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Recommendations for a cheap PTZ outdoor dome camera

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RChadwick

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I currently have an old Foscam clone hanging in an aftermarket dome attached to my house. It works Ok, but would like to get an upgrade. Specifically, better resolution (2MP?), and better low light performance. It needs to be in a glass dome (I don't want to make it easy for someone to see here it's pointed), which likely means IR isn't a good idea. The area is somewhat lit, so that shouldn't be an issue.

I'm looking to replace the whole housing with a plug-and-play outdoor network camera. I've seen them in the $100 range on Ebay, but further investigation leads me to believe they won't be much of an upgrade. I can push my budget to $200, but not much more. Any suggestions:

Requirements:

Doesn't have to be rebooted every day
Wired
Pan/Tilt (Optical Zoom would be nice, but not absolutely required)
Weatherproof
Low Light
Domed
Audio would be nice, but not needed

Thanks!
 
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RChadwick

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That one from Nelly looks pretty good. A little more expensive than I hoped, and it doesn't come with the wall bracket. Also, it looks very new, with no reviews or videos. Also, while I'm NO expert, I never heard of the brand. Has anyone used this camera?
 
fenderman

fenderman

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RChadwick said:
That one from Nelly looks pretty good. A little more expensive than I hoped, and it doesn't come with the wall bracket. Also, it looks very new, with no reviews or videos. Also, while I'm NO expert, I never heard of the brand. Has anyone used this camera?
Click to expand...
It's a rebranded dahua camera..

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wesley410

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fenderman said:
It's a rebranded dahua camera..

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Click to expand...
whats the dahua model?
I know hikvision has a lowend ptz camera wwith 2x zoom, but its indoors. I am really after the PT part..so this might fit the bill.
 
fenderman

fenderman

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wesley410 said:
whats the dahua model?
I know hikvision has a lowend ptz camera wwith 2x zoom, but its indoors. I am really after the PT part..so this might fit the bill.
Click to expand...
I dont recall the exact model...its on the dahua website..
 
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RChadwick

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Well, I got the camera a few days ago, and installed it Yesterday. Thoughts:

1) I'm very impressed with the physical quality. I was expecting a plastic housing, but both the camera, and the bracket, was Aluminum. The PCB seemed well laid out, and there was even a moisture-absorbing packet mounted inside the dome.
2) The instructions were HORRIBLE. It as a single sheet, with tiny print, and most of what I could read was obvious. Maybe I'm just new to IP Cameras, but I have no idea how to work most of the advanced features. How do I set and go to a preset? Does it even have presets? Advice for tuning for best picture quality? How to adjust settings to get a better night picture? How do you configure motion-activated recording? Does it even respond to motion? Can the camera pan and tilt to follow motion? How do I set up the camera to pan and tilt on schedules? Are there any other features I didn't even know existed? Does it work with Chrome? (The plugin crashes on install). What are the POE requirements? 12V? 48V? Also, since a power adapter wasn't included, I was very surprised to not see how much current the camera needs. It only said 12V. It didn't even say the barrel connector size. I guesstimated it needed about an amp, and figured the 3.5A supply I stole from something else would offer a comfortable margin. Also, I don't know if it's Gigabit Ethernet. 90% of my network is Gigabit, but the one section that feeds the camera has a 100mb switch. It would be nice to know if it was worth my time to replace it with a Gigabit switch.
3) Especially compared to the old Foscam clone I was using, I'm very happy with the picture. It has a much wider field of view that captures almost my whole back yard, but with Optical and Digital zoom enabled, I can zoom in and read a license plate, see what kind of phone someone is holding, and probably read lips, if I knew how to read lips. Night viewing seems about as good as the naked eye. If I can't see it well by eye, it won't show up well on the camera. Colors seem a little odd and muted, but that could just be that my grass is brown at the moment.
4) LOTS of settings. Just wish I knew what most of them are for.
 
fenderman

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This camera does not have tracking. Most ptz's dont.
If you use a power adapter its 12v and the max rating is 10w so do the math...1A will be fine.
POE 802.3 will always be 48v...use a standard poe 802.3 switch.
 
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