The Synology BC500 IP bullet camera is launching in South Africa in May 2023 – and we got our hands on one ahead of time for testing.
Synology also sent us a DiskStation 923+ that we used to test the camera’s integration with the NAS and Synology’s Surveillance Station software.
Getting started
Once we had set up the DS923+ NAS, getting our BC500 surveillance camera running was easy.
We plugged the unit into the same networking switch as our NAS using a Power over Ethernet (PoE) adapter, and made sure we had the latest operating system – DiskStation 9.1, which we also got early access to – installed on the DS923+. Alternatively, you can power the camera with a 12V supply.
Synology Surveillance Station on the NAS automatically detected the camera, and within moments we were watching a live video feed.
Outstanding quality
The first thing we noticed on our monitor was the excellent video quality.
Synology has fitted the BC500 with a high-quality, 5MP lens that captures detailed videos in 2,880 x 1,620 resolution – and up to 30 frames per second.
This high resolution allows you to zoom up to 16x to track smaller movements within the BC500’s 110-degree wide-angle coverage.
The BC500 is equipped with a wide aperture and multi-exposure HDR to provide superior low-light performance, too.
This is complemented by clear night vision over a 30-metre radius thanks to the IP67-rated BC500’s four high-powered infrared LEDs.
AI, event detection, and alerts
Once we were done admiring the video feed, we turned to the features of Synology Surveillance Station – which can be installed locally on your NAS or on a Windows PC.
Synology Surveillance Station enabled us to create a recording schedule and control a variety of settings. These included video and audio format, recording resolution, frame rate, and image brightness and contrast.
The video recordings were then stored on our NAS. Users can also select to store their video on a MicroSD card inserted into the camera for when network issues occur. Your recordings are then synced to your NAS when connectivity is restored.
The Synology Surveillance Station app provided us with many additional analysis options, such as motion, audio, and tampering detection.
We could set alerts for any of these events, too, along with establishing threshold and sensitivity-based triggers.
For example: If your camera is moved to face a different direction, you receive an alert.
This detection extended to recognising people and vehicles within the frame and setting virtual fences where we would be notified if our barrier was crossed.
These “exclusion zones”, controlled through Synology Surveillance Station, allowed us to receive alerts for movements within these preset areas.
We could also set privacy masks to completely block off areas with sensitive information from being recorded.
Another excellent feature we used in Synology Surveillance Station was the Instant Search for these events.
We could highlight a specific area on any camera feed, and then search for particular events – i.e. Human Detection – within that area across our recordings.
Launching soon
We were impressed with the BC500’s ease of use and incredible video quality, as well as the wide range of functions available through the Synology Surveillance Station software.
The BC500 camera, combined with a Synology DiskStation and Synology Surveillance Station, is a comprehensive and scalable surveillance solution that we recommend for businesses wanting to monitor and protect their operations.
Synology will launch the BC500 camera in May 2023.
Loading ...
