INTRODUCTION

   I've really lost count of the number of times that I’ve watched the all-time classic movie Home Alone to date but whenever i do I’m reminded of one simple and important truth/fact, bad things may/can happen when people are away from home for long periods of time and that obviously includes the Christmas vacations. Now that i look back Home Alone is also probably one of the reasons i got so intrigued by IP cameras and surveillance systems in general many years ago (and also why i eventually started working on such reviews). TRENDnet has been one of the first companies in that area of the industry i started cooperating with roughly a decade ago and so since i was looking to focus on one such review in light of these holidays i decided to take a look at one of their latest IP camera models to hit the market, the TV-IP328PI.

   TRENDnet is a global provider of award-winning networking and surveillance solutions to small and medium-sized business and home users. Building networking solutions since 1990, TRENDnet enables users to share broadband access, multimedia content and networked peripherals for true anywhere connectivity. TRENDnet's diverse product portfolio includes Wireless, Internet Cameras (IP Cameras), Switches, Power over Ethernet (PoE), Fiber, Gigabit, Home Automation, Network Video Recorders (NVR), Keyboard/Video/Mouse (KVM), Print Servers, Powerline, NAS Media Servers, Multimedia Accessories, and more. To learn more about TRENDnet, please visit www.trendnet.com.

   The brand new TV-IP328PI is an bullet IP camera indoor/outdoor model (the enclosure is IP67 certified / dust and water-proof with a temperature range from -30 and up to +50 degrees Celsius) that features an 4 megapixel, 1/3" CMOS sensor (4mm F1.2 focal length with an horizontal viewing angle of 77 degrees) which allows it to record in 2560x1440p resolution (1920x1080p/1280x720p are also supported) at up to 20fps. The TV-IP328PI also packs several interesting features including PoE (power over ethernet), WDR (wide dynamic range / 120dB) which can be used to enhance low-light areas, H.265 video encoding for significantly reduced recording sizes (H.264/H.264+ and H.265+ are also supported), dual IR LEDs (30 meters range), motion and tamper-proof detection and full ONVIF standard (S/G/T) compatibility. This is by no means the top-end model in the current TRENDnet IP camera line-up but based on its data sheet it does seem improved with what we've seen so far by them so let's check it out.