You've got a friend!: Basson Trade's BVHQ camera

30 Dec 08

What our experts say …

The last time we Bench Tested a Basson Trade camera we were generally impressed by the performance and build quality. In fact we only had one major niggle and that was the awkward location and layout of the camera's setup controls, which meant they could only be accessed by removing the front cover.

Of course it may just be a coincidence but we would like to think that someone was listening, if not to us then the unsung heroes who spend their working lives fearlessly teetering at the top of ladders, battling with fiddly camera controls and adjustments.

We were, therefore, very pleased to see that one of one of the headline features on the new Basson Trade BVHQ weatherproof colour day/night camera is what's described as an 'engineer friendly' access panel with simplified setup controls and a socket for a portable video monitor. So it's off to quite a good start.

The BVHQ, like the IRB2 84VHQ we looked at back in February 08 has much else to commend it. It's a very tidy-looking colour day/night camera, almost identical in appearance to its predecessor and also part of Basson's Professional Plus range. In fact the only obvious difference is the absence of the IBR2's highly distinctive outboard IR illuminators.

Unscrewing the front window reveals a 2.8 - 12mm lens, with a pair of very convenient focus and tele/wide adjustment rings on the outside of the case. Behind that there's a 1/3-inch Sony Super HAD image sensor (the same as the one used on the IRB2) with a claimed resolution of 752 x 582 (effective) pixels, with resolution at 560 lines, there are some differences, though. Without the assistance from the IR illuminators minimum sensitivity (gain-up mode) is 0.002 lux or around 0.25lux without all of the digital jiggery-pokery. It's a pukka day/night model with a switchable IR filter that flips out from in front of the sensor when the camera is in black and white (night) mode, though at the risk of repeating another concern over the design of the IRB2, it would have been useful to be able to adjust the switching level, to compensate for the very wide variations in lighting conditions it can expect to have to cope with in the real world.

It does have a very fair assortment of exposure controls, though, based on the now familiar Sanyo DSP chipset and firmware. These include switchable AGC, DNR, backlight compensation and sensitivity. There is also manual and automatic shutter-speed adjustment and white balance controls. As an added bonus, this component combo comes with a small assortment of 'special' features and they are a camera title/ID overlay, privacy mask, motion detection system, sharpness control and mirror image mode – more on some of those in a moment.

Basson have worked hard to make installation as painless as possible by incorporating the mount into the design of the camera. On the rear of the case there's a sturdy-looking knuckle jointed arm and mounting plate. The camera's video feed and power cable pass through the mount, protecting them from the elements and the attention of vandals. Incidentally the camera is a dual-voltage design and requires a 12-volt DC or 24-volt AC supply. Installation should be as close to idiot-proof as it is possible to be, though the fixed nature of the mounting hardware could be a drawback but only in a very small number of locations.

The case and mount are all made from a tough, lightweight alloy and the standard of construction is very high and it has an IP65 weatherproof rating. From the outside there's not much to see, an adjustable sunshade that slides fore and aft protects the camera body and lens cover and on the underside there's the eagerly anticipated control panel. This takes the form of a screw on knurled metal cap and when removed it reveals a simple four-way push-button 'joystick' type control and a socket for an external video monitor (a suitable adaptor lead is supplied).

Behind the screw-on front window there's a circular PCB with the lens in the middle. This has a couple of resistive heating elements, a sensor for the day/night switching system and several unoccupied component positions for the now defunct internal control panel. Underneath that are the PCBs for the camera board, DSP processing circuitry, power supply and external control panel. Everything looks well put together, securely supported and firmly bolted to the rear and sides of the case. The seals around the focus and tele-wide adjustment rings, which could be a potential weak spot in the camera's weatherproofing turn out to be very well made indeed and unlikely to cause problems, though we do have a couple of small concerns regarding this aspect of the design. The first is the rings are a little tight, which makes it quite difficult to precisely set the focus, and there's no way to lock the adjustment once set.

Setup and operation

Pressing the joystick button brings up the first page of the setup menu and this has eight options. The first is Lens and moving the joystick right or left switches between DC and Manual Control. In DC mode pressing the joystick a second time displays a 'Brightness' level slider. If manual mode is selected this enables the second menu item, which is Shutter. This has 3 operating modes, FLK or flickerless, ESC, which is basically automatic control, though there is the option to adjust the brightness level, and Manual, which steps between 1/50th and 1/120000th/sec (15 levels) and x128 to x2 slow speed shutter in 12 steps.

Item 3 is White Balance and the choices are Manual (red/blue adjustment), AWC (with white set) and Auto Tracing (ATW) which operates over the range 1800 to 10500deg/K. Next is backlight and there are three operating levels (low, middle and high); the same settings are also available on the next item, which is AGC. Pressing the menu button on any of these choices leads to the brightness slider adjustment. Once again low, middle and high are the available settings on the DNR (Digital Noise Reduction) menu and this is followed by Sens Up, which provides access to the slow speed shutter settings, though only when the Shutter has been set to Auto (ESC) mode.

The last item on the first menu page is Special and selecting this opens a second menu with nine options. At the top of the list is Camera ID, used to compose a single line title of up to 15 characters, which can be positioned anywhere on the screen. Next is Colour and this disables day/night switching, putting the camera in colour only mode. The normally reliable instruction manual strays a little over the next menu item, which it claims is Colour Gain, though this was notable by its absence on our sample. The next one is actually Sync and this is locked to Internal, unless it is powered by a 24Volt AC source, in which case pressing the control button displays a Phase Adjustment slider.

Motion detection is a potentially useful on any camera, though on this model it is hampered by the fact that there is no external alarm output, just a on-screen warning that flashes for a few seconds when triggered. This is a great pity because the system is actually quite versatile with up to 4 re-sizeable detection areas. The same firmware is also used to generate up to 4 positionable privacy masks, which is next on the menu. The last three items are Mirror (it reverses the image), Sharpness, adjustable in 32 steps, and Reset, which returns the camera to its factory defaults. All OSD functions are pretty straightforward, as they were on the IRB2, but moving them to the outside of the camera and the use of the simple joystick control has made a huge difference, simplifying and we suspect significantly reducing installation time.

Performance

The manual controls are clearly worth having but we found that the auto systems were perfectly capable of dealing with almost everything we threw at it. It coped well with both sudden and more gradual changes in lighting condition and even gave a good account of itself under normally difficult situations like mixed natural and tube lighting, and strong lights within the scene area. Backlight compensation also worked well, though manual intervention is needed if the light in question is very bright.

General picture quality is very good and on the basis of our tests we wouldn't argue with the manufacturer's resolution figure. In good natural light noise levels were low and colours looked reasonably lifelike. At lower light levels noise increases but the camera switches to monochrome night mode well before they become a problem. In fact the switchover occurs a little early in our opinion, which strengthens the case for manual adjustment. Low light performance is ok. It gives a reasonably useful image down to near darkness.

Motion detection also works well, though without any alarm output it has little value, except in systems that are constantly (and vigilantly) monitored, and for post-event analysis on recordings, though bolting stable doors and escaped horses comes immediately to mind…

We have no reservations whatsoever over the quality of materials used and the care taken during construction and its appointment with the SI rubber mallet left it, and the picture completely unmoved.

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