IP Camera Learning blog

Evaluation: Sony SNC-DS10 Fixed Dome IP Security Camera

August 25th, 2010 by Greg Innes

The Sony SNC-DS10 is a compact fixed mini-dome IP camera designed specifically for IP video security surveillance applications. It features a 1/4-inch progressive scan CCD imaging sensor with Exwave PRO technology and will output 640×480 video at full frame rate 30fps.

ExwavePRO is a camera sensor technology unique to Sony. It was designed specifically for security applications and uses progressive scanning and complimentary color filtering to provide highly sensitive images for low-light monitoring at 0.3 lux (at F1.3). It also provides crisp, high quality color images throughout the day.

This SNC-DS10 is an indoor model and suited for security applications in public transport terminals, shopping malls, office buildings, reception areas, convenience stores, colleges etc. Its compact size makes it ideal for discreet monitoring and it can be mounted both on the ceiling and on a wall depending on application.

Initial Configuration

Initial configuration of the camera is simple and follows the familiar methods used by most IP camera manufacturers.

We connected the camera to our testing PC with an Ethernet cross-over cable, although the normal method would be to connect using a regular straight-through cable via a switch or router, both will work equally as well.

Because we cannot access the camera without knowing what its IP address is we use a program which will scan the network for any Sony IP cameras and report what their IP addresses are. This is a program called ‘IP Setup Utility’ and comes provided on the CD-ROM with the camera.

The setup utility will allow you to configure a suitable IP address for the camera which is suitable for your network. You can also set the gateway address (router), DNS servers, and HTTP port number for the camera’s web server.

From this utility you can also set the date/time and control the bandwidth output for the camera which can be useful for installation in surveillance systems where attention must be paid to bandwidth usage across the network. By limiting the output from the camera you can control exactly what bandwidth is used which is essential for estimating total bandwidth usage.

Before saving the settings you also have to add the default username and password:

UN: admin
PW: admin

Once you have set up the address details for the camera you can access it from a web browser:

When you first access the camera you are greeted with the splash page. The number of viewing options on this page differs depending on which browser you are using.

Sony only officially support Internet Explorer on Windows Vista or XP but the camera will provide a live image using Firefox or similar alternative browser which leads us to believe they will produce images on a Mac equally as well. That said, the camera will not provide full functionality on different browsers or platforms and the software which comes with the camera is Windows-based only.

If you choose a viewing method which requires a browser plug-in the first time you view your camera it will ask you to install the plug-in before you can view the live video. This is something that will only happen once when you first browse into the camera.

Ease of use

Once we have access to the camera we ran through the normal setup of any camera:

Date and Time

Here we set the system date and time for the camera. You can choose to enter the time manually, synchronize it with the PC you are viewing the camera with or set automatically with an NTP time server. You can also set the international time zone and have the camera adjust for daylight savings automatically.

Picture Settings

From the ‘picture’ menu you can make image adjustments to get the best quality results from the surrounding environment. Here you can adjust the:

• White Balance: this allows you to adjust the color temperature of the image so you can get the closest match to natural color of the environment.
• Exposure: Exposure of the camera is essentially automatic with an automatic iris but some settings can be adjusted to fine-tune the image in certain conditions.
• Backlight compensation: This allows the camera to make automatic adjustments in conditions where there is very brightly lit backlight in the scene.
• Gamma: Gamma settings affect the contrast of the image at the mid-levels. You can adjust the brightness of an image by making small adjustments to the gamma settings without it affecting the highlights or shadows. It is mainly used so that you can achieve consistent output on different displays.
• Saturation: You can adjust the level of color. A high saturation would provide very bright, vibrant colors where a low saturation level would provide an almost black and white image.
• Sharpness: Allows you to adjust the level of sharpness.
• Contrast: Allows you to adjust the level of contrast.

Image Format, Resolution and Quality Settings

The video compression format and resolution can be set from this menu. Resolutions can be set from the following options:

JPEG – 768×576 : MPEG-4 – 640×480 (VGA)
JPEG – 640×480 (VGA) : MPEG-4 – 640×480 (VGA)
JPEG – 640×480 (VGA) : MPEG-4 – 384×288
JPEG – 640×480 (VGA) : MPEG-4 – 320×240 (QVGA)
JPEG – 384×288 : MPEG-4 – 640×480 (VGA)
JPEG – 320×240 (QVGA) : MPEG-4 – 640×480 (VGA)
JPEG – 384×288 : MPEG-4 – 384×288
JPEG – 320×240 (QVGA) : MPEG-4 – 320×240 (QVGA)

JPEG Compression can be set using 10 preset levels and MPEG-4 quality can be adjusted by adjusting the bandwidth from 64kbps to 2048kbps.

