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Started By
Message
General security camera discussion (was "Unifi Protect security cameras")
Posted on 12/30/20 at 9:37 pm
Posted on 12/30/20 at 9:37 pm
Edit 2/8/20: Changed title to hopefully steer topic toward general advice and feature/value comparisons.
Anybody have or used this equipment? I'm a huge fan of Ubiquiti networking gear, so I really want to like these surveillance camera systems, but the reviews... shite.
The mobile and web apps look great for home surveillance, slick timeline scrubbing, person detection... when it all works. The reviews are flooded with 1 star reviews talking about problems logging in, or crashes, etc. It's almost like it's getting worse instead of better. I find it hard to believe that a 15 billion dollar company can't put out a product that even remotely works like it should.
So I'm just wondering if these problems are relatively rare, but since they are show-stoppers users are being very loud about it when it happens. Or are they really pushing out app and firmware updates with basically no testing?
They also EOL'd the Unifi Video line in favor of Protect, which pissed a lot of people off already. And now if they can't get the replacement to work even half-assed, that would really be a shame because like I said I really like a lot of their gear and they put out some interesting products.
Edit: After having used this gear for a while, I haven't had any major issues with it. I've run into occasional remote connectivity issues, but no show-stoppers. The vast majority of the time it just works as it should. They continue rolling out updates that improve performance and add features like you might expect from "smart" cloud based cameras, but with full-time recording and no fees. I like it.
Anybody have or used this equipment? I'm a huge fan of Ubiquiti networking gear, so I really want to like these surveillance camera systems, but the reviews... shite.
The mobile and web apps look great for home surveillance, slick timeline scrubbing, person detection... when it all works. The reviews are flooded with 1 star reviews talking about problems logging in, or crashes, etc. It's almost like it's getting worse instead of better. I find it hard to believe that a 15 billion dollar company can't put out a product that even remotely works like it should.
So I'm just wondering if these problems are relatively rare, but since they are show-stoppers users are being very loud about it when it happens. Or are they really pushing out app and firmware updates with basically no testing?
They also EOL'd the Unifi Video line in favor of Protect, which pissed a lot of people off already. And now if they can't get the replacement to work even half-assed, that would really be a shame because like I said I really like a lot of their gear and they put out some interesting products.
Edit: After having used this gear for a while, I haven't had any major issues with it. I've run into occasional remote connectivity issues, but no show-stoppers. The vast majority of the time it just works as it should. They continue rolling out updates that improve performance and add features like you might expect from "smart" cloud based cameras, but with full-time recording and no fees. I like it.
This post was edited on 2/8/21 at 2:39 pm
12
Posted on 12/30/20 at 9:50 pm to Korkstand
I’m avoiding it for now.
The cameras are very overpriced for features and quality if you read ipcamtalk. Granted, they recommend mostly stuff that is Dahua/hikvision, so maybe there is a premium to be paid for something that doesn’t report what you had for supper and the size of your Amazon packages to the Chinese government.
But more importantly, I don’t like their requirement for a cloud controller g2 or UDM-pro. They limit the hardware so heavily and still have a poorly-functioning, overpriced system that isn’t totally reliable or particularly friendly to any outside hardware. Then they sort of have a history of abandoning what doesn’t work/sell, leading me to sit them out until it’s more caught on and ironed out.
I love the company. I will buy and recommend their networking stuff left and right. But requiring crappier hardware than I have (i5 8500 in a desktop that is always on instead of whatever is in a cloud key or UDM) should at least come with a pretty high floor before I will overlook the low ceiling, and the Protect line isn’t there yet.
The cameras are very overpriced for features and quality if you read ipcamtalk. Granted, they recommend mostly stuff that is Dahua/hikvision, so maybe there is a premium to be paid for something that doesn’t report what you had for supper and the size of your Amazon packages to the Chinese government.
But more importantly, I don’t like their requirement for a cloud controller g2 or UDM-pro. They limit the hardware so heavily and still have a poorly-functioning, overpriced system that isn’t totally reliable or particularly friendly to any outside hardware. Then they sort of have a history of abandoning what doesn’t work/sell, leading me to sit them out until it’s more caught on and ironed out.
