Important! About dahua hacked Chinese cams and NVR issues

MixManSC

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Also add - sellers that ship via DHL or some express service. Otherwise you may have forgotten you bought whatever it is by the time it actually arrives 2 months later.... I've done that on Aliexpress. Literally totally forgot. Something shows up and was like, what is this package? I'm not expecting anything.... lol
 

mat200

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I've been buying from AliExpress for a few years (around 30 or so items bought), and not once I ran into a bad sale or a scam. The rules I use are:
-There should be good feedback from previous buyers of the item, the more the better.
-The store should have been around for a reasonably long time (years).
Unless I am buying something cheap I do avoid sellers without orders or feedback.
These rules should minimize your chances of getting scammed on AliExpress.

PS: AliExpress website sucks
Hi CrossStreet,

YOU may not knowingly have purchased from a bad vendor scamming you.

Example of what I am referring to:

Seller - advertises a Dahua OEM 4MP starlight camera.

It is a legit Dahua OEM Chinese market camera... HOWEVER it is not a Dahua Starlight, buyer doen't really know they are conned as the product works - BUT it does not work as well as a legit starlight, and is using hacked firmware.

This happens A LOT, where the vendors are deceptive, dishonest, and fraudulent in their descriptions of the products they sell. THEY KNOW they are being deceptive - but do not care as they make sales, and as I mentioned - the product works to some functional standard.

You can think of this similar to someone selling you a "lexus with a 6 cylinder engine" - and replacing it with a "toyota with a 4 cylinder engine" ... not the same even though the same OEM.
 

crossStreet

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advertises a Dahua OEM 4MP starlight camera
Just looked, there are indeed lots of those 4MP starlights on aliexpress dead cheap. Everyone needs to do their due diligence.
This time I've selected a grand worth of cameras on Aliexpress, but in the end decided to buy them from Andy. But I don't think those vendors I chose would be a problem.
 

tigerwillow1

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"there are indeed lots of those 4MP starlights on aliexpress dead cheap"
There are no 4MP starlights on aliexpress dead cheap because they are not startlights. Other that inferior low light performance, at least some of them perform just as good as the 2MP starlights. A simple cost-vs-capability tradeoff, with the new wrinkle of Dahua NVRs rejecting the chinese market cameras.
 

tim8

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@EMPIRETECANDY So what you’re saying is if I have a nvr 5216 and a bunch of China region cams, I can’t buy anymore China region cams? The new ones with new firmware won’t work on my nvr and I must buy international versions. Any idea what the latest manufacture date on the box is that will still have the old firmware?
 

usaf_pride

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@EMPIRETECANDY So what you’re saying is if I have a nvr 5216 and a bunch of China region cams, I can’t buy anymore China region cams? The new ones with new firmware won’t work on my nvr and I must buy international versions. Any idea what the latest manufacture date on the box is that will still have the old firmware?
They will continue to work until you upgarde the NVR firmware.
 

tim8

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They will continue to work until you upgarde the NVR firmware.
I hope so. If not I’ll need to buy some more that are on old firmware ASAP. Andy’s post bullet point number 2 says
2. Chinese region cameras will not work with an NVR running english language firmware (i.e. a non-chinese-region NVR).
So will buying new camera with brand new firmware block access to nvr from the camera side? Because it seems like Andy is saying that the camera will block off access to any nvr on the English firmware.
 

usaf_pride

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I hope so. If not I’ll need to buy some more that are on old firmware ASAP. Andy’s post bullet point number 2 says

So will buying new camera with brand new firmware block access to nvr from the camera side? Because it seems like Andy is saying that the camera will block off access to any nvr on the English firmware.
The first post is about NVR firmware. Nothing was ever said about camera firmware. If you don't upgrade your NVR firmware, the stuff will still work with the NVR. There was nothing in here re: camera firmware. As most Chinese cameras are hacked with English firmware, you don't/can't upgrade the cameras anyways.
 

tim8

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The first post is about NVR firmware. Nothing was ever said about camera firmware. If you don't upgrade your NVR firmware, the stuff will still work with the NVR. There was nothing in here re: camera firmware. As most Chinese cameras are hacked with English firmware, you don't/can't upgrade the cameras anyways.
*facepalm* of course! Yeah sorry I totally misinterpreted the bullet points. I thought this was something completely new that came up so Andy needed to make a post about it. I though the nvr firmwares had been blocking Chinese cams for many months now and that Andy was reporting a new change that had occurred on the camera side. Thanks for clarifying this for me!
 

nejakejnick

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Could someone confirm whether hacked Chinese cameras like IPC-HDW4631C-A work with the original English NVR or not?
 

Tibor Makai

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nejakejnick

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Here is my example with the 59225, that I have purchased:
US $429.9 20% OFF|DH PTZ SD59225U HNI 2MP 25x Starlight IR PTZ Network IP Camera 4.8 120mm 150m IR Starlight H.265 Encoding Auto tracking IVS PoE+-in Surveillance Cameras from Security & Protection on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group
I did not have enough money and I took a chance with it, and it worked out well at the end. I've got it, for $395(!).
that seems to be an upgradable international model, so it makes sense that it works.
 

Tibor Makai

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Yes, but it was like $200 cheaper, when I have ordered it.
 
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