szanyuan AY-IP6904 IP PTZ wifi camera.

[Domminic]

I couldn't help myself! I saw these being advertised on Ebay in September/October 2009. I did a Googling to find out who made them and where to buy one!.

This is the product. http://www.szanyuan.com.cn/ProductShow.asp?id=172

The top version with a remote controller fob is still vapour ware as is the higher resolution CCD version but the thing that I wanted most was the WIFI connection so I wasn't too worried about no fob.

I ended up buying directly from the company in China. Their minimum order of 5 units arrived about 10 days after payment.

The supplied CD did not contain the correct manual but this was available from their website. The downloaded manual was clearly not written by a native English speaker but is mostly quite easy to understand if you half know what you are doing! I offered to re-write the manual for them if they sorted out the uPNP server in the camera but never received a reply! Shame as I would have quite enjoyed the challenge! I use a linksys router with dd-wrt software and although I've not used uPNP on it I'm fairly sure its the camera, not the router. That meant I had to manually open holes in my router firewall at Port 80 and Port 5000 to let the HTTP and rtsp out of the camera and into the internet. The camera produces 2 separate video streams apparently. One H264 with settable bandwidth/ frame rate parameters the other I forget! I think it was MJPEG also with settable parameters.
There is 2 way audio on this camera with built in mic and loudspeakers. The manual was very vague about how to make best use of them. There are also external audio in and out connections.
The camera really wants you to use an Internet Explorer browser to view as its Active X based, there are way to see it in Firefox if you prefer. I used VLC player to watch the video.

The camera is nice and sensitive in low light, however it cant handle daylight, the image will white out in bright light. You certainly cant let it look out of a window until the sun has almost set. Its manual focus, you turn the lens for best image. At its best its a small step above some of the cheaper similar cameras I've tried.

The site says "CCD( SONY/SHARP) or line CMOS, Support Auto DC Lens". When the light rises above a certain level you can hear the IR? filter flip across the pick up. There is a distinct click. You can unscrew the lens and see it flip over the CMOS sensor when the light rises and flip away again when not required. I've been experimenting with a piece of a broken pair of sunglasses to try and make it more resistant to daylight without much success. I really ought to go and buy a proper neutral density filter but I'm too busy/lazy at the moment!

If anyone is interested I will post lots more detail on the camera and how to get the video to stream without needing IE and activeX but I wont bother if there is no interest!

Dominic

[buellwinkle]

If it has an IR cutoff filter, then not being able to use it in daylight sounds like it's broken. I just swore off anymore cameras made in the city Shenzen but this looks like a more modern looking version of the Foscam that many people here have.

Post some images indoors and out. What I find from cameras made in Shenzhen is the lenses are poo, color accuracy is poor and they break in a few months, especialy the pan/tilt models and the build in software lacks features I need. The image is soft in general, but gets even worse the further from the center of the image you get.

I did see some cameras made nearby in Taiwan that were far superior, albeit at a higher cost. Frankly, why bother when name brand cameras have come down in price so much.

[Domminic]

Hello buellwinkle

I will try and get the thing online and send you the link and Admin login details so you can have a poke around. Worse case it locks up and I have to reset the power! If you unscrew the lens you can clearly see the filter slap down if the light level rises. I suppose its quite possible that the filter material is defective! Its a shame as I'd have been happy enough with the results if it could have looked outdoors without white out.

I'll drop a couple of pics on the web too. Gimme 48 hrs!

Dominic

[fatjohnny]

Anytime I hear about inferior products from China (which is most) it makes me puke, but I expect nothing of quality from China.

Anyway, you get what you pay for.


John
New Jersey

[Domminic]

Its not that thorough a review but then again I've spent enough time and cash on the thing to know that its slightly unstable and not worth the pennies. I've had similar quality cameras for much less cash!

I've pasted a link from this forum page into the company feedback web form just in case they do read the odd comment that comes into their in tray.

Schenzen Anyuan Technology Company http://www.szanyuan.com.cn

http://www.szanyuan.com.cn/ProductShow.asp?id=172

They were remarkably good at communicating with me about money but deafer than a stone when it doesn't work properly. I'm not saying the company is crap but this product certainly is. Know what I mean Harry? There are lots of functions I've not investigated or commented on, either because they worked ok or I wasn't interested in them. Of course its possible that most things will be fixed with a software update in the near future but don't hold your breath....

I've set up a web link so you can see one live! http://AY-IP9604WS.mvddns.net
It should be up and running, sorry if its down, its probably just crashed again. I'll leave it up for the next week or so. Dont forget its ActiveX so Internet Explorer only! username admin/ password admin to get in.

It sometimes locks up after parameters are changed and saved so avoid saving any setting changes.

The website says it has a built in loudspeaker. It doesn't! I've ripped one apart to have a look inside to be sure. The site also says that it has a built in buzzer. IT DOES! Tragically it just doesn't work either. Not from IE anyway. Same with the software zoom function.

It doesn't seem possible to click the "record" button in live mode and record the video to its internal SD card although it will record if you set up the motion alarm and trip it that way. This, admittedly is a weakness, not a bug.

I put a pair of headphones in the audio out 3.5mm port and listened to the receive audio from my lappie microphone. It was quite clean. So all you need to do it pop a headset in the back and get the "viewee" to shove them in their ears and all will be well!
The audio from the built in camera mic is low if you are much more than 40cm from the camera and the audio is full of buzz and but at least its there. I tried an old typhoon pc mic in the external mic in connector and the audio although still suffers from some buzz, it was pretty good, certainly compared to the internal mic.

The website says
"Video Parameters. Brightness, hue, contrast, saturation and image quality, Lens control( AI/EE, BLC, AGC, AWB)." More lies. Only brightness and contrast controls are available, (unless, out of curiosity you try Firefox when brightness, contrast, chrome and saturation buttons are visible, even if there is no video and the control don't actually work. Hey Ho!)

The website says
"CCD( SONY/SHARP) or line CMOS, Support Auto DC Lens"
More distressingly for me I cant see any sign of the auto dc lens in my dissected camera. Maybe I'm missing something here but I think its a simple fixed lens jobbie! Intriguingly there are a couple of 3 pin connectors on the pcb and a couple of pre-set links so i might be that there is some way of adding (supporting?) a DC lens system to a future version, alas the website doesn't explain.

Of course its possible that most things will be fixed with a software update in the near future but don't hold your breath....

I've taken some hi res images of the innards. I ought to get around to posting them in the next few days but I might just go and eat worms instead.

Dominic

[linda2010]

Do you know how many companies which produce and sell the IP cameras in shenzhen? Thousands of.....
That means you can find many suppliers here. Definitely, some suppliers are good which provide the qualified product...But some companies focus on cheap product. May it's related to his target market.

Who develop the world's first Hardware compression DVR card ? chinese company.
At that time, most vendors still used MJPEG or MPEG4 software compression which occupy the CPU of Computer.

Who develop the world's first H.264 Megapixel IP Camera? chinese company.
At that time, most vendors adtoped MJPEG to develop Megapixel IP cameras.

In China, you can find very good product with nice video quality. E.g OMCON, they have very similar product structure with bosch. Like Explosoin Proof IP speed Dome which is for army, oil station, nary high end market.
http://www.omconcctv.com/900IPM.html