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C**N
Don't be upset about the packaging, Great quality image as usual from Amcrest cams
On first opening the delivery, I was slightly disappointed as the box wasn’t the usual branded blue box, but rather a plain brown box housing the camera, silly I know, but in a way it lowered my expectations of the contents. Also it feels strange having the box sat with all my other Amcrest products and not having the same branding.The contents however held the same contents as other Amcrest products. A mounting template to make it easy to put on the wall (I am still yet to do this as cannot yet get up a ladder due to Covid illness). A mounting ring so the camera can be put on the wall or removed easily, waterproof caps so the PoE cable can be kept securely away from the elements and the usual user guide, warranty information and an introduction offer to use Amcrest cloud. I myself use a NAS to record onto as I prefer my CCTV system to be closed to my internal network only (with remote access via VPN).The camera was so simple to setup. I configured the switch to be in the correct VLAN for the CCTV, plugged in the camera and it worked straight away, set a static IP address, changed the password and then I started to work with the Camera through the Amcrest app on my phone. The 5MP image is very impressive and allows me to “pinch to zoom” in the Amcrest app to focus more on distant objects. Once I was happy with the image (I had to rotate and mirror the image), I moved onto the Synology Surveillance station to carry on with the configuration for recording and motion detection etc.As the camera is a compatible product with Surveillance Station, I was able to just put in the IP and credentials and detect the camera from the web interface. I played around with the motion sensors and decided that letting the camera detect motion worked better than letting the NAS do the job. I did drop the resolution slightly as I prefer the ability to record at 30 fps at 2688*1520, than 20 fps at 2592*1944, though I do notice a slight fish eye effect on the lens when I configure the camera to this setting. This does not affect the quality of the image and I am very impressed with the camera image quality.My only criticisms of this purchase are the different packaging and the lack of the full frame rate at the full resolution. I would still rate this 9/10 as it was clear from the purchase screen about the frame rate prior to buying the camera.I compared the image quality to a Reolink 5MP camera and the Amcrest camera is miles better in image quality both during day and night.I have already demonstrated the Amcrest cameras to people who are looking at options to install CCTV in their home and explained the options for both local and cloud based recording. Although the cameras are slightly more expensive than the competition, showing them the difference between the image quality highlights the importance of purchasing a higher quality camera.
A**M
High Quality Camera with Audio
I am currently running the free version of Milestones excellent XProtect software, amazing software and free for up to 8 cameras. I have currently got a mixture of IP cameras including two Hikvision (one being a doorbell camera) and three Amcrest. By far the Amcrest cameras I currently have run the best software out of all the cameras with an intuitive sleek looking interface. I was looking to upgrade one of my dome cameras that had been installed for 5 years and somehow had managed to get water inside it so decided on the IP5M-T1179EW-28MM. I've used this camera to replace a Hikvision camera which I’ve had installed since 2016 looking down my side passage.Unboxing:The camera comes packaged in a plain brown box with a pack containing a couple of screws and the connectors for the waterproof network connection. It looks more budget than previous Amcrest cameras and is considerably lighter, hopefully this doesn’t mean its lesser quality than some of the other great Amcrest cameras I have. There is a template which is printed on a sticker so you can stick the template onto the surface you are going to install the camera on simplifying the installation process. The camera itself is very well packaged in shock absorbent material.Mounting:I fitted this camera to the side of our house mounted horizontally. The camera was easy to install and adjust to the correct position owing to the way the camera body has the ability to rotate 360 degrees in the mounting plate as well as rotate for when mounted vertically. I have every confidence you can get the perfect angle whether mounting horizontally or vertically. The waterproof network connection is easy to hook up and is a must if mounted outdoors. Using the mounting plate with its sticker template to install the camera made installation very quick for a dome camera. Previous dome cameras I've had have had to be opened up to access the mounting points to screw to the wall but this camera requires no disassembly to install which means there is no risk of getting dirt or dust into the camera housing which could affect the picture quality once installed. I have the camera running from a POE switch after initially using a POE injector to test when mounting. The camera looks professional when installed.Configuration:The camera is IP and POE which for me is the best configuration for CCTV cameras. The camera comes configured to get an IP address from DHCP but setting a static IP on the camera was easy with the camera redirecting you to the new static IP address as soon as you hit save, very smart! The camera was not running the latest firmware so I performed a firmware upgrade which was quick and easy. I was really impressed with the responsiveness of the web interface on the camera, it was very intuitive to use and clicking around the plethora of configuration options available was instantaneous. Remember to configure some NTP settings for the camera, it’s important to have the time set correctly when using CCTV as evidence or trying to playback specific times fortunately this camera supports NTP and configuration of daylight savings time. The SMTP configuration is best I've seen with the ability to select pre-defined SMTP providers including Google, Outlook.com, Comcast, Yahoo as well as manual configuration.NVR Configuration:The camera was added quickly and easily into Milestone XProtect using the network quick scan method. I have milestone configured to pre-record for 3 seconds and post record for 5 seconds after motion detection. It really helps with compatibility when the camera supports ONVIF.Video Quality:I have set one of my streams on the camera to be the highest quality it possibly can be, the video quality is fantastic I was really impressed. Night time quality is excellent using the built in IR lights and the footage is crisp and clear with no lens glare due to the IR lights being built into the body of the camera and not mounted inside the lens. The video quality is a huge step from the Hikvision this camera has replaced.Conclusion:This is a great quality camera which provides crisp and clear video. The software is the most responsive I’ve found on any IP cameras that I’ve tried and is really intuitive to use also. It’s really nice that the video works natively in a Google Chrome browser with no additional software to install.
Trustpilot
1 week ago
1 week ago