Performance (continued):

Motion Detection:

Motion detection can be enabled and disabled through the app, but as with most functions you really want to log into your camera to get the most out of it. One app oddity though is that when you open the menu and select Settings, the Motion Detection option doesn’t appear right away. All the other options are there but the motion will show up after about 10 seconds. Also the motion detection employed in the DCS-2530L is based on the image obtained unlike the DCS-2630L that has a PIR sensor (passive infrared sensor). So this means you are more likely to get some false alarms, especially in the IR mode, since as mentioned above the noise in the image creates what can be interpreted as motion. You can adjust the sensitivity, but it is tough to find a setting that will work with day mode effectively and night mode, as well. Even with the sensitivity at 30% there were frequent motion detections. As with previous reviews; you can also create zones for the camera to look for motion and enable recording as can be seen in the screen caps below. So motion detection is an area where the original DCS-2630L was clearly better utilizing the PIR sensor.



Sound Detection:

Enabling sound detection allows you to receive push notifications or start recording based on a preset threshold value you pick. Options start at 50dB and go up in 10dB increments to 90. Overall the sound detection seemed to work just like other D-Link cameras. This camera had a little less hiss or background noise than some other cameras but no major differences. Even though this works well I don’t typically use this feature as I would rather record based on motion since someone sneaking around is usually trying to be quiet. But as you can see in the screen caps below the app allows you to see the current sound level in the room and move the slider to adjust your detection point. Very intuitive.



Local Recording:

As with many of the D-Link cameras, the DCS-2530L also allows you to record locally if you add a microSD card, and it can handle up to 128GB cards. I really like this feature as it can provide redundancy to your recordings on the cheap. Many people will record these camera feeds to a NAS server, but if you get robbed chances are your NAS server walked off too. With this you can review the footage and potentially help the police find the perpetrator. Also of interest is the ability to access these clips remotely through the app. This can be a little slow to load but with the clips well organized in folders by date and time with a preview pic you are likely to find the clip you need quickly.



Wi-Fi:

The new DCS-2530L camera is 802.11g/n unlike the outgoing DCS-2630L’s 802.11ac. While the older model has potentially more bandwidth it doesn’t always translate into better Wi-Fi. Unfortunately in this case there might be an issue. While I haven’t had any camera disconnects, what I have noticed is that the live view loads slower and occasionally fails to load altogether. At the same time I can access the DCS-2630L, so it isn’t an issue with network traffic or the app. Maybe this is related to that slow loading motion option mentioned above, I just hope it isn't hardware and is something that can be addressed in the next firmware.