I love the company. I will buy and recommend their networking stuff left and right. But requiring crappier hardware than I have (i5 8500 in a desktop that is always on instead of whatever is in a cloud key or UDM) should at least come with a pretty high floor before I will overlook the low ceiling, and the Protect line isn’t there yet.
Posted on 12/30/20 at 11:09 pm to Hopeful Doc
quote:I don't blame you.
I’m avoiding it for now.
quote:A couple things here... I don't have too much problem with chinese cameras, it's easy enough to deny them access to the internet as long as you use trusted software to record. And I've seen complaints about ubnt image quality, but I have access to a couple G3 cam streams and they look great to me in both day and night even though they're only 1080p. It's like the chinese cams pack in the pixels without regard to any other factors that affect image quality like optics, white balance, etc. Of course I've mostly dealt with the lower end chinese ones in the sub $100 range, but if you go much higher than that then you're in the G3 price range. And I know I don't have the best eye for picture quality, but from the limited experience I have I'm not disappointed with the ubnt gear at the price.
The cameras are very overpriced for features and quality if you read ipcamtalk. Granted, they recommend mostly stuff that is Dahua/hikvision, so maybe there is a premium to be paid for something that doesn’t report what you had for supper and the size of your Amazon packages to the Chinese government.
quote:Yeah that's what people are pissed about, the old Unifi Video line had free software that you could run on your own hardware, but the replacement Protect software will only run on their hardware. They're taking the Apple approach, but not pulling it off. However I believe the cams can be put in rtsp mode for use with 3rd party software, but for me the main selling point is the slick software for people who just want something that's easy to use. If it worked right, that is.
But more importantly, I don’t like their requirement for a cloud controller g2 or UDM-pro. They limit the hardware so heavily and still have a poorly-functioning, overpriced system that isn’t totally reliable or particularly friendly to any outside hardware. Then they sort of have a history of abandoning what doesn’t work/sell, leading me to sit them out until it’s more caught on and ironed out.
quote:Right there with you, I think.
I love the company. I will buy and recommend their networking stuff left and right. But requiring crappier hardware than I have (i5 8500 in a desktop that is always on instead of whatever is in a cloud key or UDM) should at least come with a pretty high floor before I will overlook the low ceiling, and the Protect line isn’t there yet.
I'd still like to hear from someone who uses it regularly, though. I find it hard to believe that these show-stopper problems could be so widespread.
Posted on 12/31/20 at 7:33 am to Hopeful Doc
quote:
But requiring crappier hardware than I have (i5 8500 in a desktop that is always on instead of whatever is in a cloud key or UDM) should at least come with a pretty high floor before I will overlook the low ceiling, and the Protect line isn’t there yet.
Wait you cant host your own server for the cloud key anymore? That's how I have my APs set up.
quote:
The cameras are very overpriced for features and quality if you read ipcamtalk
Everything they sell is stupid overpriced outside of their APs
Posted on 12/31/20 at 8:23 am to bluebarracuda
quote:
Wait you cant host your own server for the cloud key anymore? That's how I have my APs set up.
For their networking stuff you can.
For video (the Protrect line), Voice, and whatever they’ve named their badge-entry door-lock system, you cannot.
Posted on 12/31/20 at 9:27 am to Hopeful Doc
Man, that's super lame.
I still prefer my cisco switches over the unifi ones, but since I plan on getting a dream machine pro in the near future, I might have to bite the bullet and get their stupid overpriced switches too
I still prefer my cisco switches over the unifi ones, but since I plan on getting a dream machine pro in the near future, I might have to bite the bullet and get their stupid overpriced switches too
Posted on 12/31/20 at 11:47 am to Korkstand
I've enjoyed my Ubiquiti network setup at home and it allows for the added control and seamless configurations. I was intrigued by their security camera line but was quickly turned off by the price of their cameras. I didn't even look close enough to see the costs or requirements for running cameras so i stayed away. I have a ~5 year old Lorex NVR and cameras and it works fine (24/7 record and no major alerts/triggers is way i roll). I just started playing with one of the Reolink cameras i got in the other day (made post in Tech Board about 2 weeks ago). I'm going to slowly migrate/upgrade to Reolink cameras since they're better priced and have no requirement for standalone NVR. I'm really looking forward to their model soon to be available with 12mp resolution and built-in face/license plate identification.
