control from inside the house on my internal network. I have been able to get an HD image/video stream on my iPhone 4S using the app from inside the house, when connected to the same wifi router. I haven't been able to use the Eye4 software because my desktop computer is on a downstream router on a different subnet from the camera and that apparently prevents the Eye4 software from connecting.
When using any other browser the best video available is a very low quality down-sampled SD (480) stream. This video is substantially lower quality than the native SD video of the Wansview camera.
I use iSpy open source camera security software to monitor and record from my cameras. By trial and error I discovered a URL that allows me to get an MJPEG stream from the camera but the stream I get is the same low quality down-sampled SD (480) and does not allow me to monitor sound as I can on the Wansview. I can use the pan and tilt controls with iSpy.
The camera has a built-in email capability that sends a picture to a designated email address when motion is detected. Unfortunately the picture it sends is the same low quality down-sampled SD (480) image. The camera also only sends one picture when motion is detected (the Wansview sends several in a single message so you are more likely to see the motion that was detected).
The camera accepts a Micro SD card (up to 32GB) for on-board recording. Presumably this would record HD video. I have not tried this.
Since I purchased this camera for its HD capability and am unable to get an HD image in most of my preferred ways I can't recommend this camera for its HD image. Since the down-sampled SD image is poorer than my previous native SD camera I can't recommend this camera for its SD image. I'm hoping if I do get a Micro SD card and use it in this camera I will get good results that way.
Update (November 2014):
Another user on the iSpy software forum posted a URL that allows me to get HD video (http://[IPAddress:Port]/livestream.cgi?user=[USERNAME]&pwd=[PASSWORD]&streamid=0&audio=1&filename=). I still can't get sound, and iSpy crashes several times a day, particularly at night, but it's better.
I also got a Micro SD card. The recording uses a weird codec that I haven't bothered to install yet. I mostly just use what I can get with iSpy.
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