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(See the October 26, 2013 update at the end of this review for a solution to the white ring/arc present in the nighttime video.)
Description of the Attached Video:
The attached video shows several video clips that were triggered by the cameras' motion capture capabilities (most of the specified motion pre-record video segment was trimmed); a variety of day and nighttime clips are included so that image quality and sound capture capabilities may be judged appropriately. The video clips were imported into an application where subtitles were added, and the video was output as a 1920x1080 resolution WMV video file (12 frames per second, with a 4400kbps target roughly the same as the original recording) with minimal video or sound quality loss. The timestamp at the top-left of the video was added automatically by the cameras during recording.
I recently noticed that TriVision released their NC-326PW 720P security camera in the same bright white bullet housing as their 640x480 (480P) cameras. I ordered four of those 720P cameras. I noticed a couple of days later that TriVision also offered a NC-336PW 1080P camera in the same bright white housing, so I ordered a couple of those cameras and will buy more when the cameras are in stock again.
The NC-336PW cameras came preinstalled with firmware version 5.40 (build 20130516), while TriVision support provided to me firmware version 5.43 (build 20130620). Other than entering a couple of configuration settings, I almost immediately upgraded the cameras to the 5.43 firmware version, which adds the ability to record three, five, or 10 seconds before a motion detection event, increases the recording brightness, and apparently fixes a couple of bugs. The settings were not lost when the new firmware version was installed. The five second pre-motion detection recording (which helps compensate for occasionally late motion detection), combined with a 15 second split time is just about perfect when reviewing thumbnail previews of the recorded video clips using Windows 7's Windows Explorer.
Positives:
* Motion detection simply works. The motion detection had little trouble picking up and triggering the recording of moving cars on a road 180 feet (55 meters) from the camera. Wasps, birds, woodchucks, and skunks also have a hard time evading the motion detection, as well as just about every passing bug at night. It should be possible to connect a $100 PIR device to the camera to reduce the number of false positives, but such a device decreases the motion detection capability from 200+ feet (61 meters) to just 40 feet (12 meters).
* Works with the Multi-Live software that shipped with the older TriVision cameras, but this software does not ship with this camera. Multi-Live provides a quick simultaneous view of up to 36 cameras. Multi-Live shrinks the NC-336PW camera's native 16:9 aspect ratio to a 4:3 aspect ratio without cropping the edges of the image. The supplied Camera Live software is able to find the NC-336PW and NC-326PW cameras, but could not connect to any of the older TriVision cameras. The MultiLive functionality in the Camera Live software seemed to be useless until I determined that I needed to click an icon near the bottom of the screen to add the detected cameras that were of interest (this step is not described in the otherwise excellent manuals).
* Works with the IP Cam Viewer (Basic) app on Android (Motorola Xoom) tablets to allow simultaneous viewing of multiple security cameras, much like the Windows based Multi-Live program just without audio. The P2PCam264 app, which is recommended by the manual, is able to find the NC-336PW (and NC-326PW) cameras, but is unable to show real-time video from cameras on the Motorola Xoom tablet.
* The NC Setup utility, which also ships with the older cameras, works well with the new cameras to quickly locate and help configure cameras that are still using DHCP assigned IP addresses (I suggest changing all cameras to static IP addresses as soon as possible the older TriVision cameras were unstable when using DHCP assigned IP addresses).
* Just like the older TriVision cameras, the NC-336PW records videos in Apple QuickTime (.mov) format. Windows 7 and Windows 8 are able to play back that video format natively using the Windows Media Player, while Windows Vista will require a third party program to play back the video.
