3MP Camera Suggestions Anyone

[cquinn]

I am looking to buy a couple of 3MP cameras to use with Sighthound.

I have found a few on Amazon that look capable and are brands that Sighthound does support, but the models are not listed. I am not sure how to determine if they will be compatible without buying them. I wonder if anyone else has experience with these as far as quality and compatibility go:

- Dahua IPC-HFW4300S 3MP Eco-Savvy Weatherproof Hi Def IP Security Camera 3.6mm
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00H2VSTG2

- Hikvision DS-2CD2032-I Outdoor HD 3MP IP Bullet Security Camera 4mm
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00G7GMEOG

- TRENDnet Outdoor 3 MP PoE Network Surveillance Camera with Night Vision, TV-IP310PI
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00I3GKMC4

Thanks,
carl

[ryan]

Hi Carl,

I'm afraid I can't speak to quality as I don't have access to any of these, but I would imagine that the Hikvision and TRENDnet should work in the application. The Dahua should as well but I'm not very familiar with that brand. While it isn't 100% guaranteed, Sighthound Video should be compatible with just about any camera that exposes a direct URL to the video stream. The Hikvision and TRENDnet can likely use existing settings for those brands in the app.

For particular commentary on the quality and functionality of these models, I'm afraid I'll have to suggest googling for specific reviews unless anyone else chimes in here.

[ahallada]

I have the Axis M3006-V installed outside under the overhang so it's protected from weather. It has worked well with VitaminD / Sighthound for the past 1 1/2 year. It goes up to 3MP and quality is really good.

[CWasko36]

I am running 2 of the Hikvision cameras at my house and they work great with the software. I have heard that they are really 2.5MP sensors but the image is scaled up to 3MP. I run them at at a lower resolution (HD 1080) so I don't notice. The other thing to consider is that you need a fast processor to run a larger quantity of these high resolution cameras.

[cquinn]

Thanks all. I've ordered a couple Hikvision DS-2CD2332-I 3MP cameras and will reply to this thread when I find out how well they do.

[CWasko36]

Thanks all. I've ordered a couple Hikvision DS-2CD2332-I 3MP cameras and will reply to this thread when I find out how well they do.

Good luck. Check this video for good setup information on the camera:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBMCb278-hQ

[ahallada]

I'm interested in Hikvision too.

Hikvision DS-2CD2332-I 3MP EXIR Turret Network Camera

Great reviews on Amazon but I don't know if they will run on SH yet.

I like the larger IR / PIR/ and LED capability over the bullet cam mentioned above. I also like the smaller size and looks.

Anyone using one yet with SH?

[cquinn]

I bought a couple DS-2CD2332-I units and hooked them up for some test recordings in my house. They seem to work really well, and integrate with SH perfectly. Now I need to do the hard work of getting them installed around the house.

[ahallada]

Thanks for the info cquin.

Hikvision is the largest provider of IP cams/DVRs in the world now and yearly sales are over 1 Billion per year. Started in 2001 , they have over 9500 employees and are worth around 8 Billion dollars. That's crazy growth!

Would be cool to see SH develop some special support for these cams if they work for us. DVR support, PZI, LED light control on/off and brightness etc..

I guess if I were a SW company I know where I'd be putting my efforts. lol

[ahallada]

Just an update here on the Hikvision 3MP cams. I have multiple Hikvision 3MP cams installed now with SH and they are working great. I have the EXIR, CUBE, and Mini Bullets. They are all performing well in day and night with excellent picture quality. For the money, the Mini Bullet 3MP is a great camera at around $100 on Amazon. It is easy to install with smaller footprint. I think they all use a similar lens because there is very little difference in picture quality.

I use the CUBE 3MP for pointing out my front door window. I shut the IR off and then hooked up an external IR source that gives a nice beam on my front side walk. The IR/night vision on the CUBE was unable to penetrate the window by itself. I plan to replace the external IR source with the EXIR 3MP mounted outside above the front door under the rafters. This should provide enough IR light for both the EXIR and CUBE together. That way I have two Hikvision cams at the front door with two different views.

The Mini Bullets are outside on the corners of the house. They can reach about 30 feet each at night and cover my entire yard during the day. I've had issues with a snowy appearance here on the Central Coast of CA when there is heavy fog, but I guess that is true with most IR cams with night vision. It does set off my motion detection. I also get some really big bugs that show up at night from the IR light attraction that sets of motion detection. So far in 2 weeks, I've captured 5 raccoons, 2 cats, a skunk, and a woolly mammoth moth.

Overall, I'm really impressed with these 3MP Hikvision cams and I've purchased 4 more Mini Bullets. Most of them come with an odd IP address ie. 192.10.1.16 that needs to be changed using their included software on Windows to your local IP range. I use Windows XP for configuring these cams. This software doesn't seem to work with Mac OSX 10.10 or Win 8.1 Pro. I've tried it multiple times with no luck in making changes to the cameras and the software seems unstable on both. They all used the username: admin and password: 12345 for default.

Once you get the IP addresses changed to fit your local network , they hook up with SH easily using one of the included streams in SH. They seem pretty stable and I've had them up and running 24/7 for a couple of weeks now. They use up about 3% of CPU each on a Mac Pro 6 Core 3.5Ghz. I figure I can easily run 20 of these 3MP cams on this computer. I'm going to test them on a new Mac Mini 2.7 Ghz i7 Quad Core with Fusion Drive. I'm betting I can run 10-15 of these cams at full resolution on SH.