regarding instar:
1. Instar has a clean and clear WebUI and natively streams using Flash Player. It does not offer as much options as I've seen on Axis or Hikvision cameras, but in contrast to the Hiks I tested, the Instar WebUI is more reliable and it does exactly what it says. Recording can conveniently be controlled using the WebUI. The API is
well documented (in german/english) and offers
limited control over the recording functionality.
2. configurable and works.
3. manual recording is only limited by the space on the sd card, but can be limited if required.
4. The model IN-5905HD (720p) has an external microphone input, the model IN-9008HD (1080p) has an integrated and imho quite sensitive microphone
5. I've never seen a camera that has HDMI Output
6. recordings are stored as .avi files. Why do you regard .mp4 as important?
7. both 5905HD and 9008HD fulfill that
8. POE types of the mentioned cameras are a little bit more expensive
A few more thoughts regarding Instar:
I won't go into the techincal details and all the information generally available. I'll try to tell you what I, after years of usage, would have wanted to know when I bought Instar.
IN-5905HD
I initially tested a 720p camera IN-5905HD. It's very pricy, but excellent for newbies because, among other aspects, it has an excellent documentation, an outstanding customer service (references are Hikvision [equal to no service] and Wansview [committed but incompetent]) and is easily set up.
The image at daytime is good (although one should keep in mind that 720p is quite limited and at least from my point of view only appropriate for overview cameras [so you know "ok there is somebody" but don't expect to be able to recognize or even identify sb.]). The WDR functionality is something I miss on many others cameras, so that's really nice.
The image sensor is not very light-sensitive, so the camera has to switch to night-mode (b/w) when other cameras still have a very bright and colorful image.
At night, the sensor is limited to 3-5fps and, to put it in a nutshell, the image is crap. Ok to be fair, the IR-LEDs illuminate the scene quite well and the image is practically noise-free (looks cool), but even the shutter time at night is bad so that you see moving persons only as a tail - aaaagggrrr! So the night images do look sexy, but are useless.
In my opinion, combined with a good external motion detector, this camera still makes a solid overview camera.
Conclusion IN-5905HD
Pro:
A good start for - financially well set - newbies.
Good customer support.
Good daytime image.
Con:
Overpriced.
Terrible night image.
So I would definitely not recommend this camera to an intermediate or experienced surveillance camera user. But for a first project, why not?
IN-9008
This camera costs around 300€. As I sometimes see here, other users do pay this much and even more for a single camera (admittedly usually with significantly better resolution etc), but in my opinion, 300€ is not adequate anymore for "home" users like most of us here (I guess
). I'd say that this price is simply unreasonable.
The image is pleasant at day as well as at night and the image sensor has a good level of light-sensitivity.
Additional plus points are the mentioned good documentation, customer service and the easy set-up.
But one thing has got to be mentioned: Instar as well as ehm well certain german, 30 years old, crawling, bald-headed home surveillance influencers whose brand name rhymes with "Popoficks" (PM if you don't figure it out
) constantly promote the IN-9008HD as a zero false alerts system. The truth is: yes, they integrated a PIR detector and another part of the truth is: no, that does not enhance false detection rates by any means. If one does not enable the option "combine alarms" (in this case only when the PIR and the video motion detection are triggered, an alarm is triggered), the false alarm rate is higher than on the other Instar camera at night (well, after 400 false alerts during one night, my email account blocked the cameras sender address). And this even comes with the disadvantage that one can not connect an external motion detector to the camera.
Conclusion IN-9008HD
Simply overpriced. I'd recommend to inform yourself here and on other sites and then buy a more decent priced IP camera. But if you are willing to spend the money and don't care about external motion detectors, a good start for newbies aswell.