Posted on 12/31/20 at 12:28 pm to Korkstand
I haven't bought any UniFi cameras yet but I'm planning to. I'm planning to buy a couple of the G4 bullets, G4 dome, doorbell and assuming a G4 Flex is coming soon. My only issues is the UNVR won't fit in my network rack and I'm not keen on the Cloudkey Gen2+ to act as my NVR and I don't want a UDM Pro. Also they have that Unifi ViewPort which makes it VERY easy to monitor your cameras from a TV using HDMI. I've seen where you can do something similar using a Rasberry Pi but this just makes it so simple.
While sure I can put Dahua, Hikvision etc on a VLAN and isolate them, but why put something that might be spyware in your home/business network in the first place. I don't buy random unknown Chinese IoT devices either.
One thing people seem to not know is that all UniFi cameras including the doorbell support RTSP and can be used standalone w/o the Protect software. So you can use Blue Iris or whatever, but you might not get stuff like event notification etc that is done by Protect.
While sure I can put Dahua, Hikvision etc on a VLAN and isolate them, but why put something that might be spyware in your home/business network in the first place. I don't buy random unknown Chinese IoT devices either.
One thing people seem to not know is that all UniFi cameras including the doorbell support RTSP and can be used standalone w/o the Protect software. So you can use Blue Iris or whatever, but you might not get stuff like event notification etc that is done by Protect.
Posted on 1/1/21 at 3:15 am to gpburdell
I have a small Unifi Video system running at a location that I annoyingly now have to update to Protect, so I will see what it's all about in a week or two.
I'm kind of a little excited about it, though, because the software looks so damned slick. The primary use of video surveillance is reviewing footage for interesting things that happened, and the Protect timeline scrubbing looks amazing IMO. It looks like you can review a day of footage with moderate to heavy motion in about 30 seconds. Everything else I've seen or used has been downright clunky in comparison.
I'm a Zoneminder guy, which if you don't know is a very powerful recording program, but it takes some time to get set up right and isn't exactly a breeze to use. I can fly through it because I have so much experience with it, but your typical home or small business user is not going to want to deal with it.
For these cases I really don't know if there's anything better than Unifi Protect in this price range. And IMO the pricing isn't really as outrageous as all the dahua/hik fanboys like to talk about. The G3 Flex is only $80, so you can get 8 of those for $640. Toss in the entry level Unifi Cloud Key Plus for $200 and a TP-Link 8 port PoE switch for like $80, and for under $1k you have a surveillance system that will cover the vast majority of homes with the slickest UI I've seen.
Yeah, you can get a Costco chinese special for half the price, or get 8 4K cams for about the same price as the 1080p Flex's, but then you have a big clunky NVR box with integrated switch making it an easy-to-spot target for burglars, and also a clunky UI to deal with.
Or you can roll your own NVR with Zoneminder or Blue Iris or whatever, but then you're dealing with the hassle of all the setup and port-forwarding or VPN stuff to get remote access working, which Protect handles for you. And then you're dealing with not only software updates but also OS updates manually, which are mostly automatic and seamless with Protect (when they work properly, hence this thread).
Anyway, I generally avoid these ecosystem lock in situations like the plague, but that's because I don't mind getting involved with configuration and such for myself. But if I need to recommend something for someone else that's easy to set up and use, I'm not sure yet what to go with. Once I get hands on with it, I'll try to report back with a review of Protect from the perspective of a linux and zoneminder user who has cheap chinese cams around his own house.
I'm kind of a little excited about it, though, because the software looks so damned slick. The primary use of video surveillance is reviewing footage for interesting things that happened, and the Protect timeline scrubbing looks amazing IMO. It looks like you can review a day of footage with moderate to heavy motion in about 30 seconds. Everything else I've seen or used has been downright clunky in comparison.
