JoeDShadow

On a completely unrelated (yeah right) note... does anyone know of any HD video devices that have a 100mm or better zoom capability? Camcorder, etc. Doesn't need to be CCTV or support any streaming. Thanks.

Okay, a little review info here... I did end up buying the 2.0 MP HEIVISION wireless IP camera and a 5-100mm CS lens. The purchase was through eBay since their website is not up and operational yet (according to them.) Transaction was fine and they had really pretty decent communication through the process via email. My biggest gripe was that the eBay auction was listed for New York but the camera actually shipped from Hong Kong via DHL. It did arrive before the listed time though (3 weeks was listed, showed up in about 1.5 weeks.) It was double boxed and completely wrapped with tape, and the inner box was undamaged when I recieved it. Via emails with the company they informed me that they do have most of their products in stock in their new york office but that the IP cameras ship from Hong Kong. They were also able to email me a DHL tracking number once it shipped from Hong Kong. Now on to the camera... The camera itself appears to be a standard box style camera, not too big or small. The case has a mount point both on the top and bottom, otherwise everything else is pretty normal. The camera came with a basic manual, software cd, power supply, screw on wireless antenna, and lens adapter with some extra screws (I'm guessing it is a C to CS adapter but I don't have much experience so I don't know for sure.) It appears that no lens is included with the camera... not sure if this is typical for box cameras or not... but it wasn't a problem since I was going to use a 5-100mm one that I intended to purchase separately. The lens I am using is a CS lens with a DC cable. Initially it looked like it was going to fit but I did end up needing the lens adapted since the threads didn't line up perfectly (not sure if that is the C/CS difference or not, but the threads were really pretty close in size.) DC cable attached fine though the plug on the camera itself is a little loose... could cause trouble with repeated use of plugging and unplugging the wire. On the back was the power plug, ethernet port, SD card insert, reset button, screw mount for the wireless antenna, BNC video plug, USB port, and audio in and out. It also had something that is listed as an RS485 port and a place to plug in an alarm in/out (again, new so I'm not familiar with if this is standard or not.) I have been testing only with the power, ethernet, and wireless. The software CD included the software to use the camera and an IE activex plug-in installer. The software installed fine but I was surprised to get a virus message with the IE plug-in. However, when I accessed the administration web page for the camera there was a link to download the same plug-in and this one did not report as a virus. Sorry, no clue on that one. The administration page was relatively easy to use (this coming from a savvy PC user and a first time CCTV user.) It had everything I expected to see; preview image, network settings, lens settings, user settings, etc. Most of the changes I made required the camera to reboot after saving them so it took a little longer to configure then I would have liked but it was relatively painless. The camera software itself included a Search NVS tool that browsed my network for cameras. It found the camera pretty quickly, especially since I was on a 192.168.1 network and it is configured by default as a 192.168.55 network. I was able to change the network IP from this tool and then I was able to do everything else from the web admin page. The main software that came with it is called NVS Center. This is a PC program that essentially looks like your typical camera monitoring display, with the ability to configure multiple styles of grids depending on how many cameras you have. I had to import the camera into this program (pretty easy to do) and then I was able to view the image. I could also modify a lot of the camera settings in this program... though I don't think everything from the admin web page was available. It had options to record/review video, set up camera groups, use camera audio, and a few other things that I didn't explore. When I tried to close down the software it asked for a password (which was blank) so I'm guessing it is intended to be used as a secure monitor interface. Since this is the only camera I have I have no clue about cross compatibility for the camera and/or software but I can say this camera was streaming an H.264 signal on port 5000 (actually multiple signals where I selected the primary one.) Image quality... A pre-warning, this is going to be very subjective since I have very little to compare to. I was both impressed and dissapointed with the image quality. When it first came up the display was much clearer then any other CCTV camera (non-IP) image than I have looked at before. Color was good and other then a second or so delay it was fairly responsive. In the settings it appeared to auto-set most of the image settings based on the resolution I picked... but most of this didn't change much. At the full 1600x1200 resolution there was some jitter but it was minimal. I didn't have any at 1200x720. When I switched to wireless I did notice an increase in jitter across the board so I think I will use this wired unless I have no other option. Also, the low light quality was terrible (as expected.) I wasn't using any IR but as the light dimmed in the evening the image became really very hard to see. It is definitely a full light required camera. But, and again this is subjective, the image quality was not what I was hoping for. Maybe I am expecting too much from a CCTV camera but I was really hoping to see more of an HD video stream like something you could take with a Flip, Camcorder, etc. Instead it was more like something I would expect to see from a good video conference device (something like a Polycom FX using H.323) but with a little more of a delay. That I was using the 100mm lens didn't help much either. Some of this may be due to the fact that I purchased a $50 e-bay special for my lens, but I don't know how much. ... Wow, this ended up being much longer then I expected it to be. ... Final thoughts? I am pretty happy with the camera but am not sure how to make a recommendation because of my lack of experience in the CCTV world. As something to play with it fit all of my requirements (inexpensive, high resolution, ability to use a CS zoom lens, PC software interface) but from a security world perspective I'm not sure how it rates. Hopefully someone with a lot more IP CCTV experience will get their hands on one of these and do a proper review on it but I wanted to at least post my thoughts since there was next to absolutely no information on these cameras when I went searching for some prior to buying it. Feel free to comment.

