Compro IP 70 Network Camera Review
by Ganesh T S on July 28, 2011 11:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Gadgets
- IP cameras
- camera
- camcorder
The Dropcam Echo review used the Handsome Case to gain an understanding of the image and video quality. We dusted off the case again to evaluate the Compro IP 70.
The gallery below indicates the stream info and video settings used in the evaluation (30 fps VGA @ 1 Mbps as the primary stream). Note that we didn't choose the HD resolution (1280x1024) because of the low max frame rate.
Stream 1
At different light levels, the 100% cropped screenshots are shown below.
.Note the contrast in the images below at different illumination levels:
In the next picture, we have a test case for skin tone handling:
For both contrast and skin tone, the camera seems to perform best at 250 lux (nominal light levels). In the course of our experiments, we found that IR kicked in at 100 lux. The Dropcam Echo kicked in IR at much lower illumination levels, so this is something we are not entirely happy about with the Compro IP 70. This also meant that we couldn't evaluate the chroma noise under low lighting conditions because of the black and white nature of the IR video.
Stream 2
The second stream is meant for watching on mobile devices, and so, we just have a look at the composite picture.
The Compro IP 70 has barely acceptable image and video quality (when compared with the Dropcam Echo).
We are also not impressed with the supported frame rates and resolutions (despite being better than the Dropcam Echo when considering the paper specifications). Considering the price point of the unit ($159), one might be tempted to overlook these shortcomings for certain applications.
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ComproStore.com - Monday, August 1, 2011 - link
Please visit our website we offer all the great Compro Products, IP60, IP70, IP540 PTZ, IP540P PTZ, IP570, IP570, we have the best deals around with the Compro Line.jman7 - Friday, August 19, 2011 - link
I have two of the IP540P camera which are step up from this. They removed in latest firmware in all models the ability to records to SMB, NAS or any type of server. All consumer models you derivatives of the same firmware. You can record pictures but not video to a server in the latest firmware. They added the ability to monitor your video over the Internet but took away the necessary features. I reverted back to the latest firmware which did support to recording to SMB shares but that usually locks up the camera at around the 15 hour mark or so. It does have great video for remote video but if you think it will reliably record your home your are mistaken. They have claimed since April that they will restore firmware features but so far nothing.I have found many other owners of Compro video products saying the same things about their cameras. I feel duped by Anandtech these products are buggy and useless and any honest review would have picked up on this within the first day. The iP540 mentions a firmware that Campro never released to customers. Evidently they responsively release firmware to reviewers but not customers.
A.K. - Friday, August 26, 2011 - link
The root cause of this issue is that Compro has added a new P2P service feature called Seedonk Server onto the 2.0 release and had to make tradeoff due to the insufficient memory space; the tradeoff is the SAMBA NFS recording function.A.K. - Friday, August 26, 2011 - link
Compro does apology for users who are replying on the SAMBA NFS recording function and will release a special version of the 2.0 firmware with the SAMBA NFS 2.0 (however without the Seedonk Server function) will be available by the mid Sept.However, if anyone want to recording their video from Compro IP Camera, now they launch their own NAS/NVR product to the market, all firmware support the recording to their own NAS/NVR is no problem.
X man - Saturday, August 27, 2011 - link
On current FW, I can use Synology server for Video Recording. And their excellent mobile solution on iPhone/iPad/Android Phome make the camera (IP70 and IP540) good IP Cameras for Home Users.paul.dpoint@gmail.com - Tuesday, August 6, 2013 - link
--- Great article. I know a company that sell's also a cheap and quality ip camera. www.dpointtectnologies.com