|
A few weeks back, I received yet another parcel from Compro Taiwan delivered via TNT. Opened it up and it turns out to be the Compro IP50W which was sent by Compro for testing and review purpose. Compro IP50W is Compro Technology's first attempt to penetrate into the home surveillance market. Before this, the company was one of a major players in the TV Tuner industry, having produced so many TV Tuners over the years.
Compro IP50w is an IP CCTV. An IP CCTV differs from a conventional CCTV as an IP CCTV connects to a LAN environment, gets it's own IP address, transmits images digitally whereas a conventional CCTV transmits analogue video signal to a decoder which will then convert it into digital signal.
I will cover more of the differences between IP CCTV and conventional CCTV as we move on.
The unopened package delivered by TNT
First look - Compro VideoMate Indoor Fixed Network Camera IP50w
Introduction
VideoMate IP50 series provides an easy-to-install way for the indoor fixed camera solution. Combined with the MPEG-4 video compression format, superior performance and high video quality are achieved with much smaller recording file size, which means much lower costs for data storage. Wireless version, IP50W, is also in the lineup. The VideoMate IP50 series also comes equipped with built-in speaker, microphone, smart motion detection, and additional I/O controls.
Click Read more to read the comprehensive review on this product
Key Features
- 1/4" CMOS progressive scan VGA sensor
- Supports real-time MPEG-4 and MJPEG compression (Dual Codec)
- Supports simultaneous dual streams
- Image frame rate is up to 30 frames per second at 640x480 resolution
- Smart motion detection
- Two way audio with built-in MIC and speaker
- Compro exslusive iDDNS service for dynamic IP and desktop shortcut create.
- Support UPnP (universal plug and play)
- Support 10/100 802.3/Ethernet
- Built-in 802.11b/g WLAN (IP50W only)
- Digital I/O for External Sensor and Alarm(2 In/1 Out)
- Installer provides the easy-to-use and step-by-step iWizard installer to quick link and setup the IP camera.
- Remote monitoring through internet via PC/NB/Cellphone/PDA/NetTop/MID Web browser support via MJPEG mode (video only) on wide range of PC, NB, Mobil Phone, PDA, Nettop, MID devices to view the IP camera video anytime, anywhere, anyplace.
- Bundled with powerful 32-channel surveillance software --- VideoMate ComproView
Page 2 - IP CCTV vs CCTV and features of IP CCTV
There's pros and cons for both IP CCTV and conventional CCTV.
An IP CCTV can act on its own without a separate decoder as the decoder is already built in. This IP50W comes with MPEG-4 and MJPEG encoder so it can perform most of the decoding work on its own.
On the other hand, a conventional CCTV camera, cannot function on its own and must be connected to a decoder which will receive analogue video feed from the CCTV. As images are transmitted via analogue signal, issues like cables quality and length of the cable could affect the quality of the video.
However, it must be noted that IP CCTV is not an alternative or substitute of the current CCTV. An IP CCTV is more suitable for small office and home environment whereas a CCTV would suit a large scale surveillance system due to the cost factor.
A normal CCTV would require a large set up cost, consisting of a decoder which could be connected to a number of CCTVs but each CCTV is cheaper than an IP CCTV as a conventional CCTV does not have built in decoder.
Having said so, a normal CCTV system would make sense on a large scale surveillance system whereas implementing IP CCTV would be more cost effective if only 3 or 4 cameras are needed.
Here are the features of IP 50w
1)UPnP Support - easier setup
2)Progressive Scan VGA Sensor - a step ahead of traditional interlaced scanning
3)Support dual streams simultaneously - different stream with different codec, framerate and resolution can be set, allowing for lower quality to be streamed to mobile device
4)Full-Screen Display - nothing spectacular here, software
5)Multi-Channel Management - supports up to 32 channels, with 16 viewable at a time
6)Remote monitoring through internet from compatible 3GPP mobile phones - complements feature no.3 above
7)Buffered images - images can be stored onto internal storage temporarily
8)Alarm & Event management - define alerts, such as buzzer sound when motion detected
9)Two way audio with built-in MIC and Speaker - self explanatory
10)Digital I/O for external sensor and alarm (2 in/ 1 out) - will be discussed in the next page
Next, let's look into the package contents.
Page 3 - Package Contents
Here's the package contents in clockwise:
1) Installation Guide
2) Driver and ComproView software installation disc
3) IP 50w camera
4) HTC Diamond (not included, for testing purpose)
5) Antenna for WiFi connectivity
6) AC/DC adaptor
7) CAT5 LAN cable
8) Wall/screw mount (not shown above)
From the front, it looks very simple, one LED indicator, onboard microphone and onboard speaker for two-way communication purpose. Despite it having an onboard mic and speaker, external ones can be connected via the ports at the back as the onboard mic and speaker could only deliver an acceptable audio quality.
Meanwhile, from the back, there's a couple more connections as illustrated in the diagram below.
