Audio on ANPVIZ 3MP Dome Cam

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stuntflyer
Posts: 19
Joined: Thu May 07, 2020 12:31 am

Audio on ANPVIZ 3MP Dome Cam

Post by stuntflyer »

Hi

Been trying some new cameras. Really like the pic quality I am getting from the Anpviz 3MP dome cameras. Have a couple of issues however.

1. These cameras are supposed to support Audio - I am using ONVIF to connect to them, but I hear nothing but white noise. Is there any specail connection string I am supposed to use in the setup of the camera in BI5 to get the audio to work?

2. I have mounted them under the soffit as close to the house wall as possible, however when we get a hard rain, water can still get on the plastic dome cover, and that sometimes leaves watermarks on that cover. At night, that becomes an issue since the watermark reflects the IR light back into the camera and you get an ugly (often unusable picture) without going to clean the cover off. Is there a coating (like rainX) that anyone has experience with to address this problem?

Thanks
Steve
BI latest versions at numerous sites on both Intel and AMD platforms.
gbarnas
Posts: 10
Joined: Sun Sep 13, 2020 3:30 pm

Re: Audio on ANPVIZ 3MP Dome Cam

Post by gbarnas »

I am about to pull the trigger on the ANPVIZ 5MP PTZ Dome with 2-way audio. Glad to hear you are pleased with the video quality. Came here to figure out whether audio can work at all, as my other cameras with 1-way don't seem to do anything but hiss, as you've experienced.
I'm on a Hyper-V host but will be moving to a dedicated 8-core host with GPU and audio support to see if that helps. Will follow up if I get any success.
Glenn
stuntflyer
Posts: 19
Joined: Thu May 07, 2020 12:31 am

Re: Audio on ANPVIZ 3MP Dome Cam

Post by stuntflyer »

I think I figured out my "problem" - while the marketing material said the 3MP model has audio, I do not see any mic inside the thing. I just installed a 5MP model and it DOES have a mic, and it works. Not the greatest audio quality, but, it will suffice for most applications.
BI latest versions at numerous sites on both Intel and AMD platforms.
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TimG
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Location: Nottinghamshire, UK.

Re: Audio on ANPVIZ 3MP Dome Cam

Post by TimG »

Hi stuntflyer,

You are probably correct about the microphone. My Ertech camera has "audio", but there is no microphone, just a 3.5mm connector to plug one in. I tried a few external microphones but it didn't work well. The Dahua camera has one built in, and it does work well. For anybody that doesn't use audio, it is like watching tv with the sound turned off. You are missing half of the action !

Cameras with dome covers are always susceptible to reflections from their own IR Leds. I would also be concerned if it is a plastic dome cover, as that will probably degrade with UV. Out of all of my cameras, I prefer the "turret" style of the Dahua camera.
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gbarnas
Posts: 10
Joined: Sun Sep 13, 2020 3:30 pm

Re: Audio on ANPVIZ 3MP Dome Cam

Post by gbarnas »

Hi StuntFlyer -

I installed the first ANPVIZ 5M camera today - great video quality. Audio picks up the sound of the PTZ motors when moving and then just a continuous rumbling like a motorboat idling. I'll have to putter around with the settings and see what I can find.

I did move BlueIris from a Hyper-V Server 2019 guest to the dedicated W-10 Pro host with audio, but it has an AMD 8-core. Looking for an i7 to replace it.

So found some VERY irksome "features" of this camera:
  1. Cannot set the host name. Insists on "IPCAM_la_ti_da_nonsense.my.domain". Messes with my "Hostname OCD". ;) Even tried setting the DHCP attribute for hostname without success.
  2. The DNS hosts get set to public IP addresses despite DHCP providing internal addresses, which overrides my internal DNS servers. I had to set a manual IP to resolve this.
  3. The PTZ is not "responsive" - I have to hold the arrow down for 2+ seconds before it moves, and then it keeps moving, but if I just tap the arrow, it never moves at all. Finicky compared to the Foscam it replaced.
I do have another ANPVIZ camera to test. The one I installed today has a 12x zoom, which is far better than the 4x it replaced facing the back yard. I bet I could tell the gender of the critters that wander through the yard with that magnification. :) The others are 4x zoom PTZ for the front and back door. Those have 2-way audio.

Glenn
gbarnas
Posts: 10
Joined: Sun Sep 13, 2020 3:30 pm

Re: Audio on ANPVIZ 3MP Dome Cam

Post by gbarnas »

Finally got around to installing the 4M Camera on the front porch this weekend. I am able to pick up audio clearly when someone is standing below the camera on the porch, but when they are at the base of the stairs, the audio is faint and hard to discern if there is much background noise. that's about 4' down and 5' away from the camera. I have the mic facing at a 45-degree angle from the front wall where it's hung, where people would typically stand after ringing the doorbell.

Couple of annoying quirks with the ANPVIZ cameras so far that forced me to statically configure the network settings.
  1. I can't get DHCP to work on the 4M cameras at all.
  2. The 5M camera uses public DNS even when it gets DHCP, so forced manual IP settings.
  3. The 4M cameras default to a fixed 192.16.0.18 address, not DHCP. I needed to add a 192 address to my BI server to perform the initial config. I can't believe that vendors don't default to DHCP in this age.
The lack of proper DHCP support is frustrating, because I don't statically configure anything but the firewall, core switch, and servers here.

I did reduce the gain in the 5M camera's audio and that reduced the buzzing on the audio but didn't eliminate it. Still can't get audio out on the 4M cameras, though. I configured them to play an audio clip when an alarm triggers but either can't hear it or it isn't working.
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