Compro IP70 review

Compro's IP70 is a feature-packed IP security camera with infra-red night vision for under £90. It has a built in speaker and microphone plus 3.5mm ports for an external speaker and mic. This makes it potentially very useful as part of a secure entry system, though it'll need to be carefully positioned as this is a static camera, with no automated pivot or tilt. It has a 10/100 Ethernet port – Compro makes an optional WL155 wireless adaptor but we couldn't find it on sale in the UK. A microSD card can be used to store data locally if it loses its network connection.

The CD installer automatically configured the camera and even registered it on the free iddns.net DDNS service, making the camera easy to view over the internet. It has a maximum resolution of 640x480 at 30fps or 1280x1024 at 15fps, but it's advisable to drop to a lower resolution for internet viewing. It can use MPEG-4, H.264 and M-JPEG codecs and can simultaneously output two video streams in different formats and resolutions, so you can have a dedicated stream to view on mobile phones.

Clear, bright night vision is provided by a bank of glowing red LEDs that activate when light levels drop or which can be enabled by a schedule. The camera's web interface makes it easy to set up motion-activated trigger states that will save a JPEG snapshot to an FTP server or SD card. It can also send out email alerts when triggered.

The camera's web viewer interface only works via an ActiveX control for Internet Explorer and can't be viewed using any other browser, although its Setup page is accessible. You'll need to install the latest firmware from Compro's website to replace an unsigned ActiveX control which causes installation problems in IE. The browser viewer is easy to use, with just a handful of simple controls to adjust the brightness and video size, capture a screenshot or use a microphone to communicate through the camera's speaker.

The excellent ComproView Windows utility allows you to manage, record and view streams from up to 32 separate IP cameras with up to 16 feeds on screen simultaneously. It can be configured to record data to your PC on a set schedule or when triggered by an event. It can detect motion, human faces, sound and even the removal of objects from the camera's field of vision. Like the browser viewer, ComproView has a talk button that allows you to speak through your camera.

Unfortunately, two-way communication doesn't work particularly well through the built-in speaker and microphone, as the speaker picks up sound from the microphone, causing feedback and echoes. Despite this disappointment and the camera's limited browser support, there's a lot to like here. It's incredibly easy to set up and use and both its day and night vision are sharp and clear, which make it a Best Buy.