All the connections are self explanatory but I would like to highlight on the I/O connectors (input/output). There's 2 input connectors which can trigger any predetermined events when triggered by 5V DC input. For instance, you can connect a smoke sensor which will trigger the camera when smokes are detected. The camera can be programmed to perform specific actions when triggered, such as recording the scene only when smoke is detected (from external sensors), or to send a warning to the remote PC (say you're at office and wants to be notified of such event happening at home)
Now for the output connectors, they work the other way, instead of being 'triggered', the output connectors 'trigger' another device. For example, you can connect a siren or a flashlight to the external switch which will then be triggered when a predetermined event occurs such as motion detected, or to activate the flashlight when motion is detected. I know that there are already motion activated flashlights out there, but you can also configure the IP CCTV through the bundled Compro View software to trigger an external flashlight if there's audio detected. (exceeding certain loudness).
The output connector works as a switch, either as an NC (normally opened) or NO (normally closed) switch. NC switch works by 'closing'/completing the circuit when events are triggered whereas NO switch works by 'breaking' the circuit when events are triggered.
Page 4 - Setting up
Setting the IP CCTV was supposed to be easy, but I had some difficulties setting it up the first time, the manual did not really provide much help on this.
Popped the disc in, and a configuration program - iWizard popped up. iWizard is a 9-step configuration GUI where all the settings are configured such as WiFi connection settings, WEP/WPA keys, password for web browser access, and connection ports. The IP50w allows connection on both wireless and wired connection, but for the first time configuration, it has to be done over a wired connection.
I had tough time configuring the device via iWizard, after putting in all the settings, I reached a page which confirms all my settings before the settings are programmed onto IP50w, but despite setting the connection type to be wireless, the confirmation page always show that I want to be connected via wired instead of wireless.
There are even few videos to guide through setting up of the IP 50w but the videos merely show how to connect the cables which in my opinion, wouldn't help much.
As I had difficulty using iWizard configuration program, I found out that there is another way to configure the CCTV, which is by directly entering its IP address in a web browser. I logged in into my router and note down the IP address assigned by DHCP to the CCTV and then I entered the IP address into the web browser.
I highlighted this issue to Compro and they acknowledged the issue, and I expect this problem to be resolved in the next batch of shipment.
Being an IP CCTV, it allows me to view the camera via a live feed through a web browser, wherever I am as long as I have an Internet connection. Currently, the web browser access only works with Internet Explorer browser. Upon accessing the browser, users would be required to install an ActiveX plugin required to view live feed.
Update - A newer firmware has been released which allows LiveView via Mozilla Firefox browser, just by installing VLC Player Mozilla Plugin.
You can choose to view the higher quality Stream 1 or a lower quality Stream 2 over a slower Internet connection. Other buttons are self explanatory but there is also a 'communicate' button which can be used to communicate with anyone on the other side of the camera. Just hold the button and speak through a microphone. The other party would be able to hear you voice and vice versa.
A practical application would be to place this device beside the entrance to your office, allowing you to 'interrogate' your visitors before allowing them in.
All the settings can be configured here and I managed to setup all the settings within minutes. As mentioned earlier, IP 50w supports two video stream. The purpose of having such feature is so that I can set a lower quality second stream for smooth viewing on a mobile device. I will cover on this area in the next page.
In the same autorun program, one can install the ComproView software. (or any other IP CCTV monitoring software but for the purpose of this review, I will be installing the Compro View software).
ComproView software is a 'powerful 32-channel recording software' and it interacts with the IP 50w in a myriad of ways.
At the bottom of the program, there's 3 sections of buttons
Most left section - Buttons to 1) shutdown the program, 2) activate monitoring system, 3) index search panel, 4) file playback
Centre section -
1) Setup button
2) Activate EMAP - EMAP allows you to embed an image onto the live feed, so you can embed a 'map' where the CCTV is placed so you would know which part of a building you are viewing.
3) Backup
4) Camera group - You can 'group' cameras together, for instance 'kitchen', 'living room'
5) Toggle IO ports - Choose to toggle IO events
6) Toggle sound - Toggle sound events/hear audio from camera
7) Talk - Output voice via the camera's speaker
On the right section, it shows the status of the computer, CPU load, hard disk space and network activity. Below that, you can view events log, such as any motion detected, sound detected and many more.
There is also a PTZ (Pan, Tilt, Zoom) function, although not supported by IP50w, it allows a PTZ enabled device to be controlled by IP50w, allowing pan and tilt, focus adjustment, and optical zoom. The fact that such feature is already available in IP50W could indicate a future arrival of products with such capabilities.
In the Setup page, there's 9 tabs of settings as you can see in the picture above allowing one to tweak every aspects of the camera and the software.
Multiple users can also be created with different authorization level.
Page 5 - Remote Viewing & Motion detection
As mentioned in the earlier pages, the encoder onboard the IP50w allows 2 stream to be processed at anytime with the 2nd stream being set at a lower quality for smooth streaming over a mobile device.