I'm a Zoneminder guy, which if you don't know is a very powerful recording program, but it takes some time to get set up right and isn't exactly a breeze to use. I can fly through it because I have so much experience with it, but your typical home or small business user is not going to want to deal with it.
For these cases I really don't know if there's anything better than Unifi Protect in this price range. And IMO the pricing isn't really as outrageous as all the dahua/hik fanboys like to talk about. The G3 Flex is only $80, so you can get 8 of those for $640. Toss in the entry level Unifi Cloud Key Plus for $200 and a TP-Link 8 port PoE switch for like $80, and for under $1k you have a surveillance system that will cover the vast majority of homes with the slickest UI I've seen.
Yeah, you can get a Costco chinese special for half the price, or get 8 4K cams for about the same price as the 1080p Flex's, but then you have a big clunky NVR box with integrated switch making it an easy-to-spot target for burglars, and also a clunky UI to deal with.
Or you can roll your own NVR with Zoneminder or Blue Iris or whatever, but then you're dealing with the hassle of all the setup and port-forwarding or VPN stuff to get remote access working, which Protect handles for you. And then you're dealing with not only software updates but also OS updates manually, which are mostly automatic and seamless with Protect (when they work properly, hence this thread).
Anyway, I generally avoid these ecosystem lock in situations like the plague, but that's because I don't mind getting involved with configuration and such for myself. But if I need to recommend something for someone else that's easy to set up and use, I'm not sure yet what to go with. Once I get hands on with it, I'll try to report back with a review of Protect from the perspective of a linux and zoneminder user who has cheap chinese cams around his own house.
Posted on 1/1/21 at 7:20 pm to Korkstand
So I do not yet have a Cloud Key Plus to put the Protect system to the test, but I do have a G3 Bullet camera that I have put in rtsp mode to compare to a cheaper camera. There are still a lot more scenarios where I'd like to see more side by side images, but here is what I've noticed so far.
The cheap cam is a Reolink RLC-410, which probably costs less than $50. Installed right below it is a UniFi G3 Bullet, which costs $150. Both are being monitored by Zoneminder, both are in 1080p mode.
I have to say, in the afternoon daylight the Reolink looked to have the sharper image. Face and other details were easier to make out on the cheap cam. Low light and night is another story, however. The Reolink suffers from significant smearing, which I guess is caused by longer exposures to let in more light. I tried "anti-smearing" exposure mode, and it didn't seem to make much difference other than cutting the frame rate to almost half of what it was set to.
RLC-410
G3 Bullet
That's my kid riding his bike in the back yard a while ago. Obviously I have cropped out the majority of the image. Also obviously neither image is good enough to ID anyone, but the G3 clearly performs better at night. Range to the kid is about 50'.
I don't know if that's worth the 3X price difference, but I thought it was significant.
I don't have any dahua or hik branded cams, but I do have a couple amcrest which I believe use dahua internals. They cost a bit more than the reolink, maybe around $80 or so, but they are still not quite as good in low light as the UniFi.
I still have no idea whether I will get better images from the G3 cams using the Unifi NVR vs. what it puts out via RTSP. Maybe their software does some tricks, I don't know. I also wish I had a dahua or hik cam in the $100-150 range to compare to, but I don't at the moment. Anyway, so far with the mixed results I'd say the Ubiquiti cam is definitely NOT worth 3X the Reolink, but of course the whole selling point of the ubnt stuff is the software and user experience. Again, I'll try to report back next week with a review.
The cheap cam is a Reolink RLC-410, which probably costs less than $50. Installed right below it is a UniFi G3 Bullet, which costs $150. Both are being monitored by Zoneminder, both are in 1080p mode.
I have to say, in the afternoon daylight the Reolink looked to have the sharper image. Face and other details were easier to make out on the cheap cam. Low light and night is another story, however. The Reolink suffers from significant smearing, which I guess is caused by longer exposures to let in more light. I tried "anti-smearing" exposure mode, and it didn't seem to make much difference other than cutting the frame rate to almost half of what it was set to.
RLC-410
G3 Bullet
That's my kid riding his bike in the back yard a while ago. Obviously I have cropped out the majority of the image. Also obviously neither image is good enough to ID anyone, but the G3 clearly performs better at night. Range to the kid is about 50'.
