Synology and Y-Cam Grasshopper Bundle Review

1. Introduction2. Y CAM Knight S3. Synology DS211J4. Grasshopper Bundle (Super High Res Gallery)5. System Configuration (1)6. System Configuration (2)7. DS211j Performance8. Acoustics, Power Consumption & Power Drain9. Closing Thoughts10. View All Pages

We have reviewed many Synology products on Kitguru over the last year, but today we are looking at a bundle deal in conjunction with leading camera manufacturer Y-CAM. The ‘Grasshopper' Basic package can be picked up for £549.99 – it includes a Synology DS211J with 2 Y CAM Knight S cameras.

For your £549.99 you get the two bay NAS system, two IP based surveillance cameras with 2TB of storage. Today we will look at the package bundle to see if it offers good value for money.

Synology release a wide selection of NAS systems and it can be difficult to keep track. What is the difference between the DS211 and the DS211+ and DS211J ? Many people seem to be confused with the Synology naming conventions, but it is surprisingly easy to break down.

“+” series = performance range.
standard series (no digit) = mixture of performance and storage.
“j” series = entry level consumer, concerned about capacity but not performance.

DS = Diskstation
First Digit = number of bays
Second numbers = year for the release

Therefore we know that the DS211j is the entry level, mainstream model for basic duties.

We have never looked at the Y CAM products before and as can be seen on this page, they make a wide range of products for home and business use. The Y-CAM Knight S is a camera that can be used without a NAS system and it has built in movement sensors with the option to immediately email, send an SMS or even take snapshots or video when motion is detected. It has also night vision capabilities. The UK retail price is £135.

It is a 1/4″ CMOS camera with 310,000 pixels and a focal length of 3.6 mm. Night Vision is supported between 12-15m.

We received the Grasshopper bundle, without the 2TB of storage, so we used our own hard drives.

Opening one of the Y-Cam boxes we see a little caveat explaining the night vision capabilities of the camera. There is a software disc, quick start guide and product literature supplied.

Each of the two camera kits is supplied with various plug adapters for multiple regions, a 5 volt power supply as well as a mounting bracket and network cable.

The camera is available in two colours, a white or black version. Y-Cam also sell a more expensive SD version which has support for direct microSD recording. At the rear is a power connector, network cable connector and wall mounting screw.

The mounting system is screwed into the rear of the body as shown above. The mount can then be attached to a wall or placed level on a flat surface.

The network cable hooks directly into the bottom left of the camera body. There is also a reset hole to force the camera back to factory default settings.

The DS211j is very similar in appearance to the faster DS211+ which we reviewed in December 2010. The J model is cream and grey and is an attractive little NAS design for the home. It measures 161 x 88 x 218 mm and weighs 0.98 kg.

Along the front are a series of activity lights for power, LAN and hard drive status. There is a also power buttons and a USB connector underneath.

At the rear is a cooling fan, supported underneath with a gigabit network connector, two USB ports, security lock and power connector. There is also an emergency reset button on this panel.

The DS211j is easily opened by simply pulling on the side of the chassis. Inside the motherboard is housed underneath the metal bay system which can house two 2.5″ or 3.5″ hard drives. There is a cooling dan behind this to ensure the dual drive system receives adequate cooling.

To keep the costs of the system down, there is only 128MB of DDR2 installed, alongside the 1.2ghz processor. The DS211j can support up to 6TB of storage (2x3TB).

On this page we present some super high resolution images of the product taken with the 24.5MP Nikon D3X camera and 24-70mm ED lens. These will take much longer to open due to the dimensions, especially on slower connections. If you use these pictures on another site or publication, please credit Kitguru.net as the owner/source.

The Y-Cam products are very versatile, because they can be used without any NAS system, or with leading products from Synology (and QNAP).

The software is installed from the supplied disc and only takes a few minutes. They also supply some literature on setting up the product, although it really is an easy ‘step by step' process.

The Y-Cam software scans the network for supported products and found the Y CAM model immediately. At this stage you can set the camera up and open the interface panel via a browser.

Accessing the camera requires a user name and password which is set by default to login ‘admin' and password ‘1234'.

This panel offers a variety of primary settings, such as naming the device, the location, HTTP port access options and IP address configuration.

Pressing ‘open' loads your default operating system browser with direct access to the network connected camera. Live view allows you to view the camera image and there is a settings panel on the right.

The browser software immediately asks for a password change, as the default settings are not secure. Along the right is a list of menus, with submenus.

The camera panel at the top right is the main configuration section and it defaults to settings which will suit most people. You can adjust the frame rate for video, the resolution, audio quality and bit rate, among other settings.

As this camera is a night vision capable model there are some settings to adjust the image quality to suit.

There is even full wireless support onboard and we had no problems connecting the camera to our network. Obviously if you move the camera further away the signal will weaken, so you may need to upgrade your network transmission strength if you want to use the cameras from a long distance.

We have covered the Synology products in great depth before and you can check out all of our reviews over here for in depth analysis of the Synology software. A very important aspect of a NAS system purchase is the operating system. DiskManager 3.2 is a multi threaded, multi tasking configuration which is continually improving. Today we are going to look at basic setup as well as configuring the YCAM Knight S camera.

Version 3.2 of the software was released recently and you can recap over the configuration options and changes here.