* While the NC-336PW camera is advertised as supporting 1080P recoding at 15 frames per second, and with the firmware update seemed to offer 30 frames per second at 1080P, Windows reports that most of the videos are recorded at 12 frames per second, possibly to stay within the 4096kbps maximum bit rate. Why is this limitation listed as a positive and not a negative? There are no JPEG type large blocky artifacts in fast motion, as was experienced with a different brand's 1080P cameras. The motion, while a bit like a "flip frame" of 12 static pictures per second, experienced no pauses in motion as was seen with the other TriVision (including the NC-326PW) cameras. In good daylight, it is possible to pause a video of a vehicle traveling 40 MPH (64 KMPH) at a distance of 180 feet (55 meters) from the camera and determine the stylized hole pattern in the vehicle's wheels. That "flip frame" characteristic should also make it possible to easily read vehicle license plates, even when the vehicle is at an angle to the camera.
* Less than one percent of the videos asynchronously uploaded to an FTP server are unusable due to corruption (some of those videos that appear corrupt may be recorded as just 0.001 second video clips). The video upload speed may be throttled to prevent one camera from consuming all wireless bandwidth due to rolling fog or rolling spiders weaving a web in the camera's view. The throttling and asynchronous upload seems to work great one of the cameras had six hours of spider web weaving spooled up on the memory card, while the camera maintained the specified maximum throughput until all spooled videos were uploaded.
* Core functionality of the camera allows the camera to minimize wireless (or wired when using the integrated 100mbps RJ45 connection) network traffic caused by the camera the camera does not need to continuously broadcast its video feed to a digital video recorder device for the video with motion to be captured (although the camera can continuously broadcast its video stream with almost no configuration). With the configuration of two tasks in the camera, the camera is able to record motion triggered video to an installed MicroSDHC memory card (I use a SanDisk Ultra 32 GB class 10 card), and then asynchronously upload that video to an FTP server (I use a Synology NAS with the FTP service enabled). With the two task configuration, the camera will continue to record motion triggered video to the internal memory card if the FTP server is unavailable. Video may be uploaded to a NAS or Windows share using a single configured task in the camera; however, the camera will not revert back to using an installed memory card when the NAS or Windows share is unavailable.
* Optional camera tasks are available to schedule periodic captures of still frame JPG images and send those pictures to email servers (the feature is not compatible with all email servers, the manual recommends Google's Gmail not tested), FTP servers, HTTP web servers (not tested), and to storage (either the configured memory card or a NAS). Additional optional tasks allow sending one or more still frame JPG images to the same destinations when motion is detected.
* Supports multiple video stream types including MPEG4, MJPEG (no audio, although oddly the NC-336PW somehow included audio in the MJPEG steam while the NC-326PW did not), H.264, RTSP audio, HTTP M3U8, HTTP ASF, and JPG image (with a consistent filename). The free VLC Media Player is able to decode and display many of the stream types.
* The camera seems to work very well with Internet Explorer, on both Windows 7 and Windows 8 computers. An ActiveX control will automatically download when the camera is accessed using Internet Explorer, allowing the live video feed from the camera to be viewed during camera configuration of the up to four motion detection sensitive areas. The camera's Live View web page also uses this ActiveX control to display the live video feed from the camera on a simple web page.
* When accessing the camera with the Google Chrome browser, the web browser automatically prompts to download Apple QuickTime program if not already installed. Once downloaded and the plugin is enabled, the QuickTime control is used when configuring the up to four motion sensitive areas, as well as with the camera's Live View web page.
* The camera supports streaming playback of video stored on the optional memory card, allowing quick views of the video. The older TriVision cameras required a much more time consuming process to view video stored on the camera's memory card, a process which downloaded the entire video clip before playback could begin. The recorded video will play back using either the QuickTime control or the TriVision ActiveX control.
* Video uploaded to an FTP server or NAS is stored in a single folder (directory) on the server, which allows quick review of the video uploaded by multiple cameras throughout the day. A different brand's 1080P camera, in contrast, uploads video into a nested directory storage structure of \ Year \ Month \ Day \ Hour \ Minute that nested directory structure makes it impossible to quickly review video uploaded by one or more cameras.
