Trendnet SecurView Pro Outdoor PoE Megapixel IP Camera Review: As Complex as It Is Powerful - mcknightbeficest1967

At a Glance

Skillful's Rating

Pros

Hard weather- and dust-test copy inclosure
SDHC memory notice slot (up to 32GB)
Exceptional telecasting quality

Cons

Needs host PC if you ADHD strange Trendnet cameras
Complex and nonintuitive software
SDHC retentiveness wit not included

Our Verdict

This video-surveillance system is professional order, merely its big businessman renders it ungovernable to set up.

TRENDnet's Telecasting-IP322P is a pro-grade surveillance camera that delivers amazing resolution and long-distance Nox visual sense.

Whereas Logitech (with its Alert 750e Outdoor Subdue Organisation) and Swann (with its DVR-4 2600 4 Line DVR &adenosine monophosphate; Camera Kit) emphasize relief of use, Trendnet focuses on delivering maximum performance and flexibility. Instead of making totally of the conception decisions for you, Trendnet assumes that you know exactly what you need, and the company provides the edifice blocks you need systematic to agnize your vision. The upside of this approach is that you get on the button what you lack in a picture-surveillance system and can expand information technology as your necessarily grow. The downside is that you essential know on the dot what you want and how to put IT all together.

Adopting this à la bill of fare method acting, we collectively a four-camera organization anchored by Trendnet's best outdoor Night-vision IP camera (the Television receiver-IP322P, $578) and supplemented with two indoor nighttime-vision cameras (Trendnet model TV-IP121WN, $165 each), unrivalled indoor tilt/swivel night-visual modality camera (Trendnet pattern TV-IP422WN, $300), and Trendnet's SecurView Pro software (a copy of which is included with apiece camera).

Each of the four cameras can operate victimisation a single cable: The wireless cameras need only a power cord, and the TV-IP322P can operate on power-over-ethernet (PoE), indeed you wear't penury an electrical sales outlet near where you deploy it (Trendnet supplies an AC power adaptor, just in case you don't want to deploy a PoE switch). We proved the setup with Trendnet's cardinal-port PoE switch (model TPE-S80, $218). This five-piece package would cost $1426–slenderly more than Logitech's surveillance system and considerably more Swann's–but information technology delivers first-class service, it's extremely versatile, and it can be upgraded to support as many as 32 cameras (including eight PoE devices; you can deploy more PoE cameras with a larger PoE replacement).

Networking

Unlike the Logitech and Swann systems we reviewed, most of Trendnet's cameras depend on a host PC running on your network to store recorded video (the TV-IP322P is equipped with a high-capacity SD Card time slot and can support up to 32GB of local memory, though Trendnet doesn't put any memory cards in the box). Swann's system comes with its own DVR, and Logitech's cameras can run severally of the PC, recording video to their onboard memory while the host PC is sleeping. Unless all camera in your setup has onboard retention, as the TV-IP322P does, the system must melt Trendnet's SecurView In favor software nonstop.

Add a Trendnet camera with cooking pan/tilt capabilities, and you force out monitor lizard an integral room victimization your mouse and this control panel.

The SecurView In favour of software can support any of Trendnet's comprehensive collection of Informatics cameras, no matter of their resolution and feature set. The good example TV-IP322P television camera, for instance, boasts a resolution of 1280 past 1024 pixels. In contrast, the other Trendnet models and the Swann cameras we tested have a resolution of 640 away 480 pixels, and the Logitech Alert cameras deliver video answer of 960 by 720 pixels. Check a box in the SecurView Pro software's interface, and the program will automatically scale each camera's video windowpane to maintain the appropriate aspect ratio. Check another package, and the package will bid a pop-up windowpane for controlling features specific to each camera, such American Samoa pan/pitch or sound recording.

The Cameras

Trendet's TV-IP322P is one of the most impressive IP cameras we've seen to date, thanks in large measure to its elaborate resolution, strong Nox-vision capabilities (working at distances of up to 66 feet), industrial-strength housing, and comprehensive connectivity features. In addition to its PoE plunk fo, the TV-IP322P can support deuce-way sound with ports for an external mic and speaker, for video intercom configurations. IT has general-purpose input signal/output ports for integration into an alarm system of rules, it can generate email alerts, and it can stream real-time video to a smartphone–with support for h.264, MPEG-4, and MJPEG compaction algorithms–all without requiring a host PC.

The TV-IP322P has a very strong night-vision capability, but other Trendnet cameras we reviewed are shoddy in this regard.

The camera is protected by an IP66-rated weather- and vandal-proof enclosure. An enclosure's IP evaluation (the acronym stands for "incoming protection") represents its ability to protect against concrete objects (indicated by the first digit) and liquids (indicated by the second digit). An IP rating of 66 way that the natural enclosure will prevent whatever rubble from acquiring privileged, and will protect against aggressive body of water possibly entry at the enclosure from any direction.

The indoor Trendnet cameras we tried and true–models TV-IP121WN and TV- Boob tube-IP422WN–delivered very good daylight performance, but their night vision was weak compared to Logitech's Alert cameras, Swann's Pro 580 cameras, and Trendnet's own TV-IP322P outdoor photographic camera. Divisor in the host PC and Trendnet's software, and any of Trendnet's cameras can bring about apparent motion-triggered video recordings, generate email and SMS alerts, and perform all the other functions you'd expect of a high-death video-surveillance scheme.

The Bottom Line

Trendnet's TV-IP322P is a big-ticket camera, but its utmost resolving and expansive feature set justify its high Price tag end. The SecurView Pro software system that controls it is equally powerful and can support up to 32 cameras, but the software package is also complex and difficult to master.

The another two Trendnet cameras–the TV-IP121WN and the TV-IP422WN–are merely adequate: Their twilight visio is weak, and their settlement equals that of Swann's analog cameras. But when you lay out the pan/disceptation model into "patrol" mode, the camera automatically pans and tilts in conformity with a predefined pattern to cover more area than either Logitech's or Swann's models.

Edifice a facility-wide IP camera system exploitation only Trendnet's Television set-IP322P cameras would be prohibitively expensive, especially if you don't need an outdoor camera in all locating. Trendnet fresh proclaimed an entirely new line of indoor Information science cameras, and we'll take up a look at those as presently every bit Trendnet sends us rating units.

Note: This review is part of a roundup of video surveillance systems. For more, read our introduction to the roundup.