Yup, I was looking at some of those too. It's just hard to pass up the 1600x1200 resolution. I was actually hoping that someone here actually had used one of these cameras and could provide some feedback on it, good or bad. Maybe I'll be the first! Otherwise, I was also looking at a Vivotek IP7160. A little more expensive but seems to still be reasonable. The specs look to be pretty similar, though it does have a 0.3 lux

This is what I've gotten from the manual: Image Sensor CCD 1/3'' 1.3 megapixels Progressive Scan CCD sensor. Min 0.01Lux CMOS 1/3'' 2 megapixels Progressive Scan CMOS sensor. Min 1.5Lux Not sure if the camera can switch to CCD in low light situations or if that is just how it is designed. I'm not planning on using it at night but I imagine that even with a separate IR light, 1.5Lux is probably still too high. Oh, and here is what it says about the lens: Auto Iris Lens Control Supports DC-driven lens(depending on specific model) The manual covers a few PTZ, a bullet, and the box camera that I am looking at... so my assumption is that the (depending on specific model) applies to the box one. Still no reference to CS or C mount type though.

Yeah, it's definitely not for a high security application. More to just learn some more about the technology and its capabilities. I'd rather risk having to return it instead of having to spend $500 on one. From what I've seen though it seems that even a bad 2.0 MP camera is going to look better then a standard cctv one. Maybe I'm looking at the wrong stuff.

((( Bought this camera after posting this... see my review 12 or so posts down ))) Hey everyone, first time user here. I'm looking for a pretty decent 2.0 MP (or better) box IP camera with a CS mount. I've found some around $500 and definitely don't want to spend that much if possible. I came across one of these on eBay (yes, I've read the warnings) for a much cheaper price but haven't found any information on them on the web. Not sure if they're really new, really obscure, or so terrible that nobody uses them. Specifically, the camera I'm looking at is the HEIVISION HE6800SB-W. It is a 2.0 MP wireless IP CMOS (not sure what that stands for) box camera. I don't want to get yelled at for posting a link but if you google the model you should be able to find a link to it. The specifications on it seem to be what I am looking for but I can't find a review for this thing anywhere. I also can't confirm that it has a CS mount, or any lens at all for that matter, from the information provided. I did see one mention that it is compatible with a DC lens in one of the manuals. My plan is to put a 5-100mm CS lens on it so I can experiment with ranges. Let me know what you think or if you have any other suggestions.