UniFi Protect G4 PTZ - UVC-G4-PTZ

[@JohnVanderbeck]

The fact that you can't set it up to auto track with the smart detection is insane. That's like the first feature anyone is going to look for.

[@shadow.banned]

There's no auto tracking? lolwut... Reolink's PTZ auto tracks at $250...

[@IAmNumber4000]

Will probably get added later…

[@atakan196]

You know, I can send a guy to walk in front of a house to track him to move the camera angle away from the point of break in... Not so smart to do so

[@dogzer]

Yup. No great software to match the great hardware. A true shame.

[@NoBrassLeftBehind]

I almost bought this just now until I read this comment. Can’t believe they haven’t developed the software to allow for that.

[@firemedicjm911]

Part of the reason the cable runs through the back instead of the outside is for security. If a nefarious individual sees where the cable is running on the outside of the house they can cut the cable before coming into the cameras view. If the cable runs right out of the wall and into the cam then there is no possibility of that.

[@averagefirechannel]

The hatch on the side is for versions that do have an SD card port. The G4 PTZ is made by a manufacturer called "Dynacolor", they manufacture for other businesses too: such as Pelco, a notable pioneer (that do use the SD card hatch).

[@Moonraker11]

Is this Ubiquiti's first camera that they've used another manufacturer for?

[@drdiesel1]

@@Moonraker11 Not too surprising as Ubnt has been bleeding talent for years.

[@bujin5455]

It would be really nice if they implemented the features discussed, and then also released a smaller, lower spec'd, PTZ camera for home users.

[@ruraloregon2347]

I am in the same boat (and just a tad North of you). I am going to have to make a backing board like you did. I understand why it is safer to run the cable through the wall, but that is just not a good solution for my location. Not worried about tampering because there is no approach out of field and I am using armored cable as well. Will run cable out bottom for better drip protection. I am a fully remote (in every sense) electronics engineer and am in the process of upgrading to Ubiquiti network/WiFi/Surveillance. So far I am impressed. Your vids have been helpful for sure. Time to buy you a 6-pack of IPA (Ninkasi of course!). Lucky to have Gb fiber to my remote hilltop.

[@johngrowcott4794]

Without a programmable patrol/sentry mode then no, its not worth $1800 and for that price it really should have smart tracking as well.

[@spencerbigum1309]

Agreed

[@hypercarspottinggr]

These are all software related features. I am pretty sure ubiquity has already released a beta firmware for smart tracking and automatic movement mode.

[@spencerbigum1309]

@@hypercarspottinggr Would love to see it in action. Thx for the info!

[@themexican382]

So how about a talk on Ubiquiti's poor handling of the security breach

[@hokatichenci]

When he said "and now we'll talk about the elephant in the room" I swore that's where it was going

[@terrymorton4314]

@@hokatichenci he did a full-on talk about the breach on another video and pulled no punches.

[@joetalks7899]

But wait, THERES MORE!!!!

[@wolfradiollc9017]

I have a Panasonic PTZ camera it is about 20 years old and at that time it was $1,200 at the time. It was 1080I but it had a lot of great features it had a Video put port for a security desk. It did souupot a Joystick it has the online click to center like the one you are showing. It also had Auto Track where it would follow a person or car. It did also support PTS patterns where you can record a pattern and it would always move in the pattern you recorded. It also had alarm inputs where you can set a zoom and location to pan to in the event a door was opened it would move to get the person going in or out of the door. Its a great camera however the video out port was for a DVR so you needed an external DVR for Recording. The feature I loved the most was the auto time out. So if you zoomed in on someone and the security guard walked away from the desk the camera would return to the set home location after the set amount of time like 5 or 10 min. Panasonic had these features 20 years ago in a camera and pelco had them before that. It would be nice to see Unifi get them also. Also the Panasonic camera has 32x optical zoom it is crazy I can not even get to the end on the zoom from the location I have the camera mounted. It ether hit a wall or the woods.

[@alexlowe30]

“That’s the sacrifice I make for KZbin” - best line of the video

[@michaeltrace5422]

Llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

[@steveriley8537]

Axis camemeras PTZ cams have an auto tracking option like youre are talking about.

