June 27, 2019 at 10:04“Wait! Who goes?". Video surveillance on the porch
The issue of video surveillance in the private sector is always an acute issue. And there is no question: to watch or not to watch? The question is: where and how to look! No matter how wonderful the relationship with your neighbors is, nothing can replace the impartial gaze of a camera that watches a specific area around the clock. And one of the most important areas is the entry area: at the gate or front door. It is important to record all movements and all approaching the main entrance. Ideally, it is necessary not only to see, but also to answer the person who arrives if you are not at home. That's about good video surveillance with the possibility of dialogue, and I want to talk today. Traditionally, those who want text with pictures are under the cut, and for the lazy, everything is the same in the video.
At the porch, as a rule, lighting is already done and often it is implemented on a motion sensor. That is, it is not always necessary to keep the spotlight on in the dark. It is enough to turn on the backlight when someone is approaching your porch or gate. It would be nice to fix those approaching both with and without backlight. There is a typical version of this solution: a surveillance camera and a searchlight with a motion sensor. But these are two independent devices that you need to route cables to in advance. Most recently, I came across a turnkey solution in a single package: camera + spotlight + motion sensor + loudspeaker. Therefore, I decided to compare which of these solutions is easier to install and better solves the task.
I already had a Milesight MS-C2973-PB camera and a 50W LED floodlight. I can only say good things about the camera: there is IR illumination, it produces three video streams with adjustable video and sound parameters, there is a built-in microphone, it is possible to write locally to a microSD card and remotely to an ftp server, it is possible to connect a speaker for two-way communication with a guest and even the built-in SIP client. The latter is triggered by a given event and allows you to contact you through IP-telephony for a conversation with a suitable person.
Recently, at one of the exhibitions, I decided to look at the latest video surveillance products and noticed a ready-made all-in-one unit from Ezviz (a division of Hikvision): camera + spotlight + motion sensor. It is called rather succinctly EZVIZ LC1 and implements a new look at the company "Smart Home". I would say that this is another device from a huge number of IoT series devices designed to add comfort to everyday life.
It became interesting for me to compare two implementations of video surveillance and understand what is better: two independent devices or a ready-made kit, so I got an EZVIZ LC1 camera and decided to conduct a test.
The main parameter in any similar camera test is the quality of the received image, so I decided to put both cameras at once and in the same conditions compare the received image: day, night, night with backlight. And additional evaluation parameters are all other possibilities: working with the cloud, ease of connection, the ability to record locally, work with the DVR, and more. Therefore, let's get started.
Ready for the test. 3 ... 2 ... 1 ..
So, initially I had a camera and a 50 Watt LED spotlight. It looked so.
Then the spotlight was removed and the Ezviz LC1 device was installed instead, since it has a built-in spotlight. The Milesight MS-C2973-PB camera was left in its old place to be able to compare the picture.
The picture from the old camera at night with the work of an LED spotlight and with the work of IR illumination turned out to be very interesting. The porch is about 5 meters long with steps. And when the spotlight was working, the face was very lit. I didn’t pay attention to this before. But all the other objects are well lit and the camera switches from b / w mode to color.
Then I installed both cameras and took a picture during the day. Ideal conditions: natural light, color picture. It can be seen that the cameras have different focal lengths, which translates into different image capture angles. Well, the Ezviz camera produces a slightly more blurred picture, but more saturated with colors.
Then I decided to see what the picture looks like when the camera is working with IR illumination. Each of the cameras is equipped with IR LEDs, which allow you to get a black-and-white picture in complete darkness. It can be seen that the sensitivity of the matrices is noticeably different. In principle, you can adjust the brightness of Ezviz using the advanced program menu on the computer, but in standard mode the picture for two cameras turns out like this.
It's nice that the spotlight on the Ezviz LC1 camera can be adjusted according to the brightness of the glow. Adjustable from 1 to 100% in increments of 1 percent. At the same time, it is difficult to distinguish between 1% and 10% brightness by eye, but 1% and 40% are already noticeable. An interesting fact: at 40% brightness, the Milesight camera is already switching to color display mode, but Ezviz itself is not there yet.
