D-Link Wireless AC Day/Night Camera With Color Night Vision (DCS-2136L) Review

Nearly all of today’s wireless home connected webcams use multiple infrared LEDs to capture night vision video, but most of them only deliver it in black-and-white. Enter the D-Link Wireless AC Day/Night Camera With Color Night Vision (DCS-2136L) ($195.92 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) , a 720p home security camera that uses a single white LED to capture full-color night vision video. At $324.99, this indoor Wi-Fi camera doesn’t come cheap, but you get a lot for your money, including the latest wireless technology, onboard storage capabilities, and motion detection recording. However, it doesn’t offer cloud-based video storage and its night vision color could use a little more pop.

Design and Features
The DCS-2136L looks like other D-Link Wi-Fi cameras we’ve reviewed, including the Day/Night Network Cloud Camera 1150 DCS-933L ( at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) and the HD Wireless N Day/Night Outdoor Cloud Camera DCS-2330L ($89.99 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) . It measures 3.7 by 2.3 by 1.7 inches (HWD), and is supported by a round stand with a 2.5-inch mounting arm. The camera attaches to the arm with a ball-joint mechanism that lets you swivel and rotate the camera for optimal coverage.

The camera housing is white with a round black lens enclosure that holds a Sony 1/3-megapixel CMOS sensor and a fixed 3.6mm lens. The front of the camera has a single white LED that provides light for color night vision, a passive infrared motion sensor, power and WPS status indicators, and a microphone for two-way audio communication. The camera offers wireless 802.11ac networking, as well as wired gigabit Ethernet networking, and it has a 10X digital zoom.

The rear of the camera is host to a LAN port, a speaker, a power jack, a WPS button, a Reset button, and a DI/DO port for connecting to external devices. The left side of the camera has a microSD card slot for storing captured video and still images, but you’ll have to supply your own card. D-Link does not currently offer cloud-based video storage for their cameras, so you may want to back up your memory card on a weekly basis.

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You can control the DCS-2136L and view live and recorded video from your iOS or Android smartphone using the mydlink Lite app, and you can do the same from your PC using the mydlink Web portal. The Lite app is easy to use and offers basic setup options such as enabling and configuring motion detection, enabling email notifications when motion is detected, and setting up scheduled recording. It lists all of your connected D-Link devices on the left and displays live video in a window on the right. Below the video window are function buttons for muting the sound, changing the video resolution, taking a snapshot, and switching to full-screen mode. There’s also a button for two-way audio communication with the camera, and an information button that shows the camera resolution, video frame rate, and wireless bit rate.

The Web portal offers the same configuration options and function buttons as the mydlink Lite app, and includes an Advanced Settings option that takes you to the camera’s Web configuration utility where you can view live video, change network and wireless settings, and adjust exposure, white balance, saturation, and sharpness levels. Here you can also set up permissions for viewing live and stored footage, update the camera’s firmware, and change the camera name and password.

Installation and Performance
If you have a mydlink-enabled router, you can use the Zero Configuration option to install the DCS-2136L. Just attach the camera to your router, plug in the power adapter, and the router will automatically configure the camera and add it to the list of devices on your mydink account. You can also use your router’s WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup) button to add the camera to your network. If your router isn’t mydlink-enabled and doesn’t support WPS installation, fear not; setup is still quite easy. Simply connect the camera to your router using an Ethernet cable, download the setup file to your PC, and run the wizard, which instructs you to select the DCS-2136L from a list, enter a password for the camera, select your Wi-Fi SSID when the list appears, and enter your network password. When you unplug the Ethernet cable and log into your mydlink account, the camera will be added to your list.

The DCS-2136L delivers a sharp, colorful 720p image regardless of the lighting environment, but colors aren’t quite as bold when the light is low and the white LED is lit as they are in actual daylight. Like the Oco HD Wi-Fi Camera , there was a slight barrel effect around the edges. As was the case with the D-Link HD Mini Bullet Outdoor IP Camera DCS-7010L ($350.00 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) and the DCS-2330L, the DCS-2136L’s motion detection feature worked flawlessly, as did the email alert and push notification features. Video recorded to the microSD card looked crisp, and two-way audio communications were clean and easy to understand.

Conclusions
For most homeowners, black and white night vision surveillance video will suffice, but if you require color night video, the D-Link Wireless AC Day/Night Camera With Color Night Vision (DCS-2136L) is a solid, albeit expensive, choice. It takes advantage of the latest wireless technologies and is easy to install and configure. The camera delivers sharp and colorful 720p daylight video, and while its low-light color quality can’t match its daylight color quality, it’s still better than the black and white video you get from most cameras. If you’d rather store your video in the cloud and don’t require color night vision, our Editors’ Choice for consumer home surveillance cameras, the Dropcam Pro ($350.00 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) , offers excellent HD video, dual-band Wi-Fi, and motion and audio detection, and it’s around $125 less than the DCS-2136L.