Hikvision DS-2CD2032-I CCTV POE 3MP Bullet IP HD Security Network Camera, 4mm

OK, this may be a temporary 5 star until I look further into this camera and it's performance. I just received it today and it came in a, fresh from China brown plain box which scares me a little. The company it was purchased from is on Ft. Worth Texas and it is positive that this is NOT made in the USA too. So I hope if any problems occur that the warranty is not a scam. I have no idea yet what firmware is in place either, so I am praying that I didn't get porked for this camera. The camera has some weight to it, so it feels worthy, I just hope I do not become a statistic with it. :.)Version Firmware was 5.2.5 and shipped out of Texas, but it was verified by Hikvision USA to be China Region by the letter "C" in the serial number.UPDATE:Well, I have figured out how to install the IP numbers correctly and the camera is working very well. I have it mounted at the peak of the house on a craftsman home under the eve. I will have to remount it just a tad lower since the eves are a bit in the picture.The image at night is surprisingly very nice. Subtle noise that is tolerable and if my porch light is on I can actually turn the night vision led's off.I wish the camera was a little more wide angled, but this is the 4mm and is the characteristic of this camera. I can see both our vehicles and the camera covers about 40 of the 50ft at the front and it goes from the street to the last 4 steps to our door. Pretty impressive.If the led's are on at night, you will notice that the bugs like the color. They don't swarm all around it, just the occasional fly by that could set off the motion detection if turned up to high.The installation went incredibly fast. I had to climb a 2 story ladder for mounting the camera and then get up into the attic to run the cable after drilling a hole that the camera is mounted over. I got lucky with the next hole where the other end of the cable is required to drop into the room the camera equipment is in.I am using an 8 channel POE / LAN injector and that runs to the TP Link switch which replaces a router device. That has a cable running to the Comcast modem and I have the display software setup on an Acer dedicated surveillance PC. I'm pretty happy with with how it all worked out so far and I will be purchasing 3 more cameras that will monitor the property very well. I also will install a couple motion lights to enhance detail of anyone entering the property unannounced.It's nice to have a quality system that watches for trouble while your family sleeps at night. As well, you no longer have to get up from your chair if you hear a noise outside. All you have to do is look over at the video screen to see if it requires your attention.Everything was well worth the money I guess. As long as they last through our extreme weather patterns, but this shouldn't be an issue.The bottom line of fun with this is that next time someone prowls your home, they will be caught on camera.

I really wanted this camera to work, I really did. What I saw of the image was outstanding, best I've ever seen on a ip camera. But alas, it was not to be. After initial setup, I disconnected the camera and mounted it in it's "permanent" location and was never able to access the web interface again. The discovery SW could see the camera and I was able to change network setting to my hearst content, but no matter what I did, the web interface would not load in either FF or IE. This rendered the camera useless and it's on it's way back. Thanks Amazon for the wonderful way in which you handle returns.and now for the rest of the story.The Documentation is garbage. The disk that comes with it includes documentation for all Hikvision products. The documention is not listed by model, it's listed by catagory. There are 6 categories for you to slog through and It's a real chore finding the correct manual. Once you have found it, guess what, it's utter gibberish. Lost in translation doesn't even begin to describe it but almost totally useless does. For example, I tried to find instructions for resetting the camera (it does have a reset button but seems to be non fuctional) And never did in spite of my best efforts.The web interface, what little I saw of it intially, is equally bewildering. Given the time, I suppose one could sort it out but why should you have to invest your valuable time in doing so? The web interface, as well as the documentation, could benefit tremendously from the services of a competent interpreter. The included viewing SW if equally confusing. I did get the live view to work initially but have no idea how, it was purely accidental. But like the rest of the bundle, this SW is rendered garbage due to a lack of logic.On the plus side, the camera appears to be well built and as I said before, the video is superb.What a shame, I really did want this to work. But I won't be buying another Hikvision product, I'll look elsewhere.