I’ve been working with computers for a long time, from searching at a major IBM reseller in New York for years to finally landing on PCMag (when it was still in print as PC Magazine). I’ve been on the staff for over 14 years, most recently as COO at PC Labs and later as a freelance editor.
The affordable D-Link DCS-8630LH outdoor security camera offers a wide range of features including spotlights and sirens, local and cloud storage options, and color night vision.
Outdoor security cameras are great for monitoring activity in your yard, driveway, or anywhere else outside of your home. In addition to the recording function, the $149.99 D-Link Outdoor Spotlight Camera (DCS-8630LH) can deter unwanted visitors with a bright LED spotlight and a loud siren. This rugged camera also supports voice control, works with a variety of D-Link and third-party devices, and offers local and cloud video storage options. While it was relatively easy to install and produce 1080p color video in our tests, the Arlo Pro 4 Spotlight Camera ($199.99) remains our Editors’ Choice winner because it delivers the best video quality (2K) and battery operated, making it even easier to use.
The white body of the DCS-8630LH camera is IP65 weatherproof to protect the camera from dust and rain. Including the swivel stand, the device measures 3.2 by 2.2 by 4.7 inches (HWD). The microSD card slot and reset button are hidden behind a rubber cover on the bottom of the camera. The siren speaker is also located next to the cover. The camera comes with a 23′ power cable.
The housing contains a camera lens, a passive infrared (PIR) motion sensor, two IR LEDs for black and white night vision, a microphone for two-way audio, and a 400 lumen LED spotlight for full color night video and intruder protection. . When the microphone picks up the sound of broken glass, the camera can send an alert. The 150-degree field of view allows you to shoot wide-angle photos and videos at 1080p resolution (video at 30 frames per second). There’s also a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi radio and a 100dB siren under the hood.
You can store videos locally on a microSD card (up to 256 GB), but you’ll have to provide it yourself. In addition, you can set up your cameras to store videos in the cloud, you get one day of video history for one camera for free. For $2.49 a month, the basic plan gives you 7 days of video history for three cameras. The premium plan for $4.99/month includes 14 days of video history for 5 cameras. Finally, the $9.99/month Pro plan gives you 30 days of history for up to 10 cameras.
The DCS-8630LH supports Alexa and Google Assistant voice commands, and works with many third-party smart devices via IFTTT. The camera also has a built-in Zigbee radio, allowing it to connect with other D-Link devices such as door and window sensors, motion sensors, other cameras, smart plugs, and water sensors. However, it does not integrate with the Apple HomeKit platform.
You can create rules that control how the camera behaves when something is triggered. For example, the camera can be set to start recording and send push notifications when it detects any sound, motion, or any human disturbance. In addition, you can configure these events to trigger the camera siren and spotlight. Other D-Link devices may also include cameras, sirens, and spotlights.
The DCS-8630LH uses the same mobile app (for Android and iOS) as other D-Link devices such as the DCH-S1621KT Water Sensor Kit and the DSP-W320 Smart Plug. It appears in the panel below the camera on the main screen, where the last still image is displayed and there is a view button that starts a live feed. At the bottom of the live screen are buttons to mute the speaker, take a picture, manually record a video, start a two-way call, turn on the siren, switch the video quality (1080p or 720p), and turn on the spotlight. To view the event log, tap the microSD card icon or the cloud icon.
Tap the gear icon in the top right corner of the screen to open the device settings screen. Here you can turn on privacy mode, set motion and people detection zones, turn on color or black and white night vision, set spotlight and siren timeout, switch microphones, and adjust anti-flicker and Wi-Fi settings.
Tap the secondary menu in the top left corner of the home screen to create scenarios that allow you to control multiple devices with a single tap, set up camera automation to work with other D-Link devices, create privacy plans, add new devices, and set up Alexa and set up Google Assistant.
Installing the DCS-8630LH is easy, but if you don’t have an outdoor GFCI outlet near your desired installation location, you’ll need to plug the power cord into your home to turn it on. For some, this can be a deal breaker.
First, I downloaded the mydlink app, created an account, and when prompted clicked “Add device” (the app uses Bluetooth to automatically recognize the camera). I scanned the QR code in the setup guide and followed the instructions to connect the camera to my home Wi-Fi network. After a few seconds, I had to give the camera a name before it automatically showed up in the app and in my list of Alexa devices. At this point, you can also add an assigned phone number, and if something works with the camera, you can call with the click of a button.
Once the application was set up, I mounted the unit on a backyard rack using the included mounting screws and plugged it into a GFCI outlet.
The DCS-8630LH delivered relatively crisp 1080p video in our tests, but you can get sharper video from an Arlo Pro 4 Spotlight (2K) or Reolink E1 (2560 by 1920) camera. In any case, colors from the D-Link camera were bright and saturated, with no evidence of barrel or pincushion distortion. Color night video looked well-lit, and color quality was decent. Black and white night video is crisp and well lit, with good contrast. Conversations on a two-way system sound quite loud, without distortion.
Motion alerts arrived quickly in testing, with few false positives. The camera successfully recognized human motion events and stuck to my privacy mode schedule without issue. The sirens are loud and the spotlights illuminate the area right in front of the camera well. I created a rule for the DHC-S163 water sensor, which turns on the spotlight and siren when water is detected, and the automation works flawlessly. In addition, the camera immediately responds to Alexa voice commands to display live video on the Amazon Echo Show device.
The D-Link DCS-8630LH Outdoor Surveillance Camera offers many features at an affordable price. You get color night vision, free (but limited) cloud storage, staff alerts, and a public address system with spotlights and sirens. It also delivered crisp 1080p video recording and clear two-way audio in testing. Our main complaint is that it doesn’t support Apple HomeKit. For a bit more money, we’d still prefer the Arlo Pro 4 Spotlight camera; it records stunning 2K video, supports multiple third-party platforms (including HomeKit), and is easier to install with a built-in battery.
The affordable D-Link DCS-8630LH outdoor security camera offers a wide range of features including spotlights and sirens, local and cloud storage options, and color night vision.
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I’ve been working with computers for a long time, from searching at a major IBM reseller in New York for years to finally landing on PCMag (when it was still in print as PC Magazine). I’ve been on the staff for over 14 years, most recently as COO at PC Labs and later as a freelance editor.
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Post time: Oct-29-2022
