I don't know what Sony is doing making webcams, but these look pretty cool. You've of course got your typical wireless LAN functionality and 640 x 480 resolution, but Sony has added two-way voice communication and MPEG-4 to the mix. The camera can even be directly accessed from PCs outside of the network, which is nice.

Sony Marketing has announced 4 network camera products that support two-way voice communication. The fixed lens types will be released o­n December 1st, and the movable lens types will be released o­n December 15th. Each type is available in both wired and wireless LAN models. The price for the wireless LAN "SNC-M3W" with a movable lens is 73,500 yen.

These four cameras feature a 0.3MP CMOS image sensor, and o­ne 10BASE-T/100BASE-TX port. The camera can also be directly accessed from remote PCs, and both live video and audio can be monitored.

Apart from featuring a microphone o­n the camera body itself, it also features a speaker output port for connecting to external speakers; the camera and remote PC can engage in the exchange of audio data. Not o­nly can the camera's internal microphone be used, but it also supports external microphones. "SNC Audio Upload Tool" needs to be installed o­n a PC o­n the network so that the data can be transmitted, and the camera but be connected to external speakers with an amplifier. The G.726 (40, 32, 24, 16kbps) audio codec is used.

Both Motion JPEG and MPEG-4 codecs are supported for video, and the preferred format can be chosen by the end user. Sony Marketing has said that MPEG-4 can even be used without interruptions o­n connections that have a slower upstream, and up to 30 frames per second can be trasmitted o­n upstreams as slow as 2Mbps. The image framerate for Motion JPEG is the same - when using QVGA (320 x 240) it is 30fps, when using VGA (640 x 480), it is 15fps.

As far as functions go, this unit includes the "Moving Body Examination Function" which will send a message to up to three addresses when the camera detects movement in its image. However, this function is o­nly supported in MPEG-4 mode. Three GUI designs are also available, and users can choose their preferred design.

Four models are available in the lineup:
-Fixed Lens "SNC-M1"
-Movable Lens "SNC-M3"
-Fixed Lens "SNC-M1W", Wireless LAN
-Movable Lens "SNC-M3W", Wireless LAN
On the models with movable lenses, the lens can horizontally rotate 120 degrees, and up to 70 degrees vertically. Both models with wireless LAN support 64 and 128 bit WEP encryption.

The body size, for the fixed lens models, is (diameter) 110 x 68.5mm, and for the movable lens models, 110 x 104. The weight of the M1 is 250g, the M1W is 280g, the M3 is 350g, and the M3W is 380g. Respective prices are 38,850 yen, 59,850 yen, 52,500 yen, and 73,500 yen. Supported operating systems are Windows 2000 and XP, and supported browsers are Internet Explorer 5.5 and 6.0.



Inspired by:
http://bb.watch.impress.co.jp/cda/news/6874.html

Press Release:
http://www.sony.jp/CorporateCruise/Press/200409/09-0930/