Each of the cameras has a number of useful features. In addition to the standard shooting modes in complete darkness with IR illumination, each of them is endowed with a built-in microphone. At the same time, Milesight has a connector for connecting an external speaker, and Ezviz has a loudspeaker built-in. At the same time, Milesight has a built-in SIP client that can be connected to any IP PBX. The camera itself will call you when motion is detected, and you can talk with the person who has come. At Ezviz this function is implemented differently: you can turn on a traffic alert in a given zone, and then independently enable two-way communication from a computer application or from a smartphone. At the same time, during a conversation with Ezviz you will see the interlocutor, and with Milesight - only hear. But Milesight is able to write event video to the ftp server and has a web interface, while how the Ezviz LC1 camera can only write to an installed microSD card or to the cloud. But with both cameras, you can get an RTSP stream for recording to a video surveillance server. The Milesight camera connects via Ethernet and is powered by PoE, which allows you to do with just one cable, but you need to have a PoE switch. At the same time, the Ezviz camera along with a searchlight is powered by 220V, and connected to the network via Wi-Fi. That is, if you already have power for lighting, but there was no camera, then you do not have to pull an additional cable. There is also some vulnerability - a Wi-Fi signal can be muffled, unlike cable communications. As a result, I made a small table with the parameters of both devices. The Milesight camera connects via Ethernet and is powered by PoE, which allows you to do with just one cable, but you need to have a PoE switch. At the same time, the Ezviz camera along with a searchlight is powered by 220V, and connected to the network via Wi-Fi. That is, if you already have power for lighting, but there was no camera, then you do not have to pull an additional cable. There is also some vulnerability - a Wi-Fi signal can be muffled, unlike cable communications. As a result, I made a small table with the parameters of both devices. The Milesight camera connects via Ethernet and is powered by PoE, which allows you to do with just one cable, but you need to have a PoE switch. At the same time, the Ezviz camera along with a searchlight is powered by 220V, and connected to the network via Wi-Fi. That is, if you already have power for lighting, but there was no camera, then you do not have to pull an additional cable. There is also some vulnerability - a Wi-Fi signal can be muffled, unlike cable communications. As a result, I made a small table with the parameters of both devices. There is also some vulnerability - a Wi-Fi signal can be muffled, unlike cable communications. As a result, I made a small table with the parameters of both devices. There is also some vulnerability - a Wi-Fi signal can be muffled, unlike cable communications. As a result, I made a small table with the parameters of both devices.
It's time to summarize. Each of the cameras has a list of advantages and disadvantages. The cost of a set of a good IP camera and a flashlight is unlikely to be lower than 10 thousand rubles. In my case, the cost of a searchlight and a wired camera without a speaker is only a quarter cheaper than a single set, which includes a searchlight, a speaker and a camera with a microphone. The quality of the picture can be estimated on the attached screenshots. In the daytime, both cameras demonstrate good face recognition, while at night everything is somewhat more complicated. But if you position the camera in such a way that the visitor will be no more than a couple of meters from the camera, then it will be easy to recognize the visitor at night. Make the right choice, write data to several places and let you never use camera recordings to search for unwanted visitors!
At the porch, as a rule, lighting is already done and often it is implemented on a motion sensor. That is, it is not always necessary to keep the spotlight on in the dark. It is enough to turn on the backlight when someone is approaching your porch or gate. It would be nice to fix those approaching both with and without backlight. There is a typical version of this solution: a surveillance camera and a searchlight with a motion sensor. But these are two independent devices that you need to route cables to in advance. Most recently, I came across a turnkey solution in a single package: camera + spotlight + motion sensor + loudspeaker. Therefore, I decided to compare which of these solutions is easier to install and better solves the task.
What are we doing?
I already had a Milesight MS-C2973-PB camera and a 50W LED floodlight. I can only say good things about the camera: there is IR illumination, it produces three video streams with adjustable video and sound parameters, there is a built-in microphone, it is possible to write locally to a microSD card and remotely to an ftp server, it is possible to connect a speaker for two-way communication with a guest and even the built-in SIP client. The latter is triggered by a given event and allows you to contact you through IP-telephony for a conversation with a suitable person.
Recently, at one of the exhibitions, I decided to look at the latest video surveillance products and noticed a ready-made all-in-one unit from Ezviz (a division of Hikvision): camera + spotlight + motion sensor. It is called rather succinctly EZVIZ LC1 and implements a new look at the company "Smart Home". I would say that this is another device from a huge number of IoT series devices designed to add comfort to everyday life.
It became interesting for me to compare two implementations of video surveillance and understand what is better: two independent devices or a ready-made kit, so I got an EZVIZ LC1 camera and decided to conduct a test.
Testing methodology
The main parameter in any similar camera test is the quality of the received image, so I decided to put both cameras at once and in the same conditions compare the received image: day, night, night with backlight. And additional evaluation parameters are all other possibilities: working with the cloud, ease of connection, the ability to record locally, work with the DVR, and more. Therefore, let's get started.
Ready for the test. 3 ... 2 ... 1 ..
So, initially I had a camera and a 50 Watt LED spotlight. It looked so.