* The NC-336PW camera seems to have approximately twice as many vertical pixels per inch as the older NC-306W or NC-316W cameras so each pixel in the older 640x480 cameras is now described by an average of four pixels. The vertical and horizontal area captured by the NC-336PW camera exceeds the area captured by the older 640x480 cameras there are approximately 60 to 90 additional pixels of viewable image at both the top and bottom of the video, and approximately 320 additional pixels of viewable image at both the left and right of the video (roughly 50% wider viewing area than the older 640x480 cameras). The NC-336PW and the 720P NC-336PW seem to offer the same resolution the 720P camera appears to simply crop the captured video to roughly the same viewable width as the older 640x480 cameras, and with a smaller viewable height than the older cameras.
* The recorded video in bright sunlight is fantastic if your computer monitor supports at least 1920x1200 resolution (or 1920x1080 resolution if watching the videos full screen). On high resolution monitors, the captured video is slightly muddy in appearance on cloudy days and in the early morning/late evening. The 1920x1080 recorded video will play back on lower resolution monitors, just with a bit less crisp image quality.
* Allows remote viewing of camera video from outside the network (not yet attempted, but there seems to be no reason why this would not work once the network firewall was configured to permit connections and port forwarding was enabled on the firewall, should be a nearly automatic process with a router that supports universal plug and play (uPNP)).
* Connects wirelessly to 802.11b/g/n WEP and WPA2 encrypted networks even when the network SSID is not being broadcast (tested with multiple Cisco Linksys E2000 routers acting as access points, and a Cisco Linksys E4200 router).
* Automatic light intensity adjustment during the daytime, automatically switching to black and white night vision if the automatic infrared lights are enabled.
* Offers two-level user access security to the camera for administrators and regular users.
* Recorded video may be broken up into 60 second intervals (configurable between 10 and 600 seconds) to make certain that the video is transferred quickly to a FTP server recording will continue for a user specified duration (configurable between 5 and 86400 seconds) after motion detection ends. Continuous recording is also possible, but only to the optional internal memory card.
* Supports mobile devices (iPad, Android) through third party software, as outlined in the manual (tested to work OK with the "IP Cam Basic" app on a Motorola Xoom when setting the camera manufacturer to Sharx).
* The mounting stand, with a three inch diameter round base, works well for mounting the camera to the sides of buildings. Overhead mounting is also possible with the included male-female extender nut. Screws and expandable concrete anchors are included to assist in mounting the camera. The camera also includes a white (nearly) waterproof enclosure for the converter box that the camera connects to the converter box provides power, wired Ethernet (and power over Ethernet), and digital I/O connectivity with PIR units, amplified speakers, and burglar alarm systems. The white waterproof enclosure eliminates the need to drill a large 5/8 inch (edit: 3/4 inch) diameter hole through the building's wall to allow running the cable extending from the back of the camera to an indoor power source. With the white waterproof enclosure, a roughly 1/4 inch diameter hole will be required for either a Cat 5 Ethernet cable (if using power over Ethernet) or the end connector on the power supply to pass through.
* Configuration is not terribly difficult, but is a bit time consuming when multiple cameras need to be configured. The configuration process is easier than what was required for the TriVision NC-107W, NC-107WF, and NC-306W cameras, but the steps are roughly the same as required by the TriVision NC-316W cameras.
* The cameras are able to automatically synchronize with external time sources (NTP servers found on the Internet, however the time on the cameras tends to drift a bit more than what is acceptable roughly 30 seconds per week).
* The power supply included with the camera has a very long cord (roughly eight to ten feet) which helps with installation. The cable extending from the back of the camera is a usable length for routing inside a building, although an extra foot of length probably would make installation easier for some locations.
Negatives:
* The perfect motion detection sensitivity and threshold values that work well for the daytime operation are slightly too sensitive at night time with the infrared night vision. The camera will generate a lot of false positive motion detection events at night due to bugs passing by the camera.
* The camera at times seems to have difficulty selecting the correct brightness adjustment for a scene, possibly adjusting the brightness six or more times in the span of two seconds on cloudy days. This rapid brightness adjustment often causes false positive motion detection events.
