Cameras Feautred in Material:
- 2 mp. DS-2CD2423G0-I 2.8mm.
- 2 mp. DS-2CD2423G0-I 4mm.
- 2 mp. DS-2CD2423G0-IW Wi-fi 2.8mm.
- 2 mp. DS-2CD2423G0-IW Wi-fi 4mm.
- 4 mp. DS-2CD2443G0-I 2.8mm.
- 4 mp. DS-2CD2443G0-I 4mm.
- 4 mp. DS-2CD2443G0-IW Wi-fi 2.8mm.
- 4 mp. DS-2CD2443G0-IW Wi-fi 4mm.
- 8 mp. DS-2CD2483G0-I 2.8mm.
- 8 mp. DS-2CD2483G0-I 4mm.
- 8 mp. DS-2CD2483G0-IW Wi-fi 2.8mm.
- 8 mp. DS-2CD2483G0-IW Wi-fi 4mm.
You probably know this camera quite well, you’ve been working with it lots of times – it has existed for quite a time, but every year Hikvision updates it inside and out, and nevertheless, they have left all those recognizable features of the DS-2CD cube cam. And the reason for such popularity lies on the surface – it is a highly universal appliance. The DS-2CD2443 or DS-2CD2423G0-IW camera is some kind of middle link between professional and consumer segments, equally well suited for house, apartment, and for cafes, restaurants, coffee shops, and even larger objects like offices. At this price, in contrast to its characteristics, it is just “killing” all modern home cameras in literally all parameters. But besides home tasks, how good it cope with more complex and professional tasks like monitoring cafes, offices, and so on? That’s what we’re exploring today
Overview
The question is: what does a business need? And what does it need, unlike home? More rooms – more objects to monitor. In addition, you will need spacious storage, because more cameras – more video files, so you will need an NVR. And you also need cameras that show more objects in a finely detailed environment, like cash registers, warehouses, and similar environments. You may need a line crossing detection function, face recognition, and of course, you need a dedicated person who will sit there all day long and monitor all that cameras at once. And today’s challenger can do that all. And at the same time, it feels comfortable in a home environment too, equally.
The latest generation of these cubes is presented in 12 versions, listed just at the beginning of the article. Incidentally, this is what I like about Hikvision’s product markings – it’s clear what product you are dealing with. Though 8-mp versions are not available in all regions, unlike 2s and 4s, so we’re actually talking about 8 versions, but for a review, I could get only a 2.8 4 megapixel wi-fi version. Modifications with a 4 mm focal length for the lens, as expected, give us more details and focus on individual, narrow, and tiny objects. Cash register, a person identification, car numbers, overall – finely detailed places and things, as well as areas where you need to count things.
For a 2-megapixel resolution, with 1920×1080 2.8 mm, the viewing angle is one hundred thirty-five degrees, for 4 millimeters, one hundred and two degrees. 4-megapixel resolution gives out 2688×1520, 114 degrees for 2.8 mm, and 93 degrees for 4 mm. Accordingly, the exact detailing area – the recognition and identification for 4 megapixels and 4 mm of focal length will be much wider and better.
On top, you see a 4 megapixel 2.8 mm camera, and of course, the videos are in FullHD, so you wouldn’t see a megapixel difference, but the view angle is what’s visible. And thus we can conclude that 2MP and 4MP with a wide viewing angle are well suited for the home. For business, you can use several 4MP cameras. Lenses with different focal lengths, where 2.8 mm lenses are for the general video surveillance, but 4 mm versions are here to enable you able monitor finely detailed zones and places where you need to count something.
The Box / Looks / Body Overview
The kit is identical for all versions: instructions, firmware CD, foam rubber, bracket, camera, mounting screws and anchors. The required 12V power supply, traditionally, is not supplied in the box with the camera, so be sure to purchase it along with the camera at once, or get yourself a PoE switch to power it on and supply network via a single twisted pair, coming from the switch.
What sets it apart from the professional segment is an easily accessible microSD slot, under a rubber band, that supports cards capacity up to 128 gigs. And next to it, you can see a reset button, which, again, is not used in the professional segment. You wouldn’t want that to be accessible so easily. As this is more inherent in the consumer segment, although yeah, they could be rarely found in the professional segment, but indeed, it is not peculiar for them.
I’ve got a wi-fi version, and what’s awesome about it is that you can either supply the network via twisted pair coming from a PoE switch and get both power and network, or supply power via a 12V adapter and connect to Wi-fi. Now here’s a moment when the signs of both segments begin to appear – the home Wi-fi way and professional cable-way. We have 2-way audio here thanks to the built-in microphone and the speaker on the rear, which is used equally at home, in cafes, in stores, and in restaurants. Of course, I like the presence of a normal hardware infrared sensor, this one that bulges out from a front panel, able to detect movement, and clearly show us the distance up to 10 meters at night, here’s a video I have shot in a night time with a night vision on to demonstrate. You can see our studio, me getting in sight, and I want you to know that I turned on the maximum recording quality, and it runs at 25 FPS.
10 meters of night illumination distance is quite suitable for monitoring money places in a store, for instance, or any room in a house, and built-in infrared illumination will also be of assistance, which is hidden under the bottom part. And by the way, this camera has an EXIR type of illumination, where the infrared indicator is almost invisible at night, which is a great plus. And this whole thing, thanks to the ball system and two clamps, is awesome and easy to use, letting us freely and conveniently rotate it and fix the position.
A one more topic is the bracket. It sits well, holding the camera well. It can stand simply just like that, owing to the elastic bands on the bottom, and thanks to the cutouts, it can be easily installed on a ceiling. And it works so that it is being mounted on the ceiling, and let’s say, you need to replace the microSD card in it – you climb up a stepladder, pressing the eject button, and the bracket releases the camera, you replace the memory card, and then easily fasten it back.
And I want to pay special attention to the compression level H.265 plus. Compared H.264 codec, this one cuts file size in half, respectively, reduces bandwidth, which opens up a much better perspective for storing files. A one more good thing to mention – there is an integration with the Hikvision security system, where we can tie this camera to a specific sensor to receive notifications and a video when a sensor was triggered and spotted some alarm event, there’s a dedicated for that, you’ll see a prompt somewhere there.
Start-up
What brings the camera closer to the consumer segment is that we can activate it in the mobile Hik-connect by adding the camera there by scanning the QR-code, but the real setup will happen only in the IVMS-4200 software. And it turns out that if you bought a camera for your home, you turned it on, activated it via the phone, initialized the memory card, and turned on, say, notifications and motion recording in your absence at home – all this can be set up on the phone. But if you need something more serious, welcome to the IVMS-4200, where we can configure a wider and smarter functionality. By the way, smart functionality is represented by such functions: line crossing, intrusion, and face detection.
Conclusion
You know, the stats of our store show that this is one of the TOP, most popular cameras for end users, small enterprises, and installers. Due to what? Due to a flexibility, due to a number of versions and high resolution used, different focal lengths, built-in hardware infrared sensor and 1-way audio, microSD and Wi-fi support, smart functionality, and all of that for a fairly modest cost. Flexibility, simplicity, and convenience.