After configuring the 2nd stream, I popped out my smartphone, launched CorePlayer which supports RTSP (Real Time Streaming Protocol) and entered the IP address of the IP CCTV (in my case, http://192.168.1.6/medias2)
Viewing in portrait mode
Core Player supports landscape view which nicely fits the live stream
I made the necessary port forward configuration so I can view the IP CCTV when I'm away from my house.
If one were to enable viewing of the CCTV over the Internet, he/she really have to becareful because viewing the camera over RTSP requires no authentication, just enter the IP address and the port number, and you're good to go. Maybe Compro should incorporate some sort of security feature where one have to include some secret passphrase as part of the access URL.
When I brought up this issue with them, they acknowledged that this is a security issue but like I said, it is inherent in RTSP streaming, so it's vital that the access IP or NO-IP/DynDNS.org address is kept to yourself.
Through my phone I was able to hear the audio from the other side as well, but in no way I can communicate with the other side, it's just a broadcast after all. Perhaps a software should be developed to allow two-way communication? Although the video streams smoothly, there's around 4 seconds of delay, maybe because both my phone and the IP CCTV was connected via WiFi.
After turning on motion detection and the alerts event, all it takes is for motion to be detected, and the recording will be initiated. You can see that the program indicates that its recording the scene when motions are detected. A warning message can also be configured which will then show on the screen.
I have also configured the software to play a siren sound if motions are detected as well as 'closing' the logic gate which activates an external bulb which I have connected to the IP 50w. Apart from this, other actions can be activated, such as sending emails and playing the alert sound (buzzer, siren, etc) The buzzer sound can even be output to the onboard speaker.
Once a motion is detected, the program has been configured to record 3 seconds before the event occur, and 3 seconds after the event has ended (no more motion detected). With this, there would be no need to enable recording for the whole day, but only when motions are detected, reducing CPU load and hard disk space consumption.
The program even pinpoints the location of the 'motion' which triggers it to begin recording via a crosshair. All recorded events can be easily searched via a filtering options as well as advanced search feature.
Apart from motion detection, other forms of detections supported are scene detection, audio detection, object detection and face detection.
Object detection allows any object exceeding a particular size to trigger the camera while audio detection is self explanatory.
In the earlier pages, I mentioned that Compro IP50w can act independently without a computer. In the web browser configuration page, there is an option to upload a snapshot of the scene when motions are detected. Apart from that, the uploaded snapshot could be stored in the camera's internal storage or even be uploaded to an FTP server!
I can specify up to 3 regions. For each region, I can then specify what action to be taken if motions are detected in the region. This is particularly useful if I am monitoring the front gate of my house, I would not want the camera to be triggered unnecessarily by passing traffic, I only want it to be triggered by people walking into my house. So I just have to define a region inside my house and configure it to upload snapshot of each motion detected in this region into my FTP server.
I tested the FTP feature and it worked perfectly, uploading each snapshots to my FTP server without having a computer on 24x7.
Here you can see all the images being uploaded into the FTP server, again allowing for remote viewing.
I have also configured the CCTV to trigger the output switch when motion is detected, so say if I have a flashlight connected to it, the flashlight will be turned on when motion is detected within the compound of my house, providing light for the camera snapshot feature. The flashlight would not be activated when cars are passing by.
However, it would be great if the motion detection can be programmed to be activated at certain time. For instance, I would not want the flashlight to be activated at day time, nor do I want it to be taking snapshots at day time. Hopefully these can be implemented in their future firmwares.
Without ComproView, the IP50w features are severely crippled. For instance, the IP50w acting on its own would not be able to play alert sounds when motions are detected and only snapshots can be taken instead of video recordings. It is understandable that these are not possible as it would require much processing power on the IP50w which just doesn't seem possible.
On the other hand, D-link, which has established itself in this market, has a product, the DCS-5220 which seems to be able to do everything I mentioned above, including recording directly to an NAS or FTP server pan & tilt feature but comes at a premium of approximately RM600/650 whereas the humble Compro IP50w has an SRP of USD100 (RM350)
Page 6 - Conclusion
Overall, Compro's first attempt in manufacturing an IP50w seems to be a successful one. I faced some difficulties setting it up and getting the program to run on first time, but the support received from Compro was instantaneous.
There was inadequate documentation, especially on using the ComproView program. Besides that, it's a shame that the live feed can only be viewed on Internet Explorer browser while D-Link's live feed could be watch over any browser. However, like mentioned above, the latest firmware allows live feed to be watched over any browser, so this issue is irrelevant.
It would be great if mobile application can be developed for Windows Mobile/Symbian/Blackberry platform that allows two way communication as well as some sort of basic authentication to view the live feed over the Internet.
The image quality is better than expected, the 1/4" CMOS sensor didn't produce a very noisy image, which is essential for low light surveillance. The bundled ComproView program performed up to expectation but it takes time to understand every options in the program which is why the documentation should be improved.
I give this product a rating of :-
4/5
|