* With the camera working in complete darkness, relying solely on its infrared lights, a bright ring of light appears near the border of the recorded videos, with the area inside the ring fairly well lit and the area outside the ring sparely lit. The TriVision NC-326PW 720P camera did not exhibit this bright ring the location of that bright ring may have been in the cropped area of the NC-326PW's recorded video.
* Black and white night vision video is very grainy compared to the night vision video captured by the older TriVision cameras the older cameras may have applied an extra smoothing operation to the captured black and white image. The file size of the night vision video is roughly the same file size as the daytime recorded video, while the older TriVision cameras produced a significantly smaller night vision file size than that required by their daytime video.
* There is a slight bowing distortion of the video near the top and bottom centers of the recorded video, as well as near the left and right centers of the recorded video.
* The recommended Android app for P2P video could not playback a live video stream on a Motorola Xoom tablet. The included Camera Live software is not fully documented in the printed manual, making it unnecessarily difficult to simultaneously play back video from multiple cameras. The Camera Live software, while it quickly locates the newer TriVision cameras, does not support the older TriVision cameras.
I recommend contacting TriVision support to obtain the latest firmware version before purchasing the camera; if no response is received from TriVision support, then consider purchasing a different product (even though the preinstalled firmware may be completely usable). In the past I had difficulty contacting their support department through their email address when using two different free email addresses, but was successful with a third non-free email address.
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Update October 26, 2013:
I now have eight of the NC-336PW cameras, all of which work well. Some of the cameras are using power over Ethernet with up to 150 feet (46 meters) of direct burial Cat 6 cable. Most of the problems and annoyances that I mentioned in the original review have been corrected or addressed by TriVision support. The fixed problems and annoyances include:
* Bright white ring or white arc in night time video the video attached to this review shows the problem. Six of the eight cameras that I received experienced the white ring or white arc problem; the two cameras bought in September 2013 did not experience that problem (one with a 3.8mm wide angle lens like the other six, and one a with a 6mm narrower angle lens). So far, I have fixed four of the six cameras using the fix described below; the fix also seems to remove some of the graininess of the night time videos.
* Six or more brightness adjustments within two seconds. One of the recent firmware updates (possibly 5.49 or 5.51) corrected the rapid and repeated brightness adjustments; the cameras now perform a single brightness adjustment. The single brightness adjustment still seems to trigger the motion detection possibly 20% to 40% of the time.
* Update firmware recommendation. The cameras seem to ship from the factory with the latest (or very close to latest) firmware version.
* Quick Guide manual provided with the camera recommends the P2PCam264 app and does not describe how to set up the Camera Live software to simultaneously view multiple cameras. The Quick Guide manual was updated in mid to late July 2013 to address those two issues. The Quick Guide now recommends using the free AnyScene app on Android and Apple iOS devices that app works well on a Motorola Xoom tablet. Page 13 of the Quick Guide manual now describes how to configure the Camera Live software for simultaneous viewing of multiple cameras.
* Less than two second videos occasionally recorded with no picture. I have not seen this issue in a while, so I am not sure if the problem was corrected by a firmware update, or by locating an up to 29dBm wireless access point within 80 feet (24 meters) of the cameras.
* Grainy nighttime video, slightly muddy daytime video when the image captured by the camera is not in direct sunlight. Firmware version 5.45 seemed to improve the daytime and nighttime video quality a bit. The fix to remove the white ring (or arc) at night also seems to have added a bit more detail to the nighttime video. The camera with the 6mm lens makes objects in the captured video larger, for a more zoomed in picture, allowing even easier identification of the type of wheels installed on a car at a distance of 180 feet when the car is traveling at a rate of about 40 MPH. The 6mm lens, while offering roughly a 40% smaller viewing angle (slightly wider than the 640 x 480 TriVisions), exhibits less image distortion at the edges, and the infra-red LEDs cover a greater percentage of the nighttime image. I understand that TriVision is discontinuing the cameras with the 3.8mm wide angle lens, with the final batch at the Amazon fulfillment center. Once those cameras are gone cameras with 6mm and 12mm (an even narrower, more zoomed in view) lens will be offered.
