As it turned out. The IP Camera being sold with the varifocal lens on Ali Express that you reference. Really is a ("Partial - Black metal box housing being the only thing in common") clone of the IP Camera originally posted here and does not use the same SoC ("System on a Chip") chipset or firmware. Which is a Hi3518E SoC chipset. The IP Camera being sold below, with the varifocal lens, is based on an older SoC chipset. The Hi3518C:
http://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/b9FTycs0
They are different. The Hi3518E SoC chipset is newer and has more features. The Hi3518E SoC chipset was created/released in 2014 whereas the Hi3518C SoC chipset, was created/released in 2012. The Hi3518E is in the IP Camera originally posted about in this thread.
You can compare the product brief descriptions between the two by clicking them here:
Hi3518C Chipset Specifications --
Hi3518E Chipset Specifications
I'd ask the seller if the SoC chipset for this IP Camera is a Hi3518C or Hi3518E. One way to prove that they are not lying to you is to ask them what their IP Camera shows as its System firmware version when accessed via its browser interface. If that version number does not include "6510" then the IP Camera is not using the Hi3518E SoC chipset:
For some reason. I have not found a Hi3518E SoC chipset based IP Camera being sold with a varifocal lens yet in the same black metal box housing. The ones I have found, like yours. Always turn out to be based on the Hi3518C SoC chipset.
IMHO. The most major issue with purchasing a IP Camera with an older SoC Chipset like the Hi3518C ("Created/Released in 2012") is that manufacturers don't continue to support them with new features and firmware changes like they do with the newer SoC chipsets like the Hi3518E ("Created/Released in 2014").
These days. It seems like the average actively supported IP Cameras including adding new features and frequent firmware updates. Seems to be generally no more then 2 years before the manufacturer/OEM moves on with another SoC chipset to make fresh money on.
More or less abandoning IP Cameras, older than 2 years of age which are using older hardware technology. When there are security issues that need to be fixed for IP Cameras two years or older. Some manufacturers/OEM's don't even care to release firmware fixes due to their age.
I call this mentality. The "New TV Age". After purchasing a Samsung LCD TV years ago that would not turn on two years later and the warranty had expired. Closest TV repair shop from me ("Listed on the Samsung website for suggested TV repair shops") that said they could work or were willing to work on the TV. No joke, 150 Miles! Even the big box stores including where the TV was originally purchased from. Won't repair TV's. Took out my voltmeter opened up the TV replaced a capacitor in the power line circuit board. Good as new.
Not so easy when you are dealing with IP Cameras that maybe have a security issue published in the public domain or a bug and because the IP Camera is over 2 years old. Nobody wants to release a firmware fix. So much for your $300+ U.S. Dollar investment.
This is one of the major reasons why I stick with cheap IP Camera solutions which are using recent technology. Why invest $300+ U.S. Dollars in anything, that in 2 years has no support, of any kind? It might also be because personally I have no need or desire to purchase IP Camera equipment to try to break the current record of distance or quality in day/night modes that any of my IP Cameras, can capture the actual act of a
mosquito farting at 30 FPS.
I find this approach less costly and it leaves me with lots of extra cash as new technology is released at those same cheap prices vs. tying up all that same cash, in soon to be abandoned technology, which was overpriced anyway.
So in my hometown Chicago slang. What some sellers are trying to do now is. Put "Lipstick on a pig" with older technology ("Hi3518C SoC chipset") that on the outside looks like the newer technology ("Hi3518E SoC chipset"). Because it's in the same small black metal box container. With the bait being, the varifocal lens. Which you can still get for the Hi3518E version of this IP Camera for about $8.00 U.S. including shipping, as an accessory. Hopefully soon IP Cameras with the Hi3518E SoC chipset, will be being sold that include or have as an option from the same seller a varifocal lens for less than $30.00 U.S. including shipping.
This is not to say that purchasing this IP Camera with the Hi3518C SoC chipset is a bad idea. But it's best to know it's not using the same technology or firmware that the original IP Camera posted about here is using and that most likely the support cycle for the Hi3518C will end sooner than for the Hi3518E. Because it's about 2 years older than the Hi3518E, in the hardware technology release cycle.
All this is simply a buyer beware warning. Ultimately, the choice is yours. But at least it will be a more informed choice.
Don