Choosing an IP camera for home monitoring - image quality, parameters, 4mpx models

Go here and look for cameras with the image sensor that suits you
https://www.sony-semicon.co.jp/e/products/IS/security/product.html
https://www.vision-doctor.com/en/camera-technology-basics/sensor-and-pixel-sizes.html

A good standard is represented by Dahua, Hikvision, Novus, BCS, Vivotek cameras.
The most important thing in a camera is the lens. A weak lens will spoil the image from the best matrix.
The degree of compression is important, especially when there is movement in the image.

koleś kit wrote:

If you set it to 720p, the fridge would record better

Depending on the format, it gives 0.9Mpix, so if you set this resolution, more pixels simply won't fit. If you have a 4Mpix camera, you set the full available resolution. I am not saying that there are no cameras that can interpolate a given resolution, often found in camera traps where the sensor is 3Mpix and the options are 6Mpix, 8Mpix, 12Mpix. The same may be true in cameras, if you want to have good quality, it is worth looking at the size of the image sensor, the bigger the better, but the price increases two or even three times and the image sensor, the CMOS sensor, is apparently stickier than the CCD. In CCTV and even 2Mpix cameras it may be satisfactory as long as the appropriate lens and the above-mentioned image sensor are used.

Determine what the camera should record, whether it should have a zoom (variable focal length lens), whether it should be rotatable, whether it should have IR illumination and whether it would work indoors or outdoors, whether it should record on a recorder or on a built-in memory card.

Maybe yeah the offer will interest you. Please do not associate "Z" with anything or who.

koleś kit wrote:

Yes, only hik and bcs which offer supposedly 4Mpx are in fact poor full hd.

What are you watching this on?

A bit off topic, but thanks to Col. Gradek for the links. They will be useful to me.

LAN
10Mbit/s is 1.25MB/s
100Mbit/s is 12.5MB/s
1000Mbit/s is 125MB/s

80Mbit/s is 10MB/s
8Mbit/s is 1MB/s

10 cameras

You can download it yourself CCTV calculator

Of course, with such a large number of cameras and recording in the highest quality at so many frames per second and the desire to record continuously when archiving for seven days, you would have to have a ~17TB disk

koleś kit wrote:

Take a test video in full HD (real HD) and you'll see that 4mpx is rubbish.

What is the comparison between a camera costing several hundred zlotys and hanging somewhere on the wall and cameras costing several hundred thousand zlotys or even more, where a team of people work on the proper positioning or lighting during the recording, and then another team of people work on processing the material and selecting the best scenes?

For monitoring around the house, in most cases, 2Mpx cameras up to PLN 600 (from the above-mentioned manufacturers), placed in appropriate places, work well and fulfill their function. Well, unless someone expects that a potential intruder will pose for the camera like a model on a catwalk, they may be disappointed - covering their face is enough and even the most expensive camera will not help, but there are other systems for that.

koleś kit wrote:

How about what? On a 1080p monitor. connected with a power supply and a cable to the router.

After downscaling from 4Mpx to 2Mpx, the image may seem worse. You need to compare how you can see the details at a magnification of 1.44 times.
The difference between 2Mpx and 4Mpx is an increase in resolution by only 1.44 times in each direction and there is no such qualitative leap in image reception as between the PAL analogue and 2Mpx. Only 8 Mpx gives a subjective improvement in quality.
But you still have to watch it on an 8 Mpx monitor.

Added after 9 [minutes]:

koleś kit wrote:

How about what? On a 1080p monitor. connected with a power supply and a cable to the router. Take a test video in full HD (real HD) and you'll see that 4mpx is rubbish. Even my 1080p car camera has better recording quality than the pseudo 4 Mpx in these cameras. And I had BCS 2Mpx, Hik 4mpx and I compared them. And I really don't see any quality there.
I also found a kettle. Reolink is that what you mean? There are also cameras, e.g. Hik, for PLN 800, with 2-4 megapixels and no other frills. It turns out that a "real" sensor costs money. But I don't want to seem like a fool, that's why I'm asking.

Maybe you want to build a TV studio with CCTV cameras? The imperfections in the image will be more likely to be visible. However, you must aim at the following devices:

https://daars.pl/kamery-bez-wymiennej-optyki/...ryca-cmos-exmor-125-4k-60-fps-x25-zoom-ndihx- hdmi-tally-62866

From my own observation, the Hikvision DS-2CD2T45FWD-I5 camera works well
It comes with lenses of various focal lengths.

koleś kit wrote:

And tell me whether such recording to an SD card works generally stably in these IP cameras? Anyone have any experience?

It works, but the cards have to be the better ones. An SD card has a limited amount of recording, so CCTV camera recording quickly kills a standard card. There must be a card with a very large number of write cycles.

koleś kit wrote:

And what do you say about the camera I mentioned?