I don't know if that's worth the 3X price difference, but I thought it was significant.
I don't have any dahua or hik branded cams, but I do have a couple amcrest which I believe use dahua internals. They cost a bit more than the reolink, maybe around $80 or so, but they are still not quite as good in low light as the UniFi.
I still have no idea whether I will get better images from the G3 cams using the Unifi NVR vs. what it puts out via RTSP. Maybe their software does some tricks, I don't know. I also wish I had a dahua or hik cam in the $100-150 range to compare to, but I don't at the moment. Anyway, so far with the mixed results I'd say the Ubiquiti cam is definitely NOT worth 3X the Reolink, but of course the whole selling point of the ubnt stuff is the software and user experience. Again, I'll try to report back next week with a review.
Posted on 1/2/21 at 2:51 pm to Korkstand
Going through some more daytime footage, the very cheap Reolink RLC-410 still looks much better than the UniFi G3 Bullet which costs 3X as much.
Again, these cameras are mounted right next to each other looking at the same exact scene, both 1080p@15fps. The following images were captured of the same vehicle at the same exact time. It is about 200' from the cameras and moving at about 25mph.
Reolink RLC-410
UniFi G3 Bullet
Obviously there are just not enough pixels at 1080p at this range to capture license plates without optical zoom (and that is not the purpose of this camera location, the street is just background noise), but the Reolink has a clearly better image in the daytime than the UniFi cam.
So unless the UniFi Protect Cloud Key Plus (NVR) exposes some hidden camera settings or features, at this point it seems safe to say that you shouldn't buy UniFi camera gear if you want daytime image quality and clarity. Of course what I've posted here are kind of extreme examples (nobody is going to monitor passing vehicles from 200' with 1080p), but I hope it helps someone to see what you're getting with the cheap chinese cameras... pretty good value!
At this point it seems the *only* reason to look at the UniFi gear is for the UI/UX. Which, again as a fanboy, I really want to like enough to overcome the downsides. I will find out soon enough I guess.
Again, these cameras are mounted right next to each other looking at the same exact scene, both 1080p@15fps. The following images were captured of the same vehicle at the same exact time. It is about 200' from the cameras and moving at about 25mph.
Reolink RLC-410
UniFi G3 Bullet
Obviously there are just not enough pixels at 1080p at this range to capture license plates without optical zoom (and that is not the purpose of this camera location, the street is just background noise), but the Reolink has a clearly better image in the daytime than the UniFi cam.
So unless the UniFi Protect Cloud Key Plus (NVR) exposes some hidden camera settings or features, at this point it seems safe to say that you shouldn't buy UniFi camera gear if you want daytime image quality and clarity. Of course what I've posted here are kind of extreme examples (nobody is going to monitor passing vehicles from 200' with 1080p), but I hope it helps someone to see what you're getting with the cheap chinese cameras... pretty good value!
At this point it seems the *only* reason to look at the UniFi gear is for the UI/UX. Which, again as a fanboy, I really want to like enough to overcome the downsides. I will find out soon enough I guess.
Posted on 1/2/21 at 2:56 pm to Korkstand
I need to ship you one of my extra amcrest 1080p poe cameras to test against these so I can see the difference directly
Posted on 1/2/21 at 5:00 pm to bluebarracuda
Even after examining a bunch of side by side stills, pixel by pixel, and seeing what seems to be a clear difference in favor of the Reolink, something still strikes me about the G3 video that gives it a higher quality look and feel.
I think I have figured out why I still prefer the G3's video during playback.
The Reolink has a lot of artifacts when there is a lot of motion (birate is set the same as the UniFi). It also adjusts the saturation and contrast a lot when the lighting changes, and also just kind of randomly. I think it drops frames when these things happen, too. I have a couple Amcrests that do the same stuff. The G3 doesn't seem to do any of that. Whatever corrections it makes, it does them in a way that doesn't produce pixelated artifacts or dropped frames, or anything noticeable at all. It's just a steady, smooth video all the time.
