Which camera to choose?

sebastiantombs

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H264 won't use much more bandwidth and the "savings" in disk space of H265 are questionable at best. That savings is quite small in reality and depends on many factors. Additionally the way H265 saves space is by setting larger bocks for static data than are used in H264. This can easily result in blurred images and missed motion. Blue Iris will work with H265 but works better with H264 for those reasons.
 

wittaj

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This will explain H264 versus H265 a little better.

H265 in theory provides more storage as it compresses differently, but part of that compression means it macro blocks big areas of the image that it thinks isn't moving. However, it also takes more processing power of the already small CPU in the camera and that can be problematic if someone is maxing out the camera and then it stutters.

In theory it is supposed to need 30% less storage than H264, but most of us have found it isn't that much. Mine was less than few minutes per day. And to my eye and others that I showed clips to and just said do you like video 1 or video 2 better, everyone thought the H264 provided a better image.

The left image is H264, so all the blocks are the same size corresponding to the resolution of the camera. H265 takes areas that it doesn't think has motion and makes them into bigger blocks and in doing so lessens the resolution yet increases the CPU demand to develop these larger blocks.

In theory H265 is supposed to need half the bitrate because of the macroblocking. But if there is a lot of motion in the image, then it becomes a pixelated mess. The only way to get around that is a higher bitrate. But if you need to run the same bitrate for H265 as you do H264, then the storage savings is zero. Storage is computed based on multiplying bitrate, FPS, and resolution.

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In my testing I have one camera that sees a parked car in front of my house. H265 sees that the car isn't moving, so it macroblocks the whole car and surrounding area. Then the car owner walked up to the car and got in and the motion is missed because the macroblock being so large. Or if it catches it, because the bitrate is low, it is a pixelated mess during the critical capture point and by the time H265 adjusts to there is now motion, the ideal capture is missed.

In my case, the car is clear and defined in H264, but is blurry and soft edges in H265.

H265 is one of those theory things that sounds good, but reality use is much different.

As always, YMMV. But do not use Codec with BI or you may have trouble, so just stick with H264 without the H or B or + after.
 
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Soooooo I finally got my Annke NC800. (190€)
I'm impressed by the good picture quality and night view.
Only downside: the camera has a little white LED, which has to be on all night to capture what's going on.
I pluged it on a 4 -Way POE Switch + Camera (100% brightness on the LED Light) and measured about 9 Watt. Is this a good/normal power consumption?

I'm also a bit unsure about the NightChroma. It is really impressive with the Light on, but what about IR? Does IR have any advantage over the NightChroma beside the not visible lightbeam?
My house/street is pitch black at night, so the white LED would be constantly on the whole night (but not at 100% that's way to much lol).
 

wittaj

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Make sure you take it off auto/default settings to minimize motion blur at night. Any camera out of the box can give a great static image. Shutter speed (exposure) needs to be no slower than 1/60s or 16.67ms

You purchased a "full color" type camera, which means it needs light - either enough ambient light or the white LED. It isn't magic and needs light.

The 9watts is normal power consumption.

You purchased a "full color" type camera and NightChroma is simply a marketing term for "full color".

As such, the camera does not have IR and cannot see IR.

If you do not have enough ambient light or do not want the white LED light on, then you need a camera with IR capabilities.
 
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As @mat200 said, the sensor is not that bad, right?
I want to stay at one brand for my whole system, is the Annke NC400 good in terms of sensor/quality?
Alternatively what about their IR models, is there a model with a very good price/performance ratio?
 

looney2ns

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