I got my mini ptz about a week ago. Finally got around to installing it yesterday. Plugged in the cat 5, walked back to my nvr room, fired up SADP, and it recognized the camera with the default ip address. I changed it for my network and changed the default gateway, and whala! camera was now on the network. I then went to my nvr conection (it is an eyesurv 16 port non poe, but for all intents and purposes a rebranded dahua 4216) and added it. No problem whatsoever. I am powering it through a zyxel poe+ switch (I have two of them, eight port each) and they deliver 30 watts per port (total of 240 watts - they have worked flawlessly so far). I opened up the camera page and was knocked back at the astounding clarity and definition of the view! Hands down, this beats even my 3mp dahua and hik cameras that I have on my nvr. My first ptz, played around with it and was astounded that the ptz controls work right from the nvr---remember this is a rebranded dahua nvr and I don't think it is supposed to work with a hik type camera? well, I don't have to go to a webpage for the ptz function, which is a big plus. Everything seems to work incredibly smooth. I set all the values that are specific for my network that I wanted in the camera web page using firefox, however, for some reason the location of the "snapshots" and "recordings" could not be changed. It defaulted to my c: driver under "users", etc. etc. about three directories down. I don't know why it didn't save those settings. But I think it changed the other ones that I plugged in (fps, bit rate, etc.). I only record 24/7 365 so all that other stuff like remote, etc. etc., I don't need. Keeping it simple.
The night vision is very good, as it lights up my large back yard which is where the camera is mounted. However, the tilt up is not as much as I would have hoped. When the camera is "level", if I maximum tilt up (10 is the value here) it only seems to tilt up just a bit more than level. I am wondering if this is normal? Tilt down is another story, as I can see right down to the concrete below the camera. I am going to have to mount this camera about 6 feet higher in order to get it to where I need to see stuff (there are houses on a hill just above my back yard and I want a view there if I need it, since one neighbor likes to burn his trash from time to time, and this is a violation in my city.) so the camera is going on a pole that my tv antenna is connected to that starts from poured concrete in the ground and extends about 15 feet high. that way, i can take advantage of the downward tilt, since it is much greater than the upward tilt.
I WILL be buying another camera in a couple of days. I love this camera and the excellent definition it provides.
does anyone suggest updating the firmware from the netviewcctv website? Is this necessary? what enhancements will that provide.
p.s. I have a slight jerky frame lasting about one second while I was watching the camera last night. I need to watch it for about an hour and see if this continues. but all in all, I am very very pleased with this ptz both in price and quality. I hope it lasts and lasts.