How To Select A Good Ip Camera For Home Security

By Author: sylar wong
Total Articles: 3
Comment this article

There are many kinds of home security IP cameras available for choice, so you would know some key points of selecting a right camera as your needs. Here are some guidelines you need to know.
Indoor or Outdoor.

The light sensitivity is the key difference between indoor and outdoor IP cameras. If you use in outdoor environments, you need to make sure its day/night available. Generally, longer distances of night vision means more expensive it costs, decided by the amounts of IR-cuts LEDs lights. Indoor IP camera would have basic night vision in general.

Area of Coverage

Make sure the areas you want to monitor in your camera in the location. You should know the viewing angle of each camera and the amounts of the cameras needed for whole coverage. There are three points:

Viewing angle: for outdoor camera, there are usually some lens with different length of the IP camera. The longer length of the Lens, the longer distance and smaller viewing angle the camera monitor, and vice versa.
PTZ or Fixed: PTZ means you can change the viewing area by changing its angle. ...
... Indoor and some dome cameras support this function, and it is unavailable for outdoor bullet cameras, which are called as fixed cameras. Make sure the zoom function is digital zoom or optical zoom.
HD/Megapixel or standard camera: generally, megapixel has more benefits then standard camera. You can choose a wide-angle HD IP camera than two standard cameras.

Image Quality

This the one of the most of feature of one IP camera. but it is difficult to quantify and measure it. The best way to determine image quality is to install different cameras and look at the video. If capturing moving objects clearly is a priority, it is important that the network camera uses progressive scan technology.

Video Compression

The two common video compression methods are H.264 and MJPEG(Motion JPEG). H.264 is better than MJPEG on bandwidth and drive storage consuming. Generally, the H.264 video compression would save about 5 times of bandwidth and drive storage, and naturally, it would more expensive.

Audio

If you need audio, you should consider it is one-way or two-way. Foscam FI8910W IP Camera supplies two way audio channel, you can talk with the people in video surveillance system easily

User Experience

User experience is most important for a good camera. The camera should be easily installed and set. User can clearly know what they have done in the control panel. It should have some open interface make it compatible for the third party surveillance software and could be upgraded.

Smart Phone Compatibility

It is essential for people using remote controlling and monitoring using their Smartphone like iPhone, android phone out of home. So the specific free app is required for both iOS and Android platform.