ePathChina CCTV Surveillance Camera
I’ve used several IP cameras over the years. IP cameras are in principle great products with many wonderful features, especially for remote monitoring. However, most of them are a real pain to set up. You almost have to be an IT professional in order to get them working properly with your home network. This is why if you just need a very basic local video surveillance CCTV cameras are the way to go for most users, especially for the less tech-savvy ones.
The first thing you notice about this camera is the quality of its build. The entire housing of the camera is made out of pretty solid metal, and not the cheap plastic material like all IP cameras I’ve tested. This is definitely a camera that is built for durability, and would be appropriate for shops or stores.
The single most annoying thing about this camera is that it doesn’t come with any cables or power supplies. Those need to be purchased separately, and there is not much guidance on which particular ones would be the most appropriate. The information that comes with the camera is only partially helpful – at one place it says that the camera operates with a 1000 mA power supply, while another piece of info calls for a 600 mA power supply. I have gotten a 1000 mA power supply and the camera has worked fine with it. DO NOT under any circumstances go with a power supply that is higher than that. It will very likely destroy your camera.
Once I was able to connect my camera and power it up, I adjusted the camera’s orientation and focus using the little screws on its side. I connected the camera to one of my HDTVs. The camera’s picture quality was decidedly low-res, but on a big screen TV it still looked pretty nice. The best part is that the feed is nearly instantaneous, unlike the small lag that I am used to with the IP cameras. I had tested the camera in low lighting conditions as well, and it performed quite adequately.
This CCTV camera is pretty solid choice for anyone looking to install some simple video surveillance for their home or place of business. Just remember to get all the additional cables and power supplies that are needed for its proper functioning.
About the Author
Bojan Tunguz
Bojan Tunguz was born in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which he and his family fled during the civil war for the neighboring Croatia. Over the past two decades he has studied, lived and worked in the United States. He is a theoretical physicist with degrees from Stanford and University of Illinois. Tunguz has taught physics at several prominent liberal arts colleges and has been writing about physics, science and technology for more than a decade. He also has a wide spectrum of interests, and reads and writes about current events, society, culture, religion and politics. Over the years he has reviewed many of the books that he has read, and posted his reviews on various online outlets. In 2011 he had become a top 10 reviewer on Amazon.com, where he continues to be very active. Aside from reading and writing, Tunguz enjoys traveling, digital photography, hiking, and fitness. He resides with his wife in Indiana. You can follow my review updates on the following pages as well: Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tunguzreview Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tunguzreviews Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/104312842297641697463/posts
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The security industry is dominated by what are called Analog Cameras, and depending on the source of the statistics, it is thought that presently somewhere between 70%-90% of all CCTV Surveillance systems deployed are analog. It should be noted that there are no fundamental deficiencies with the analog camera, but depending on your requirements, the new IP range of CCTV Surveillance (see below for explanation) most certainly provide far clearer images, and ones that can be relied upon to actually identify the person, whereas the analog range essentially struggles with this.