Brickcom VD-130NP first thoughts

[voip-ninja 0]

I ordered a Brickcom VD-130NP about a week ago (via NeoBits) and today it showed up. I have been really anticipating this camera after seeing the stellar night time performance that seems possible with the Brickcom bullet cameras as I am trying to find a suitable replacement for the Vivotek FD8361 that has pretty marginal night time performance.

 

The VD-130NP ships in retail style packaging, which was a bit of a surprise. In the box is just a software/manuals CD, minimal installation hardware (bare terminal block connectors and a security wrench along with a few anchors and screws)... and of course the camera itself.

 

The camera seems to be of decent quality and looks to be done in the style of Axis cameras, with a solid metal enclosure (no weather gasket though) as well as a rubberized gasket of sorts on the base that has a hole for cable entry. This is not the completely waterproof style housing that I am used to seeing on some other cameras, it is up to you on whether that's a good or bad thing. It does include a packet of desiccant that are supposed to be zip tied inside of the camera enclosure to keep moisture from accumulating.

 

The camera does have a small block heater and a fan, that are basically added to the basic camera body. The manual recommends opening up the side access port on the camera base for ventilation, which I find odd, as it is possible that if this is opened up, water or debris could enter the camera with the very open design that it has.

 

I had trouble powering this camera from my DSine power injectors, the camera would not turn on at all. I happened to have a power injector for an Avaya IP Phone and that powered the camera up. The camera specs claim that it will work with 802.3af power for basic operation and that if you want the heater and fan to operate that you need 802.3at high poe power... I have ordered one of these 802.3at injectors but it has not as of yet arrived.

 

The most alarming/surprising thing I discovered is that although all of the product info pages on the Brickcom website refer to this camera having an IR LED board, it does not (they even include very high quality product photos that clearly show that the camera has LEDs). I actually had more updated documentation from a Brickcom sales rep that actually accurately represents this omission but this is quite a shock, especially for a camera that is touted as a "night pro" model.

 

I had trouble using the Brickcom set up tool to access the camera, but I was able to use an IE browser to access it directly. I have not done much to change the video/camera options, but I did turn the IR cut on. You can see photographs of the camera along with a single screenshot of the video performance below... the photo is in a dim basement, obviously the window is throwing the exposure off (I set to auto iris and turned on WDR)... but I am not expecting low light miracles out of it with no illumination source.

 

At this point I'm not sure if it's worth the effort to install the camera into the permanent location I had in mind as I don't anticipate getting the performance I need out of it. I have contacted Brickcom to see what they have to say about it.... and, I hope that Neobits has a good return policy!

 

[voip-ninja 0]

Brickcom have reached out to me and indicated that they are still working on the version of the camera that has LED illuminators built in. It is not clear if they are asking me to hold out until such a version is available and do a swap, but I will say that they are extremely responsive.

 

The performance now that it is darker is quite poor I'm afraid (I won't even post a screenshot because I don't want to sabotage trying to work things out with the vendor).

[buellwinkle 0]

Sorry to hear that, their bullet cam I tested had very nice illuminators that had a nice even spread. They do have conflicting info on their website. On the list of vandal dome cameras, it shows that camera as not having IR LEDs, but their spec sheet for that model shows ▪ Built-in IR Illuminators, effective up to 15 Meters.

 

I would email Neobits the PDF spec sheet found here - http://www.brickcom.com//resource/Documents/Datasheet/VD/ds_VD-130N_v3_English_official.pdf

 

and return it for a full refund because they misrepresented the camera, it either has IR illuminators or it doesn't and clearly the picture you present does not match the picture in their spec sheet. Their return policy only gives you 15 days -

 

Neobits offers a 15-day money-back guarantee if your item does not perform as advertised*. The guarantee applies to the item purchase price and any sales tax paid. If items are returned for any reason other than performance, a minimum 20% restocking fee may apply.

 

You MUST obtain an RMA # and return instructions from us before returning the item.

 

They do claim the VD-130Ap does have IR LEDs in both places, but who knows.

