Anpviz 6MP PoE PTZ Camera Outdoor, 5X Optical Zoom 2.7~13.5mm Lens, Pan Tilt Zoom IP Security Camera with Human Vehicle Detection, Spotlight&Sound Alarm, SD Card Slot, IP66, NDAA Compliant (U Series)

UPDATED: ========= It has been about 3 months and still liking this camera. In fact I have bought several more. Nice thing is you can set them up in conjunction with other cameras and have them turn to look in a given direction if there is movement in a different spot from where this camera is generally parked (you need good DVR software to do that - I am using BlueIris). This camera has turned out to be better than I anticipated. The LED light is also very useful. I have one mounted at the back of my house zoomed in to an area, and if someone walks through that area, it fires the LED spot which is an added layer of deterrent to potential intruders. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I bought one of these turret PTZ cameras to try out. I install a lot of these cameras and having a turret camera with the option to spin around and cover more than one area can be beneficial in some applications. This camera uses the standard operating system used by Anpviz in most of their cameras (which is a robust Linux-based kernel - that is, very reliable). This is not the case is some of the other Anpviz PTZ cameras I have used, but this one does use the same basic OS which is good. PROS ==== Image quality on this camera is very good as it offers a pixel depth (6MP) beyond what the typical security camera application will need. Night vision image is also very good. It also features a nice bring LED light that augments the night vision. It has the ability to perform intelligent object detection for humans, cars, motorbikes etc. All the standard image turning features are available on this camera (again a function of the Anpviz camera OS) Audio input is supported and it works ok. As is the case with many of these cameras, do not expect great things from the small mic used in all these cameras however. Autofocus on the lens works well. The zoom is only a 5X zoom so it is fine for basic zoom features. If you want to get more close up detail this camera is not for you, but, that is not the price bracket this camera is in either. The camera has onboard storage but I did not test this since I use a PC-based video management system with my cameras so I do not use any of the onboard storage card features. CONS ==== Unlike more expensive PTZ cameras, this model does not support autotracking of a recognized object. The build quality on this camera is good from a software perspective, but the housing and gears are plastic. If you are going to use this camera "parked" at a particular preset location, with occasional panning to another preset (when triggered by another camera for example) then this unit would be fine. If this camera is going to be used to do constant panning, then I would choose a different unit since the gears in this unit will likely wear out over time. Again this camera is more intended to offer PTZ functions in a compact package for periodic panning and zooming around. SUMMARY ======== If you need a compact turret camera with PTZ options, this camera is not a bad choice. If you are in need of something with greater magnification, and you plan to do a lot of panning, I would choose one of Anpviz other more high end PTZ cameras (they have several).

The #Anpviz 6MP PTZ camera is my first camera with PTZ support. I have used several other Anpviz cameras, mostly their 5MP dome cameras and recently an 8MP model. This 6MP PTZ camera is very similar to the other cameras from Anpviz I have used. In short, I am happy with the camera: PTZ makes setup easier for me and the video quality is very good. Installation I install my cameras in the soffit of my house. I was concerned that the extra weight from a PTZ mechanism would cause an issue, however the camera does not feel much heavier than other models and is able to be installed like the others. Installation requires 4 screws and running cat5/6 cable to the camera, with power provided via PoE. I have never tested Anpviz DC power jacks on this or any of their cameras. The camera comes with a bracket to mount the camera on the side of a wall. I did not mount the camera that way, so I cannot say if it works well or not. Software The software included on the camera seems identical to other Anpviz cameras and is easy to use. They provide a lot of options, many of which I do not use. More advance users may find use for the advance options and could likely provide more information. For simple monitoring of your home, I am more than happy with the results. Picture Quality When I first installed the camera a large fog spot was on the lens, and I was unable to wipe it off. I contacted customer support, and they asked that I leave the camera on for a day. The fog went away by the next day and the picture quality is now as good as any of my other cameras. I have never had this happen with other Anpviz cameras, so it might have been the weather conditions on the day I installed. I do like that the camera comes with a motion light. It really helps the picture when viewing motion at night. It also helps when we walk outside in the night, so it is an added bonus. PTZ Support This is my first camera with PTZ support. While my planned use case does not need PTZ support, I find it very helpful for adjusting high cameras. For me, this make adjusting the camera much easier. I used the built-in software for the PTZ control and have even added a few presets. I have not tried to set the camera to use a PTZ tour, enabling me to view multiple angles from the same camera. In short, PTZ works as expected and made setup much easier for me.

