My new AVTECH AVN80X IP Camera

Hello folks !
Here is the review of awesome AVN80X IVS IP Camera from AVTECH that I was lucky to put my hands on.
Please note: This is totally independent review representing only my personal opinion on this product.

Introduction:
 AVTECH is leading company in CCTV industry, constantly releasing cutting-edge products.
One of them is slick AVN80X IVS 1.3 Megapixel HD Network Camera.

Key Features:

• Easy network setup with your laptop / PC, and iPhone / iPad
• Megapixel live MOS sensor with HDTV 720p quality, allowing users to notice minor details more easily
• Micro SD card support for video storage
• Push Video supported to send an event notification to your iPhone and Android phones immediately once the specified event type is triggered, and play video recording once you confirm the receipt (very cool!)
• White LED built-in to illuminate the scene manually, scheduled by a timer, or triggered by a motion, an alarm, or an audio event
• External alarm I/O devices connection
• Microphone & speaker built-in for two-way audio transmission
• Face Detection & Tracking
• Complete Remote Surveillance Compatibility
• 7 mobile platforms, iPad, iPod, iPhone, BlackBerry, Symbian, Windows Mobile & Android

And now the FUN part !
Let's start with opening the package. It contained two boxes :

- AVN80X 1.3 Megapixel HD IP Camera
- SAPIDO Wireless 3-in-1 Pocket N+ (Router, AP, WiFi AP)

Let's see what  is inside of each box.

SAPIDO Pocket N box contains: Router, Power Adapter, Antenna and Quick Setup Guide.

AVN80X 1.3 Megapixel HD IP Camera box contains: AVN80X IP Camera, Mounting Bracket, RJ45 network cable, User's Guide CD, Quick Setup Manual.

2 minutes later camera was mounted on the bracket. Here is the back view with AC power input, ethernet port and external I/O alarm connector visible.

On the front of AVN80X we can see two LED Status Indicators (LAN connection and Internet connection status), Microphone and Speaker for two-way audio, PIR Sensor and white LED for night monitoring. There is also a MicroSD slot on the left side.

It's time to set this camera up on the network.
First it's the SAPIDO router. It has 3 operational modes :

1. R - in this mode, the device connects to Internet via ADSL/Cable modem, 3G/4G modem, Smartphone or public WiFi.
2. AP - this mode turns wired Internet to wireless.
3. W (WiFi AP) - this mode extends wireless coverage.

I selected W mode, setup wizard found SSID of my wireless network and after couple of minutes SAPIDO router was up and running on my network.


Next step, setting up AVN80X camera on the network. I used IPScan utility included on User's Guide CD. Clicking Scan  found the camera, then clicking Configure I changed the IP, Web Port, Gateway, User Name and Password. Very easy :).

The next thing I did was installing Video Viewer from AVTECH's EagleEyes website. A minute later I was at configuration page where you input ANV80X's network info and password.

Once done, I could login and specify different camera settings.

I have also setup and configured Port Forwarding on my router plus DynDns service so I could access, configure and monitor using this awesome AVN80X camera from anywhere over the Internet.

Continuing, on my iPod 4th generation I installed and configured EagleEyes' iPhone software as per well written "Quick Setup with iPhone/iPad" guide. After completing installation, a nice looking EagleEyes icon appeared on my iPod's screen:

And now for the very cool part ... "PUSH VIDEO"
Push Video is an active notification system. When turned ON, it detects the motion and automatically makes 5 seconds video call to the mobile device activating installed EagleEyes surveillance software.

Here is the AVTECH's YouTube video showing different scenarios where PUSH VIDEO feature can be used :

Activating Push Video on iPod:

When motion sensor gets triggered, the Loading... screen appears:

And right after that there is 5 seconds video playback:

If Push Video is not turned ON, I can still monitor live activities on my iPod. This is the main monitoring window:

There are some very neat features that also must be mentioned:
- Digital PTZ-Pan/Tilt/Zoom (DPTZ), when ON I can zoom in, move left/right, up and down using my fingers on iPod or this can be done straight from web browser:

I travel frequently and perfect opportunity to test this camera came when I had to go on my next trip.
In this scenario I setup the camera to monitor my leaving room and main door entry.
In this example I logged on during the night to check the Live view, please note the awesome camera's LED, how bright it is.

By going to Backup link I could check the recent activities that are recorded to the Micro SD card triggered by motion detection and at the same time as expected I was getting video playback on my iPod.

Final Thoughts
AVTECH's AVN80X IVS 1.3 Megapixel HD Network Camera is what I would call a complete package. It has everything that is needed for video surveillance. Loaded with such features as Push Video, Human Detection, Digital PTZ, EagleEyes software, high quality video resolution just to name few , it is a perfect solution for someone who needs 24/7 "security guard". This makes AVTECH a clear winner among video surveillance companies.
The price of AVN80X will be around $US150-190 (which is just a fraction of what similar product would cost a few years ago) if the consumer buys it from the online store. 
Here are some Key Specifications and links related to this wonderful camera:

 Key Specifications (technical stuff):
Network:

• Network Compression: H.264 / MPEG4 / MJPEG
• Multiple Video Streaming(Encode Modes, IPS, Resolution): 3 (H.264, MJPEG, MPEG4)
• LAN Port/Speed: Yes/10/100 Based-T Ethernet
• Supported Protocols: DDNS, PPPoE, DHCP, NTP, SNTP, TCP/IP, ICMP, SMTP, FTP, HTTP, RTP, RTSP, UPnP
• Frame Rate:  NTSC:30, PAL:25
• Web management:  Web browsers, such as Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari & Opera for single device access, or Free CMS software, Video Viewer, for up to 16 network cameras control simultaneously

 Camera:

• Image Sensor: 1/3" Live MOS image sensor
• Video Resolution: SXGA, SXVGA, 720P, VGA, QVGA
• Min Illumination: 0.1 Lux / F1.5, 0 Lux (LED ON)
• Lens: f3.8mm / F1.5
• Viewing Angle: 75°
• PIR Sensor:  Detection Range 76° wide angle with 5m long distance at 2m height (under 25°C)
• Microphone/Speaker: YES/YES (for two way audio feature)
• Audio/Motion Detection: YES/YES
• Digital Pan / Tilt / Zoom: YES

 For more in depth info please visit AVTECH's website.

http://www.avtech.com.tw/english/cctv_overview.aspx?ID=AVN80X
http://www.eagleeyescctv.com/index.aspx
http://www.youtube.com/user/avtecheagleeyes
http://www.facebook.com/pages/AVTECH-EagleEyes/372131631242