aethyr 0 Posted April 16, 2012 This is a consumer camcorder with 40x optical zoom, 1080p, etc for about $380 street. It has built in WiFi, with apparently some surveillance capabilities. Has anyone used this camera? I don't see any reviews on it... http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/834569-REG/JVC_GZ_EX250BUS_GZ_EX250_Full_HD_Everio.html WiFi Equipped (IEEE 802.11 b/g/n) The GZ-EX250 is WiFi equipped for achieving easy Live Monitoring, Video E-mail and Home Detection Monitoring (Auto Photo E-mail) using Android phones/tablets, iPhone, iPad or PC. Just install a free app on your Smartphone and you are ready to control the camera, receive and share your videos or stills Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Soundy 1 Posted April 16, 2012 And the standard advice applies here: WiFi is not recommended for surveillance cameras except as a last resort, and only using the proper equipment (such as Ubiquiti point-to-point, MESH, etc.) This is fine if you want a single camera... what if you want four? Eight? More around your house? You going to view them all one at a time? What if you need additional storage? Can you record for three months straight with one of these? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
aethyr 0 Posted April 17, 2012 And the standard advice applies here: WiFi is not recommended for surveillance cameras except as a last resort, and only using the proper equipment (such as Ubiquiti point-to-point, MESH, etc.) This is fine if you want a single camera... what if you want four? Eight? More around your house? You going to view them all one at a time? What if you need additional storage? Can you record for three months straight with one of these? I don't know the answers to these questions because I don't own one. But if Wifi is its only weakness, you could get a $30 bridge to convert to ethernet. Then the only things left would be if it can record for 10 years, in the snow, rain, hail, absolute zero and cosmic radiation in the vacuum of space, while being peppered with machine gun fire and the angry glares of 10,000 cctv pros. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Soundy 1 Posted April 17, 2012 I don't know the answers to these questions because I don't own one. But if Wifi is its only weakness, you could get a $30 bridge to convert to ethernet. That doesn't make any sense - WiFi bridge? You're still using the WiFi connection. And no, that's not the only weakness. For any more than one camera, it needs to integrate with some kind of VMS to be practical, both for live viewing or searching. Regardless of the network connection, I don't expect you'll find any software designed to centrally manage searching and playback of recordings from multiple of these camera - that's kind of a BASIC FUNCTION of surveillance systems. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MaxIcon 0 Posted April 17, 2012 Interestingly, they're marketing this as a camcorder with "Home Detection Monitoring" capabilities, including limited motion detection and remote control from a phone - sort of a crossover camcorder/cctv cam. You'd probably get more user feedback on a camcorder forum. There's not a lot of detail on how it works, but based on the screens, it looks a lot like it would be similar to browsing the internet on a web-enabled TV - that is, you can do it, but it's clumsy and inefficient. You can't adjust frame rate (except in time-lapse mode, which is 1fps and slower), the motion detection has to be within a pre-defined frame in the field of view and pre/post frames can't be adjusted, it's got a .17" sensor and little to no specs on low-light performance, it's not weather friendly, there's no option for hardwiring, and so on. You can say nothing's going to be perfect, but this is clearly designed as a camcorder first with surveillance capabilities as a bit of frosting. I'm guessing anyone trying to use this as a surveillance cam would soon be frustrated by the lack of controls and options, and poor low-light performance. I'm sure it's a fine camcorder, though. It'll be interesting to see what the reviews say when they show up. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Soundy 1 Posted April 17, 2012 There's not a lot of detail on how it works, but based on the screens, it looks a lot like it would be similar to browsing the internet on a web-enabled TV - that is, you can do it, but it's clumsy and inefficient. ... You can say nothing's going to be perfect, but this is clearly designed as a camcorder first with surveillance capabilities as a bit of frosting. Exactly my point. And again, that's a single camera... just imagine how clunky it becomes if you want to view or review multiple cameras. Can you imagine a 32-camera site setup with these things? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
