TheWaterbug
Getting comfortable
I just installed an Amcrest IP5M-T1277EW-AI under my mailbox:
It's the one pointing uphill, while the one pointing downhill is an older IP5M-T1179EW that I'd been buying for ~$50 - $57/ea. over the last few years (total of 20 units in 3 locations):
I paid $79.99 for the new IP5M-T1277EW-AI after receiving a promotional email from Amcrest offering the following:
Resolutions offered are as follows:
Here's an interesting note on resolution. It appears that the camera is changing resolution by resampling the sensor's FOV, not by cropping. If you look at the difference between 2960×1668 (1.77):
and 2048x1536 (1.33):
(I'm attempting to scale them to approx their native aspect ratios) you'll see that the same areas of the tree and of my neighbor's railing are visible; it's just that it's squished into fewer image pixels. I don't know if this is typical or atypical, but it's not what I was expecting.
In terms of image quality, I set both cameras to the highest common resolution of 2688×1520/h264/BRC_CBR/20fps/I=20, at the same 6144 kbps so that I could do a side-by-side comparison of vehicles transiting through both FOVs. There is a gap of about a car length between the two FOVs because there's a diagonal piece of wood in the way. I'll mount the 3rd camera (see below) underneath that wood piece to pick up the gap and the cross street.
Side-by-side video comparison, here:
The first two clips are during daylight hours, the next two are in B&W during night hours, and the last two are in Night Color mode.
We had some moonlight, but not much. Both cameras make it seem there's more light than there was. A human walking around would be completely blind.
In general I can definitely say that the new camera is an improvement over the older camera. The Night Color difference is pretty dramatic, and I'd actually consider using the newer camera in this mode, whereas the old camera in Night Color is not very useful at all.
In daylight and in B&W I also find the IP5M-T1277EW-AI to have a little more detail. See the texture of the pavement in daylight and the foliage in B&W.
The price of the IP5M-T1277EW-AI on amazon had dropped to $69.99 minus a $10 instant coupon for a net price of $59.99, and the older IP5M-T1179EW is the same $59.99, so I ordered another IP5M-T1277EW-AI that I will mount as the Northbound camera and move the IP5M-T1179EW to point at the cross-street that tees into my mailbox.
It's the one pointing uphill, while the one pointing downhill is an older IP5M-T1179EW that I'd been buying for ~$50 - $57/ea. over the last few years (total of 20 units in 3 locations):
I paid $79.99 for the new IP5M-T1277EW-AI after receiving a promotional email from Amcrest offering the following:
So this isn't exactly a completely neutral review, although I'll try to be objective.
Resolutions offered are as follows:
| IP5M-T1277EW-AI | IP5M-T1179EW | Hres | Vres | Mpix | Aspect |
| Y | 2960 | 1668 | 4.94 | 1.77 | |
| Y | 2880 | 1620 | 4.67 | 1.78 | |
| Y | 2592 | 1944 | 5.04 | 1.33 | |
| Y | Y | 2688 | 1520 | 4.09 | 1.77 |
| Y | 2560 | 1440 | 3.69 | 1.78 | |
| Y | Y | 2048 | 1536 | 3.15 | 1.33 |
| Y | Y | 2304 | 1296 | 2.99 | 1.78 |
| Y | Y | 1920 | 1080 | 2.07 | 1.78 |
| Y | Y | 1280 | 960 | 1.23 | 1.33 |
| Y | Y | 1280 | 720 | 0.92 | 1.78 |
Here's an interesting note on resolution. It appears that the camera is changing resolution by resampling the sensor's FOV, not by cropping. If you look at the difference between 2960×1668 (1.77):
and 2048x1536 (1.33):
(I'm attempting to scale them to approx their native aspect ratios) you'll see that the same areas of the tree and of my neighbor's railing are visible; it's just that it's squished into fewer image pixels. I don't know if this is typical or atypical, but it's not what I was expecting.
In terms of image quality, I set both cameras to the highest common resolution of 2688×1520/h264/BRC_CBR/20fps/I=20, at the same 6144 kbps so that I could do a side-by-side comparison of vehicles transiting through both FOVs. There is a gap of about a car length between the two FOVs because there's a diagonal piece of wood in the way. I'll mount the 3rd camera (see below) underneath that wood piece to pick up the gap and the cross street.
Side-by-side video comparison, here:
The first two clips are during daylight hours, the next two are in B&W during night hours, and the last two are in Night Color mode.
We had some moonlight, but not much. Both cameras make it seem there's more light than there was. A human walking around would be completely blind.
In general I can definitely say that the new camera is an improvement over the older camera. The Night Color difference is pretty dramatic, and I'd actually consider using the newer camera in this mode, whereas the old camera in Night Color is not very useful at all.
In daylight and in B&W I also find the IP5M-T1277EW-AI to have a little more detail. See the texture of the pavement in daylight and the foliage in B&W.
The price of the IP5M-T1277EW-AI on amazon had dropped to $69.99 minus a $10 instant coupon for a net price of $59.99, and the older IP5M-T1179EW is the same $59.99, so I ordered another IP5M-T1277EW-AI that I will mount as the Northbound camera and move the IP5M-T1179EW to point at the cross-street that tees into my mailbox.
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