Mobotix Q24M-SEC-D11 review
in IP cameras
Verdict
If you want the big picture then the Mobotix Q24M is the answer: nothing will escape its all-seeing eye
Review Date: 1 Dec 2009
Reviewed By: Dave Mitchell
Price when reviewed: £748 (£860 inc VAT)
Features & Design
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Value for Money
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Performance
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Not only is Mobotix' latest Q24M one of the first 3-megapixel IP cameras to market but it can do something no other product can: it offers a 360-degree all-round view and can monitor four separate areas simultaneously.
The Q24M uses a hemispherical lens and a large 1/2in CMOS sensor. Mounted in the ceiling, it gives a full view all round while a wall mount provides a 180-degree vista.
The Q24M supports PoE, has integral microphone and loudspeaker, incorporates an SD memory card slot with a 4GB MicroSD card included in the price, and the Secure version on review is IP65-rated for outdoor use. This means it's fully protected against dust and can withstand low pressure jets of water from all directions.
Along with the standard mounting plate and sealing ring, Mobotix offers optional vandal-proof covers and special low-profile ceiling mounts. The network cable has a rubber sealing grommet and clip to hold it firmly in place, and the MicroSD card can only be removed by taking the camera apart.
Installation is simple. The camera's web interface offers a quick-start wizard which goes through securing access, choosing the video mode and setting up network parameters. Press a tiny, well hidden button on the camera's faceplate and it will announce its IP address, subnet mask and MAC address using its loudspeaker.
The camera supports M-JPEG and Mobotix's own MxPEG video codec, which offers reduced network bandwidth usage when streaming high-resolution images. This also offers a top frame rate of 30fps in VGA mode, which drops to 20fps if you choose the full 2,048 x 1,536 setting.
We were stunned when we first saw the live view. It's not just that the image quality is good, it's what the camera can do with it that's so impressive.
All controls are laid out along the top and side of the image so you can pick from a myriad functions, such as image size, display mode, quality, brightness, zoom and frame rate. In full image mode you get the typical globular fish-eye view but move to normal mode and the camera straightens it out.
You have panorama plus double panorama views and, finally, the surround mode, which splits the view into four equal segments. Highlight one of these views and you can use the 8x digital zoom and virtual pan and tilt functions in it without affecting the other three.
For movement detection you can create multiple windows in the main view. It's not as intuitive as the system used by Axis' cameras but after a few practice runs we did get the hang of it. Events can have multiple actions linked to them such as sending images to internal storage, an FTP server or email address, calling a SIP phone or sending a message to an IP address.
The Q24M is one of the most versatile IP cameras we've yet seen. Its field of view is quite remarkable and it backs this up with a quality range of surveillance and recording features. And, at £748 exc VAT from Network Webcams, it's also good value.
Author: Dave Mitchell
From around the web
Remote Access
If I have this installed at a remote office and networked accordingly, can I view live video over the internet?
By a_byrne22 on 1 Dec 2009 ![]()
Remote Access
If I have this installed at a remote office and networked accordingly, can I view live video over the internet?
By a_byrne22 on 1 Dec 2009 ![]()
Remote Access
Hi,
You can remotely access and view over the internet. You don,t even need a seperate recording device, since the camera has a slot for an SD card. SD cards are available upto 64gb now, which should easily give you upto a couple of weeks recording (with some careful setting up). So you get live view and the ability to view and download recorded images, all remotely. Want to know more goto www.net-ctrl.com
By Mobotixman on 1 Dec 2009 ![]()
IP Camera Performance
IP cameras are now thrashing traditional CCTV cameras both in terms of picture performance and accessibility.
This Mobotix Q24 camera has a 3 Megapixel image sensor, some new mainstream HD IP cameras are now delivering 4 Megapixel widescreen image performance - that is ten times the resolution of a traditional (co-ax) 'high-resolution' CCTV camera.
The real strength of the Mobotix range of cameras is their capability to perform alone; no need for a PC running CCTV software, nor a Network Video Recorder, simply configure the camera to write its recordings to the internal memory card or a standard NAS (Network Attached Storage) unit.
By useip on 3 Dec 2009 ![]()
Mobotix is not the first...
This review article actually contains what could be seen as a serious error. We have been using a 5 megapixel 360 view IP camera in some evaluations. These has been available for several years from Grandeye, certainly a long time before I had ever heard of Mobotix.
By Ip_stephenmollfb on 16 Dec 2009 ![]()
A view from an owner
I was in the market for an IP camera and eventually purchased this model on the strength of the mostly positive reviews I'd read (including this one). The camera itself is ok, but I certainly wouldn't say I'm blown away by it... but then, as it's my first, I've nothing to compare it to so maybe that's unfair.
Some comments I would make however is that I've certainly never managed to achieve the frame rates at the highest resolutions that are advertised in the documentation (which is disappointing as this was something that swung my purchasing decision the way of this camera).
Speaking of documentation, it's some of the worst I've ever come across (and having worked with countless technologies in the last 15 years, I've seen some really ropey docs in my time). The manual is split into two paperback volumes, but the second volume inexplicably and abruptly ends with the statement that you should visit the website to get the rest of the manual in PDF form? What? Did they run out of ink? Even so, I still haven't been able to find the remainder of the manual on the Mobotix website, which I suspect is no great loss as the way it's written is fairly poor as technical documentation goes, so I'm not overly concerned that I'm missing out.
I've saved the best for last, however... the support offered by Mobotix is, as I've found out to my expense, nothing sort of diabolical. I had a very minor problem with the camera generating an alert email every few days for no obvious reason. I contacted support who first suggested turning off alerting and this would fix the problem. Er... yes, in the same way as cutting your legs off saves on trouser bills. Clearly not an acceptable solution, I persisted and persisted some more until, having been ignored for a couple of weeks, I got a response requesting I upgrade to the latest firmware (which had only been released a few days prior). I dutifully did so and that was the end of the line for the camera. The upgrade looked like it had worked fine but, by the time it ended, it was a proverbial brick; completely uncontactable over the network, which is pretty important for an IP camera. An email conversation followed over the next few days which ended in me contacting their CEO to make a formal complaint about this whole mess. The response was hardly apologetic... I was almost made to feel it was my fault (which it most certainly was not... I've flashed the firmware on more devices than some people have had hot dinners!), and that I really should've bought the camera from one of their official partners rather than a regular retailer in the first place and I would've had the partner's support rather than dealing directly with Mobotix as they're not really set up to liaise with or repair products directly from end users. I've eventually managed to return my camera to the (non-partner) retailer where I purchased it and they're dealing with the repair/replacement so, whilst I wait on its return, I thought I'd share my findings on this camera having used it for the last few months. Only wish I'd known all this back before I'd bought it... I'd probably have avoided it.
By gjscott75 on 4 Aug 2010 ![]()
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