Mini PTZ camera impressions! 2015 PTZ camera of the year? AVOID THIS CAMERA

[jptheking]

If you want an all sing all dancing camera pay the extra, and ask Monica for the Hikvision module inside and pay the extra the option is there.

@whoslooking where did you find this info?
I asked Monica and she said:

We have not hikvision module to use mini camera
Monica wen

 

[klasipca]

Hikvision module is only available for their speed dome cams

 

[Futaba]

It looks like the camera can take up to 18W per spec. The TP-Link TL-PoE150S max power output is "15.4W (Max. 48VDC)". So it may not have enough juice.

I found this one which may work.

http://www.amazon.com/iCreatin-Injector-Adapter-100Mbps-Compliant/dp/B00NRG4AMS

It can do 48V 19W passive PoE Output. It should have enough juice for the camera.

I received this POE Injector before Thanksgiving and have been using it the last few days. It works very well. I also installed a KillaWatt to measure power draw of the camera.

• With IR off and no PTZ: 4W
• Far and near IR and sensitivity set at 10 (max), IR on, idle no PTZ: 10.3W
• Far and near IR + Sensitivity set at 10 (max), IR on, at the same time PTZ from top left corner zoomed in to lower right corner zoomed out: Maximum draw 15.4W

I suppose if you use other built in features like saving to SD card, it can draw more power, up to 18W per specification.

So far the only down side I can see is the green LED is super bright. It comes very well packaged. It is $12.99 with free shipping if you have Amazon Prime.

Hope this helps. Thanks.

 

[klasipca]

How did you get Far and near IR to be on at the same time? On mine it auto switches hence I get up to 11w.

 

[Futaba]

How did you get Far and near IR to be on at the same time? On mine it auto switches hence I get up to 11w.

Oh, you are right. Only one set is on at one time. I just set both of them to 10 in the web UI and thought they were both on. My mistake. So the number is just one set, not both.

 

[mcx]

...except that the camera lose axles 0-points when restart.

Problem was caused by faulty power supply.

 

[Futaba]

I have a few questions on audio. I have the version of the camera with audio. Audio doesn't seem to work. I think it just means it has an audio input, there isn't actually a built-in mic in the camera. I search this thread and there was talk on audio and mic. What mic would work for this cam? How would it be installed? Would I need to supply power to the mic? Thanks.

 

[Futaba]

OK, I think I can connect one of these mics to the Mini PTZ camera for audio capture:

http://www.amazon.com/VideoSecu-Sensitive-Microphone-Monitoring-Recording/dp/B004REA7MG/ (power in, audio out, and power out?) or
http://www.amazon.com/RioRand-Cctv-Microphone-Security-Camera/dp/B00JEXBQP2 (power in, audio out)

How do I get power to the mic? Would I need a POE splitter? Or could I get power from the camera directly to power the mic?

 

[bp2008]

OK, I think I can connect one of these mics to the Mini PTZ camera for audio capture:

http://www.amazon.com/VideoSecu-Sensitive-Microphone-Monitoring-Recording/dp/B004REA7MG/ (power in, audio out, and power out?) or
http://www.amazon.com/RioRand-Cctv-Microphone-Security-Camera/dp/B00JEXBQP2 (power in, audio out)

How do I get power to the mic? Would I need a POE splitter? Or could I get power from the camera directly to power the mic?

Assuming this cam is like my Dahua 4MP with audio support, then it has an RCA audio input jack on the dongle. Yes?

What I did to attach audio was buy each of these things.

It is important to realize that you only need one of the splitters highlighted in red. If the cam has a 12v DC power jack then you can use the top (active) splitter and be done with it.

If the cam does not have a 12v power jack, then you should be able to use the second (passive) splitter instead, but continue using the PoE switch as well. I've never tested this personally but in theory the splitter will cause the camera and your PoE switch to both think they are connected to a 4-wire network cable instead of a full 8 wire network cable. Because 4 of those wires will be intercepted by the PoE splitter. Fortunately the 802.3af PoE standard can accommodate and send power and data down the same 4 wires. The passive splitter will let you use the extra 4 wires to send 12v power for the microphone.

 

[Chust]

Absolutely the best so far! Got it today! Took less than five minutes to get it going. Blue iris controlling it! O'man what a deal!

