MayGion H264 IPC: A look at the new release

Since the first release of the Maygion H.264 IP Camera in 2012, there's been a lot of progress made both on the software and the hardware side.

While the price didn't change, the value has increased...




... until you're dead or I find someone better (Starship Trooper - 1997)
I've accumulated many different IP Cameras over time, and their location in my house reflects their rank (best cameras for the most important rooms).

The Maygion H.264 (aka H502W, WIP604MW) pushed away the other models to become the full-time guardian of my living room, making it the de-facto Nr.1.

When I stated above that the price didn't change, it's not completely true:
From an E.U. perspective, It ends up cheaper buying from UK (~80€ Tax & Shipping incl.) than from China (~100€ with shipping and customs duty paid).  The delivery time and effective product guarantee (how much are you willing to pay to ship it back to China?) are also factors to consider.

The LED ring sensor is now properly
shielded to prevent Night/Day mode
switching problem.

My first, 2012, unit had basic features and the famous Night/Day mode switch problem, partly caused by a flaw in the LED ring itself. The manufacturer resolved the issue now and there's no need to tweak the settings or open the camera anymore.
Six month and as many firmware updates later, the list of features has increased, with more languages and the addition of P2P and ONVIF protocol support (that I still consider as in progress though)

My very first action with this new IPC was to use the url http://192.168.1.111:81/board.dat in order to backup the precious license file. The camera came in version 05.53 with the OEM user interface.

This interface is very easy to customize and some distributors provide their own User Interface. Dericam download section has one and also some interesting content like the updated Maygion repair tool.

P2P
There's a label on the bottom of the camera with an unique DDNS url and userid. The device is already set for this DDNS and can directly be accessed from the Internet without further struggling with your router.
The QR code at the base of the camera can be scanned from iPhone apps like P2P Master (Android version just out!) to insert the device information directly.

ONVIF

With ONVIF standard, an IP Camera client does not need to keep track of thousands of models, just one Onvif "brand" that will work for any compliant  camera.
It's not yet fully implemented and works partially in Synology's Surveillance Station. Something to follow closely.

The CD included in the box contains the IPCamTool to locate and configure the camera on the network
The viewer utility, "Master", regroups the same range of functions as the ActiveX web interface but in a slightly more convenient interface in my opinion.

Unleashed potential ?
Still no preset positions: 
Despite all the software improvements and the presence of html pages preset.htm inside the camera, there's still no way to define preset positions or video masks (videomask.htm) and I can only think of some hardware limitation for such common features to be still absent today.

SSL, one day? Some other inside content suggest that the camera would be able to support SSL, but all this could also just be part of a common framework and reserved for higher grade or future models.

Conclusion:
Despite lacking of some common features like preset positions and video area masking, the Dericam H502W is a nice and solid IP Camera, delivering a superb image quality and constantly improved by means of firmware updates. It's one of the first in that price range to adopt the ONVIF protocol and a dream come true for hackers (the hobbyist kind of hacker, I thought I'd need to clarify...)

Many thanks to Microsat.co.uk for providing me with the new Maygion H.264 reviewed here 
as well as for all the help and information given in the last few months!

Please note: The unit reviewed here is a OEM, non-branded H.264 IP Camera, which software is developed by Maygion. It is otherwise sold by Dericam  as H502W, by Cybernova  as WIP604MW, by Eyesight as ES-IP902W, by Chinavasion asCVL-I234-2GEN, by Anxin as HW-M1007RNBCT... .

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"Invalid License File" message after a firmware update

Several users of the Dericam H502W (Cybernova WIP604MW, and equivalent...) have reported the appearance of an "Invalid License File" warning in their System Information page after a firmware update.

While the exact cause is still undetermined, some precaution should be taken before applying a new firmware.

Prior to any change to the firmware of your H.264 IP Camera, you should  make a backup of its board.dat file, which can be extracted by visiting your IP Camera with the url: http://<youIPCurl>/board.dat

This constitutes your license file in case you end up with a Invalid License File warning. It could then be re-installed via the auth.htm page (you should take a snapshot of your own page also, while all is ok). Only the manufacturer can provide a new valid license file. The board.dat is unique to each device so it won't help to upload one from someone else!

