Setting up a Wireless Network with an IP Camera

It’s been a while since I bought a new gadget for my home office, so during the recent Black Friday Sale, I treated myself to TRENDnet TV-IP512WN Wireless N Internet Camera Server with 2-Way Audio from pcRush.com. I am very happy with this camera, and am enjoying learning all of the features that are packed into this stylish wonder.

The setup for this was not too bad, but while connecting it to my TRENDnet TEW-671BR Dual Band Wireless N Router, I did have to seek out some advice from Technical Support. What I learned was that the stronger the wireless connection, the greater the resolution I could set my IP camera for. Fortunately, the TRENDnet has some advanced settings that help me increase the signal for the wireless internet connection, thereby enhancing performance and dramatically improving my video quality.

I will gladly share the good advice given to me, as the results were pretty impressive. Here are some screen shots of the process:

Step One: Ensure that all of the devices on your wireless network are set to the same “Technology Standard”. This means limiting the modes to as few as possible. If all of your home’s devices are either “G” (802.11g) or “N” (802.11n) Wireless, which are the two most popular modes, set the Transmission Rate accordingly.  If all of the devices are “N” only, you should set it for “802.11n only” This allows for the maximum power to be transmitted throughout your network.

Step Two: The Channel Width Setting: Although the factory default is set to 20 MHz, go ahead and change it to 20/40 MHz. This, in effect, doubles the channel bandwidth broadcast of the TRENDnet Router, which is what really counts in terms of how much traffic, like gaming and video streaming, it can handle.

Step Three, the last part, is to setup the security of the connection. This is very important to keep your network protected from outsiders. There are a few choices options here, but Technical Support highly recommended using WPA-PSK AES.

Despite the fact that “WPS” or Wi-Fi Protected Setup is a popular, quick way of setting up a secure network, I am not a big fan of it. Because it relies on the use of PIN numbers, I feel it is far too vulnerable to attack. Another encryption method, WEP, was the first encryption used by wireless devices. It was cracked by a high school student years ago, and worse… using the WEP setting will tend to make the router operate under older technology standards. After setting up WPA-PSK AES, however, I experienced a stronger and more stable connection. This was noticeable not just on my wireless connection but with my IP camera as well. Go ahead and set your encryption as in the examples below and I think you’ll be very pleased.

Now that my network connection was set to the most optimal configuration, it was time to set my newly acquired IP camera.  Since I always strive to utilize the most features and performance of all of my electronics, I used the following settings for my TRENDnet TV-IP512WN Wireless N Internet Camera:

Frames per second: For most people and most applications, a high number of images per second aren’t required. Use as low setting for this first before increasing it as needed.
Resolution and Video Quality: For the best image results, you can maximize this setting and really enjoy the quality of this camera.

Compression: I use MPEG and have always had great results with this.

Thank you for checking this out, and I hope you find it helpful in setting up your wireless network.