Compro Technologies IP540 PTZ Camera
by Cameron Butterfield on October 12, 2010 9:03 PM EST- Posted in
- IP cameras
- camera
- camcorder
- Gadgets
During the review process we have had constant communication with Compro with regard to a few issues we encountered during testing. Before noting the issues I would like to say that Compro Technologies has been very helpful and responsive in addressing them and that the majority of them have been resolved via software updates and firmware updates provided by Compro. While I am noting the initial issues experienced, the review and recommendation will be based upon the performance we are experiencing with the fixes that Compro has provided in place.
The first complication I encountered was an issue with my multiple monitor setup. ComproView was unable to display the video feed on any monitor other than my primary display. The web based viewer however did not demonstrate this problem. Our contact at Compro explained that the software's rendering engine did not support multiple screen displays, but did mention plans to support this in the future. I do hope Compro pursues this feature, as the ability to display the camera software across screens is a necessity for anyone who might want to utilize this software while still being able to use the main screen of the computer for other purposes.
Another issue was with regard to the framerates of the MKV files being generated. The header information with framerate information was not being written correctly. However a new firmware update was provided (v1.51f) that is now adding in header information for the FPS information that used to be blank in MKV files. It was also verified that the AVI files being saved showed the correct framerate now as well.
The next issue we encountered was wildly out of sync audio and video that seemed to be in high speed during the first part of the recording and in slow motion towards the end of the recording on a clip that had been exported from inside the ComproView Software to an AVI file. The problem with the encoding was that the source video utilized variable frame rates, but, when exported to an AVI file, it was playing back at a fixed rate. Compro Technologies provided us with a new version of the ComproView software that now exports to a WMV format that is capable of accommodating variable frame rates in the video. With the software update the issue went away. I was able to export the same video feed to a clip that now plays back perfectly. Kudos to Compro for fixing this issue in a timely manner.
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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.