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Ubiquiti UniFi Video Camera Review

£999,999.00 excl. VAT

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Review by Ben Haines

Date Added: Wednesday 01 October, 2014

I'd been waiting for this camera ever since the announcement. Small, affordable, reasonable picture quality and IR. Add to that some controller software that is (hopefully) fit for purpose. Just like the controller for Ubiquiti's wireless UniFi range, you don't pay for the controller software. Another bonus.

The camera built quality is ok. What I was expecting for the price.

Mounting the camera was relatively straightforward and it comes with screws and wall anchors/plugs. Should you want to mount it on a pole it comes with a metal strap too.

I have a POE switch (non Ubiquiti) so was disappointed to have to use the POE injector to provide the camera with 24v. To my knowledge you can’t use Ubiquiti’s inline POE down converters either.

Installing the UniFi software took a bit of digging. In the end I followed the instructions on their UniFi Video product blog here: https://community.ubnt.com/t5/UniFi-Video-Blog/UniFi-Video-3-
-0-5-amp-UVC-AirCam-3-0-7-Release/ba-p/882264 Once I followed their recommended approach for Ubuntu 14.04 it was a quick and easy install.

The software itself it quite impressive and seems stable (with 1 camera installed). Given some of the posts on the Ubiquiti forums I was expecting something less mature. Within minutes I’d setup two zones, one to exclude a busy main road from triggering regular motion detection alerts. I also have it sending me motion detection email alerts. You’ll need an smtp server (typically provided by your ISP) to set this up.

Finally, the video quality isn’t bad either. As good as you can expect from a £100 720p camera. I’ve rated it 4 out 5. I haven’t rated it 5 out 5 because of the challenges installing the software and lack of supporting documentation for the UniFi Video controller software.

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