Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This is one of the best video cameras for the money. I was up and running in just a few minutes. The camera has a whole host of awesome features that make it work really well for parents like me to keep an eye on my family at home. With that said, here are my thoughts on this camera. PROS >> Beautiful FHD 1080p video @ 30fps with latest Ambarella S2LM chipset and Sony IMX322 sensor >> Amazing video quality in both the day light hours and in poor light conditions as well. >> IR Night vision up to 32 ft. >> Remarkable field of view with super-wide 90° viewing angle, remote pan/tilt & intelligent digital zoom. . >> Very easy setup - took less than 2 min. using Wi-Fi setup on my iPhone. No port forwarding on your router required! >> Two way talk - but don't leave it on continuously since it creates a noisy sound loop due to proximity of the speaker and microphone. >> Intelligent motion alerts as well as mobile and web apps, secure SSL connectivity with HTTPS and AES encryption. >> Cloud recording & playback with free live viewing, record & playback directly on internal SD card or optional Amcrest NVR. >> E-Mail/Motion Alerts - You can choose to receive e-mail alerts with snapshots on your smart phone. CONS >> I experienced some connection issue using the Amcrest View Lite app but once I used the View Pro app, everything was fine. >> Uses only the 2.5 GHz signal which is often very busy so there may be some connection issues. >> Leaving the mic & speaker on continuously creates an annoying noise due to the proximity of the two in such a small package. >> Recording to a DVR and or remote hard drive other than Amcrest NVR can be challenging. >> User manual isn't very useful for novices but the excellent quick user guide & many youtube videos are excellent substitutes. >> Not weather proof - This is a in-house camera with many moving part so humidity can ruin the camera. >> Need to disable the IR if leaving the camera behind windows to record outside. >> To use a 64 GB microSD card you have to format the card with a 3rd party tool to FAT32 on your PC which is a nuisance. UNPACKING & SETUP The camera weighs only 8 ounces and measures 5 x 4 x 4 inches and as soon as you take it out of the box you’ll see that it is a premium feeling and looking, good quality camera with a round design. In the box you’ll find the mounting bracket for hanging it up, ethernet cable, a long power cable and adapter and the User Manual. Once you unpack everything, the quick user guide directs you to power up the camera, download the free Amcrest View Lite or Pro app & scan the QR code at the bottom of the cam with your Android or iPhone using the Amcrest app. The setup took less than a few minutes and it would've been even sooner if I didn't use the 5 GHz connection. The camera only works with the 2.4 GHz so make sure your iPhone/Android phone is connected wireless only on the 2.4 GHz channel. Once your phone is linked with the camera, you can control it & the video feeds that it has captured, just by a touch of your finger. Digital zooming and tilting is all controlled with your phone, tablet or laptop whichever you wish. Just a FYI, if you’re using Google Chrome browser you may need to install a plugin on the browser which is really not an issue. CAMERA You wouldn't believe how clean and detailed images and videos are when you're using it. Video picture quality is quite crisp and detailed with vibrant colors (almost like professional) with the FHD 1080p (1920x1080) resolution at 30 frames per second with its Sony IMX322 2.1 MP Sensor. With 12 IR LEDs and a massive 32 ft night time vision, I had no problems watching my baby sleeping and or picking up any motion within the cameras range. THE LENS is a Sony CMOS sensor that uses high image quality pixel technology that enlarges the light receiving part of the photo-diode by as much as 50% over the older (comparable) CCD sensors. It also has lower noise & improved sensitivity over other similar CMOS sensors. This along with phase detection and low light sensors makes for a reasonable video capture in low lights situations. PAN & TILT allows for a wide viewing angle but a 360 degree remote pan & tilt is really unheard for a camera at this price point. Theoretically this means you should be able to follow your toddler/babysitter or pet around the room but realistically there is a lag of a second or two so this works mostly for stationary or slow moving objects only. MULTIPLE CAMERA CONNECTIVITY You can hook-up up to 16 cameras but watching that many on a small phone screen is impractical but its doable using view lite or pro app. That said, more than one person can view the cameras. I can attest to this as I tried this with our two iPhone but I don't see any limit as to how many people simultaneously can watch it. However only the first connection has the control over the pan & tilt. CONNECTION & BANDWIDTH The camera uses only the 2.4 GHz band so make sure your devices are connected only to this band. Most (if not all) wireless routers are single band (2.4 GHz) type but the newer types have dual band (5 GHz in addition to 2.4 GHz). For your laptop, Smart Phone, tablet, NVR, etc. to work seamlessly with this camera, you need to make sure you're connecting only to the 2.4 GHz band. You can change the resolution on the camera & reduce your bandwidth usage if you're using multiple cameras and have only one modem but your video quality is compromised. On default, the camera uses about 600 Kbs. (3.6 MB/Min) of data so if you have up several of this camera at home using WiFi connection, you should dedicate a wireless router just for camera recording otherwise you may end up with less bandwidth for all other usage such as movie and/or music streaming. STORAGE I use mainly the MicroSD (Does't come but very cheap) slot on the camera for my recording (vidoes & snaps) but the device also comes with optional cloud recording with FREE live viewing and 4 hours of FREE video storage via the Amcrest Cloud Video Recording Service but in all honesty this can serve you for only a few hours and mainly serves to try out their paid cloud storage. The 4 hours is only for straight recording and can't be set for motion-detection recording or at least I couldn't get it to work that way. You can also upload your video or images to an FTP server, as well as record to any ONVIF compliant network video recorder such as network video recorder or your own PC. To record on your PC or NVR, you will need a dedicated computer or server which you will then need to assign it with a static IP address. For Windows 7/8, download Filezilla FTP (or XLite FTP) server & install and run it as service. In the software create a user name & password & designate a directory on the system and point the FTP user to the folder and give it full privileges. In Amcrest Web browser configure, you'll need to configure FTP to match the User ID & Password. Try this if you know something about FTP and servers. Not suited for novices. ALERTS The camera can be set to push e-mail if set on motion alert. To set up email alerts, check out the amcrest zendesk link & type article email configuration or "amcrest.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/214633717--IP2M-841-Email-configuration-" NOTEWORTHY EXTRAS >> Blue Iris Software is fully compatible with this video camera. >> Lifetime of support from Amcrest as opposed to others who charge customers for support after 12 months. SUMMARY/CONCLUSION The Amcrest ProHD 1080P is a great camera for the money. Its not just convenient and easy to install, it has a huge number of added benefits also. The camera can be used in almost complete darkness & still gives you the clearest picture of what is going on around you. You can also get feeds from it on your smart phone or any other Android/iOs device just with a swish of a finger. You also get motion alerts & opt for email alerts or snapshots when you need to. In conclusion, I highly recommend this camera .. this is by far the best camera for the money.