Compro Technologies IP540 PTZ Camera
by Cameron Butterfield on October 12, 2010 9:03 PM EST- Posted in
- IP cameras
- camera
- camcorder
- Gadgets
There are currently many choices in IP cameras for those looking to monitor their homes and business locations. Anandtech recently reviewed one such camera, the Dropcam Echo, which was geared towards the non technical consumer. Today we are looking at an IP camera offering from Compro Technologies which hopes to provide advanced features for small businesses and technical home users, while still paying close attention to the ease of installation for the end user.
First off, some information about Compro Technology Inc, as many readers may not have heard of them and they are trying to enter the US market just now.
Compro was Originally founded in 1988, based out of Taipei, Taiwan. Compro manufactures PC-TV, digital audio/video and IP security products for the IT consumer markets. They have been developing PC based TV tuners and data broadcast receiver products since 2003. However they have just recently in 2008 released consumer oriented analog/digital TV tuner products that some of you may be familiar with. Compro's IP security products include a full range of IP camera types from static ones to full PTZ (Pan-Tilt-Zoom) offerings with high resolution.
Today we are looking at Compro's mid-range PTZ (Pan-Tilt- Zoom) IP Camera, the IP540. The Compro IP540 lists the following as key features of the product.
- 1/3" CMOS Megapixel progressive scan sensor
- Pan, Tilt, 4x digital zoom (Pan of 340 degrees, Tilt of 100 degrees)
- Day and night functionality with mechanical IR cut filter switching
- Built-in IR lamps
- Supports real-time H.264, MPEG-4 and MJPEG compression (Triple Codec)
- Supports dual streams simultaneously
- Image frame rate is up to 15 frames per second at 1280x1024 resolution
- Smart motion detection
- Two way audio with built-in MIC (External speaker required)
- Easy and smart installer --- iWizard IP camera utility
- Support UPnP (Universal plug and play)
- Support 10/100 802.3/Ethernet
- Upgradable WiFi USB module to 802.11 b/g/n wireless LAN
- Supports local storage (MicroSD and MicroSDHC)
- Exclusive multiple channels viewing and installation-free mobile phone PTZ control --- WebVuer
- Web browser support via MJPEG mode (video only) on wide range of iphone, BlackBerry, Android, Windows Mobile and PDA devices to view the IP camera live video anytime, anywhere, anyplace
- Remote monitoring from 3G mobile or phone with web browser
- Bundled with powerful 32-channel IP video management software --- ComproView
- Optional Digital I/O box for External Sensor and Alarm (3 In/3 Out)
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ganeshts - Thursday, October 14, 2010 - link
We heard from our Compro contact that it is possible to obtain 'weatherproof' housing for the IP camera. However, the IP540 has an auto-Iris and does not cope well with brightly lit environment, e.g. directly under the Sun.The IP570, when equipped with the housing, will be a candidate for outdoor PTZ camera or even as replacement for lower cost speed domes. Do note that the housing is usually only available with special projects hence, it's not available in the standard retail channels. Maybe it is possible to order it directly from Compro. You can contact them through their website.
dijuremo - Wednesday, October 13, 2010 - link
I am interested in pricing. I have an old D-link DCS-6620G which broke and D-link does not offer any after warranty repair. I basically sent $600 to the trash the day I bought it. It also only works with IE for continuous video, what a piece of #*$&@$&@. Will not buy any D-link product ever again. First the PoE converter box died, then later on the camera died. They completely lost my business.The PoE native models should be the way to go, I hate to have to run power and network to the camera and wireless does not really cut it. In any case it will be easier to run CAT5e or CAT6 to the camera than power (have to pay an electrician).
Dk0524 - Tuesday, May 10, 2011 - link
in stock at www.ipcam-central.comStuka87 - Wednesday, October 13, 2010 - link
Could you guys maybe look at a camera that can be mounted outdoors as well? This would be incredibly handy for me, as I have a largish piece of land and can't see when people drive up from my house. Would be super handy to be able to see that from inside.ganeshts - Wednesday, October 13, 2010 - link
Sure, we will keep this in mind going forward. Thanks for your suggestion.firefighter4443 - Wednesday, October 13, 2010 - link
Thanks for the Review!I currently work overseas, and my place back home (USA) is frequently left alone for long periods of time. This review provided a lot of awesome information about this product, and I think it will be very helpful in setting up a remote surveillance system.
I'm very interested in the long term storage of the video stream(s), and possible ways to lower the memory used. If I set up a remote surveillance system, I would use local and/or remote (relative's house) storage on some type of NAS device. For the sake of saving HDD space, what is the possiblity of recording a video stream at 30FPS VGA, with a Full Resolution Snapshot every second? Or what are the possibilities of some type of software (running in real-time) that could re-encode a 30FPS stream (or 15 for full resolution) down to some fraction of 30 (or 15) after an X amount of days (to be set by the user)?
I'm thinking, in case of a burglery or some other type of crime, a lower number of high resolution frames would be more usefull than a high number of low resoulution frames. In addition, if I knew my house was checked on every x number of days or weeks, I would not need to store as many high resolution frames of historical video. Are there consumer level (and priced) software solutions for this kind of thing?
Overall though, thanks for the excellent review!
bobbozzo - Thursday, October 14, 2010 - link
There are many programs which will do motion-detection, so that recording is only done when there is movement.I'm using ZoneMinder (free, linux-based) on a server at home; you can have it do full recording, motion recording, time-based recording, or a combination.
Bob
bhigh - Friday, October 15, 2010 - link
This seems to be a perfect camera for a technical person to build a baby monitor around. Too bad it's not easily available in the US.Saidas - Saturday, October 16, 2010 - link
I could really use some suggestions for high end web cams for business use...preferably HD. All I find is the usual Logitech & MS fare for $50-$100 with good but not great audio/video. Either that or is its $700 video recorders. I need these as web cams for business meetings. What do businesses use? I thought there would be lots of choices but if there are I'm not seeing them.HauntFox - Friday, October 22, 2010 - link
I would just call it a PT camera.The image quality and the software looks nice.
I have an Astak Mole PT camera, which would be nice, but it crashes often: when viewing the video for extended periods, or recording video.