Custom PC - UK (2020-06)

D

-Link’sDCS-8325LHhomesecuritycamera

featuresupto1080p30fpsvideorecording,

nightvisionandAI-basedmotiondetection.It’s

designedtotakeonthelikesoftheArloQ,providingeasy

homesecuritywithcloud-basedrecordingforeasyaccess

fromanywhere.

It evenlooksliketheArloQ.Bothcamerasareroughlythe

samesizeandsporta flatbasewiththecameraattached

toa stalk,makingit easytoplonkona windowsillorshelf.

Bothunitslooksmartwiththeirlargelymattwhiteexterior,

althoughtheD-Link’sglossyblackfrontmakesit a littlemo

eye-catching.Neithercamerais waterproof.

TheDCS-8325LHofferstiltadjustmentforthecamera,

andyouthenrotatethewholeunitleftandrighttoface

therightdirection.A micro-USBsocketinthebackofthe

basepowersit, andD-Linkprovidesa poweradaptorwith

a plentiful280mmlongcable.

Onepotentiallybigplusofthe D-Linkis itsmicroSDslot,

soyoucanrecordtolocalstorage(withoutneedingtokeepa

NASboxrunning)insteadofcloudstorage.There’snowayof

recordingtoboththough.Thecloudrecordingserviceitself

offersonedayofrecordingsforuptothreecamerasforfree.

Tokeepyourrecordingsforlonger,you’llhavetopay£21.99

ormoreperyear.Incomparison,Arloofferssevendaysof

recordingsforfree,butforjustonecamera,soyourchoice

herelargelydependsonyourneeds.

Setupis veryeasy.YoujustdownloadtheMyDlinkapp,

createa quickaccountandaddthecameraasa newdevice.

Theappusesthephone’scameratoscana QRcodeonthe

baseofthecameratoconnectandaddit – youjust

needtoaddinyourWi-Fidetails.

Whilesetupis relativelyeasy,though,theappisn’t

theslickestwe’veused.Becauseit’susedtomanage

allthecompany’sMyDlink-compatibledevices,

there’sa lackoffocus,soyouhavetojumpthrough

morehoopsthanyou’dexpect.Also,whenyougoto

thedevicessection,thedeviceiconsmoveslightly,

likethey’refloating,whichis a bizarreUIdecision.

WeliketheabilitytosetupOne-Tapfunctions

though.Thesearemacrosthatwilltriggera range

ofsmart-homefunctionsatoncewitha single

tap.Youcansetuptheusualmotiondetectionfor

thecameraandit willtriggera notificationonyour

phone,evenidentifyingwhatit hasseenthanksto

SUPPLIERalternate.co.uk

D-LinkSmartFullHD

WiFiCameraDCS-

8325LH/£132incVAT

SMARTCAMERA

, p

takeyoutotheclip,justtothecamerahomescreen,andit

doesn’tclosethenotification.What’smore, you can’t set

upgeolocationtoturnoffthecameraautomatically when

you’reinthehouse.

Thecameraitselfismostlygoodquality. You get a

sufficientlywide-angleview(151degrees wide and 69

degreestall),whichisampleforcapturing a whole room

withoutplacingthecamerainanawkward position. The

dynamicrangeparticularlyimpressed.Where other

camerasstruggletobalanceshowingdark parts of an

imagewithouttotallyblowingoutbrighter parts, the DCS-

8235LHcopedwell.However,finerdetails were noticeably

belowtheleveloftheArloQ,evenif thedynamic range

madefora clearerpictureoverall.

Conclusion

TheD-LinkDCS-8235LHisa good-

quality,easy-to-usehomesecurity

camera.ItsheadlineAI-based

motiondetectionalsoworkswell,

successfullyidentifyinghumansand

ignoringcats,forinstance.However,

itsmobileappneedssomeworkto

bringit inlinewiththecompetition.

EDWARDCHESTER

REVIEWS / PERIPHERALS

VERDICT

A good-quality, easy-to-use smart

camera, but its mobile app needs

some work.

STRONG LINK

+ Easy to use

and set up

+ Compact and

attractive design

+ AI detection

works well

+ Excellent

dynamic range

WEAK LINK

• App needs work


• Lacks image
  detail


• One day
  recording limit

OVERALLSCORE

74 %

DESIGN

18 / 20

FEATURES

16 / 20

PERFORMANCE

20 / 30

VALUE

20 / 30

SPEC

Max resolution

2 megapixel

Max video recording

1,920 x 1,080 @30fps

Field of view

151 x 69 degrees

Audio

Two-way

Wi-Fi

808.11n

Dimensions

84 x 74 x 109mm

Weight

140g

e

re

theAIdetection.However,tapthenotificationanditdoesn’t