[@kennethfribert6074]

Great video, especially the tip with repurposing the bag for my next kidnapping :-D

[@lorddart21]

⁰⁰⁰⁰0

[@lorddart21]

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[@lorddart21]

8

[@sonogameplay]

and another very important thing about to chose, for example, Hikvision: you won't need an 802.3bt switch, the 802.3at is enough.

[@xXfzmusicXx]

I saw linus tech tips did a video on this camera as well with no lag when zooming and moving around at 4k, could it be that the viewport is the reason you're getting the lag/delay? Or is the network cable 100mbs? The camera is rated for 1gbs

[@luislednick1413]

For $1,800 This lag is unacceptable !! Quality is great... I'm wondering the size of the file generated by 4K...

[@rogerf3622]

Its a huge outlay for a home or SB environment. I would like to have a Unifi pan/tilt camera as I am trying to monitor wildlife behind my house especially at night. However the comparisons of this camera to other typical IP cameras isn’t really a comparison considering you sadly can’t use a typical IP camera in the Unifi eco system. I’m like others are using two systems, Unifi (which I love) and IP cameras/Synology (which is a great system too). It would be nice to switch completely to Unifi.

[@terrymorton4314]

Crosstalk Solution videos rule, but in the high end of PTZs, this cam has competition. In the walled garden of Protect, I'd rather see them start semi-big and work both up and down from there. Not every AF PTZ cam is impressive, and Axis seems to lead the pack at this point. At one point, Protect needs to let others in, i.e. Onvif to grow and gain industry cred.

[@nickl8830]

Chris in order to mitigate some of the buffering issues, I would recommend using a 7200 RPM 256MB NAS drive, like a Toshiba N300. Don't run some WD Purple Drive with 64MB of cache.

[@DenseH]

G4 PTZ: How is auto-tracking working for you now? Any updates? Has it improved? Does the camera auto-return to Home (or Preset) after auto-tracking? Please make a new G4 PTZ video about setup and features. Thanks for your good work :)

[@markhoffman]

If the cable isn't coming out of the wall exactly where you need it to, You could install a slim back box behind the mount. This would provide enough space to move the cable around.

[@markhoffman]

Fires up camera for the first time... "Oh look a Honey Bucket" Immediately zooms in. 😂

[@insistentmind498]

Hahahaha

[@vikings844]

Thanks for reviewing this amazing product! You really need to hide the cables. I wish I lived by you I would come over and help you with that. It would be no problem for me to get past that 2×4 on your wall. I have done this many times. On that note, great review sir!

[@AndrewWells527]

Having PTZ presets would be pretty cool. Hit a button to see the mailbox, another button to see someone approaching down the street, etc.

[@JackWagonOne]

And considering my nearly decade old low end VGA (480P!) has PTZ presets, yeah, it’s a weird absence!

[@zeran74]

The size is the advantage, not the disadvantage. Agree about the mic. I wish I could afford one. Would be nice to be able to identify who keep taking stuff on our farm. Theft is terrable.

[@Practical-IT]

I think you're spot on Chris. That is one big honkin' camera. It's nice to know that Ubiquiti is working on such things, but I do wish they would flesh out some of their other products a little more.

[@Walterz930]

Really nice camera the only one thing I would ask is for the bum stop settings to be added so then you can only ptz it so far

[@BretComnes]

crazy camera. that zoom is insane. its like a police chase helicopter camera haha

[@ryanpage6635]

I'm a simple man, subscribed when you threw the box and there was a cat noise.

[@johnathanruiz-pineda9610]

6:23 @Crosstalk Solutions I believe I might know what that port is for, I’m not entirely sure but I’ve seen a similar port in Hikvision cameras and a demonstration video from them. This might a port where they inject gas into the housing to test the seal of the unit by checking the pressure inside of it. They test their cameras to ensure that they have that IP rating and make sure they can operate outside in cold weather and rain. Hope this helps.

