INTRODUCTION

   Once upon a time surveillance cameras may have only been something people saw outside and inside banks, hospitals, convenience stores, malls, parking lots, highways, police and fire departments and certainly industrial complexes but today we see them literally everywhere. This of course has everything to do with the rise of crime rates all over the globe and for good or bad it seems that it's up to each and every single one of us to do all we can in order to safeguard both our loved ones and our property (police can't be everywhere). IP cameras have always been a valid deterrent for people looking to inflict harm onto others and since i also happen to use quite a few both at the office and at home I’ve always kept an eye out for new models in the industry. Still not many are quite as interesting and innovative as the NC400 4MP Night Chroma model by ANNKE which arrived here roughly a month ago.

   ANNKE, created for security, aims to provide the finest and best smart security cameras and systems for home and business owners worldwide. ANNKE’​s deep expertise in product design, smart home connectivity and cutting-edge capabilities enable it to deliver the most seamless security solutions for users. ANNKE is always striving to develop innovative technology to provide customers with easiest and the most straightforward security products. For more details about ANNKE and its products, please visit https://www.annke.com.

       The latest NC400 is a bullet indoor/outdoor IP camera model that features an IP67 certified enclosure (dust and water-proof with a temperature range from -30 and up to 60 degrees Celsius) and a 4 megapixel, 1/2.7" progressive CMOS sensor (2.8mm F1.0 focal length with a horizontal viewing angle of 102 degrees) which gives it recording capabilities of up to 2560x1440p resolution (2304x1296p/1920x1080p/1280x720p are also supported) and up to 20fps. Of course, that's far from all since the NC400 also sports several technologies including the A-1 image sensor (0.0001 lux - increases 180% of photosensitive areas), single light for night recording (100ft/30m range - color picture), PoE (power over ethernet), WDR (wide dynamic range / 120dB) with BLC and HLC for extra clarity especially in low-lighted areas, H.265+ video encoding for significantly reduced recording requirements (H.265/H.264+/H.264 are also supported), motion and tamper-proof detection and full ONVIF (S/G/T) and RTSP compatibility. So, time to see what this rather affordable 4MP IP camera can offer.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

ANNKE ships the NC400 inside a small blue box that just has the Night Chroma tag at the front right over their logo.

Contact information about ANNKE is placed on the left side of the box whereas on the right side we find a sticker with info on the product.

Packing is sufficient for an indoor/outdoor IP camera.

Along with the NC400 inside the box you'll also find a drill template, mounting screws, waterproofing parts (for the cable/connector), 24 hour video surveillance warning sticker and the user manual.

THE NC400

Measuring 161.1mm in length, 65.2mm in width and 68.4mm in height (adjustable base/stand included) the NC400 is very similar to most IP bullet cameras to have ever passed through the lab.

For example, here you can see the NC400 right next to the TV-IP1318PI model by TRENDnet.

4MP with a resolution of 2560x1440p at 20fps may not be something we haven't seen a lot in the past but thanks to the A-1 sensor and the supplemental light the NC400 should produce some very clear (not to mention color) night recordings.

ANNKE has placed their logo on both sides of the camera.

A sticker with the same information seen on the right side of the box is located on the belly of the camera.

Aside its RJ45 ethernet port (PoE compatible) the NC400 also has a power port.

What allows the NC400 to record clear color video at night is this "supplemental" white light at the front (which basically replaces traditional IR LEDs).

WEB INTERFACE PART 1

In order to locate the camera, you can download the SADP software from the ANNKE website which as you can see from the above picture will detect all ONVIF compatible cameras.

As usually the main screen tab is also the live feed.

Under the local tab you can change the live image parameters (for connection UDP usually works best for LAN connected IP cameras) and set the local recording directories.

From inside the system tab, you can set the device name, adjust the time, perform firmware updates, reboot the camera, save/restore settings, enable/disable security features (like RTSP, SSH and login hack) and add/remove users.

Everything related with the network is placed inside the network menu and so from here you can set the NIC type (10/100M speed), MTU number, IP address, enable IPV6, DNS, DDNS (remote access - ANNKE seems to have their own platform), enable PPPoE internet connectivity, setup SNMP, enable/disable UPNP, use port mapping, enable/disable HTTPS (secure web access), use QoS (quality of service) and enable/disable IEEE 802.1x authentication.

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

WEB INTERFACE PART 2

From inside the image tab, you can adjust settings that has to do with image quality including brightness, contrast, saturation, sharpness, IRIS mode, exposure settings, day/night settings, backlight settings (WDR works fine in most scenarios, not all - note that to use WDR with this model you will need to manually set the exposure time at 1/50), white balance, image enhancement (digital noise reduction), orientation (standard/mirror) and video standard (USA 60Hz / EU 50Hz).

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

The NC400 doesn't have a built-in micro SD card slot but you can record to a location on your local network (you can schedule the recording from the schedule tab).

VIDEO QUALITY

As usual in this section I’ll be covering the maximum resolution of the camera at hand (2560x1440p for this model) with optimised image settings (same as with previous IP camera models). All pictures are at full resolution.

Video quality is very good, granted with a maximum bitrate of 8192Kbps and a resolution of 2560x1440p you can't expect the best picture out there but still it's very crisp, colors are vivid and WDR works very well during the day (top picture is with WDR off, bottom is with WDR on).

The same applies at night since the WDR feature works very well but what's really different with the NC400 is its color night vision which some people will like while others may not (personally i like it but i think that some detail gets lost in the process).

CONCLUSION

   ANNKE may not be one of the most popular brands in the industry but their NC400 IP camera actually delivers on many things other more expensive models do not. The color night vision is of course it’s strongest selling point but image quality both at day and night is also very crisp and smooth. My sole serious concern (i would like to have seen a micro-SD card slot too) is with its supplemental white LED light which is also how the camera does very well at night. I just don’t know how long that light will last and since unlike IR LEDs it’s only 1 (usually there are at least 2 IR LEDs on IP cameras so even if one fails you can still expect some level of night vision) that could be an issue if its lifespan is not long (i also don’t know think it’s user replaceable). Higher bitrate would also be nice to have but for 99% of the uses out there (at least for people who’d choose a rather affordable model like this) even 8192Kbps should be plenty.

   At a price tag of USD129.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 119.99Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) the NC400 IP camera by ANNKE is indeed a rather affordable model aimed at consumers looking for better night picture and recording. Overall, i really can’t find anything wrong with the NC400 IP camera by ANNKE. Yes, i don’t know just how long its supplemental LED light is supposed to last (nor can i test for that) but i seriously doubt ANNKE would release a product with a small projected lifespan (or more accurately Hikvision since they seem to be the OEM for this model). So very good image quality paired with color night vision, IP67 certified enclosure and all that at a good price point are more than enough for me to give the ANNKE NC400 IP camera the Golden Award.

PROS

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

CONS

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