The Dericam, Cybernova and other Maygion-based H.264 IP Cameras are assigned with a unique Hardware Identification (HID), a User ID (for the newer ones, adding P2P support) and a free DDNS ID (all visible in that auth.htm page mentionned above).

Apparently, a compound of this data is challenged against the encrypted board.dat file, and any mismatch results in an invalid license situation.

In theory all this information burned-in the camera at factory should not be affected by firmware upgrade and not easy to damage even through FTP access, but several cases have been reported already, all following update from very official firmware. 

This situation is known to cause the following problems:

- It prevents the IPC to use the P2P function

- It makes the IPC reboot at interval of 10 minutes (cs.log file in /app would show [reboot for invalid auth file])

Why this?

The cause is not clear but I suspect the older production of this IP Camera to be particularly affected once they get updated with a certain firmware version. The introduction of P2P maybe changed the way the license file is validated. I'll update this section if I ever get more information.

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Wifi SD Cards: Transcend vs ezShare

Wi-Fi SD cards are becoming more democratic with some decent Class 10 around 45€. I've tested 2 of the most affordable ones on the market.





Wi-Fi Memory cards are available for a good while now, with the predominant Eye-Fi brand, but until recently, their low capacity/performance could not justify the price.

In the 16GB/Class 10 category, the Transcend Wifi SD  (TS32GWSDHC10) appears to be the cheapest on the market for 42€ shipping included.

Its SPI microchip supports Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n including WEP/WPA/WPA2 encryption. The internal software can be upgraded. Mine arrived with v1.5 and the Transcend Android app advised me to apply the 1.6 update (released in March 2013) when it first made the connection.

The product pack does not include any CD but everything is available from the Transcend web page. The Firmware Update Tool runs from a PC and detects the card from any card reader.

The firmware update process is quite safe: I had a few failures first using the internal reader on my PC. Despite that, the card was never "bricked" and the 8-steps update, which took a good 15 minutes, eventually succeeded once I used a cheap USB card reader instead. The card was almost smoking hot after that, much more than during normal operation.

The card starts in Direct Share mode and acts as an Access Point to which mobile devices can directly connect using the Wi-Fi SD App.
It is also accessible from any computer thanks to its web server  (default http://192.168.11.254).

Both interfaces allow to browse the content of the card and change its setup. Up to 3 Wi-Fi hotspots can be pre-defined for the card to connect to in Internet Mode, and the default startup mode (Direct/Internet) can be changed as well. The Wi-Fi SD app v1.8 tested has a Shoot and View feature which pushes any photo taken to the mobile device for viewing, handy for quality review on a bigger screen. Its Browse section gives access to local and remote files plus the option to share them to FB, Twitter, Flickr, Sina Weibo and Email. However, no Picasa/G+...
Update: The v1.9 came out while I was writting this review. It contains several simple but well thought improvements to the interface, like the indication of the IP Address used. The sharing destinations now extend to any available on the phone, so in my case Bluetooth, Gmail, Messaging, Picasa (at last!), and Send by LAN (ES File Explorer 3.0)


While it is recommended to turn off the camera power saving feature to maintain the SD card communication active, it is possible to set the card itself to turn off
the Wi-Fi after 1/5/10 mins. This is a welcome option as the card does not have a physical switch for this.

One thing to note is the absence of option to set a static IP address.




If you leave on travel with the card set to Internet Mode, it will be inaccessible if none of the pre-set hotspot are nearby. So it is advisable to always set your own phone as one of them.
There's however a smart and simple way to reset the SD card if needed, and thus get back to the Direct Share mode: Just delete the virtual, persistent "Restore Defaults" picture. The AP password will then revert to 12345678.