User Access

The final part of a regular set up procedure is adding a user. We can see from the above user set up that we can set up users with multiple levels of user-priviledges.

• Full: User has full access to all features
• Light: The user can view the live image, select the image size, control digital zoom and capture a still image.
• View: The user can only view the live image from the camera

Key Features of the Sony SNC-DS10

ExwavePRO

ExwavePRO is an image sensor technology developed by Sony specifically for security applications. It features a progressive scan sensor with complimentary color filtering making it highly sensitive and delivering high quality results in low-light conditions.

Sony Exwave sensors have been used by many IP camera manufacturers in the past but Sony tell us that their ExwavePRO sensor is staying a Sony product.

DEPA

As the Sony SNC-DS10 supports Sony’s DEPA (Distributed Enhanced Processing Architecture) technology platform this opens up the camera to a world of Intelligent Video Analytics.

The camera, when combined with a DEPA compliant recorder (such as a Sony NVR or Realshot Manager software) can be configured with a range of automated functions which greatly improved the efficiency of the surveillance system or the control room operators.

The camera supports Intelligent Motion Detection (IMD) which can tag and identify positions of moving objects are report their location to a DEPA-compliant recorder such as a Sony NVR or Realshot Manager software. Other features include creating virtual boundaries or perimeter control areas.

Intelligent Video Analytics is an example of why IP video surveillance offers so much more than conventional analogue CCTV and Sony are leading the way with their DEPA platform.

Intelligent Motion Detection

The Motion Detection settings application relies on an ActiveX component so when you enter this option for the first time you should expect to install a plug-in. As ActiveX is a Microsoft technology you will have to use Internet Explorer for this feature.

Once you have installed the ActiveX plug-in you will see the following image:

The Sony SNC-DS10 supports Intelligent Motion Detection (IMD) which vastly reduces the number of false alarms generated by noise or repeated motion petterns. Objects which are seen to be moving can be seen to be highlighted with a green box and this travels with the object until it moves out of scene (see below):

Of course, with Sony’s DEPA technology platform IMD can be passed through a number of filters allowing you to initiate alarms based on more specific movements such as passing a virtual borderline for perimeter control applications.

Power over Ethernet

Power over Ethernet (PoE) is probably a standard feature of any IP security camera now and with good reason.

PoE allows the installation engineer to install the camera in almost any location without worrying about where the power will come from because the power is injected into the same Ethernet cable which supplies the data.

This makes the Sony SNC-DS10 extremely easy and efficient to install and also cuts costs by not having to run electrical cabling to the cameras location.

Full-screen mode

Axis cameras have been offering this feature for years (through ActiveX only) but we’re now seeing more and more IP cameras include this which is very handy.

A true full-screen mode will expand the image from the camera to take up the full display of your monitor and this makes live monitoring easier. It’s also great if you want to display your images on a large display such as a plasma or LCD TV but remember you should try and use a camera which has as resolution close to the native resolution of the TV panel for optimum results. This camera outputs at a max. 768×576 so the image will be stretched on an HDTV and not look as good as it could from a megapixel camera.

Constant bit-rate algorithm

The Sony SNC-DS10 offers the option of using a constant bit-rate for streaming video.

Using a constant bit-rate algorithm the camera can output live streaming video within any bandwidth restrictions imposed but still maintain a high level of picture quality.

Quick focus adjustment

To aid focusing of the camera there is a button underneath the dome marked ‘IRIS’. When this button is pressed the iris in the camera will open to its widest position to let as much light into the camera as possible (this makes focusing easier) and a focus meter appears on screen.

Unlike some other cameras we’ve used in the past the focus meter here can be displayed both across the network on a browser and on analog video monitors.

Auxiliary analog video out

Underneath the dome the camera has an RCA composite video output.

As this connection is underneath the dome and can’t be accessed externally once the dome is in place it is used as a temporary analog video output only. This allows the engineer to plug in a hand-held monitor to help with lens positioning and focusing at the point of installation.

2-way Bi-Directional Audio

The camera offers bi-directional audio which allows the camera operator to listen-in to the area where the camera is located and also talk back or issue instructions/warnings to people in the cameras vicinity.

The SNC-DS10 also has a feature called Voice Alert which contains 3 slots which can be pre-loaded with sound samples. These sound samples can be used when an alarm has been triggered in the camera to alert any intruders.