[@TheOnlyRedNeckGeek]

If you switched to a black Ethernet cable and painted your house black, you wouldn't even notice the camera! ;) But did you see how the dog walking lady looked back at the camera? I bet she heard the servos. Ubiquity could do a better job with the noise there. For a home user, I would really like to put a pair of these on my house, on diagonally opposite corners of the basically rectangular footprint of the foundation. But I would like a new feature in Protect: I want an email or text message sent when it sees a human form in the camera view, or in the part of the camera view designated by a hot zone. And I want that feature to be enabled easily, say with a push of one of the Ubiquity button devices. The use case is to enable the feature on a list of cameras (PTZ and stationary) as I'm also setting the alarm system when I leave the house. That way, I get an alert when any of the stationary or fixed cameras see someone, and I can use the PTZ to zoom in, perhaps catching them in the act. Thanks for checking out this camera for us. I bet your buy-me-a-beer-fund took a real hit!

[@kareemschultz]

18:05 that caught me off guard 😂😂....great content

[@insistentmind498]

Ahahaah dude funny af oh yea a Karen cop woman telling me I cant record the road I said girl I can record anything Isee as long as I know myself its not being intrusive I will check every corner off my house from road to pavement. Then I said t"s and c's no images are ever recorded or stored into the camera album or memory card images will only be recorded should an incident to a very serious incident occur these images should an incident occur may be passed on to local authorities etc. Her face bro 😲😳 she said ah ok I see thats good information XD

[@NenadKralj]

4:45 🤣🤣🤣 exactly what was I thinking 🙄 love it 😎

[@speedbird737]

The bag is to help carry the camera up a ladder!!! @ 04:27 - similar with the starlink dish you have something to carry it up a ladder without dropping it

[@eduardorivas363]

Unifi protect is difficult to add user's and define them. Not as easy as unifi video. Do you plan a video on protect user's? As for the camera, I can see use for it on the buildings I manage but protect is the only thing stopping me.

[@fpasmans]

awesome review! really in depth and detail, thanks for that! in the end some comparisons are being made between the ubiquiti and other brands of camera. For me bussiness wise it's the first thing i look into, how can control the camera and what hardware (NVR/others) software (free/paid/licensed per month) is required of how many effort does it costs to implement! The HIKvision way of working i found really far fetched, setup in dealer mode and transfer to client mode etc. Axis indeed is for large companies/ enterprise, buy the camera license the software or pay per amount of devices etc. For unifi protect you can use the cloudkey models or the software client installation (that software is offline for download but still works if you have it and dont upgrate the flash version) in all cases you will need some knowledge on the subject, but ubiquiti makes it really simple... The Viewport should have some kind of controls, that is one big missing feature!

[@zenja42]

Yes the Ubnt camera is cool, but if I would spend this much money, I would think about this Axis or go with mobotix. The mobotix stuff I had run for a long time in a Hospital - only 1080p but verry good picture quality. I just checked and they have a 3MP 30x & 40x for ~ 2300€.

[@mortrainey5900]

Been waiting for this one ever since I saw the price tag on their site!🤣

[@IAmNumber4000]

If I’m ever rich, first thing I’m doing is building a supervillain lair data center with these cameras all over it

[@icsx]

Viewport updates the image faster since it has its own processor to handle all of that. PC is slower because of browser accessing cpu forth and back and delay of data processing causes it to be slower.

[@ClayBoswell]

Would be curious how recent updates may have improved the functionality of this camera. Also - any sandbox available where we could see this camera in action and available settings / options?

[@Neubs-xv8tw]

Wait, $1800 and no auto-tracking?

[@davesmulders3931]

$1800 and no presets, no patrol, no external triggers, no HDR, no proper nightvision sensor, no ANPR, no object-tracking, no API for integration, no H265 ... ánd no auto-tracking.

[@dtverskoy]

@@davesmulders3931 And who cares about that 😂

[@SteampunkSammy]

@@dtverskoy People paying $1800 for a camera :)

[@RyansGoslings]

@@SteampunkSammy I paid $500 for a sunba, and got all of this... and if you notice, when he zooms, it lags video. blah.

[@insistentmind498]

The new Vstar is a beteer option

[@seriomolto]

The sensor is actually 1/1.8" and not 1/8". A huge difference.