This COULD have been a great camera but, it's junk. The image looks great but it had connection issues like crazy! PTZ works (mostly)... Zoom starts to work, quits and locks up the camera. If you don't touch the zoom, it works until it randomly loses network connection. When you change a configuration, it will reboot the camera and not tell you. The web UI just quits responding. Even the cheap cameras warn you of reboots. Upgrade the firmware (to fix things)? Good luck! There's ZERO information about where to find the upgrades UPDATE: I gave a 2nd one a try in hopes I just got a bad one... NOPE! 2nd one is just as broken. The zoom works on the 2nd one if you keep resetting it after it moves a little. Video freezes and network connection drops. STAY AWAY FROM THESE!

Update3: Dropping the rating to 3 stars. Despite having an uninterruptable power supply, ALL of my Ampviz cameras end up losing the time and going back to 2018. From this point, they synchronize at such a slow rate, that it may be a year before they are current again. None of my cameras from other brands are doing this. Update2: I like this camera more and more. I have added another 2 of them. The night view is very good. With just 5% of the LED light, images are in color and are clear. At that level it is just a little bit more than a small landscape light. If there is a nearby landscape light already, then 3% LED is enough. The white light is not something I have had on any other camera, but is is a useful addition. The other thing to like about these cameras is they work everywhere. I was able to set it up without issue using a Chromebook. The live view works without any added plugins. I sadly have some cameras whose config is tied to a specific version of browser, which is no longer supported, and they required plugins. I have an old computer for those, but maybe not for much longer. Not sure what the issue with the disappearing substream was. It seemed to be specific with one of the DVRs previously, but I also saw issues on other devices. When set to a more standard size, everyone seems happy with it. Probably not the camera's fault, but an easy fix if needed. Set to 640x480 or similar. The oversaturation I saw on the first of these I bought did not exist on the more recent ones. I will likely replace a few more of my cameras with this one. Fingers crossed that I don't incur bandwidth issues. This requires a bit more than the older ones. But if I do, perhaps it is just time to address that. The PTZ does not seem to have zoom-specific speed, at least by default. It probably should, but with 5x, it is a minor issue. -- original issue OK, many people might not know or care what multicast is, but I happen to. Update1: I solved my issue by using the network differently. I use the DVRs to do more of the multicasting, so there is less need for the cameras to do that. I also found that the peculiarity with the image disappearing was related to a specific DVR. Reducing the resolution of the substream image solved that issue. Now I am pretty happy with these cameras. The bandwidth used is somewhat high relative to others for similar settings. But those settings aren't particularly objective, so I would not fault it for having a higher bandwidth, only note it for reference. It reduces bandwidth requirements when a camera is talking to multiple DVRs. My other cameras do support multicast, so I had assumed these would too. There seems to be another issue when forwarding video from one DVR to another. Only one of these cameras will be displayed at a time. Show one, the other goes dark, and vice versa. So either way I go on this, I would run out of bandwidth, or not be able to see the video from more than one of them. I don't see this issue with any other of my cameras (of several different brands), so it appears to be a bit of a miss here on networking issues. The colors are a bit over saturated by default, but otherwise, the camera works fine. Too bad about the networking.

Since I discovered color night vision cameras I'm a complete convert. And these do not disappoint. Apart from slight barrel distortion at zero zoom, the cameras produce rich, clear, crisp images during the day. At night, you think it is still day, the images are so good. But for this you do require good lighting, not just from the camera's built in LEDs. These are installed to monitor the car-park of an apartment building which is well lit. The result is stunning images, by day and by night. PTZ functions are all as you would expect. I only wish they were available with more powerful zoom.