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.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

The main product features are listed at the front of the box right beneath a product picture and the company logo.

Both the product features and the bundle contents are printed on the left side.

On the right side TRENDnet mentions their 24/7 technical support and the free available Android and iOS apps.

The main product features are also listed at the rear of the box in 7 languages.

Contact information for TRENDnet along with the product's serial and part numbers and barcodes are all placed on the bottom.

The entire bundle is placed inside a piece of foam.

Along with the TV-IP328PI IP Camera you'll also get 3 long mounting screws, water and dust protection clips (for the RJ45 cable), drill template, IPView app booklet, quick installation guide, product catalog and a safety note paper.

THE TV-IP328PI

The TV-IP3288PI is a compact IP bullet camera that measures 173mm in length, 70mm in width and 70mm in height and weighs just 280g.

Its lens feature a horizontal angle of 77 degrees and two IR LEDs placed on the lower left and right (not visible ones when off).

The 3-axis mounting arm (made out of plastic) allows you to pan (up to 360 degrees), tilt (up to 180 degrees) and rotate (up to 360 degrees) the camera.

Information about the camera is placed on a sticker located on its belly as seen above.

WEB INTERFACE 1

The configuration tab should be your first stop when setting up the TV-IP328PI model and so from the local menu you will need to select the live view (UDP is the fastest setting but sometimes TCP works better) and the various recording parameters.

From the system menu you can change the device name, enter a location, set the time, perform firmware updates, reboot the device, save/restore settings, enable/disable security features (like RTSP, SSH and login hack) and add/remove users.

Everything related to the network is placed inside the network menu and so from here you can set the NIC type (10/100M speed), IP address, MTU, DNS, DDNS (remote access), enable/disable UPNP, use port mapping, setup SNMP, enable/disable HTTPS (secure web access), use QoS (quality of service), enable/disable IEEE 802.1x authentication and finally you can also enable/disable support for the ONVIF standard.

Video quality can be controlled from the Video/Audio menu so from here you can adjust the following settings for both streams such as resolution, bitrate type, video quality (only for variable bitrate), frame rate, maximum bitrate, encoding codec, I frame interval (the number should be the same as the selected fps) and video smoothing.

WEB INTERFACE 2

From inside the image menu you can adjust settings that has to do with image quality including brightness, contrast, saturation, sharpness, exposure settings, day/night settings (we suggest turning smart IR off), backlight settings (WDR works fine in most scenarios, not all), white balance, image enhancement (digital noise reduction) and video adjustment (orientation, standard and capture mode).

The OSD (on-screen display) sub-menu is self-explanatory so from here you can choose what information you'd liked displayed on the camera feed.

The privacy mask feature allows you to hide several "sensitive" areas from the camera feed.

You can also enable motion detection, video tampering and email alert features again on several parts of the feed from the event menu.

Even though the TV-IP328IP doesn't have a memory card slot still you can enable recording to a drive connected to your network (from the storage menu you can also set FTP access).

IPVIEW ANDROID / IOS APP

TRENDnet’s IPView software for Android and iOS devices is very easy to use, just download it and either search for the camera or add it manually (your smartphone/tablet needs to be connected to your local network).

Afterwards the main video feed is placed at the center of the app while the available camera feeds are placed right beneath it (the quality of the feed depends on the video settings of the secondary stream).

By clicking on the i located at the lower right of the app you can see the current resolution, fps and bitrate of the main feed (clicking on the camera takes a snapshot and, on the rec, well it starts video recording).

From the settings tab you can enable auto-scan (for the cameras), change the aspect ratio and link a DropBox account to the app.

VIDEO QUALITY

As usual in this section we’ll be covering the maximum resolution of the camera at hand (2560x1440p for this model) with optimised image settings (same as with previous TRENDnet models).

You can check picture quality during the day from the above pictures (top snapshot is with WDR off, bottom is with WDR on).

For unknown reasons during the night WDR does nothing more than to darken everything as you can all see from the above snapshots (top off, bottom on). Other than that the two IR LEDs illuminate everything in a distance of up to 28-30 meters.

CONCLUSION

   Much like most IP cameras at default image/video settings the TV-IP328PI failed to impress me at first, especially when I compared it to the 3-year old TV-IP314PI model which I’ve been using (and it’s not even the updated version). Everything changes however once you start toying around with the various settings like WDR, brightness, sharpness and the various quality/smoothness sliders. That being said nothing can make up for viewing angles and the fact of the matter is that the TV-IP328PI model has a narrower one (not by much for me to include it in the cons list, but it does) compared to some other models (TV-IP314PI included). The same applies for available bitrate and even though the maximum number of 8192Kbps should cover most consumers (thus not really a drawback) i was expecting slightly more. On the other hand however night vision is quite good and certainly improved (the IR LEDs used here are also less visible) compared to most models I’ve used to date and the H.265 codec does indeed result in reduced recording sizes.

   With just two days left until Christmas the TV-IP328PI Indoor/Outdoor 4MP H.265 PoE IR Bullet Network Camera by TRENDnet retails for just 99.90Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) a price tag which in my opinion is very balanced for what you’re getting in return. Unfortunately, it seems this specific model is not currently available in the USA something which we hope changes really soon (especially since TRENDnet is a California based company). Overall the brand new TV-IP328PI model by TRENDnet may not be perfect (one more model for which TRENDnet doesn’t place weight on audio and internal storage) nor is it their best one but for consumers looking to get a cost-effective outdoor network camera with very good image quality and night vision and a plethora of available features it’s certainly a valid option and since it does deliver on pretty much everything i was hoping to see it gets our Golden Award.

PROS

- 4MP CMOS Sensor
- Supports Resolutions Up To 2560x1440p @20fps
- Supported Features (H.265/H.265+/PoE/120dB WDR)
- IP67 Weatherproof Housing
- 30m Effective Night Vision
- Web Interface Settings
- Available Software (PC / Android / iOS)
- Size
- Price (For Some)

CONS

- Available Connectors (No Alarm, Video and Audio In/Out)
- No microSD / SD Card Slot (Internal Storage)
- USA Availability (Current)