Review on 📷 Ctronics Security Camera Color Night Vision - 1080P Outdoor Home WiFi Camera 355°Pan 90°Tilt, Auto Tracking, Human Detection, 2-Way Audio: Ultimate Surveillance Solution by Greg Mack

This camera was set up using an iOS app. The iOS app is not that difficult to download and connect to the camera, but leaves a lot to be desired. The menu is not very clear for newcomers to these cameras. I had to read and re-read the instructions very many times, as well as going to their website to download all the information available, especially the SMTP setup help document via photo email (you can have 1-3 photos from the movement). Discovery is emailed to you via SMTP from your email like Google, Yahoo, etc., but setting it up is a long process. When I tested this feature, the app said the process failed, but then I saw the emails, so here we go. Keep in mind that the camera company, like most, is based in Asia. The documentation is sparse and not very clearly written, missing many details. Some PC application setup menus are missing characters, Chinese characters where English should be, it's kind of a mess. (I tried downloading them to see if I could use them instead, but couldn't without a solid connection to the camera). The video is very clear, but note that the app defaults to SD quality. So you must select HD to view clear videos and images. You only have to do this once unless you actually get it back. Motion tracking is a bit misleading if you point your camera at it once set up, this is the viewport to track from (you can select a smaller area to track in this view but you can't expand it and it's the only shape , which you can crop is square (unlike some cameras that allow you to draw curved shapes on the monitor) where it's misleading as panning tracking doesn't utilize the full range of the 355 view. So I pointed the camera at the edge of the porch at the end of the driveway, thinking she would rotate the camera to follow people to the door, but it didn't. The camera only turns to the door when I start looking after receiving a motion alert and moving the camera itself in real time (until you get to the app and start looking, in my experience they usually almost disappear by the delivery package or something like that ). I have a feeling this is not exactly what the documentation makes it sound like. It should be able to continue tracking within its pan range, not just in the narrow view it's in. Not sure what the tracking does other than continue recording as the camera doesn't need to move to track within the set view. I suppose it just follows movement, but then again, for what purpose? It will not zoom in or move the camera angle outside of the set viewport. Not sure. (You can zoom in on the live view in the app, although you can't zoom out from the default view, you can only zoom out after you've already zoomed in.) As far as video recording goes, it was very frustrating. I can set the camera to record movement on an FTP server I set up (for those who aren't tech savvy, this is a file storage folder on a remotely accessed device), but I can not bring to record on a micro SD card in the camera. . Yes I formatted it and yes it is within the GB range the camera can handle. I know the card works with the camera because the camera allows for "scheduled" recordings and will record SUCH to the SD card, but there is no setting in the app to do more than random ones throughout the day Set up recordings and for how long those videos are recorded. I believe the PC program allows you to further program this function, but using the PC program requires a LAN connection during setup, so I decided to set up my device and use it wirelessly via the app . This way I can set random records but have no other control over how many seconds they record. If this feature interests you, I suggest you use the PC version of the software to set up and access your camera. Yes, the camera requires a 9ft power cord with the included AC plug. No, it has no battery, solar panel or other power supply. Overall, I like the camera itself, but be aware that when it says it has headlights, it's illuminating it at night when it recognizes them. motion, you cannot turn it off because it uses this function for color night vision. I really don't like the app and I would love it if the company redesigned it. The lack of the ability to pan the camera to track people walking towards the house is a big disappointment, but when I point the camera straight at the door I miss every movement in the yard etc. There was simply no way to pan the camera to instantly see all the views you wanted. Thing is big, it's not very heavy, but make sure you screw the plate into the studs behind the fairing or it might come loose. I can see this camera being great in combination with other cameras in this range as you can add multiple cameras from one manufacturer to the app although you can only view one live feed at a time in the app. Not sure if this is different on PC. Note that the screws that came with the attachment were quite short to try and get through the fairing into the stud, so we replaced them with longer ones. I have contacted Ctronics to try and fix the micro SD card issue, but for now I have to settle for random video footage on my card and some motion tracking footage stored on my FTP server. rver files to .264 files (a non-standard file type for CCTV cameras) which require a video viewer program capable of playing these files (Ctronics has a free program in the support section of its website, although when playing it does not help these files from an FTP server on the phone.) UPDATE: Don't use motion tracking, only human tracking. With motion tracking disabled, the camera now pans to follow the movement and I finally managed to start recording to the SD card for alarms as well as scheduled recordings. Now I like the camera, the application still needs work.