Bosch WDR 1080p Cameras Reviewed

The movement to megapixel wide dynamic range cameras continues with new 1080p WDR box [link no longer available] and dome offerings from Bosch. In the last year, the industry has evolved from just a few megapixel WDR offerings to a wide variety of options. For background, see our WDR Megapixel shootout and subsequent shootouts with new WDR offerings from Panasonic, Hikvision and Axis. In this note, we examine the positioning of Bosch's new WDR offering compared to other major brands.

Key Details

Here are the key competitive details of the Bosch 1080p WDR cameras (932 series):

• Available in both box [link no longer available] and dome form factors
• Bosch claims that low light performance is equal to the 832 cameras (which performed extremely well in our low light shootout); the main difference between the two lines is the inclusion of WDR
• Bosch video analytics are included at no additional cost
• MSRP for the box model is $1,716 USD, ~$225 more than the MSRP of the NBN-832; Street pricing is likely to be ~$1,000 and ~$100 more than the 832
• Note: Bosch markets this as an HDR camera but it essentially the same functionality / category as WDR

Competitive Positioning

This line has the potential to challenge Axis's Q1604 fixed and P3384 dome for top all around image quality if it does combine Bosch's existing low light performance with improved WDR. The advantage against Axis would be higher resolution as the Bosch cameras are 1080p while the Axis cameras are 720p which would give Bosch an advantage in evenly lit day time scenes. Pricing for both manufacturers are fairly similar.

Compared to other manufacturers, the Bosch, like Axis's WDR models, are somewhat to significant highly priced. Recently, both Arecont and Avigilon announced multi-megapixel WDR cameras. Those, along with Hikvision's, are far less expensive though may have inferior low light performance.

This fall, we plan to do another WDR shootout to test the many newly released cameras against existing leaders.

[UPDATE: Bosch WDR 1080p camera test results.]