A compact external IP camera with good
resolution, but undermined by below-par image quality
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Price: $671
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Supplier: www.y-cam.com
The
32 IR emitters make for superb night-time performance
Y-cam has upped its game with the latest
Bullet IP camera. Not only has it given it a boost in resolution, up to 1080p,
but it’s smaller than ever. Earlier Bullet models were as big as artillery
shells; this one is much more dainty.
As with all Bullets, the HD 1080 is IP66
rated, which means it’s weatherproof and can be used outdoors. It’s also ready
for low light use. The lens is circled by 32 IR emitters, 20 more than the
Bullet HD (web ID: 371857). Three H.264 video streams are available: the first
goes up to 1080p, the second supports 720p and the third is fixed at 320 x 180
for mobile access.
Image quality isn’t great, with slightly
blurry, out-of-focus footage. It’s possible to make out faces up to 5m away,
but if you’re monitoring a car park it’s tough to read number plates, and
there’s no zoom function. We also had to adjust the contrast and brightness
settings manually, since the automatic defaults are far too dark for daytime
use.
The extra IR emitters have a big impact on
night viewing, though, with areas up to 10m away illuminated as if by
searchlight, and a range that extends to 25m. Happily, the Bullet HD 1080 has
banished the nasty vertical-smearing effect of its predecessor too.
Scheduled and continuous recordings or snapshots
can be sent to NAS appliances, and this worked fine in our tests. Instant
snapshots can be sent to local folders, FTP servers are supported, and the
camera has an internal SD card slot. For motion detection you can create up to
three windows, each with its own sensitivity setting, and any that are
triggered can send images to email, an FTP server or the SD card.
The Bullet HD 1080 is a feature packed
device for its compact size. But despite great low-light performance, overall
image quality could be better.
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Rating
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Overall: 8/10
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Performance: 8/10
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Features & Design: 8/10
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Value for money: 8/10
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