Then the spotlight was removed and the Ezviz LC1 device was installed instead, since it has a built-in spotlight. The Milesight MS-C2973-PB camera was left in its old place to be able to compare the picture.
The picture from the old camera at night with the work of an LED spotlight and with the work of IR illumination turned out to be very interesting. The porch is about 5 meters long with steps. And when the spotlight was working, the face was very lit. I didn’t pay attention to this before. But all the other objects are well lit and the camera switches from b / w mode to color.
Full size photo
Then I installed both cameras and took a picture during the day. Ideal conditions: natural light, color picture. It can be seen that the cameras have different focal lengths, which translates into different image capture angles. Well, the Ezviz camera produces a slightly more blurred picture, but more saturated with colors.
Full size photo
Then I decided to see what the picture looks like when the camera is working with IR illumination. Each of the cameras is equipped with IR LEDs, which allow you to get a black-and-white picture in complete darkness. It can be seen that the sensitivity of the matrices is noticeably different. In principle, you can adjust the brightness of Ezviz using the advanced program menu on the computer, but in standard mode the picture for two cameras turns out like this.
Full size photo
It's nice that the spotlight on the Ezviz LC1 camera can be adjusted according to the brightness of the glow. Adjustable from 1 to 100% in increments of 1 percent. At the same time, it is difficult to distinguish between 1% and 10% brightness by eye, but 1% and 40% are already noticeable. An interesting fact: at 40% brightness, the Milesight camera is already switching to color display mode, but Ezviz itself is not there yet.
Full size photo
Functions
Each of the cameras has a number of useful features. In addition to the standard shooting modes in complete darkness with IR illumination, each of them is endowed with a built-in microphone. At the same time, Milesight has a connector for connecting an external speaker, and Ezviz has a loudspeaker built-in. At the same time, Milesight has a built-in SIP client that can be connected to any IP PBX. The camera itself will call you when motion is detected, and you can talk with the person who has come. At Ezviz this function is implemented differently: you can turn on a traffic alert in a given zone, and then independently enable two-way communication from a computer application or from a smartphone. At the same time, during a conversation with Ezviz you will see the interlocutor, and with Milesight - only hear. But Milesight is able to write event video to the ftp server and has a web interface, while how the Ezviz LC1 camera can only write to an installed microSD card or to the cloud. But with both cameras, you can get an RTSP stream for recording to a video surveillance server. The Milesight camera connects via Ethernet and is powered by PoE, which allows you to do with just one cable, but you need to have a PoE switch. At the same time, the Ezviz camera along with a searchlight is powered by 220V, and connected to the network via Wi-Fi. That is, if you already have power for lighting, but there was no camera, then you do not have to pull an additional cable. There is also some vulnerability - a Wi-Fi signal can be muffled, unlike cable communications. As a result, I made a small table with the parameters of both devices. The Milesight camera connects via Ethernet and is powered by PoE, which allows you to do with just one cable, but you need to have a PoE switch. At the same time, the Ezviz camera along with a searchlight is powered by 220V, and connected to the network via Wi-Fi. That is, if you already have power for lighting, but there was no camera, then you do not have to pull an additional cable. There is also some vulnerability - a Wi-Fi signal can be muffled, unlike cable communications. As a result, I made a small table with the parameters of both devices. The Milesight camera connects via Ethernet and is powered by PoE, which allows you to do with just one cable, but you need to have a PoE switch. At the same time, the Ezviz camera along with a searchlight is powered by 220V, and connected to the network via Wi-Fi. That is, if you already have power for lighting, but there was no camera, then you do not have to pull an additional cable. There is also some vulnerability - a Wi-Fi signal can be muffled, unlike cable communications. As a result, I made a small table with the parameters of both devices. There is also some vulnerability - a Wi-Fi signal can be muffled, unlike cable communications. As a result, I made a small table with the parameters of both devices. There is also some vulnerability - a Wi-Fi signal can be muffled, unlike cable communications. As a result, I made a small table with the parameters of both devices.
Conclusion
It's time to summarize. Each of the cameras has a list of advantages and disadvantages. The cost of a set of a good IP camera and a flashlight is unlikely to be lower than 10 thousand rubles. In my case, the cost of a searchlight and a wired camera without a speaker is only a quarter cheaper than a single set, which includes a searchlight, a speaker and a camera with a microphone. The quality of the picture can be estimated on the attached screenshots. In the daytime, both cameras demonstrate good face recognition, while at night everything is somewhat more complicated. But if you position the camera in such a way that the visitor will be no more than a couple of meters from the camera, then it will be easy to recognize the visitor at night. Make the right choice, write data to several places and let you never use camera recordings to search for unwanted visitors!