Today, I received the Amcrest ProHD 1080p pan/tilt wi-fi camera. So, I will do the unboxing, setting up, settings overview and show you some sample footage. I will eventually compare this to the Yi Dome camera that I already have been using.
This camera is a 1080p HD resolution so it streams, records and playback in full HD 1920×1080 @ 30 fps. Setting up is easy using your smart phone. It records videos using a micro SD card or Amcrest NVR or Amcrest cloud, it has smart alerts where it starts recording when motion or sound is detected, it has 2 way audio, pan/tilt and digital zoom, and night vision up to 32 feet.
So, let’s check it out and open the box.
We have the quick start guide and warranty and the instructions are pretty straight forward.
We have a disk for the manual. We have the mount. The power adapter and the power cord. USB on one end and a mini- DC plug on the other end.
We also have an ethernet cable and we have the camera itself.
At the back we have the speaker, audio in/out, micro SD card slot, alarm connections and an LAN slot.
This camera has a 90 degree wide angle lens and a 2 Megapixel CMOS sensor.
Time to setup the camera. First, we need to plug it in so that it can do it’s self check. Then we need to download the amcrest View Pro app on either the app store or google play. click ok to set all the permissions.
Click on wi-fi camera, choose wifi configuration setup, then scan the QR code on the bottom of the camera.
Give your camera a name and type in the default username and password. You have and can change this later on and click next.
Then it will show the wifi network where your phone is connected to. Make sure you are in a 2.4 GHz for the camera to connect. Type in the password and click next.
You will then hear sounds that will connect your camera to your wifi so make sure your phone is near the camera.
When it is successful, then you can push the start live view and it will prompt you to change your camera password.
Now you can see the live stream from the camera.
I’ve set up the camera in our living room temporarily and I will eventually set it up to look outside behind the glass window in our front door.
Now, it is on live view and when you turn your phone, it will automatically change to landscape mode.
On the upper right hand corner, there is the device list tab which shows all the cameras that are hooked up. This app is built to monitor multiple cameras as you can see that you can view up to 16 cameras.
On the bottom menu, we have the mic and also the speakers for 2 way communication.
Here, we have the resolution where you can choose standard or high definition, then we have the PTZ control, pinch in and out to zoom and slide your fingers to turn left, right, up or down.
We have the mirror and flip icon if you are installing the camera in the ceiling, then you have to change this setting or you can change it to mirror image.
You can take a snap shot of the current feed or you can record video and to stop it, push the camcorder icon again. The picture and the video are saved in “my saved files”
On the upper left corner, are the main menu and you can see Live view, playback where you can see your recorded feeds and you can scrub left or right.
On the “my saved files” you will see the video clips and pictures that you manually recorded. If you want to download the clips, just click the edit button, choose which video you want to download, you can either share it or you can download it to your phone where you will be able to access it on your photos.
You have push notifications where you can turn it on so that you will be notified when there is motion.
In configuration menu you can access motion detection, video tamper, video stream, alarm trigger, recording schedule settings. You have to click on save to save your settings.
There a lot of settings that you can adjust with this camera and the app and there is also a help menu if you need help with any of the settings. So, I’ll be checking out the help files because there are many other settings that this camera have that I will need help with.
Now, here are some sample footage. This is indoors with lights on.
Now, with lights totally out. Here are some feeds outdoors, cloudy and this one with some sunlight.
Overall, the camera takes good and crisp footage. The app has a lot of features and settings that you can adjust which might be a good or a bad thing, depending on your needs.