The initial setup is handled via the Synology Assistant software which is included on the disc. Newer versions may be available from the Synology website, so it is always good to check first. Initial setup takes around 10 minutes.

The first demand is to configure the hard drive(s). This system supports  Synology Hybrid RAID, Basic, JBOD, RAID 0, RAID 1. It also allows for RAID Migration: Basic to Raid 1 and volume expansion with larger HDD's: RAID 1.

Surveillance Station is a option available in the bottom section of the main control panel. The initial procedure demands that it is enabled.

After opening the Surveillance software, the first demand is to scan for a supported camera, available on the network. The Synology software found the Y-CAM Knight S camera immediately which was a relief.

When the camera is located, there are configuration options available, but remember to key in the same user name and login as previously configured via the camera software, or you will get no further.

The settings are comprehensive, and there are various adjustable parameters which support motion detection.

Camera quality is very good, although it isn't HD compatible. It supports 640×480(VGA), 320×240(QVGA), 160×120(QQVGA) with 30 fps at 640×480. This is adequate as a surveillance camera and the night vision capabilities are very good.

The images above are taken in perfectly daylight (left) and an almost dark room (right). This is without any adjustable compensation parameters configured.

Motion detection worked well and we were able to configure the Synology system to email us when an alert occurred.

We are testing the Synology DS211j within our gigabit network which is pretty much as good as you will get for a home or small office environment. It is a mixed network with several 1GBit switches for ultimate performance.

We rerun the test 10 times and take an average for the final result.

Performance is quite good, averaging 84 MB/s read and 44 MB/s write across our network to a 1TB RAID 0 configuration.

Next we created a folder of files, 500mb/s in size with a variety of data , from small database documents to larger jpgs and bmps.

Mixed transfer requests obviously cause a performance hit. We found with the small amount of onboard memory (128mb) that the DS211j was often running at the limit.

We take the issue of noise very seriously at KitGuru and this is why we have built a special home brew system as a reference point when we test noise levels of various components.

Why do this? Well this means we can eliminate secondary noise pollution in the test room and concentrate on components we are testing. It also brings us slightly closer to industry standards, such as DIN 45635.

As this can be a little confusing for people, here are various dBa ratings in with real world situations to help describe the various levels.

KitGuru noise guide
10dBA – Normal Breathing/Rustling Leaves
20-25dBA – Whisper
30dBA – High Quality Computer fan
40dBA – A Bubbling Brook, or a Refridgerator
50dBA – Normal Conversation
60dBA – Laughter
70dBA – Vacuum Cleaner or Hairdryer
80dBA – City Traffic or a Garbage Disposal
90dBA – Motorcycle or Lawnmower
100dBA – MP3 player at maximum output
110dBA – Orchestra
120dBA – Front row rock concert/Jet Engine
130dBA – Threshold of Pain
140dBA – Military Jet takeoff/Gunshot (close range)
160dBA – Instant Perforation of eardrum

Noise was measured from half a meter away.

The system registered the lowest DbA reading we have encountered with a Synology NAS system and is right at the limit of our testing equipment. This is an extremely quiet NAS system and ideal for a bedroom environment as it would be basically inaudible.

We measured power from the socket with 2 x 500gb Samsung hard drives installed.

When idle, the system is only consuming 13 watts of power. Under load it rises to 24 watts maximum which is very efficient.

The single fan installed is more than capable of holding our two hard drives at, or under 30c. Excellent results.

The Synology and Y-Cam ‘Grasshopper' bundle is an interesting concept and ideal for a home or small business user. By bundling two cameras, the NAS unit and some storage everything is ready to go right out of the box.

We have had prior experience of internet based cameras and some of them can be rather tricky to set up correctly. The Y Cam models pair up perfectly with the Synology NAS platform offering motion based detection, and the option to record video directly to the network storage drives.

Alerts can be sent via email and SMS and ensure that you will feel safe using one of these products to protect your home or business. As we have detailed before, the Synology Disk Station software is fantastic and very intuitive to use.

The pricing for these bundles is competitive, and costs can be reduced rather than buying the items individually. If user demands are higher, then both companies have other, more expensive configurations in their portfolio.

The Grasshopper – Ideal for Simple Home Monitoring
1 x DS211J Synology NAS Drive + 2TB Storage
2 x YCK004 Y-cam Knight S IP camera
2 x Synology Surveillance Station Camera Licenses
£549.99

The Sensei – Small Business Security
1 x DS411J Synology NAS Drive + 2TB Storage
4 x YCK004 Y-cam Knight S IP camera
4 x Synology Surveillance Station Camera Licenses
£1,349.99

The Master – The Ultimate Security Package
1 x DS1511+ Synology NAS Drive + 2.5TB Storage
4 x YCK004 Y-cam Knight S IP camera
4 x Synology Surveillance Station Camera Licenses
£1,599.99

If you want to learn more about the packages then head to the dedicated site over here.

• Pros:
• Cost effective.
• software implementation is bullet proof.
• no connection or bug related issues.
• NAS is quiet and runs cool.
• cameras can be bought individually for £135.

Cons:

• DS211j often runs with 100% memory utilisation.

Kitguru says: A great bundle for a user requiring low cost security options to protect a property.

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