I haven't used it, so I can't comment. And I know you want confirmed opinions.

Added after 3 [minutes]:

koleś kit wrote:

And what about those ice creams?

Illumination with visible light deters potential intruders. However, at night it reveals the location and direction of the cameras. If someone cares about colors at night, let them use it. Personally, I'm not convinced about this.

Added after 7 [minutes]:

koleś kit wrote:

What do you think about something like SanDisk HIGH ENDURANCE?

The description is so general. It is supposedly dedicated to surveillance cameras, but without any specific data. It will definitely be better than cards from regular series.

The camera has an option to save to NAS, I don't know about this model - older ones saved to FTP and it worked quite well.

koleś kit wrote:

I see. Tell me something else about this card or others. Sorry for these maybe stupid questions, but I'm still learning about this topic.

You may not get a satisfactory number of answers regarding memory cards for CCTV cameras. Professional systems usually use recorders with HDD disks and cards are not used.
The cards are used only in places where very high system reliability is required in terms of maintaining the continuity of recordings. The recordings normally go to the recorder, but after the cable is broken, they are stored locally on the local SD card and after the damage is removed, they are copied to the disk. But this is very rarely a customer requirement.
So we have little experience here with the reliability of SD cards for continuous recording.
I can only say from my own experience that one Samsung EVO card failed after a few months and was replaced under warranty. The new card and another purchased card worked in the cameras for 2 years without any problems. Some years have passed and no customers have reported any problems so far, so I guess they still work.

koleś kit wrote:

these cameras that have LED instead of IR that record in color at night are worth what

I tested some cheap Hik from the ColorVu series.


Snapshot from the recorder, December, around 11 p.m., the only light is from the window and behind the building on the right, about 20 m away, there is a lantern.

koleś kit wrote:

And I have one more question. What can cause disruptions to the recorded sound (interruption) from the camera? Codecs have been changed and some of them have crackles, and some still have interruptions. This is one thing, but the second one with the H265 codec interrupts the image. After seconds and the image you can see how it is cropping. There is no problem with H264, the sound remains unchanged. The camera is some kind of dvs kettle, so maybe that's it? Dahua 4X POE recorder.

As if the processor in the camera was not working properly.

A very interesting topic and I'm curious what the author chose (if he chose).
I personally bought 2Mpx cameras (they are still in the box), but I wonder if it will be enough.
Actually, I don't know if this pursuit of pixels is justified considering the relatively close monitoring area (about 10m)
During the day, I think everyone can handle it, but the fun begins at night.
What are your observations about the number of pixels in cameras?

I have 2 2MP cameras with the following parameters:

1/2.8" Progressive Scan CMOS sensor
Max. Resolution
1920×1080
Min. Illumination
Color: 0.002 Lux @ (F1.4, AGC ON),B/W: 0 Lux with IR
Aperture 1.4

And I'm looking at 4Mpx with the following parameters:

1/3" Progressive Scan CMOS sensor
Max. Resolution
2688×1520
Min. Illumination
Color: 0.003 Lux @ (F1.4, AGC ON), B/W: 0 Lux with IR
Aperture 1.4

Or 8Mpx:

1/1.8" Progressive Scan CMOS sensor
Max. Resolution
3840×2160
Min. Illumination
Color: 0.003 Lux @ (F1.6, AGC ON), B/W: 0 Lux with IR
Aperature 1.6

cichy koksik wrote:

I personally bought 2Mpx cameras (they are still in the box), but I wonder if it will be enough.
Actually, I don't know if this pursuit of pixels is justified considering the relatively close monitoring area (about 10m)

There are extensive calculators on the Internet that show the quality of detail in an image depending on the resolution, distance and focal length of the lens.

I have an 8Mpx 4K ONVIF Smart IR30 PoE camera, specifically this one: https://allegro.pl/oferta/kamera-ip-8mpx-4k-3...snapshot=MjAyMi0wMi0xNFQyMzo0MDo1MC4yMzlaO2J1 eWVyO2JlYTU2YWYwM2FmZDczNzE1MWU5ZGE4OGEwNjYwNGZhODljNWNhNjMxMjNiNmI0N2JhYjliODVlOTBhYmRkMmQ%3D I think Turns out she's not bad. It processes colors quite correctly in my opinion.

cichy koksik wrote:

During the day, I think everyone can handle it, but the fun begins at night.

You're absolutely right. Unfortunately, most customers are not aware of this. The system is most often collected from the contractor during the day, and all defects are revealed only at night.

Added after 3 [minutes]:

cichy koksik wrote:

What are your observations about the number of pixels in cameras?

In addition to the matrix, the quality of the lenses in the lens is very important. A weak lens can ruin the entire pixel boosting effect.
There are also fake cameras with a 2 Mpx matrix and upscaling to 4 or 8 Mpx.