[@Flash2171]

2 questions: 1. Has the control software improved? 2. I wonder how much of the speed issue, is tied to the recording device? i.e. are the hard drives spinning rust? Tom mentioned that changing to an SSD on the ClouldKeyGen2Plus made a huge difference with speed of playback, and responsiveness.

[@Biamondos982]

Consumer class ssds aren't built for the amount of read/write that would be happening & the price of the data center class ssds just don't make sense for this application.

[@WizzRacing]

Mine works fine. It has Voice\Microphone for talking to people 30 feet away...Can tell it to track a person of vehicles. In what priority you want... Only draw back. The damn light comes on when it detects movement...

[@billystephens7276]

Have you changed your Ubiquiti passwords yet?

[@pedronrivera22]

Looks like Darth Vader’s helmet 😉

[@JeremyY]

How's the weatherproofing? I've heard that Ubiquiti's outdoor cameras have condensation issues so definitely interested in hearing your take!

[@Foxtrot1967]

he won't respond to your questions because they give him free stuff.

[@TheHookUp]

Great look at the G4 PTZ. You should take a look at my most recent video on PTZ cameras, I think the quality you can get for the price will surprise you. (BTW the RLC-423 performed pretty poorly in my tests).

[@toysareforboys1]

Wow man, killer reviews! Love Hikvision, it's all I use. Wish some PTZ's had StarLight/ColorVu, after swapping out one of my cameras with that I'm going to replace all of mine with it. So much easier to see identifying stuff at night with StarLight/ColorVu :)

[@TheHookUp]

@@toysareforboys1 The UniView one actually has a ultra sensitive sensor. They call theirs "light hunter", but it's the same as darkfighter/colorvu.

[@im4udevco]

This thing is HUGE. Yes, for that price, ubiquiti needs to incorporate all your recommendations. Maybe they need to talk to Elon about sentry mode.

[@ClayBoswell]

@Chris - did you post the original video somewhere of the lady walking her dog?

[@RandomUserName92840]

In case that setup wasnt temporary, I'd be worried about that OSB wood being exposed to the weather and holding that weight

[@geo5162]

I was thinking about buying one of these until I came across this video. Have they fixed the zoom lag? I have synology surveillance station running and there's 0 lag with zoom and ptz, what's up with UNiFI? From this video the camera seems pretty terrible considering the price.

[@OuchMySpleen]

I used to have your "no fees yay" mentality about ubiquity, but that is changing. I've moved to synology and haven't looked back. Yes there are licenses, but they are 1 time $50 per camera and fully transferable. Most of unifi cameras are over $50 more expensive than equivalent competitors anyway. Plus the synology software is just better. Want to grab a Let's Encrypt cert, a few clicks and I'm done. 2factor, auth, again 1 checkbox, done. Email/sms alerts, simple screen. Want an interactive viewport that can actually be useful instead of static, they sell a viewstaion. Joystick controls...yep. More advanced ai, they have new models that do that too. Plus it's a full featured NAS on top of that. So as I upgrade and expand I don't have another piece of e-waste to toss in a landfill.

[@LandonChapman]

Is it possible to zoom AFTER the recording has completed or does PTZ only work in real time? In other words, if I was monitoring a parking lot, could I go back after the fact, find the recording, and zoom on the recording?

[@powerstroke6217]

if this thing auto-tracked i would have bought one the day of release. what are you doing UI?

[@senchaholic]

I can tell you that switching from 720p to 4K definitely did make a difference on KZbin while watching on my TV. A very big difference 😄

[@Did_i_hit_you]

i would be nice if you tried without the viewport connected. it's almost like the software gives priority to it. is the viewport 4k out or only 1080P?

