BH Photo - Dahua Pro Series 8MP HD-CVI Outdoor Eyeball Camera with 3.7-11mm

[Truthinadv]

Working on cameras for my home security project.

I really like the idea of being able to read a license plate from 30-60 feet with my cameras.

Since I am in Dallas and my house is well lit by street lights I was planning on going with the Dahua 8MP cameras.

I was planning on purchasing 8 IPC-HDW5831R-ZE from Andy at Empire and running it on Blue Iris

Then i found this camera at BH Photo in NYC - Pro Series 8MP HD-CVI Outdoor Eyeball Camera with 3.7-11mm - Dahua A82AH5V

Dahua Technology Pro Series 8MP HD-CVI Outdoor Eyeball A82AH5V

USA/HDCVI/Camera/Pro/A82AH5V - Dahua Wiki

1) What is the difference between these two cameras?
2) The one at BH Photo appears to be a newer model and is not yet released - anyone know when it will be out?
3) Pricing is also a little cheaper at BH Photo (you need to log in to see the $207.95 price)

Thanks

 

[bigredfish]

Those two cameras (same camera) you linked to are HDCVI cams, not IP cams. They generally use the same sensor, but different technology.

I run a lot of HDCVI ams at home and they work very well but lack some flexibility of IP cams. The Dahua XVR series recorders allow you to run both types, but generally speaking I think you were wanting IP cams....like the IPC-HDW5831R-ZE.

Two other tips:
1- While it sounds counter intuitive, 2MP cameras, particularly the Dahua Starlight series such as the 5231's, will easily outperform the 8MP cams at night and low light. Most bad things happen at night, so consider this and read up via the wiki at the top of the page ^

2- LPR (reading license plates) isn't easy or simple. Visit the LPR forum here before you jump into it. For 30-60 feet, assuming a good angle, you're going to need a camera with more zoom than 11mm.

 

[Truthinadv]

Thanks for the reply

I have read the wiki a few times and it is very helpful.

Good catch on the bh camera not being IP. Yes, I want IP cameras

I do feel like I am getting mixed advice on megapixel for cameras. If you don't have the pixels you can't identify people or license plates .

Of course if it is dark and you can't see, megapixels don't matter. But during the day, megapixels really help

A local installer said I should add ambient light to my house like solar lights from home Depot so I get good results with higher megapixel camera

I've also read the LPR threads and am not clear if this is a realistic goal. The local installer told me it is very hard to achieve.

I have a 30 to 40 degree angle and about 10 - 12 foot elevation from the car and about 60 to 90 feet in the front of house and about 40 to 50 feet in the back of the house

I'm not clear if LPR is a realistic goal and if it is, what I should buy. Since this is for my house, I don't want to spend a fortune. $200-$300 per camera for LPR is fine. But not $500+

Should I get a mix of cameras? Some 2mp and 8 mp?

Thanks

 

[fenderman]

Thanks for the reply

I have read the wiki a few times and it is very helpful.

Good catch on the bh camera not being IP. Yes, I want IP cameras

I do feel like I am getting mixed advice on megapixel for cameras. If you don't have the pixels you can't identify people or license plates .

Of course if it is dark and you can't see, megapixels don't matter. But during the day, megapixels really help

A local installer said I should add ambient light to my house like solar lights from home Depot so I get good results with higher megapixel camera

I've also read the LPR threads and am not clear if this is a realistic goal. The local installer told me it is very hard to achieve.

I have a 30 to 40 degree angle and about 10 - 12 foot elevation from the car and about 60 to 90 feet in the front of house and about 40 to 50 feet in the back of the house

I'm not clear if LPR is a realistic goal and if it is, what I should buy. Since this is for my house, I don't want to spend a fortune. $200-$300 per camera for LPR is fine. But not $500+

Should I get a mix of cameras? Some 2mp and 8 mp?

