Samsung SND-7061 Fixed Dome Camera Review

3 Megapixel resolution
The SND-7061 features a 3 Megapixel sensor providing 1080p HD (Full HD) resolution images at 16:9 aspect ratio. This resolution places this camera into the very upper echelons of the market but the price point of the camera pitches it at the entry-level market. The image quality was slightly below our expectations as we have seen lower resolution sensors able to produce higher quality images, but for the price this isn’t bad.

When we unboxed the camera we weren’t able to see any mention of the camera being ONVIF compliant, which seemed strange, so we had to check to find out that it is indeed ONVIF compliant — meaning it can be used with other ONVIF products.

Due to the sheer number of pixels, the image is very detailed and therefore able to produce a good picture, but for applications such as Facial Recognition, the sharpness and general clarity is lacking. We found the camera struggled with changeable lighting conditions and when an object’s distance varied, it seems unable to produce a detailed image when the object was close and as it moved further and further away.

The camera was able to provide a highly detailed image of a static object at a set distance; however, other than an entrance, there are few practical scenarios where this is beneficial. Generally, an internal camera is looking at moving objects such as humans, so maintaining a detailed image of this moving object is critical.

When pointed straight at bright light, the image was impressive. The camera seemed able to dissect our attempt at glare and was still able to produce a detailed image through the light.

Overall, the picture quality was good. For pure detail, the 3 Megapixel sensor works really well. The general composition of the picture such as colour and sharpness are not to the same level, however.

Multi-codec support and Automatic Throttle Control
The Samsung SND-7061 fixed dome camera supports the most common streams on the market: H.264 and M-JPEG. Both streams allow for Full HD (1080p) resolution at 20fps refresh rate.

Samsung also offers a great feature called Automatic Throttle Control (ATC). ATC enables us to create an upper limit on the camera, with the intention of stopping the camera overloading the network with too much data. When we enable ATC, we are given two options:

• Control the frame rate
• Control the bandwidth

Whichever way we implement ATC, it ensures that our IP camera does not have any negative knock-on effects for the network in which it sits on (a major bug bear and fear for IT managers).

The frame rate control works really well. We used our iPhone app on WiFi to connect locally to the camera (as it displays fps at the top of the screen). This ad-hoc connection would allow us to see live how our throttling was working.

We set the resolution to 2MP and noticed that when throttled to 15fps (50 percent throttle), we saw a constant 14fps refresh rate on the app. Using our bandwidth monitoring software we could see the camera bandwidth was varying constantly to try and maintain our desired frame rate, typically in the region of 1.3Mbit/s to 1.5Mbit/s.

The bitrate throttling was very varied. The idea here is we set the bitrate to have a maximum speed; for example, 1Mbit/s. The frame rate is then capped so as never to exceed the maximum bit rate. Again, we set the resolution at 2MP. Based on the frame rate test previously, we were expecting around 10fps-12fps at 1Mbit/s. True to its word, when we monitored network traffic, the camera did not exceed 1Mbit/s, but we did notice on our app that the refresh rate was typically 8-9fps.

The camera only supports refresh rates of up to 20fps on its streams at 3 Megapixel mode, lower than most cameras at this resolution, and this mode is only available at 4:3 aspect ratio, introducing unpleasant black areas onto a widescreen picture when viewed.

At 2 Megapixel and lower resolutions, on any stream, the camera supports full 30fps refresh rate, effectively green lighting its use on projects up to 2 MP resolutions. It also does this at 16:9 resolution, so no ugly black lines.

Web Interface
The interface is extremely thorough in terms of configurable menu items. We can customise the camera from top to bottom. 10 users can be registered, with unique credentials. Date/Time can be setup and it supports NTP (so we can use a time server).

We can set up alarms (via the alarm input) as well as send alerts to an email address in the event of an alarm. The camera can also send notifications of an event via FTP to a server.

From a network perspective, IP Address, Subnet Mask, Default Gateway, DNS server and ports can be configured. Importantly, the camera supports a number of protocols, including Multicast (IGMP is required on the network for this), RTSP, HTTP, and HTTPS (SSL running on HTTP).

A major letdown here is the lack of an SD card slot, so we have no options for edge storage. It must be said, most cameras on the market now have this feature.

Although extensive, the interface is not the most intuitive. There is no help section, so understanding the Samsung terms for its menu options is certainly a learning process. It isn’t the best laid out menu structure, a lot of the colours are too complimentary.

The verdict
The overall quality of the camera is good. The 3MP sensor produces highly detailed images, certainly among the best we have seen from a Samsung camera. The Automatic Throttle Control is a great idea and generally works well with a definite practical use for it.

The general composition of the images is a bit disappointing compared to some of the other leading brands in the market but this is an entry-level 3MP camera, and Samsung does have some bigger hitters in the range that would probably be an improvement.

Because the SND-7061 is an entry-level camera you have to do without some of the features that its more expensive cousins have such as SD card recording and IR lights. The camera has 1x alarm input but no alarm outputs, which limits its integration to other systems, such as Intruder or Access Control.

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