Top 201 alternative and reliable

[Optimus Prime]

Good morning all. The Top-201 was a great format. Has anyone found a more reliable/better quality camera in the size? Or if not quite that small, just a little larger?

 

[TonyR]

Consider the Amcrest IP2M-841, a re-branded Dahua. It is ONVIF compatible, provides RTSP, is 1080p, IR, 2-way audio plus mike in/speaker out, has pan/tilt/digital zoom, record to micro SD card, wired or wireless and has alarm in/out, great with Blue Iris, VLC, etc. Comes with wall/ceiling mount, 1/4"-20 tripod mount female insert on bottom. Available in black or white for under $40 !

I've installed 4 of the V2 versions and 3 of it's lower-res (720p) cousins in the last 4 years and all have functioned with no hiccups.

I currently use 3 of them with Blue Iris; 1 on front porch to look at deliveries, 1 in garage and 1 in sunroom to watch the dogs; one of the 2 is operating on Wi-Fi. I have also set one up with Tinycam Pro on a Sony smart TV (Android).

VERY hard to beat for $40, IMO.

EDIT #2 of 4/1/21: V3 does NOT provide relay I/O nor jacks for an external mic and speaker.

 

[Jessie.slimer]

Consider the Amcrest IP2M-841, a re-branded Dahua. It is ONVIF compatible, provides RTSP, is 1080p, IR, 2-way audio plus mike in/speaker out, has pan/tilt/digital zoom, record to micro SD card, wired or wireless and has alarm in/out, great with Blue Iris, VLC, etc. Comes with wall/ceiling mount, 1/4"-20 tripod mount female insert on bottom. Available in black or white for under $40 !

I've installed 4 of the V2 versions and 3 of it's lower-res (720p) cousins in the last 4 years and all have functioned with no hiccups.

I currently use 3 of them with Blue Iris; 1 on front porch to look at deliveries, 1 in garage and 1 in sunroom to watch the dogs; one of the 2 is operating on Wi-Fi. I have also set one up with Tinycam Pro on a Sony smart TV (Android).

VERY hard to beat for $40, IMO.

I have the poe version of this camera. How is the wifi on yours? Reliable enough for surveillance? Or just good enough for watching non critical things?

 

[Optimus Prime]

@TonyR Your post is great and bad timing. The post I made two minutes before this one (Wireless IP cam for temporary projects) mentions a WiFi camera I own that I absolutely hate and constantly gives me issues. It so happens to be the Amcrest IP2M-841. I picked it up from home depot a few years ago. What settings are you using for it in BI? Mine constantly stutters and drops connections. I have a very robust Mesh WiFi in my house, so connection back to my rack is not an issue.

Also, this camera is 10x the size of the Top-201. The Top-201 is only 1.5" x 1.5" x 0.75"

 

[TonyR]

Your post is great and bad timing. The post I made two minutes before this one (Wireless IP cam for temporary projects) mentions a WiFi camera I own that I absolutely hate and constantly gives me issues. It so happens to be the Amcrest IP2M-841. I picked it up from home depot a few years ago. What settings are you using for it in BI? Mine constantly stutters and drops connections. I have a very robust Mesh WiFi in my house, so connection back to my rack is not an issue.

All mine are rock steady, even on Wi-Fi. In BI I use the drop downs for "Dahua" and "Main Stream RTSP"
BTW, if they are from "a few years ago", have you updated the firmware? The latest is 2/17/20.

EDIT @ 454 PM CST: FWIW, my 841's cams have their own wireless access point, nothing else is connected to it; it's an Asus RT-N66U wireless router configured as an AP (static LAN IP, it's DHCP server disabled).

Also, this camera is 10x the size of the Top-201. The Top-201 is only 1.5" x 1.5" x 0.75"

I also have a TOP-201 so I know how it compares to the IP2M-841 in size. In your first post you said "...if not quite that small, just a little larger ..."
Perhaps you should state some maximum dimensions as apparently we differ on what "a little larger" is.

 

[TonyR]

I have the poe version of this camera. How is the wifi on yours? Reliable enough for surveillance? Or just good enough for watching non critical things?

It has been rock steady; all 3 are not critical. IMO, they are terrific for non-critical surveillance which is why I recommend and use them.

 

[Jessie.slimer]

It has been rock steady; all 3 are not critical. IMO, they are terrific for non-critical surveillance which is why I recommend and use them.

Do you by chance use substreams on yours? If so, would you mind sharing what url you are using? I'm having a hard time getting mine set up on substreams. I've tried the standard dahua string as well as the onvif.

 

[TonyR]

Do you by chance use substreams on yours? If so, would you mind sharing what url you are using? I'm having a hard time getting mine set up on substreams. I've tried the standard dahua string as well as the onvif.

No, only main stream; I haven't upgraded my BI5; it's 5.2.5.0 from 5/12/20 so it's not capable of both.
I hope to soon and maybe then I can offer some insight.

 

[sebastiantombs]

I just set up an 841 on my system. It's wired, not WiFi, and I'm using the substream. Not sure if it'll help, but here's the config that worked for me.

I let BI decide what camera type to use, generic/ONVIF. Substream is "/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=1&unicast=true&proto=Onvif" without the quotes of course.

 

[Jessie.slimer]

I just set up an 841 on my system. It's wired, not WiFi, and I'm using the substream. Not sure if it'll help, but here's the config that worked for me.

I let BI decide what camera type to use, generic/ONVIF. Substream is "/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=1&unicast=true&proto=Onvif" without the quotes of course.

That's the same setup as mine. I also tried the url from the substream guide.


It was working fine before I started using substreams. Now, I lose rtsp connection until I delete the substreams again.

 

[sebastiantombs]

That's weird. Mine has been solid as a rock for almost two months since I installed it. It's only watching an area of the basement, but no dropouts at all. Nice little camera for the money without a doubt.

 

[Optimus Prime]

@TonyR

"have you updated the firmware? The latest is 2/17/20."
Yes

"Perhaps you should state some maximum dimensions as apparently, we differ on what "a little larger" is."
Fair enough, let's define a little larger as no more than 1" bigger in any direction.


Thanks for your feedback. I also see the config above and will look at that as well.