To use bi-directional audio or to record/upload sounds to the Voice Alert feature you must install the SNC Audio Upload tool which comes on the CDROM:

When first run the application will search the network for any installed Sony cameras and display on screen (as shown above).

To communicate with people near the camera you would use the Audio Upload tab and to record or upload sounds for Voice Alerts (max. 30s) you would use the Voice alert tab. But, before doing so you must select which camera you want to use and enter the cameras administrator username and password.

Only 1 person can communicate through the camera at any one time. Audio files are created or should be uploaded in a ‘.vof’ file format.

Performance Findings

As the SNC-DS10 camera is for indoor use we tested the camera in an indoor location using artificial fluorescent lighting.

Widest angle setting – fluorescent lighting – surrounding light approx. 370 lux

Digital zoom – fluorescent lighting – surrounding light approx. 370 lux

Telephoto setting – fluorescent lighting – surrounding light approx. 370 lux

The images illustrate the typical quality from the camera at default settings. We can see that they are of a high quality as you would expect from Sony and the colors represented are very natural.

The wide angle setting of the lens at 73 degrees is large enough for most applications and the position of the lens is actually very easy to achieve using the unique ball-joint type mechanism. However, we found focusing the lens quite fiddly.

User Interface

The user interface doesn’t seem to have evolved much from Sony’s previous models but interestingly, under the hood there is a bit of evolution going on. Sony’s older cameras such as the SNC-RZ25 and SNC-P5 etc. all came with a software release which could only be used using ActiveX on Microsoft Internet Explorer, it was pretty exclusive. You could perhaps get an image from the cameras using Firefox or some other alternative browser but when you tried to access the settings the pop-up window wouldn’t show or would display but be unreadable. It seems like Sony has started to make steps to rectify this as this camera works almost as equally well in Firefox as it does in IE but there are some notable exceptions such as the Motion Detection settings needing its own ActiveX control for example. With Sony being a major player in the drive for standardized operation for IP video interactivity (see ONVIF) its good to see a small step towards cross-platform compatibility but it should be noted that Sony still only officially supports Internet Explorer…

Motion Detection Settings

We mentioned above that to adjust any of the motion detection settings in the camera you will need to install its own control? We found a problem with this. It seems that the feature will run perfectly well in IE7 (and probably IE6) but refuses to load properly using IE8. Even when we ran IE8 with compatibility mode on to mimick IE7 it still wouldn’t run. In order to fully test this function we had to rollback to IE7. This is something Sony probably needs to look into as IE8 is fairly predominant to Vista installations and is the default browser of Windows 7.

Pulsing

Another odd quirk we noticed was a strange pulsing being displayed on the live image when we used MPEG-4 at anything lower than 2048kbps bit rate. This looks like an artefact of the MPEG-4 compression algorithm. We even tested using a different brand of PoE midspan in case the pulse was caused by the electrics but this had no effect. It’s just a small issue but its something that, once seen, you can’t stop yourself from seeing and ultimately becomes distracting.

Full Screen Mode

The Full Screen mode is a nice addition but on a camera which only has a max. resolution of 768×576 pixels you will find that the image will be stretched on most displays so you will never achieve optimum image quality in this mode. It also forces aspect ratio leaving black borders across the top and bottom of the image. This is another example of a feature which works perfectly in IE but doesn’t quite work as well in Firefox. When tested using Firefox the image goes full screen but the title bar remains behind. It also doesn’t cope well with dual head displays with the video appearing on the primary monitor no matter where it is called from. It also always reverts back to browser if you click the mouse anywhere on the secondary monitor meaning that for dual monitor displays, you really can’t watch your camera full screen as you work.

Conclusion

Sony have created the SNC-DS10 specifically for security applications. With the implementation of their new ExwavePro sensor the camera is extremely sensitive producing good results during the day and usable images in lighting conditions as low as 0.3 lux.

The integrated wide angle lens gives good coverage at up to 73 degrees horizontal at its widest position making it suitable for almost any security application. It has also been designed for easy installation with PoE connectivity, a unique ball-joint lens positioning mechanism and analog video out.

What Sony promise with the SNC-DS10 they deliver. It produces high quality images at full frame rate and offers integration into DEPA-compliant recording solutions or third-party alternatives such as Milestone. It’s also an attractive looking camera which is compact and discreet and wouldn’t look out of place in any professional application.

There are some features missing which would have made it even more useful such as true day/night, full megapixel etc. but it’s not fair to hold this against the SNC-DS10 as they are catered for by other, more expensive models. If you are looking for a reliable security camera at a good price which is both attractive and easy to install then you won’t go wrong with the Sony SNC-DS10.