[@whissie]

While i was searching for an example of hikvision i saw a year ago, i hear you say @46:22 " this is an example of hikvision, or how you say it..." Hikvision is really better at tracking, the quality is also better. Don't get me wrong, i love the ubiquity product, but they have their limits. And connecting a third party to unifi protect is a pain in the ass. Furthermore, Ubiquity really needs to step up with the ptz domes. Make em simple, indoor-outdoor. They would expand their market signifantly (sry, dutch here. My English isn't always perfect ;-) ). In short; start bringing some home users the small ptz camera's. Foscam, hikvision, dahua; i had them all. All i have from Ubiquity is a G3 pro (which works perfect). I need PTZ camera's, now. Thanks for reading and till next time

[@whissie]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/g3TcZHSErMeroKs For example. And yes, i am running a Synology next to this. Simply because Ubiquity doesn't allow a fileserver on their Dream machine pro. And the third party camera connecting is also bad. I understand their filosophy; network and protect/acces. But c'mon(!) bring the whole package!! Camera's, acces, fileserver, network. I will buy the stocks, they will triple or more.

[@wolverine754]

I think that bag is microfiber and helps to protect the device when pulling out of the box.

[@MoneyMarcMes]

Are Reolink cameras cmpatible with Unifi Protect? If I plugged a Reolink camera into the same network would I be able to use it in Protect?

[@mattg5229]

Ports inside that hatch at 6:30 could possibly be for a lens heater for when its mounted with a dome?

[@ZacharyRocket]

Looks like the diagnostic port to program / troubleshoot / diagnose all robotic controllers and motions... just speculating...

[@mikepatrick.zn6]

Do pre-set camera positions work in the app? I just bought this g4 PTZ camera, and found this feature only works in a PC browser. Any hints?

[@Mr2greys]

The bag? Someone at Ubiquiti loves Crown Royal

[@peterg.8245]

Need to silver foil stamp their logo on it

[@Neubs-xv8tw]

Unifi needs to work on their streaming, constantly getting those spinning blue circles in live view with bigger systems, very annoying. Not sure if its related to the H.264, but the Hik systems I've used never had those hiccup issues. Also would like to see a dedicated Mac OS or Windows software.

[@Story_Teller_Everyone]

Is there no auto tracking? For example could you have it auto zoom on car license plates?

[@Noodles.FreeUkraine]

Of course not. It's UniFi.

[@rhadiem]

Switching to 4k on the camera definitely improved the video quality on the YT video. 👍

[@umbrellahole]

18:05 I love your acting lol! P.S. your neighbors must think you are a crazy weird old man!

[@mbhuff05]

Love the cat at 4:23

[@BruhMan_5]

Have this camera on black Friday for (minimum) 60% off and I'm sold lol.

[@c.s.3746]

Can you set presets so you don't have to align the camera back to certain positions?

[@calummcmillan9672]

Hi Chris, I am a Hikvision installer, the NVR's don't have licenses and the PTZ functions you mentioned (Turret mode and People Tracking/Veichle Tracking etc) Hiks NVRs are fantastic and super feature rich, you can do almost anything you can imagine, I do use unifi protect however Hikvision is 100% better for the money, the ColorVu technology is also fantastic

[@realitydog8640]

I'm interested in the big black bag, can it be purchased separately? If used for kidnapping can it be machine washed for extended use? Also...Just kidding of course, Amaze balls camera.

[@JimBowman69]

The Reolink PTZ is great for the money

[@bigc9452]

As with most ubiquiti it's only half finished software wise and way to pricey... Also why is that lady walking alone with a mask on lol

[@DanyWyss]

Hello do this cam work with normaly Cloudkey+ gen2 ? or do i need aNVR ?

[@carlkloo]

Oh no! Where did the happy mic go? Have you abandoned him? :-O

[@Zach_Miller]

All of the suggestions that you made are exactly why I am holding out - once all of that is implemented I would consider it worth the price tag. My ideal feature would be AI click to track, click on a subject or vehicle that you are interested in and it will follow. That and sentry mode would be my two main uses. Lastly, my opinion is that the G4 PTZ is LESS conspicuous than the others. The black color makes it harder for the average individual to notice that the camera is tracking them

[@rickjames302]

sure do wish UBNT would let their NVR be onvif compliant instead of being ubnt camera proprietary. i am willing to bet their nvr sales would skyrocket if they would open it up.

[@shadow.banned]

This would be great to monitor waves on a surf beach.

[@crizz6397]

I'll take the camera if you don't want it. By any chance did you try and control the camera directly vs the unfi portal?

