Want recommendations for highly compatible cameras

Hi Folks.
I did search a bit through the forums before posting, and was unable to find this question or similar ones.

I have read the compatibility list, and see a long list of cameras that are supported, which is awesome. I also see that many of these cameras support PTZ with ONVIF. That’s great.

What I’d like to know is whether there are any specific cameras that behave a little better - ones that conform more closely to the standards (ONVIF, MJPG, etc.) or are otherwise well-behaved when interfacing with Netcam Studio.

I’d like to spend as little time as possible troubleshooting or hacking a camera’s behavior to get it to work with surveillance software.

I have not yet purchased any cameras but have decided I’m going with Netcam studio for my controlling software. So my goal is to purchase the cameras according to how well they will work with this software. Are there really scores of cameras that work equally well? Is it a matter of choosing ANY camera off the compatibility list? OR are there some which stand out as working with fewer headaches?

I would appreciate any recommendations for PTZ-capable Wifi-enabled cameras which have consistently been shown to behave well with Netcam Studio.

EDIT: I looked at the brands which were the most represented in the compatibility list (Axis, Panasonic, VivoTek, D-Link). Unfortunately, I am having trouble finding a good indoor surveillance camera made by these which are not going to break the bank (Aiming for under $200) and are highly recommended on sites like Amazon.

I did find an article about recommended PTZ cameras (2020's Best PTZ Security Cameras | ASecureLife.com) but didn’t see much intersection with the supported models list. So I welcome input from first-hand experience, as I’m at a bit of a loss otherwise.

Thanks in advance

Hi Allan,
Sort of a million dollar question this :slight_smile: Considering your demands and the list before editing correlates quite well. It correlates also to the price of the camera. During the last 2-3 years the market have been flooded with new megapixel cams from China that can do a lot. Some good, some not so good. Having a compatibility list that covers the market today is impossible. Connecting a camera to a system is about the URL. Usually, that is no problem today if you do not go to the lowest priced cloud cameras with their own APP. That can sometimes be difficult. A camera that support ONVOF is aa very good thing since that really helps the connection process since manufacturers are getting better to also really comply with the onvif standard. To get video and audio is usually 100%, but PTZ can sometimes be trickier.

In relation to your demands skip wifi. wifi is excellent for browsing, checking email, fb, twitter, but for continuous streaming of HD video it can cause a lot of problems and in the end trust of the system. For a couple of years ago is made a decision of no more wifi and I am very happy with that. Also energy supply of the cameras. This depends on where in the world you are, but usually the lower the price of a camera the more sensitive it is for glitches in the energy supply.

The above is only electrical. Then it is also the optical part which is just an important. Actually, many of the new low priced cams have a quite good optical quality. Problem can be that it is not consistent with big variations between cameras. I don’t know what type of camera you plan to buy, but if it is a dome camera be aware of that the transparent plastic cover can lower the quality of the image, especially when the IR LED´s are running due to reflections. It should be glass and keep the optical part separated from the IR LED+s.

Browse through the category Network cameras and you can see pros and cons. and maybe what you should not buy. The link to the article have 5 cameras and they are all for home users also considering what they think is pros and cons. I would say they focus on the camera as a stand alone system which is completely fine, but these features are really not necessary when connecting to a surveillance software like NCS.

This is not easy, but trying to help a little bit more. Buy from someone that can give you good support. Not only the return policy, but also to assist you with for example the URL to the camera and onvif with PTZ. When you find a camera that you like search the Internet. There is a lot of information out there. If you only use video/audio it is enough with the rtsp://xxxx. For audio, video and PTZ it must be a preconfigured template or that the camera can fix this with onvif. The reason for this is that the cameras use different communication protocols for audio/video and the PTZ. Today, the HD cams use rtsp for audio/video and http for the PTZ and they must be combined in the same configuration.

At the end of the line it is all about trusting your system! So when there are no motion detections you should be able to trust that. In NCS you have a great Rule that checks connection to the camera that I always use. Finally, a lot of people are complaining about false detections especially when it is night and IR LED´s are running. There are ways to minimize that, but I rather have one more false detection than missing the big one that is correct.

I am not sure if this help you. Sometimes I have a tendency to write a little bit to much :slight_smile: , but you know where to find me. Finally, it always helps to buy a license to get the best support ;).

Good luck!
Henrik

Thank you. I appreciate the input. I realize there are many reasons to use security cameras, so this is not an easy question to answer. And you’re right, the camera’s requirements are different when connecting to a system such as NCS. I will continue my research.