 

[klasipca]

Absolutely the best so far! Got it today! Took less than five minutes to get it going. Blue iris controlling it! O'man what a deal!

Careful with the excitement or you end up ordering more like I did

 

[Larebear]

Careful with the excitement or you end up ordering more like I did

+1

 

[Chust]

After playing around with this cam and Blue Iris for awhile I have decided it is freakin AWESOME!!! Yep, going to buy a few more. The image is great! The night image is even greater. WOW i'm very very pleased with this cam and BI!!! Freakin Amazing!

 

[alphawave7]

After playing around with this cam and Blue Iris for awhile I have decided it is freakin AWESOME!!! Yep, going to buy a few more. The image is great! The night image is even greater. WOW i'm very very pleased with this cam and BI!!! Freakin Amazing!

BIGTIME! I can't believe folks are whining about PTZ speed..it's fast after I toggled the speed slider...much faster than I thought possible.

 

[Larebear]

BIGTIME! I can't believe folks are whining about PTZ speed..it's fast after I toggled the speed slider...much faster than I thought possible.

Not as fast as my Poker 10x PTZ turrets or Dahua 12x dome, but fast enough for my neighborhood.

 

[Futaba]

Assuming this cam is like my Dahua 4MP with audio support, then it has an RCA audio input jack on the dongle. Yes?

What I did to attach audio was buy each of these things.

It is important to realize that you only need one of the splitters highlighted in red. If the cam has a 12v DC power jack then you can use the top (active) splitter and be done with it.

If the cam does not have a 12v power jack, then you should be able to use the second (passive) splitter instead, but continue using the PoE switch as well. I've never tested this personally but in theory the splitter will cause the camera and your PoE switch to both think they are connected to a 4-wire network cable instead of a full 8 wire network cable. Because 4 of those wires will be intercepted by the PoE splitter. Fortunately the 802.3af PoE standard can accommodate and send power and data down the same 4 wires. The passive splitter will let you use the extra 4 wires to send 12v power for the microphone.

Thanks bp2008. The Mini PTZ doesn't have a RCA audio input jack. It has a green 4-pin block that I can screw in wires for mic. I searched some more on the forum and found this thread: https://www.ipcamtalk.com/showthread.php/1949-Help-with-Sound-on-Hikvision-DS-2CD2732F-I(S)-camera/page2

Answers:
2) I ended up not using the powered microphones because of the need to pull a power cord to the camera. My hopes was that the PoE would be sufficient to power
both the camera and microphone. However there was not enough current. So, instead, I purchased simple electret condenser microphones (similar to http://www.amazon.com/3-5mm-Capsule-Electret-Condenser-Microphone/dp/B00FGV867M/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1437634493&sr=8-4&keywords=electret+microphone).
I soldered them to wires which feed into the audio-in block. I then heat shrunk them to protect the wiring and make them more ridgid.
They have been working great ever since!

These electret condenser mics might work. I will give these a try and they don't need power.

 

[AlpineWatch]

Got mine today! (E-packet, 1.5 weeks after shipment).
Just been playing around in the house but so far so good! I thought the camera was constructed with more metal so that was a bit of a surprise.

Now I just need to find a spot to mount it on the house.

 

[atom]

I've just installed and configured a 4x, 1.3mp version. I have a couple of the 10x 2mp, and I have to say I'm really surprised at how poor the image quality is with the 1.3mp/720p, especially when zoomed out. And auto-focus is hit and miss. Of course I knew ther'd be less detail, but I run other cameras in 720p to save bandwidth, and they're not too bad compared with 1080p, but this difference is significant to say the least.

I'm waiting for night to see if the low-light performance is impressive, because daylight performance ain't!

 

[klasipca]

I've just installed and configured a 4x, 1.3mp version. I have a couple of the 10x 2mp, and I have to say I'm really surprised at how poor the image quality is with the 1.3mp/720p, especially when zoomed out. And auto-focus is hit and miss. Of course I knew ther'd be less detail, but I run other cameras in 720p to save bandwidth, and they're not too bad compared with 1080p, but this difference is significant to say the least.

I'm waiting for night to see if the low-light performance is impressive, because daylight performance ain't!

3x 2MP is definitely about the same as 10x 2MP.

 

[atom]

3x 2MP is definitely about the same as 10x 2MP.

I wondered if that was the better bet, but I need the widest angle possible for this spot, so went with the 4x...