* Now compatible with the Synology Surveillance Station using an ONVIF camera configuration.
New Minor Issues: Camera firmware version 5.45 seems to have introduced occasional stutters in the video recorded to the internal memory card. The same stutter behavior is seen to a greater extent in the NC-326PW, NC-316W, NC-306W, and NC-107W TriVision cameras. Camera firmware version 5.49 removed the ability to throttle the speed of FTP transfers.
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TriVision support sent a suggestion to me that eliminated the white ring in the night time picture on the four NC-336PW cameras that I tested (directions that I created for the modification follow). For roughly $1 it is possible to fix up to 15 cameras, and if you have small and steady fingers, the fix requires about 10 minutes per camera.
Go to the hardware store and buy a package of washers for #6 bolts look for thin washers that are about 1/32 inches thick (I used flat internal star/internal tooth lock washers). Spread a towel or something similar under the camera that is able to trap falling screws. I found that cardboard does not work very well because the screws tend to bounce when striking the card board. You will need a #1 Phillips screwdriver (big box stores sell an entire kit of small screwdrivers for about $5 if you do not have a #1 Phillips on hand) to disassemble the internals of the camera, and a #3 Phillips screwdriver to remove the sun shield. You will also need a thin pair of needle nose pliers to set the washers in position, and the Allen wrench that shipped with the camera.
Unplug the camera. Remove the sun shield and lens cover and set them aside. Use the Allen wrench to loosen the mount and rotate the camera so that the lens points straight up, then tighten the mount with the Allen wrench. There are three very small screws that hold the infra-red lights' circuit board in place, remove those screws and put them in a safe place. Remove the infra-red lights' circuit board from the mount and without unplugging it, let it hang from the side of the camera (do not touch any components on the circuit board, handle by the edges only). There are three screws that hold the lens circuit board in place. Remove the screw that is the hardest screw to reach, and put it in a safe place that is easy to reach. Loosen the other two screws as far as possible, but do not remove the screws. Lift the lens circuit board. Use the needle nose pliers to put one of the #6 washers under the lens' circuit board on top of the screw post belonging to the screw that was removed. Very carefully reinstall that screw just far enough so that it grabs in the threads. Remove one of the other two screws and repeat the process of installing the #6 washer and the screw just far enough so that it grabs in the threads. Remove the remaining screw, install the #6 washer, reinstall the last screw, and then tighten all screws. If any screws or washers fell inside the camera body, use the Allen wrench to loosen the mount, put one hand under the camera, and with the other hand rotate the camera on the mount so that the lens faces down. You may need to swing the camera a bit for the screws and washers to fall out into your hand. Finally, reinstall the circuit board for the infra-red lights on the screw posts and screw in the remaining screws to hold the infra-red light's circuit board in place. Reinstall the lens cover, reinstall the sun screen, loosen the mount, plug in the camera, and reposition the camera as necessary.
If all goes well, the process should take about 10 minutes. Make certain that the lens glass and lens cover glass are not touched when performing the modification.
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Some people may experience problems when trying to switch the camera from a wired connection to a wireless connection. The explanation of the problem is a little technical, so you may want to skip reading the last paragraph. The simple solution is usually, after unplugging the network cable from the camera, to reboot (unplug the power for 30 seconds, and then plug back in) the device into which the network cable was connected (do not reboot the camera it is not the problem in this case). The camera may then receive a different IP address, so you may need to use the Camera Setup program to find the camera on the network again.
In simple terms, what happens is the device into which the camera was connected remembers "any time someone wants to access the camera, send the communication to Ethernet port nnn". When you unplug the Ethernet cable, the camera will automatically switch to using its wireless network adapter, which has the same fingerprint (MAC address) as the camera's Ethernet port adapter so that the camera's IP address does not change when you unplug the Ethernet cable. What happens is that the router or switch (or whatever you plugged the camera into) continues to insist that the device with the camera's MAC address is found on Ethernet port nnn, even though the camera announces to the network that the camera's MAC address is connected to the wireless "port". The router or switch (or whatever you plugged the camera into) is effectively blocking the communication between your computer and the camera.
