Subscriber Discussion

DSC Camera Any Good? SD?

UI
Undisclosed Integrator #1
Feb 14, 2014

See DSC C24-CAM54IR for more details. Has anyone tried it?

JH
John Honovich
Feb 14, 2014
IPVM

Looks like a crappy, residential only, add on to an alarm system. Yes/no?

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Brian Rhodes
Feb 14, 2014
IPVMU Certified

DSC does not make then, but buys them from Sercomm.

This camera is essentially the same as the iControl iCamera-1000, also carried by ADT under the same name for Pulse.

It is a <$150 USD camera built to maximize RMR in a home automation system, and is not compatible with a recorder outside the original home security service unless they give you the default login/pwd to reconfigure firmware.

Even the $29 ONVIF camera can be added to a VMS. This one is locked down.

UI
Undisclosed Integrator #1
Feb 14, 2014

I'm a burglar alarm installer, DSC and ELK. It's a nice add-on, IMO. Not too many house owners buy a full-fledge camera system (DVR/NVR), other than a Costco kit, that is.

Sorry, I could not locate the DSC camera on the Sercomm website. Theirs look alike, but not exactly the same. Well, unless they make a special cam for DSC only.

RMR? What does it stand for?

Nonetheless, I hope someone can tell me how good or how bad the image quality is?

Avatar
Brian Rhodes
Feb 14, 2014
IPVMU Certified

RMR = 'recurring monthly revenue', which means it is built as part of a panel based system that charges a service subscription for access. Like you noted, this works in the residential market who don't want to pay for commercial grade surveillance systems.

If you peek at the back label of the DSC C24 camera, the MAC Address begins with: '000E8F'

If you perform a MAC Address Lookup to see who owns that reservation, it belongs to Sercomm.

JH
John Honovich
Feb 14, 2014
IPVM

From what little info is provided, I bet image quality is poor. IR range is probably super short, 10 feet or less. Resolution is likely SD meaning day time will look fairly poor / antiquated as well.

Avatar
Brian Rhodes
Feb 14, 2014
IPVMU Certified

The spec sheet is behind a login, but here are the vitals:

  • 1/5" imager
  • F2.0 lens
  • 60 degree view angle
  • 640 x 480 resolution (Standard Def)

Again, pretty mediocre. This link gives some screenshots. While the author sounds impressed, he is trying to sell them. The camera might be good for bedroom monitoring, but would be very weak outdoors.

The camera simply is not built to be a strong performer and is pricey given the specs.

Hope that helps.

UI
Undisclosed Integrator #1
Feb 16, 2014

And if I understand, all recording occur on the cloud, right?

JH
John Honovich
Feb 16, 2014
IPVM

I recall that storage is very limited, like in MBs, not even GBs and that it's just motion events. Check obviously but this is another risk of such an offering.

UI
Undisclosed Integrator #1
Feb 17, 2014

Well, the default is 30-day storage. I'm sure it is upon motion only.

JH
John Honovich
Feb 17, 2014
IPVM

What's the fine print? What resolution? frame rate? compression level? Does it go to 30 days or is there any storage cap?

UI
Undisclosed Integrator #1
Feb 17, 2014

320 x 480 or 640 x 480 depending on the setting. No fine print found. No mention of FPS anywhere.

Your site retains all of the pictures and video clips taken by each of your cameras
for a certain number of days (determined by your service provider but commonly
30 days). If you want to save any pictures or video clips beyond that time, you can
save them to the hard drive on your computer.

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