I got right in front of the cameras to make an adjustment, and when I popped into the view of the Reolink my face and shirt were very blocky for several frames. Likewise when I left the frame, it took more than a second for the background blockiness and pixelation to fill in the details. And the entire frame of course very noticeably adjusted the brightness and contrast and such in a very jarring way. The G3 is much different. There is some slight artifacting, but it's hardly noticeable. And any larger image adjustments happen much more smoothly.
It's obvious that the UniFi camera has much more horsepower to handle all the processing that takes place. How that translates to overall real-world picture quality, eh, I'm still not sure. So far I've only compared one scene. But I will say that regardless of the pixel-level detail, when you watch the video the G3 has a more "premium" look to it.
Posted on 1/3/21 at 12:05 am to Korkstand
I'm sorry for being so wordy with all this and for seemingly beating this topic to death, but I swear I think it's all worth talking about.
I have done some more low- and no-light testing, and I think the UniFi cam is now the clear overall winner (as it should be given the price diff).
In the daylight, the cheap Chinese cam does seem to have a bit sharper image, but the G3 is still more than adequate in the same conditions. It's a difference of a few feet of extra distance as far as recognition and identification range. But in the daylight, and this can't be stated strongly enough.
In the evening and night, the G3 kicks the ever-loving dogshit out of the cheap cam. I've caught the occasional animal at night on my chinese cams, and from that footage I figured they would be sufficient to identify a person. Wrong. After doing these side-by-side comparisons, I will never buy another camera that costs less than $100. I don't care how many pixels it has, if it's that cheap it's going to let you down when it matters most.
The mid-range motion smearing at night that I posted about earlier is hardly any better up close. If I walk by at a brisk pace, my face is so smeared that I can barely recognize myself on the Reolink. No such problem on the G3.
But that's not the worst of it. I don't know if this has been improved in more recent versions, but the RLC-410 takes ages to switch between day and night mode. I don't know if the mechanical IR-cut filter requires so much power that it has to throttle the processor, or if the drastic change in lighting bogs down the image processing, but there's a good several seconds of no video whatsoever during this transition. I went out with a flashlight to blind the cameras and force them to day mode and to see how they perform in the absolute worst lighting possible. And while both cameras were indeed blinded, at least with the G3 you could still tell there was a person shining a flashlight at the camera and it didn't drop a single frame of video. The Reolink, on the other hand, totally and completely locked up when it kicked over to day mode. It did it again when I turned off the light and it switched back to night mode. It lost TWELVE FULL SECONDS OF VIDEO. It also did some crazy looping audio bullshite during this time. The G3 didn't give two shits about the light, it just switched back and forth between day and night, didn't drop a frame and audio was fine.
I do have a few Amcrest cameras in the $100 range that seem to work about as well as the G3 in switching between day and night, though I haven't yet done a side-by-side as far as image quality for the same scene. If there's any interest (and why wouldn't there be?), tomorrow I will try to hang this UniFi next to an Amcrest to do some similar tests.
I have done some more low- and no-light testing, and I think the UniFi cam is now the clear overall winner (as it should be given the price diff).
In the daylight, the cheap Chinese cam does seem to have a bit sharper image, but the G3 is still more than adequate in the same conditions. It's a difference of a few feet of extra distance as far as recognition and identification range. But in the daylight, and this can't be stated strongly enough.
In the evening and night, the G3 kicks the ever-loving dogshit out of the cheap cam. I've caught the occasional animal at night on my chinese cams, and from that footage I figured they would be sufficient to identify a person. Wrong. After doing these side-by-side comparisons, I will never buy another camera that costs less than $100. I don't care how many pixels it has, if it's that cheap it's going to let you down when it matters most.
The mid-range motion smearing at night that I posted about earlier is hardly any better up close. If I walk by at a brisk pace, my face is so smeared that I can barely recognize myself on the Reolink. No such problem on the G3.
