Looking for a 1-2MP box cam

[MaxIcon 0]

I've been buying outdoor bullets for some time now, and have a pretty good grip on that market.

 

I now need to find an indoor box cam for general purpose troubleshooting in an industrial environment, and am out of touch with this market.

 

This cam would be placed wherever needed for short periods, mounted to a tripod, clamp mount, whatever. It'll generally be set up and recorded with a laptop, though edge recording would be handy if the laptop can't be left in place. It won't always have network access.

 

Need:

$300-ish would be ideal

720p or better, 30 fps

Varifocal lens or CS mount

No IR, or able to shut it off

Standard screw mount for tripod

Good low-light sensitivity

User-friendly recording software

 

Nice to have:

Dual power - POE and PS

SD card recording

Compact size

 

I like the looks and features of the Acti KCM-5211 and the Axis P1344, but they're a bit out of our price range.

 

Any suggestions?

[buellwinkle 0]

Try the ACTi cubes, comes in 1, 3 & 5MP, I believe all under $300. D11, E11, E12, E13. All have CS mount lens, just unscrew it and put whatever lens you want. It has a tripod mount but on the back, so you may be able to use it that or use the included mount and rig it to work. Most cube are like this, including the Axis cubes like the M1014 (1MP, maybe $200 ish), another good choice but not an interchangeable lens, so you may have to use your feet to zoom in and out.

 

If you are just continuous recording, just get something like a Hero HD3 and record for a couple of hours to an SD card, maybe more if you lower it to 720P and lower the frame rate. It is so tiny, it's crazy and the new one is WiFi.

[MaxIcon 0]

Thanks - The E12 looks like a pretty good bet, and gets 30 fps, which we need, when dropped to 1080p. No info on the sensor size in any of their docs, so I sent them an email. I'm guessing they don't have great low-light, but that's what you get in this price range.

 

Does Acti supply recording software? If not, we'll probably use Blue Iris, since I'd have to support it, and it's what I'm most familiar with.

[Razer_SE 0]

ACTi actually has some pretty well reviewed software that comes with all the cameras. I've never tried it myself, but I know a lot of people think it does a great job - as long as you use all ACTi cameras!