When using the Internet Mode, the card needs to be in the vicinity of a known router (as opposed to the Direct Share where the camera should be near enough any device connecting to it). The signal range is obviously much shorter than for a smartphone, but surprisingly good for such a small device (~10m indoor, 65Mbps max).

While the huge Canon Raw v2 (CR2) files are not seen as pictures by the app, they're listed in the category "Others" and can be transfered like any files. For the sake of reviewing the pictures taken, the camera should then always be set to JPEG+RAW rather than RAW only.

The average transfer rates are within the specs of a Class 10 with Read: 16.5MB/s and Write: 15.6MB/s

In general, the Transcend Wi-FI SD was good enough to convince me in getting a second card for my second camera. It definitely fills the bill for sharing pictures on the run and freeing up the camera storage space by offloading files to another device. However, because I'm curious, I decided to try a challenger for my next order.


Links:
Product Page
Product Manual
Firmware update tool
Firmware 1.6

Pros: 
Simple setup
Card reset can be done directly from the camera
Can transfer RAW(incl.CR2)/JPEG and any other file extension.

Cons: 
No option to share to Picasa/Google+ (added with v.1.9)
Generates somewhat more heat than the ezShare

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The second cheapest Wi-Fi SD is the ez Share 16GB from LZeal (ES100) at 47€.

The first difference is the presence of a physical switch to turn on the Share Mode, which I see as an advantage over Transcend.

Despite the LZeal product page, and the Q&A of the dedicated web site: "During share process, there is intermittent beep(every 30s) reminding Share Mode is on..." (at time of writing), there is no buzzer in the version I received. As suspected and confirmed by Lzeal, it is an old feature that has been  removed from the latest products.

Another difference is the absence of an "Internet Mode", i.e. the card only acts as a hot-spot and won't blend in your existing Wi-Fi network. This becomes a disadvantage once you have more than one card like this, as you'd need to connect to each individually whereas the internet mode would allow to access all cards simultaneously.

This is a 16GB Class 10 memory with 802.11b/g/n capable module (Heng Bao chip) and while there's no word whatsoever on the encryption supported, it does WPA2 like the Transcend.

EZ Share Android app v.1.4.0 (also released while I was writing this review) is neat and simple. What Transcend Shoot and View  feature is also present and simply called Auto-Push. EZ Share just uses the "Share to" targets of the phone, so there's no real limitation.

Browser access is done simply by going to http://ez

The web interface offers a classic and a mobile view with same features than the EzShare app. CR2 files could be displayed once transfered to my phone. Unlike the Transcend which now deals with all kinds of file types, the ES100 is limited to video and picture files.



To reset the card to its defaults, the dummy file ezshare.cfg (it doesn't hold any actual settings) must be deleted from a PC. I found that trick less neat than the Transcend virtual picture which allows the same operation directly from the camera. The AP password will then revert to 88888888.

The Wi-Fi range (Indoor only tested) is conform to the 10m specified and 65Mbps max speed.


The average transfer rates are: Read: 15~19MB/s and Write: 10MB/s,... not great for Class 10 (for which 10MB/s is the absolute minimum). It was however good enough to shoot 1920x1080 videos @ 24fps.

While it also meets my expectations, the ES100 does not offer the same value for the price due to its lower SDHC performance and fewer features. The physical Wi-Fi switch remains its main selling point.

Links:
Product Page
User Guide

Pros: 
Physical switch for the Wi-Fi mode
Simple setup
RAW(incl.CR2)/JPEG/Video transfer.

Cons: 
Only acts as a Hot-spot,  no "Internet mode" (Router connection)
No "Wifi On" reminder (buzzer) on this version.
Write speed on the fringe for a Class 10

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Cards tested with Canon EOS600D and Canon SX220HS.
While difficult to quantify, the use of Wi-Fi function has an obvious  impact on the battery, which is naturally more noticeable on the smaller SX220 than on the more powered EOS.

Similar products:
Trek FluCard Pro 16GB Class 6, ~70€
Eye-Fi Pro X2 16GB Class 10, ~100€
Toshiba Flash Air 8GB Class 10, ~50€ 

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