But that's not the worst of it. I don't know if this has been improved in more recent versions, but the RLC-410 takes ages to switch between day and night mode. I don't know if the mechanical IR-cut filter requires so much power that it has to throttle the processor, or if the drastic change in lighting bogs down the image processing, but there's a good several seconds of no video whatsoever during this transition. I went out with a flashlight to blind the cameras and force them to day mode and to see how they perform in the absolute worst lighting possible. And while both cameras were indeed blinded, at least with the G3 you could still tell there was a person shining a flashlight at the camera and it didn't drop a single frame of video. The Reolink, on the other hand, totally and completely locked up when it kicked over to day mode. It did it again when I turned off the light and it switched back to night mode. It lost TWELVE FULL SECONDS OF VIDEO. It also did some crazy looping audio bullshite during this time. The G3 didn't give two shits about the light, it just switched back and forth between day and night, didn't drop a frame and audio was fine.
I do have a few Amcrest cameras in the $100 range that seem to work about as well as the G3 in switching between day and night, though I haven't yet done a side-by-side as far as image quality for the same scene. If there's any interest (and why wouldn't there be?
), tomorrow I will try to hang this UniFi next to an Amcrest to do some similar tests. Posted on 1/4/21 at 8:10 pm to Korkstand
Moving on to a *very slightly* higher quality camera, the Amcrest IP2M-842E PoE bullet camera. This is an older model that isn't sold anymore, but it was about $80 when it was available. A newer 1080p replacement looks to cost about $60 today, and of course today you can get a 4K model for about $100.
I wish I had an extra equivalently priced camera to compare the UniFi to, but unfortunately I don't at the moment. But it still might be useful to compare equivalent resolution cams from the same era, as I'm doing here now.
Without further ado:
Amcrest IP2M-842E PoE 1080P
UniFi G3 Bullet PoE 1080P
Nearly pitch black darkness, 1" tall letters at a distance of ~8 feet. At the time these cameras were first available, that's what a roughly 2-3X price premium bought you. Whether it's worth it for your application is up to you, but personally I wouldn't trust either the Amcrest or Reolink to make a positive ID, at least not at night.
I added lighting to the scene and the Amcrest became even more washed out. The UniFi actually improved with the added lighting.
I've also done quite a few face tests that I haven't posted for obvious reasons, but as you might imagine the cheap cameras aren't worth a damn.
Again I do not have either of the typically recommended Chinese brands Dahua or Hikvision, but the Amcrest has a Dahua MAC address, so I believe it's just a rebranded Dahua.
My thoughts so far
Clearly you would be paying a bit of a not-Chinese tax by buying UniFi gear, but you are also getting a higher quality camera. The UniFi camera seems to use a higher quality sensor, and it seems to have a more powerful chipset to process the video since it handles dynamic scenery much better. The Chinese cameras also struggle to maintain the framerate that you set, as both are about 15% too low via rtsp. The build quality of the UniFi also feels better and more sturdy, and the position locking mechanism is much stronger and easier to lock into place.
After going through all this, I would not feel cheated by plunking down $150 each for a set of these UniFi cameras. I would likely also not feel cheated by stepping up to the 1440p G4 model for $200.
TL;DR: don't trust a camera review that just shows side by side images of STATIC scenery. The low-end cameras pack in a bunch of pixels and the firmware seems to focus on slow shutter speeds and other "tricks" to let in more light to produce a reasonably clean looking image, but this only works if your subjects pause and smile for the camera. If the person is, you know, moving around, the video may get blocky and lose detail. At night, your framerates may drop to compensate further for the low-quality sensor, and moving targets may be blurry and washed out.
I wish I had an extra equivalently priced camera to compare the UniFi to, but unfortunately I don't at the moment. But it still might be useful to compare equivalent resolution cams from the same era, as I'm doing here now.
Without further ado:
Amcrest IP2M-842E PoE 1080P
UniFi G3 Bullet PoE 1080P
Nearly pitch black darkness, 1" tall letters at a distance of ~8 feet. At the time these cameras were first available, that's what a roughly 2-3X price premium bought you. Whether it's worth it for your application is up to you, but personally I wouldn't trust either the Amcrest or Reolink to make a positive ID, at least not at night.
I added lighting to the scene and the Amcrest became even more washed out. The UniFi actually improved with the added lighting.