[@sfi_consulting5666]

Far as I know, unless there are been an update, you can't. The UI on the camera is identical to other UniFi cameras and they have made zero modifications for the PTZ functions. You have to use UniFi portal.

[@crizz6397]

@@sfi_consulting5666 you can login directly to the cameras ip address vs through the app or portal.

[@DanyWyss]

This cam need 802.3bt PoE++ but i only have PoE+ what can i do when i not wanna buy a new switch ?? Thanks for you helps

[@ram64man]

I think that connector maybe a hdmi -E normally used industrial side related industry and automotive industry introduced in hdmi 1.4 standard it’s not a common connection even then so maybe ubiquiti way of testing before leaving the factory

[@randleqgod]

I'm buying this when I pay off my credit card. I think it is totally worth the money.

[@RandomUserName92840]

They should add a virtual wall for the turn radius so that it's not possible to back to face a wall. Simple turn limits should do it.

[@geoffreycoetzee]

As always a pleasure watching your videos. We also need your thoughts on UniFi version 6.1.71 please.

[@paulwurdig3959]

Too expensive and why don’t they offer it in white color like all other cameras?

[@timbooth8238]

We won't sell this unless there is a roadmap to add presets and auto tracking in the future. Garbage without those features at that price.

[@rogerjenson5689]

I think it would be hard to have a microphone on this camera without picking up the PTZ motor noise.

[@AaronPace93]

Wonder when the controller will display an ad for this one next!!

[@ram64man]

It’s a real shame they haven’t included any sort of auto scan event zoom into the software with track that alone would be the difference in picking one ptz cam over another especially at this price point

[@naggersgonnanag]

any vendor has this feature? can you give me an example? thx

[@BerserkeR_031]

I would have expected it to be more responsive. The lag of the control software kills me lol..

[@donrogers3402]

I use many ubiquiti products. This one is way over priced. Check out the Sunba PTZ cameras. Picture quality and night vision is amazing. This brand also has an additional 15 degree up tilt above level which is huge benefit when you zoom. Otherwise you are looking into the ground real fast.

[@pabss3193]

Can ubiquiti cameras be used in professional environments, for example warehouses? doing a test with Gen4 non pro cameras and the quality is just not great, more when compared to old coaxial 2MP cameras (Hikvision)

[@robertf863]

I will say the UniFi cameras are very adequate for basic monitoring and such but admittedly cost for quality video is a challenge when comparing to others. The main reason for buying into UniFi is ease of centrally managing their cameras via protect or the controller. But if you’re looking for top notch video performance the pro line will kinda get you there but it won’t compete with others sadly. TLDR: sorta and yes but not the level of quality to other cameras...but you get the ease of management as the trade off.

[@pabss3193]

@@robertf863 the ease of management is indeed key, man I was hoping for so much more... I dont know why I have this hope inside of me for them to improve the cameras via software lol, more when they already have 4MP and almost similar features as the coax ones. Thx

[@AZGhost623]

Any AI in this camera, for lock tracking, face id, and/or car identification/tracking like Dahua can do? Any patrol or sentry type options?

[@sharedude]

better ptz for the phone would be to use the phone's gyro's so if you move the phone you move the camera view, then you only need a zoom in and out button.

[@andynaf]

Hi! Does the smart detection work also on a Cloud Key Plus?

[@cubic5307]

yes

[@DPCTechnology]

Great review. I agree with it all. After a few months with it I would say the cam itself is worth the dough. the build and optics are amazing. Patrol and follow have to be in the development path. It just seems like they put out some amazing hardware b4 they developed the software. One other wish, which will never happen, I have an Axis surf cam on my balcony that I can control from the web. The G4PTZ would be the PERFECT surf cam (it kills my 4 yo Axis) but they will never let u control it.. :( I'm excited for Protect to grow into the system, I hope they throw some resources and don't orphan it :/

[@estusflask982]

amazing picture quality. $1800

[@felenov]

I always stuck with Axis Q61 domes and my entire system is built on those

[@HARLEYMLM1966]

That 2x4 running horizontally is your fire stop