[voip-ninja 0]

Thanks,

 

Yes, I've reached out to Neobits for an RMA.

 

This is extremely frustrating. I spent a lot of time researching this camera before making a purchase. The "search" for a better camera continues.

[voip-ninja 0]

OK, I might have to take back SOME of the criticism. While, by default the image is extremely noisy in "night mode" if you use manual exposure and use the night preset, the image is actually a little better than the Vivotek, although with 1/4 second exposure times motion will be pretty terrible.

 

I still think it would perform quite a bit illuminators but maybe I am just fooling myself.

 

Here's a sample, "night" exposure preset, 1/4 second, gain level set to six, infrared cut filter disengaged, and I believe set to WDR (I could be wrong on that). I had the porch lights on as I just strung a jumper down to the camera and set it up on a step ladder, it actually did better than I expected... with the porch lights off, if I cranked the gain up to 8-9 I could get away with a 1/10 second exposure time and still have a somewhat usable image.

 

[bike_rider 0]

Even without the built IR, I wonder how it would do with an external IR source.

[buellwinkle 0]

It would do awesome with a decent IR emmiter, but it may cost him more than what the camera costs. I think the reason people like built in illuminators is the simplicity of not having to run seperate 12V wiring, the look of the additional box, and most importantly is the cost.

 

Ninja, you can't run a camera at 1/4/sec unless your goal is landscape photography. Seriously, every moving object is going to be a blurr. I strive for 1/30th outdoors and frankly, cars moving across your field of view at 10mph will be a blur but at least people walking will look good. Get the Brickcom bullet I reviewed, it will look good for that shot with it's illuminators.

[voip-ninja 0]

Brickcom territory sales manager has gotten in touch with me and says that the version of the VD-130NP with built in IR illuminators will be ready in "about two weeks". He is proposing for me to hang onto the one I have and he will ship me the new model when it is available. If I'm still not happy he is saying he will make sure that I get my money back.

 

Seems like a no risk situation to me.

[voip-ninja 0]

Just a few more observations;

 

1. Physical hardware installation on this camera should be extremely simple due to the design although you will have to be careful (I have not installed it as they want to swap it out for me for a different revision).. basically four screws go into the base, with camera guts attached and then the dome goes over the top.

 

2. The electronic focus and zoom is a REALLY nice feature, be aware it is extremely noisy when you engage it. Lens sharpness does not seem to be nearly as good as the Vivotek 8361 though (much softer at 3mm), and the color saturation with auto white balance is not as accurate, it shifts pretty heavily towards red.

 

3. This camera does have a really ingenious 3-axis mechanism, initially I thought it was only a 2-axis camera until I noted how they put it together.

 

4. It is physically much more compact than the Vivotek 8361 so it will be less obtrusive, the flip side is that the Vivotek can be recess mounted, the Brickcom cannot.

 

5. This camera has extremely limited resolution choices. Basically you have about six different resolutions that it supports, and many of the more common/popular ones (800X600) are not supported. It is clearly geared towards 720P use.

 

6. The camera supports two different streams, but they have to be at the same aspect ratio, which is really annoying. Also, my Synology does not support the 2nd stream, so both recording and live view must be set to the same stream, which kind of sucks. I have contacted Synology about this.

[buellwinkle 0]

The autofocus gets you close, you still have tap the +- buttons until it's right. I had the same issue with OpenEye autofocus cameras, it's very slow and not accurate. Once you set the focus right, it will look a lot sharper. What helps is to look at it on a large monitor and use their digital zoom and use that as a guide.

 

It's not a good auto-focus system like what Axis or ACTi uses on their cameras.

[voip-ninja 0]

Well, some bad news unfortunately on the Brickcom front. It turns out that due to how Brickcom has implemented dual streaming from these cameras, I will not be able to specify more than one resolution for live-view/recording from my Synology NVR... so, sadly I will have to send it back.

 

The hunt continues for a megapixel camera that's better than the Vivotek FD8361 that won't break the bank.

 

I have found what looks to be a pretty good POE IR illuminator for about $400 so that might also be an option I will investigate (for use with a camera other than the Brickcom.