I've also done quite a few face tests that I haven't posted for obvious reasons, but as you might imagine the cheap cameras aren't worth a damn.
Again I do not have either of the typically recommended Chinese brands Dahua or Hikvision, but the Amcrest has a Dahua MAC address, so I believe it's just a rebranded Dahua.
My thoughts so far
Clearly you would be paying a bit of a not-Chinese tax by buying UniFi gear, but you are also getting a higher quality camera. The UniFi camera seems to use a higher quality sensor, and it seems to have a more powerful chipset to process the video since it handles dynamic scenery much better. The Chinese cameras also struggle to maintain the framerate that you set, as both are about 15% too low via rtsp. The build quality of the UniFi also feels better and more sturdy, and the position locking mechanism is much stronger and easier to lock into place.
After going through all this, I would not feel cheated by plunking down $150 each for a set of these UniFi cameras. I would likely also not feel cheated by stepping up to the 1440p G4 model for $200.
TL;DR: don't trust a camera review that just shows side by side images of STATIC scenery. The low-end cameras pack in a bunch of pixels and the firmware seems to focus on slow shutter speeds and other "tricks" to let in more light to produce a reasonably clean looking image, but this only works if your subjects pause and smile for the camera. If the person is, you know, moving around, the video may get blocky and lose detail. At night, your framerates may drop to compensate further for the low-quality sensor, and moving targets may be blurry and washed out.
Posted on 1/5/21 at 7:38 am to Korkstand
We are currently using this system. We have 9 cameras, 5 g3 flex, 2 g3 dome, 1 g3 bullet and 1 g4 pro.
The system was installed 7 months ago and has worked flawlessly. The g4-pro uses a lot of storage. We had to upgrade the hard drive to 1 tb.
Overall we are very happy with the system, the ease of use and reliability. The ios app and desktop app both work well. I favor the ios app of the two.
The system was installed 7 months ago and has worked flawlessly. The g4-pro uses a lot of storage. We had to upgrade the hard drive to 1 tb.
Overall we are very happy with the system, the ease of use and reliability. The ios app and desktop app both work well. I favor the ios app of the two.
Posted on 1/5/21 at 11:05 am to PHNBK
Nice to hear from a user! Would you say that the Flex's do almost as well at night as the G3 Bullet?
Posted on 1/5/21 at 12:30 pm to Korkstand
quote:
Nice to hear from a user! Would you say that the Flex's do almost as well at night as the G3 Bullet?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaiGrIdZIWs
This guys reviews most of the UniFi cameras including day/night tests. He's even got a video that reviews the new UniFi PTZ camera.
He hasn't reviewed the the G3 Instant yet. I'm curious how good it is for only $30.
Posted on 1/5/21 at 1:37 pm to gpburdell
Yeah I've seen a few of his videos. I wish there were more reviews of these and other surveillance cameras, but I can't seem to find a whole lot. There's this guy, the crosstalk solutions guy, "the hook up" has done a couple tests, and the lawrence solutions guy focuses mostly on the hardware and software, not so much the image quality and real-world testing.
Maybe I'm overthinking this too much, but I'm trying to be as thorough as possible about expectations, quality, user experience, etc. if I'm going to recommend systems to people. Supposedly my Cloud Key Plus unit will arrive today so I can start testing the UI and such, which I think is the real selling point for Protect.
Maybe I'm overthinking this too much, but I'm trying to be as thorough as possible about expectations, quality, user experience, etc. if I'm going to recommend systems to people. Supposedly my Cloud Key Plus unit will arrive today so I can start testing the UI and such, which I think is the real selling point for Protect.
Posted on 1/5/21 at 2:52 pm to Korkstand
Are you using the same coding for both cameras during these tests? (h264,265, +)
Also, the key frame rates on the reolinks I have (RLC-520) are really low, like .25 for the substream and .5 for the main stream, so motion detection could be slow and imprecise. Did you compare motion sensing of the reolink vs unifi cameras?
Also, the key frame rates on the reolinks I have (RLC-520) are really low, like .25 for the substream and .5 for the main stream, so motion detection could be slow and imprecise. Did you compare motion sensing of the reolink vs unifi cameras?
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