review

EZVIZ Indoor Security Cam with IR Night Vision

Monday, November 18, 2019

Video cameras have come along way since the Nipkow disk based mechanically-rotating video cameras of the early 1930s! The first video cameras were, certainly, much bulkier compared to today's standalone digital camcorders like the EZVIZ Indoor Security Cam, which measures just 10m tall, 5cm wide and weighs just 97 grams.
The EZVIZ Indoor Security Cam is very compact indeed, and makes for a very useful monitoring device to keep an eye on your home and/or checking on older people, babies and pets. The Indoor Security Cam is designed for indoor use and can live stream video in full high-definition (FHD).
The EZVIZ Indoor Security Cam M12 (s-mount) lens has a 2.8mm focal length with a horizontal viewing angle of 106 degrees and diagonal viewing angle of 130 degrees; hence the camera supports wide angle viewing.
A wide angle lens is very useful on a security camera because of the wider peripheral vision you get. The wider the angle of the lens the more field of view the lens is able to capture. You can get even wider angle lens, up to 360 degrees with some CCTV cameras.
The shutter speed of the EZVIZ Indoor Security Cam is adaptive so, the shutter speed changes according to the light conditions. The camera uses a 1080p CMOS sensor (1/29-inch chip) with progressive scan; hence the letter "p" at the end of 1080. There is also 1080i, where the letter "i" stands for interlacing scanning, which offers a quality similar to 720p; hence 1080i isn't as good as 1080p "progressive scanning", which provides a picture with a full 2.07 million pixels
The EZVIZ Indoor Security Cam shutter is equipped with an infrared (IR) cut-off filter, located between the image sensor and the lens. The camera can capture footage in low light conditions better and in more vivid quality than a night vision camera without an IR cut filter. The image sensor also integrates 3DNR (Digital Noise Reduction, which helps clearing up the graininess of low light images. 3DNR works similarly to Digital wide dynamic range (D-WDR), which does a similar thing via software.
Night vision mode is switched on automatically when the infrared led located next to the camera lens lights up red, which indicates infrared light is being transmitted to allow the camera to see. 
The infrared night vision range varies from camera to camera. The camera night vision is rated for up to 12 meters and produces the familiar bright, ghostly image you get with nigh vision security cameras. Depending on how much light there is available, the detail of the night vision footage can very. The overall night vision image quality of the EZVIZ Indoor Security Cam is good enough to capture very good detail of objects in an almost dark room. 
The EZVIZ Indoor Security Cam is a Wi-Fi-powered security camera; hence it doesn't require an Ethernet cable to connect to a network but, it only supports Wifi 2.4GHz; hence it doesn't support the 5GHz Wifi b and that provides faster and smoother video streaming. That being said, 2.4GHz has a longer distance range.
The Indoor Security Cam can live stream video at a maximum of 25fps but not constantly as the frames per second (fps) does change during network transmission; hence live streaming can sometimes appear choppy and not as smooth when video streams at a constant 25 (fps). The quality of the streaming video (i.e. fps) does depend on your network's bandwidth so, if the Indoor Security Cam is connected to slow Internet network you can expect slower fps.
The Indoor Security Cam supports between 11 Mbps and a maximum of 72 Mbps Wifi connections, which is enough bandwidth to stream smooth video/audio in full HD. In fact, around 10 Mbps internet connection is enough. Another thing to keep in mind with wireless devices that only support 2.4GHz is that they are only compatible with 2.4GHz networks. If you have a dual band router at home and/or only use the 5GHz Wifi band, the EZVIZ Indoor Security Cam 1080p won't be able to connect unless you switch the router to the 2.4GHz band, which will be an inconvenience. 
Fortunately, since the EZVIZ Indoor Security Cam connects to a mobile app, you can always adjust the radio frequency from the smartphone the EZVIZ app is connected to without having to change radio frequency settings from your router..
The Indoor Security Cam companion app camera also features Two-Way Talk, which is a two-way audio function that lets you send audio via your smartphone loudspeaker and receive audio via the built-in microphone of the camera. The 2-way audio is a very neat feature that turns the camera into a wireless indoor doorbell that you can use to speak to someone while you aren't at home. 
The built-microphone has good sensitivity so, if you're a pet owner, you will be able to use the Indoor Security Cam 2-way audio to talk to your furry friend and reassure them, especially when there is a thunderstorm and you are away from home.
From the EZVIZ app, you are also able to update the firmware and enable/disable motion detection alerts if you don't want to receive smartphone notifications every time the camera senses movement. As well as being able to record footage to a memory card, the EZVIZ app gives you the ability to live stream what the camera is seeing.
Adding the camera to the EZVIZ app is straightforward. Simply download the app from the App Store and/or Google Play Store and scan the QR code number located on the base of the camera to add the camera. 
You will need to turn on location on your phone and register an EZVIZ account as there is no guest user option to by-pass registration.
You can register via email or via your mobile phone number. Setting up the network configuration takes less than 5 minutes and the memory card that you insert inside the micro SD card slot will have to be initialized, meaning formatted so, you will, definitely, want to make sure to off-load any contents from it before initializing.
After all is setup, you will be presented with an on-screen caption that lets you know that the app supports zoom in/out gestures. The main screen dashboard has a clean layout with all the functions available to the camera, including taking still photos, video recording, 2-way audio, video history, microphone mute, volume control and video resolution: standard (480p), hi-def (720p) and ultra-HD (1080p).
Live streaming can be easily changed from portrait to landscape by simply tilting your phone. On landscape mode, an overlay of the user buttons will show on screen by simply tapping the screen. The video history section shows a timeline of video recordings.
When taking photos and videos, they store on the memory card but you can also have the video footage and photos saved on your phone's photo gallery. You simply have to go to "My album" section of the app and click save.
While the The EZVIZ Indoor Security Cam doesn't require a cable to connect to the internet, it does require one in order to operate. A 9 feet long USB cable and USB-A wall charger is included. The USB cable has a standard USB-A on one end and a micro USB connector on the other end. The wall charger can output 5V/1A though, the camera only requires 5V/0.8A to operate and only consumes 4 watts of power.
Without an internal rechargeable battery, the Indoor Security Cam isn't as portable or convenient as a wireless security camera. However, one main advantage cable-powered cameras do have is unlimited supply of power. Someone wanting to use the camera as a baby monitor will, probably, won't mind sacrificing portability for the security a cable-powered security camera offers.
model CS-C1C-D0-1D2WFR
The EZVIZ Indoor Security Cam has a rubberized hard plastic construction with two components: the pivoting base and the actual camera body, which has a circular shape design with the camera lens on the front, alongside the IR led light and status led, which indicates when the camera is running and/or connected via Wifi. Both leds can be turned off from the EZVIZ app, as well as notifications.
loudspeaker grill
The micro USB port is located on the bottom of the camera, alongside the reset thumb button, which is a physical button that you can press, as opposed to the reset button that is usually contained within a pinhole and can only be accessed by using a paperclip.
The microSD card slot is located on the side and supports microSD cards up to 256 GB so, if you use a 256GB card, the camera will be able to store up to 256 GB of recorded footage.
You can also backup images to EZVIZ Cloud, which is an encrypted online storage solution that comes with the EZVIZ Indoor Security Cam although, currently the EZVIZ Cloud service is only available for customers living in Germany, France, Italy and Spain.
The pivoting base consists of a base (the feet off the camera) with a long ball-joint stem that allows the EZVIZ Indoor Security Cam body to be rotated up and down up to 180 degrees. 
The base is magnetized with a strong magnetic connection that enables the camera to attach to any metal surface, or to the included metal plate to mount the camera up on a wall. 

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