I wanted a long range zoom HDCVI "analog" camera for a license plate reader project. This looked good in other reviews so I ordered it.

Had a little issue with the zoom/focus controls, I was mistaken in thinking it was motorized, the paper package insert showed using PTZ controls, it wasn't immediately clear that these were mapping the DVR PTZ controller to the on-screen camera setup menus, the camera is manual zoom/focus.

The manual zoom/focus controls are well placed for adjustment when standing on a ladder. The quirk is if you zoom out to the maximum the camera won't focus, solution is to zoom out to the max, adjust focus to the max and then zoom in for final focus.

I made a temporary hook up pointing the camera at my neighbor's driveway across the street, at least 100 feet away, and focused on his car and truck in the driveway. Could get about 1.5 car widths at this maximum zoom, cutting off bits on the sides of each vehicle I could get both plates in view and read them easily on my DVR -- didn't even need "full screen" view, in the 3x3 grid view I can read the plates. The real test was at night. Using the suggestions from other reviews, I set the Exposure->Shutter to "manual" and set 1/2000 seconds. I also set DNR to "high" and saved the new settings.

Plate is very easy to read at night, the rest of the image is "black" but that is the way it has to be to keep the highly reflective license plate from being "washed out" and un-readable. In daylight the image is still very good, but usually a bit dark.

Mounting it permanently and trying moving traffic will tell the tale, but its still too hot here to root around in the attic to run the cable for its permanent mounting location.

Overall very happy with the performance, especially considering the price.

Motion detection shouldn't be on the review for this kind of camera -- its a function of the DVR -- which in my experience, is always terrible. Either you get so many false motion detectons from changing lighting that you might as well just record continuously, or it misses too many real motions. This is why I've made an add-on to use AI to detect "people" and "vehicles" in the RTSP streams and save full resolution jpeg images for MMS text messaging when away, or to provide an index into the 24/7 recorded video if something happens. Normally I never look at the security camera video unless something has happened. The scrubbing (finding the region of interest) on all the DVRs I've experience with is really poor, with the images saved by the AI I can go straight to the time of interest.

With the default settings, and some co-operating neighbors I could see a "virtual neighborhood watch" being setup with these cameras.

I hope there is, or they will come out with an IP version of these cameras -- drop the temptation to add all the DVR motion detection, ftp, Email etc. features. Concentrate on delivering good rtsp streams and returning low latency full frame resolution snapshots on demand via http requests. AI is the future, but its premature to put it in the camera right now, things are changing too rapidly.

Great! I have two Of these cameras they are very high quality license plate cameras.
like others have said it's perfect in the day time less so at night however rarely do I not at least get 95 percent of the plate at night time.
These are very big cameras so plan accordingly they are also not adjustable from a computer/Monitor you need to use a torx tool that comes in the box to adjust it properly. Overall I think it's a great value for only 130 bucks, I highly recommend it.

This is a good camera for the price, in particular for LPR purposes when compared against other LPR cameras, but it does have some drawbacks.

The bad: A common and enraging problem I encounter, this camera does NOT have an IR corrected lens, yet it has a manual focus and IR LEDs for night vision. This means you can't focus it perfectly for both night and day use. You have to use it for day or night or try to split the difference and have it semi-blurry both day and night. Also, on the camera menu, the highlight color is yellow on white text, and when in B/W mode, the menu goes B/W too, making the highlighted menu option EXTREMELY hard to determine; a glaring hall of shame oversight by the manufacturers. Finally, the LEDs are okay, but not strong enough for LPR use when zoomed in on a location more than about 60 to 70 feet away; you can potentially overcome that with additional IR illuminators, though you will suffer with discovering that no one seems to make IR spotlights, only floodlights, so you might have to just use a ridiculously overpowered IR flood light to sufficiently light the LPR target zone enough to enhance plate reflections (I used a Black Oak LED spotlight IR light pod which works great but was a very DIY solution, as those are meant for mounting to offroad vehicles and I had to adapt it for house power).

The good: The allen key adjusted zoom and focus are MUCH easier to control and fine tune than a lot of other zoom lens cameras; much easier than twist rings I see on a lot of other cameras. There is plenty of zoom capability (though take note of LED range limitations). There is reasonably good menu options, including a pretty good range of shutter options (better than some LPR-specific cameras have), which is what makes this camera LPR capable. And all of this, compared to other offerings, makes this camera, while far from ideal, an excellent value despite its limitations.

Recommended settings for LPR: Someone else recommended 1/4000 shutter speed, but I personally find 1/2000 to be about right. I would also recommend turning AGC (gain control) down to 4 or less. Due to noted LED limitations, try to mount less than 70 feet from target area unless you are willing to provide additional illumination. I also think it may help to turn the anti-fog option off.

Durability: I've been using 2 of these cameras for almost a year now. One has suffered water intrusion from rain/sprinklers which has damaged the ability for it to auto-switch day and night mode, but I was able to just set it for 24 hr night mode as that is all I use it for anyway. The other is better covered by an overhang and still works like new. So from that limited perspective, it seems like weatherproofing is not the greatest, but hard to say with out bigger sample sizes.

This camera has a great range for adjusting the zoom and an On Screen Display menu for making adjustments. I set this up as a license plate recognition camera using my old cabled CCTV system. The change from analog to AHD and the 2.4 megapixels provide great clarity and detail. I could not find the right night time settings. An email to HDView got a prompt and helpful response. I can see license plates at night as they leave my house!!

I bought this for my Lorex 4K system I bought from Costco. This work great. Just plug and play. I been reading people's comments on setting this camera on manual mode and adjusting the WDR and all the other settings to get the best night time license plate footage.

Here is my take away. Leave the settings alone. Let the camera auto adjust the night time aperture and all the settings. I can see the plate while the vehicle is moving quickly.

This has save my neighborhood when someone drove around stealing packages from our communities front porch. The person duet were arrested due to this camera getting their plates.