Home :: Communications :: Telephones :: Video Phones  

Accessories
Answering Devices
Corded Telephones
Cordless Telephones
Headsets
Novelty Telephones
Video Phones

D-Link DVC-1000 i2eye VideoPhone

D-Link DVC-1000 i2eye VideoPhone

List Price:
Your Price: $188.99
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 >>

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: It exceeds my expectation
Review: This product is amazing. I used to use MSN messenger. I now switch to D-link. The best feature is that both side can talk at the same time, works just as good as the phone + more (video feature). Not only that, when you hook the phone to this machine, you basically has a dedicated phone line (it will ring through the phone and through the machine. And all calls are free.

The video quality is adequate/good, way better the webcam. The new machines now has microphone input. But I found pluggin your own phone is way better.

The setup is extremely easy and quick. If you have a firewall, you do need to open that port. I did have to make a call to technical support who was quite helpful and I was able to open the port without any problem.

I would highly recommand this product just like the others

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Very Convenient and Well Worth the Price
Review: Usage:
My family and I recently moved from back east to California and we are already missing friends and family. My son uses this to call his girlfriend (who also has an i2eye) on the East Coast. He ends up talking to her for hours, and since it cost nothing to call I don't mind. Plus our phone line is still open and now they can see each other face to face. He says that's the only way he calls her now.
The rest of the family uses this to call family back east.
We bought one for my parents and my wife's parents. My parents get a total kick out of being able to see their grandkids and they've all ready told me they can see them growing. Again all these calls are free because it uses our DSL connection.

Technical
The setup of this VideoPhone wasn't bad, but it did involve some port forwarding in our router. After setting ours up here at home (about 10-15 minutes) I was able to setup other family members' VideoPhone in about 5-10 minutes. Forwarding ports on the router is very easy to do, you just need to follow the instructions.
Making a call is as easy as dialing a phone number with a remote control. When you setup this i2eye you can enter whatever phone number you want to be associated with and all people have to do is dial that number to call your Video Phone. If you don't know the phone number you can dial by IP address, but most people don't know their IP address let alone someone else's IP address.
Once you have it setup with your family in the speed dial you don't have to remember anything except who you want to call and just select their name from a list you made. Very easy.
The video quality on these are surprisingly good. Sometimes you see some blurriness when there is fast movement, but it is nothing you can't handle. It is a small glitch that is easily overlooked seeing that you get to see and hear who you are talking to right on your TV. The audio quality is just like a phone when you plug in a phone to the back of this Video Phone. Plugging in a phone to the back of this device turns off the microphone and lets you use it like a phone. So we just sit back and talk on the cordless phone and watch on the TV the video. It makes it feel like you are on the phone as usual but you get a camera in their home.
This VideoPhone upgrades itself when there is new firmware, which is very convenient.

Overall
This Video Phone is a fun toy in our home that doesn't need maintenance, extra fees, or new hardware. All you need is a DSL or Cable connection, a TV, and if you have a home network you need a long enough cable, or wireless device to connect the i2eye to your network. The quality is great, the ease of use allows our kids to use it unsupervised, and all calls are free since it does use the Internet.

I would recommend this to people who have family that is too far to visit from time to time, or people who just want to jump into the future and make video phone calls.

The only thing I wish this could do is to call real phones. But that is wishful thinking and someone would find a way to charge you for calls if this actually could. So for now you can call other people who have an i2eye, and other video conferencing devices that use the H.323 protocol like someone who is using Microsoft net meeting or the like.

Bottom Line: Get one if you have the use for it, you and whom ever you call will greatly enjoy it. It is definitly fun to use and a sure conversation piece. Everyone who comes over and sees it wants to see it in action, then they want one for themselves.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: WARNING: does not work with AOL Broadband!
Review: What D-Link does not tell you is that this device will not work if your ISP is AOL, because AOL constantly changes your IP, and the I2eye does not address this. Also, as you know if you're on AOL, when you connect, you also sign-in to AOL, and again, the I2eye does not have "sign-in" software on board. We spent three hours on the phone with D-Link, AOL and Verizon, and there is NO work-around. Also, if you call D-Link, they will claim that they support "all ISPs" but when you tell them how AOL constantly reassigns IPs, they admit that they don't address this. Bottom line: you can't use this with AOL broadband.


<< 1 2 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates