Vantage VIPC1431EP
Verdict
A sturdy IP camera at a good price with an IP66 rating and built-in IR illuminators, but image quality is compromised.
Review Date: 9 May 2008
Price when reviewed: exc VAT
Overall Rating

There may be a huge choice of IP cameras on the market, but if you want one that can handle all that the great outdoors can throw at it then you'd expect to pay a premium. Vantage's latest bullet IP cameras buck this trend, as the VIPC1431EP has an affordable price tag and yet is IP66 certified.
Ingress Protection is an industry-standard accreditation and IP66 passes the camera as totally protected against dust and capable of withstanding low-pressure jets of water.
To put this camera's capabilities into perspective, the Sony SNC-DF80P is designed for external surveillance and costs more than £800 yet has no IP rating, so must be placed in a sheltered area. The VIPC1431EP is clearly capable of withstanding the vagaries of the British summer.
The camera is a very solid aluminium tube with a metal sunshield on top. The business end is protected by a glass cover sealed in a removable outer metal ring, which will need to be removed since the lens has a couple of pullers behind it for manually adjusting focus and zoom. The VIPC1431EP can handle
24-hour operations, as the lens is surrounded by 15 IR-emitter LEDs. All connections are at the back, where cables are routed through the sealed rear cover.
Power options are good - there's a standard supply but it also supports PoE, and we had no problems with it connected to the lab's HP ProCurve 2626-PWR PoE switch. Installation is aided by the bundled IP utility, which locates the camera on the network and offers quick links to firmware upgrades, configuration backups and the main web interface.
On first contact with the live view, we found colour balance to be good but focus was too soft. Car park surveillance could be a problem, as number plates will be difficult to make out. Facial recognition will also be problematic. However, general motion - even at 25fps - was smooth.
Night-time operations are hands-free, as the camera's sensor automatically switches on the IR illuminators and, as light levels drop further, it will also switch to mono mode. Testing confirmed that the camera could shed light for up to 30m and our test subjects could be seen clearly in pitch black, although facial recognition was only possible at close range.
You can adjust image quality, resolution and frame rates plus saturation, contrast and brightness from the web interface, but for the majority of surveillance functions the camera relies entirely on the bundled IP Video Control Center software, which can handle feeds from up to 16 cameras.
For motion detection you can set up three windows of differing sensitivities from the camera's setup pages, but all triggers and actions are configured from the software. Once triggered, the software can send images to an FTP server and email them to one recipient. You can also set up recording schedules.
The VIPC1431EP delivers a good range of surveillance features at a low price. Overall, image quality is a casualty, but the IP66 rating, PoE support and integral IR emitters do make it extremely versatile.
Author: Dave Mitchell
advertisement
- Web censorship "breaches WTO rules"
- Facebook users to join the IM crowd
- Government promises broadband windfall for Scots
- Kingston bringing films to a flash drive near you
- Scientists tout cloaking tool for search engines
- Six-pack of fixes set for Patch Tuesday
- British Legion calls for Twitter silence on Poppy Day
- Spotify stems interest in illegal downloads
- Postal strike leads businesses to online alternatives
- Microsoft wants to expand Yahoo deal worldwide
- Motorola pays Lucas for its Droid
- Where are the killer apps for Windows?
- Will you hit the Orange iPhone "unlimited" cap?
- USB 3 first benchmark - it's here, and it's fast
- Why Windows 7 has forced me to worry about security
- How Dixons is (under)selling Windows 7
- Do I like Windows 7 because it's so like a Mac?
- No Windows 7 drivers turn Dell M1330 into a doorstop
- Is Windows 7 good looking enough to sway an Apple fan?
- Typekit brings print-like typography to the web
- When will you get superfast broadband?
- The Crapware Con
- The 10 greatest tech U-turns
- Windows 7: everything you need to know
- PC 2010 and beyond
- The High Street Rip Off
- How to avoid the high-street rip-offs
- Do online protests really work?
- How to buy Windows 7 for £50 less: the truth about OEM versions
- Free computing lessons for kids
- The bulletproof Dell that costs an arm and a leg
- Microsoft Office 2010 Technical Preview: Q&A
- Lawnmowers, the TyTN II and one odd insurance request
- There'll never be a bulletproof OS
- How far can we trust apps?
- Five nice touches in Outlook 2010
- Building a better Google
- Beware HP's horrendous printer-driver glitch
- Microsoft debuts free Morro antivirus package
- Getting started with Search Server 2008 Express
advertisement

Printed from www.pcpro.co.uk