Thanks

You need to dedicate a camera to lpr...read the lpr section of this forum...
solar lights wont help much...
use the starlight cameras....read the posts SEE the images. SEE the difference....
get the varifocal for a tighter shot.
you local installer sounds like a trunk slammer to me.

 

[Truthinadv]

You need to dedicate a camera to lpr...read the lpr section of this forum...
solar lights wont help much...
use the starlight cameras....read the posts SEE the images. SEE the difference....
get the varifocal for a tighter shot.
you local installer sounds like a trunk slammer to me.

I am sorry if my response was not clear as I have read the forums on LPR and WIKI.

I understand that i need a dedicated camera for LPR and I am willing to spend $200-$300 for this camera. I am not 100% clear on what camera is recommended. I saw the Dahua 2MG bullet camera with the 12x zoom get mentioned a few times. It is rather large vs some of the turret models. Is there a recommended camera for LPR?

I know the group loves the 2MP starlight cameras and i’ve seen some videos comparing the 8MP Dahua vs 2MP Dahua...(not for LPR) and I question if the 2MP will give me enough detail to identify people. Yes, they were more clear during the night the 8MP but neither really would enable me to identify anyone.

Are you saying that solar lights will not help with the camera i use to light up my front or back yard with a wide angle camera view at night? And that i really need to get the 2MP?

 

[fenderman]

I am sorry if my response was not clear as I have read the forums on LPR and WIKI.

I understand that i need a dedicated camera for LPR and I am willing to spend $200-$300 for this camera. I am not 100% clear on what camera is recommended. I saw the Dahua 2MG bullet camera with the 12x zoom get mentioned a few times. It is rather large vs some of the turret models. Is there a recommended camera for LPR?

I know the group loves the 2MP starlight cameras and i’ve seen some videos comparing the 8MP Dahua vs 2MP Dahua...(not for LPR) and I question if the 2MP will give me enough detail to identify people. Yes, they were more clear during the night the 8MP but neither really would enable me to identify anyone.

Are you saying that solar lights will not help with the camera i use to light up my front or back yard with a wide angle camera view at night? And that i really need to get the 2MP?

lpr can be done with an vga camera...its all about the settings and zooming in just right.
Yes, the 2mp camera will give you enough detail to identify people, what do you think we all use them to identify?

Look I get it, you have the same problem that many folks have. They cant wrap their head around the fact that 2mp is better than 8....remember the 8mp is NOT 4x clearer than the 2mp. I cant fix the psychological issue you have with that.
Solar lights do not emit enough lumes to be particularly useful...
There are newer 8mp bullets that look promising in low light but still not as good as the 2mp turrets and they may have spider issues like other bullets.
(8MP) IPC-HFW1831E Review
you need to consider that these cameras are pointed at highly reflective concrete and will not perform similarly on asphalt or grass.
there is a varifocal version as well that includes an sd card slot

 

[bigredfish]

ON Megapixels - Listen to @fenderman Stick with 2MP Starlight cameras for around the house as primary cams. If you want to get better clarity further away, hang and extra 8MP cam for overwatch. Most things you care about are going to occur within the range of good clear images with a good Starlight 2MP cam.

On LPR - Once you get to 30+ degree angle of attack, it get much harder, and it aint easy in the best of settings. Part science part Zen. You would need something in the 25-60mm lens range to get 60-90 ft.

HIK makes a very good low light camera with a 32mm lens that may work for LPR at about 60+ft.....

This is an example of an Dauha 5231E-Z12E (64mm lens) used for LPR at about 100ft, almost straight on, with vehicle speeds under 10mph - ideal conditions. Still it took many weeks to fine tune it and I have to leave it in B&W during the day as it goes out of focus when switching from color to B&W. (there is a 3rd party script you can run to mitigate this problem but you have to have a computer running the script on the local network which i dont (and it wont work on cameras behind a NVR builtin PoE switch) It works for me in this particular case but I wouldnt recommend it for LPR - there are better choices