The problem boils down to an issue with the router or switch not correctly updating its MAC address routing table when the camera's MAC address jumps from a wired connection to a wireless connection. I have not yet experienced this problem with the NC-336PW cameras, but did encounter the same problem with Y-Cam's Bullet 1080P cameras, and the older TriVision NC-107WF cameras (and probably the NC-306W also). I am guessing that the reason that I did not encounter the problem with the NC-336PW cameras is either because I updated the firmware in my Cisco (Linksys) routers, or because I had multiple Cisco (Linksys) routers (that configuration effectively allows the first router to see that the camera's MAC address is found on the Ethernet port that connects the two routers when the camera jumps to the other router's wireless connection). Ideally, the camera should use a different MAC address for the wireless and wired connections so as not to confuse routers and switches the problem is that DHCP servers on the network (which hand out IP addresses) use the MAC address to decide if a device should receive the same IP address (I remember you, here is your old IP address again), or a different IP address; the camera would likely have 2 different IP addresses depending on if the camera was using the wireless or wired connection.
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Using a "Kill A Watt" meter I checked the power requirements of a TriVision NC-336PW camera when using the supplied 12 volt power supply:
Infra-red lights off, Ethernet connection, one client viewing 1080P stream: 0.06 AMPs (120V), 3.6 Watts
Infra-red lights on, Ethernet connection, one client viewing 1080P stream: 0.10 AMPs (120V), 5.6 Watts
Infra-red lights off, Wireless 802.11g (no antenna to simulate a weak signal), one client viewing 1080P stream: 0.07 AMPs (120V), 3.9 Watts
Infra-red lights on, Wireless 802.11g (no antenna to simulate a weak signal), one client viewing 1080P stream: 0.10 AMPs (120V), 5.9 Watts
So, it appears that the camera requires 3.6 Watts for basic operation, uses 2 additional watts when the infra-red LEDs are used, and uses 0.3 additional watts when connected wirelessly
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After trying unsuccessfully with a couple of different camera firmware versions, three different Synology NAS devices, at least three different Surveillance Station versions, and at least three different TriVision NC-336PW cameras, I was finally able to complete an ONVIF connection between a camera running firmware version 5.53 (build 20131008) and a Synology DS1813+ (the configuration also worked on a DS212+) running Surveillance Station 6.0-2719. The TriVision NC-336PW is now compatible with the Synology Surveillance Station.
There are still a couple of issues/limitations:
* The camera's time must be the same (or slightly ahead) of the Synology NAS device. The NC-336PW cameras' time seem to loose roughly 30 seconds per week, even when associated with a NTP server, so this could be an issue.
* The "Daylight saving time" option should not be selected in the camera's setup page, which means that the camera's time at this time of the year will be one hour behind the correct time (at least in the United States). It may be possible to re-enable the "Daylight saving time" option after the connection between the Synology and the camera is established.
* The Synology's IP address should be specified in the "Time server" option in the camera's setup page the camera seems to try to synchronize its time with the Synology when the "Test Connection" button is clicked in Surveillance Station.
* The camera, once added to Surveillance Station, may show a status of "Offline". If so, wait 30 seconds and try clicking the Refresh button once or twice. If the camera still shows a status of "Offline", disable the camera in the Surveillance Station, and then re-enable the camera in Surveillance Station.
* The ONVIF configuration currently only relies on the Synology to perform motion detection, so that will limit the scalability of the configuration to likely no more than one or two cameras on a Synology DS212+, and maybe a couple more on a Synology DS1813+.
I have not tried to determine the stability of the Surveillance Station / ONVIF configuration, but I was able to get it to work once with each Synology NAS. The FTP solution that I mentioned previously in the review does work well, without the same scalability issue.
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