What our experts say …
JVC is one of the few manufacturers with a happy knack of getting it right most of the time. The new TK-C1530 colour day/night camera is no exception, though it does have one highly infuriating feature, but we’ll come to that in a minute.
This is a well-rounded high-performance model designed to fulfil a wide variety of demanding roles, with a number of advanced features targeted at specific applications including such things as automatic number plate recognition. It is based around a 1/3-inch Interline CCD with 400k effective pixels (725 x 582), yielding a claimed resolution of 540 lines and a low light sensitivity of 0.4 lux (colour mode) and 0.05 lux in B/W night mode.
Other highlights include an on-screen menu and title function, up to four privacy masks, selectable CRT/LCD display output mode, auto/manual AGC, backlight compensation and auto/manual shutter (1/50 – 1/10,000th sec).
It has an RS-422/RS-485 interface and external switching for remotely controlling various functions, one of which is the ‘Scene File’. This stores a range of presets (scene title, white balance shutter speed, gain, B/W or colour, backlight mode, iris mode); up to four files can be created, two of which can be selected remotely. The Day/Night switch flips an IR cut filter in front of the lens and this can also be controlled remotely. Finally there’s JVC’s proprietary image enhancement system, called Smart Edge Control (SEC), which is meant to sharpen up fine details.
We couldn’t move on without a quick mention for the instructions and a potentially useful maintenance feature. The instruction manual is one of the best we’ve seen in recent times, easy to understand, profusely illustrated, and in English. The other bonus feature is CCD Spot Scan, which can, theoretically, eliminate extremely annoying ‘hot’ pixels, and white spots, which may appear over time. However, since our review sample was entirely blameless in this respect we’ll have to take it as read that it works.
The camera is housed inside a compact, grey coloured metal case with the threaded lens collar (C/CS) mounted on a cast alloy front cap. A large thumbwheel protrudes through a slot behind the front cap and sets the back focus adjustment. On the right side of the case there’s a standard square four-pin socket for an auto-iris lens plus a recessed level adjustment trimmer and mode (DC/Video) switch, whilst on the opposite side there is a locking screw for the back focus wheel.
Moving swiftly around the back there is a screw terminal for the unpolarised 12vDC and 24vAC supply, below that is a six-way spring terminal for the RS-485 comms, alarm in/out and remote mode switching. To the right of that is a BNC socket for the video output and on the far right, from top to bottom, is a green power-on LED, a two-way DIP switch for internal or line-lock synchronisation and comms terminations. Finally, in the bottom right hand corner is a menu button and tiny four-way joystick, for driving the on-screen menu, and the root cause of our earlier grumble.
The idea is simple enough – when in the menu mode the joystick is used to make selections and change settings. To store the change, the joystick has to be centred and pressed. The trouble is this is almost impossible to do; nine times out of ten the joystick goes off centre, you end up pressing it slightly to one side and instead of storing a setting you change it, so you have to go back and start over. It is so bad that it is almost impossible to use with the camera on the bench in front of you, let alone mounted halfway up a wall or in a difficult to get at location. It’s not as if you can get used to it or develop a knack, it is quite simply a very bad design and needs to be changed.
Fortunately the rest of the camera is very well built and inside the case the quality of construction and materials is instantly apparent. There are two large PCBs and a daughter board in the top and bottom halves of the case. The image sensor plus its associated circuitry and the switchable IR filter are mounted on a formidable-looking back-focus mechanism, and there’s a fourth PCB in the rear of the case for the controls and connections. Everything is neat and tidy and very well put together so we have no reason to suspect it will do anything to harm JVC’s excellent reputation for reliability.
Setup and operation
Apart from the dreadful joystick, which really does make setting up this camera unnecessarily difficult, the menu system is generally well laid out and opens with eight options. At the top is Aux Function, which is used to set up the external switching options for Day/Night mode, Scene File and a switched output for devices like an external IR illuminator. Next is Title/Video, and this has sub menus for setting the camera title, white balance, shutter, gain, day/night mode, backlight, iris mode and SEC on/off. Menu item three is Display, and this switches the video output between CRT and LCD type monitor, adjusting brightness and contrast to compensate for the differing characteristics of the two monitor types. The fourth menu item deals with Line-Lock phase adjustment; number five is for setting up the four privacy masks (adjustable for each quarter of the screen). Menu item six is concerned with comms setup, item seven is Maintenance (CCD Spot Scan) and menu item eight, which is factory reset.
Performance
Whatever other gripes we may have with this camera there can be no dispute that picture quality is outstanding and in good natural light it delivers one of the crispest, cleanest images we’ve seen for a while; resolution is as close to the manufacturer’s spec as makes no difference and its ability to capture fine detail is most impressive. The promised improvements with the SEC option switched on can be difficult to spot in good daylight but in lower light levels there is a small but noticeable reduction in noise and an increase in sharpness that definitely could make a difference.
The auto exposure systems perform well and compensates for slow and moderately fast changes in lighting level and type. Low light performance is very good and it’s useful to be able to switch the level. There is a marked increase in noise as the levels fall close to the limit of the camera’s operating range but it is still below that of day/night camera with comparable characteristics. Mechanical stability is beyond reproach.
What the manufacturer says …
JVC has introduced the true Day & Night TK-C1530E camera into the market. It’s packed with features to cater for all environments including low light level applications such as retail, transport, education, healthcare and town centres.
The camera incorporates a user-selectable scene memory which is ideal for applications such as automatic number plate recognition whereby a memory setting inside the camera can be set to trigger a fast shutter speed to capture fast moving objects such as vehicles. This camera also has a Smart Edge Control to raise the clarity of images, privacy masking and iris override for focus adjustment.
The camera produces images at 540TVL. Making it ideal for 24/7 surveillance, the camera has an in-built IR switching function enabling the IR cut filter to automatically switch on or off, offering exceptional sensitivity whilst retaining high image quality. The Super LoLux sensitivity of the camera is 0.05 lux in black-and-white mode and 0.4 lux in colour mode.
JVC has added an intuitive monitor mode whereby users can select a LCD or CRT display that effectively matches the selected monitor type characteristics. Other key features include a built-in camera menu, automatic gain control, backlight compensation, privacy masking, C/CS mount lens-compatibility, focus adjust and built-in AUX terminal.
