Compro Technologies IP540 PTZ Camera

The Compro IP540 PTZ camera is a full featured IP camera targeted at small businesses, home offices, and consumers that delivers many high end features. This camera is priced somewhere between $200 and $250, and is available at mWave. For this price, the unit offers a lot of features that are not usually found in low priced IP cameras. The build quality is also good. The only caveat I would have for business or home users is the fact that this camera has no optical zoom. If you want to utilize this camera in larger environments where an optical zoom would provide utility, you may want to look at a PTZ camera model that features an optical zoom. Compro sells a model one step higher; the IP570 which appears to feature similar capabilities as the IP540 but with a 12x zoom.

The night viewing mode on this camera is the best I have ever encountered. Even in pitch black environments, items are clearly visible, since the camera is emmiting the light directly in its own line of sight. Sometimes, the night viewing mode allows you to see more detail than was visible in daytime mode, particularly when objects are obscured  by shadows.

Software solutions included with the IP540 are robust and leave little to be desired for the casual user. The web interface is easy enough to use for the home user, and the ComproView Software is robust enough for professional security monitoring. Despite the advanced features that this camera offers, Compro makes an effort to make the setup of their device as easy as possible for even basic users, providing simple setup instructions and even instructional videos. There are a few things that could probably leave the end user a little confused, such as the username / password issue mentioned previously. The entire overall experience of this camera is more difficult to utilize than the Dropcam software setup we reviewed earlier this year, and there is no cloud based server at the backend. However this Compro camera isn't specifically geared toward the non-technical user like the Dropcam is.

While the IP540 provides a clear 1.3 megapixel image, it can only do so at up to 15 fps, if the end user desires a smoother framerate than 15fps, the resolution needs to be dropped to VGA. This is a limitation of the sensor and the on board SoC. Compro expects to have updated cameras that support up to 1080p with 30fps when new image sensors and ScC options become available. Our Compro representative points out that while high resolution / high framerate video is a nice feature, it might not necessarily be practical for large companies that keep a lot of video history. Recording 1.3M videos at 30 fps for 12 cameras for 30 days would take 5412GB while the same resolution video at a lower framerate would take 4060GB.  A good SoC solution to enable higher video quality at lower bitrates could be useful here.

The IP540 provides a full featured experience; pan, tilt and zoom, high quality resolution relative to other IP cameras, excellent night modes, I/O expansion options, wireless options, two way audio, multiple video streams, and software options that scale well, i.e. a web interface that is simple to use, and the ComproView video suite that is more advanced and configurable.  As far as PTZ cameras go, this product would be a good choice for the small business or home user looking for an affordable security / surveillance solution.