AVN80X IVS IP CAMERA REVIEW

Hey readers!

Just want you to know, that this is currently a living document, in that I am still making changes/additions to it. But I like to share information with people right away, so I figured I would publish it, and simply ask you to check back time to time to see the latest goodies added! Thanks for reading! :)
Well, here is another independant review of an AVTECH IP Camera.

This time up, is the brand new, AVN80X.

This camera packs quite a punch for such a small package, let me tell you.

Some of the features are very similar to my previous review, the AVN304, but there are a lot of new features that AVTECH has added to this new one. In my opinion, AVTECH is definately a security company to keep a close eye on in the future, while purchasing and using their current lineup.

Right off the bat, some of the main features are:

Metal casing
H.264 Video
Live MOS Sensor
Uniphier DSP
Big aperture lens (F1.5 )
1.3M pixel, 720P recording (Resolution up to 1280x1024)
MicroSD Slot
PIR Human Detection Sensor
External Alarm I/O Interfaces
High Power White LED (VERY BRIGHT!!)
Digital Pan, Tilt, Zoom
Audio detection
Push Video notifications with 5 seconds of video
Adjustable lens
Broad mobile support (iPhone, iPad, Android)
Multi-platform (Windows, Mac)
EASY setup

One thing I wish that was added was integrated 802.11x Wifi, however using the Sapido RB-1602 pocket router supplied by AVTECH, I was able to put the camera wherever I wanted.

So let's jump right in, and show off some pics of this amazing little camera.

Here is everything that comes in the box. the AC Power, the mount, and the camera itself. 

The mount is very well constructed, nice heavy metal that should be reliable to hold your camera securely. 

The front of the AVN80X has the Power and Status LEDs, the Speaker and Microphone for two way audio, the White LED for night shots, and the PIR Sensor. 

The left side of the camera has a MicroSD slot, for cards up to 32GB in size. 

The rear of the camera has the hole for the mounting bracket, a 10/100Mbps Ethernet port, the Alarm I/O connectors, and the AC Power input. 

Here is some detail on the speaker, the White LED, and the PIR sensor. 

The small hole is the Microphone, the three lines are the speaker, and you can see the power and status LED in the top left corner.

This is the PIR sensor for Human detection...

Since this is an IVS camera, it includes features such as motion detection, recording, video notifications and external I/O support.

Push notifications are an important feature of this camera. When it detects an alarm condition, you will get a popup message on your iPhone, and when you open the message you get a 5 second playback of video showing what caused the alarm to trigger.

You do need a MicroSD card inserted in order to use most of the pre/post video features and the recording without external software.

The external I/O support I think is a pretty good addition to an already great camera. This lets you have add-ons such as a door sensor, external motion detector, or a smoke detector send signals to the AVN80X, so it will send you push notifications. You can use normally open or normally closed contact devices (door contacts, external PIR, beam break sensors, and a lot more).

The AVN80X includes Digital PTZ (Pan, Tilt, Zoom), which means the camera itself doesn't move, it relies on software to zoom and move around the image.

This camera also features a Digital Smart Zoom technology, which automatically zooms in on an object when detected, whic would be used for easy identification of an object.

Since the rest of the camera is basically the same as the AVN304, let's get onto the interesting changes, the GUI.

Here you can see, several new features have been added, like the ability to direclty control the power of the LED, recording features, two way audio features, and the Backup page which allows you to view your recordings.

Here is the details of the Backup page, showing recordings stored on the Micro SD card, and what caused them (Manual, Human detection, or Alarm). Clicking on one allows you to load it into the viewer on the right side, and watch the recording. You are also given the option to download any videos via this interface.

The White LED was present also in the AVN304, but for is a little bit different in the ANV80X.
It can be scheduled to turn on, or configured to turn on when it detects an alarm.

Overall, I would say AVTECH is doing great with this new model. While I wish it had Wifi, I can live with using another device to make it wireless, just because of the amazing features the AVN80X has.

On my recommendation scale, this one gets a 9.5/10 . The only reason I give it a 9.5, is because some features are fully dependant on using MS IE (The backup page doesn't show up in Firefox). I think in order to foster wide adoption of users, if should support as many browsers are possible.
For more information on AVTECH , please see http://www.avtech.com.tw
For more information on Eagleeyes , please see http://www.eagleeyescctv.com/
Direct link to information on AVN80X, http://www.eagleeyescctv.com/avn80x/
Canadian Distributor of AVTECH products: http://www.cpcamcctv.com/En/Prod_Overview.aspx?prod_id=P110824070