Any rebranded Dahua Starlight Cams?

[HelloAgain]

I'm seeing a lot of post about how great Dahua Starlight cameras are awesome. However, every post about them seems to be accompanied by more post about making sure you get 'the right one with the right firmware from this one site from this one guy'.

By chance, are there any re-branded Dahua Starlight cams (Lorex or anyone else) that I can just buy from a 3rd party site? I looking for an easy camera to get with a easy return policy if I don't like it.

I'd love a simple Amazon prime link, for that makes things 'easy'.

Currently, I have LaView (HikVision?) cams.. easy to get and they work well, but I'm open to better options.

 

[pozzello]

fwiw, "that guy with the right cameras" IS on Amazon Prime... https://www.amazon.com/-/dp/B07DRC93S8

 

[HelloAgain]

Thanks... you are an amazing individual.

 

[pozzello]

depends on who you ask...

 

[bigredfish]

 

[mat200]

FYI - for those following,

There's a vendor section here at IPCT for vendors which members recommend.

 

[TinyTim]

Wow I didn’t realize he was prime now the last 5 cameras I ordered where sent straight from China to My house via DHL and that was two weeks ago.

fwiw, "that guy with the right cameras" IS on Amazon Prime... https://www.amazon.com/-/dp/B07DRC93S8

 

[HelloAgain]

Yep, and I ordered one. It should be here Thursday. I'd much rather deal with Amazon than with multiple 3rd parties directly. If the part won't be delivered in 2 or 3 days, I'm not interested.

 

[fenderman]

Yep, and I ordered one. It should be here Thursday. I'd much rather deal with Amazon than with multiple 3rd parties directly. If the part won't be delivered in 2 or 3 days, I'm not interested.

Its one third party. You are just paying extra via amazon. DHL takes 3-4 days from china. Lots of great products including cameras are not available on amazon or via 2-3 day shipping. Your loss.

 

[HelloAgain]

I wouldn't call it a loss, but rather a difference of priorities. When I talk about 'multiple 3rd parties', I was talking about lots of different things I order, not just cams (which I'm only now dipping my toe in those waters). For me personally, the 'one throat to choke' convenience in dealing with Amazon is worth the occasional higher fee. Heck, with the card I use I can buy something from Amazon, and I'm automatically credited the difference if it's found for sell anywhere else cheaper anyway. And to be more clear, I don't *only* deal with Amazon, I'd simply *rather* deal with Amazon. Obviously they don't carry everything imaginable.

 

[fenderman]

I wouldn't call it a loss, but rather a difference of priorities. When I talk about 'multiple 3rd parties', I was talking about lots of different things I order, not just cams (which I'm only now dipping my toe in those waters). For me personally, the 'one throat to choke' convenience in dealing with Amazon is worth the occasional higher fee. Heck, with the card I use I can buy something from Amazon, and I'm automatically credited the difference if it's found for sell anywhere else cheaper anyway. And to be more clear, I don't *only* deal with Amazon, I'd simply *rather* deal with Amazon. Obviously they don't carry everything imaginable.

First priority is getting a camera with the best image quality and reliable. For years that was only possible via ali/ebay etc. It was not even possible to purchase via amazon.

 

[VorlonFrog]

Ordering direct from Andy provides the fastest, least expensive, highest-quality Dahua camera you will find. Lower prices on AliExpress? Maybe. But slow-boat shipping that takes weeks. And you can never be certain you will receive an authentic international model camera, able to be safely updated with newer firmware. Cheap Chinese versions of cameras are often sold, made of plastic rather than steel, and hacked to put English firmware on them. If you attempt to upgrade the firmware, you're hosed. It will revert to Chinese, or worse, brick itself.

Buying from Andy is a safe bet, proven daily for IPCamTalk users. His DHL shipping typically arrives in 3 to 5 days, with 3 or 4 being the norm. And if there's ever a problem, Andy stands behind his sales with proven firmware and hardware support. Ask anyone here.

 

[TheDude]

Andy (EmpireTech on Amazon) is an excellent and trustworthy source (who I have also bought a few from and is very active here on IPCamtalk) but there are a ton of third party branded cameras that are Dahua. The catch is that it is generally not readily apparent exactly which model Dahua it might be as most of the OEM brands assign their own model numbers and many of the Dahua cameras are externally identical but with vastly different internal features. So it takes some legwork matching up specs to figure exactly what it is you are getting from an OEM brand. Also even at that, at least with Lorex, since Dahua literally owns Lorex they also put their own custom firmware on the camera with many features removed and in some cases the hardware is even slightly different internally which will prevent cross-flashing to Dahua firmware. Different firmware is not necessarily bad as you can generally just cross-flash the device to the newest Dahua firmware but in the case of at least certain Lorex cameras, those will not accept Dahua firmware due to some different hardware internally and there is no matching Dahua firmware that will load on them. So ones in that scenario are stuck with the feature crippled Lorex firmware. I know specifically the Lorex LNB4173B, LNE4162, and LNE4172S cameras are like that. They are 100% Dahua but.... there is some internal hardware difference that does not match up to any known Dahua firmware.

Other Duhua OEM brands are plentiful though and in my experience, the majority that are sold in the USA will accept Dahua firmware just fine. But again, it is not always very easy to determine exactly which specific model Dahua it is. One of the techniques I've used that works very good is if the OEM brand has a firmware update you can download. That allows you to extract the firmware with 7zip (or some other extractor) and examine the firmware which will tell you for certain which Dahua firmware you can then download and load onto it. I have some from Montavue and ClearView that I bought on eBay for next to nothing that are very current model Dahua cameras. IPVM has an older list of Dahua OEM brands here Dahua OEM Directory but it is only from mid 2017 so it is not very current. For example it does not even list Lorex, and the other two brands I've mentioned. Also have to be aware that some like Lorex, while they have many that are Dahua, they also have some that are not.

 

[HelloAgain]

Yep, that's point I was trying to get across. If I have to choose between buying from a trusted seller via Amazon or via a Chinese site that I've never used before, I'm choosing Amazon. It's my personal preference. Andy happened to be the first to reply, so that's why I purchased the camera from him. I don't need 'the best' and likely wouldn't be able to truly take full advantage of 'the best' gear at my novice level. I was confused by fenderman's apparent offense that I ordered from Amazon, especially considering you can buy ipcamtalk branded cams on Amazon as well.

At this moment, I'm mainly curious to see what this 'starlight/Starvis' talk is all about. I'll be doing to some side-side my comparisons between my LaView (Hik) 4k Bullet and this 1080p Starlight. I'm hoping for some excellent low light performance. My current plan is to continue using the 4k to record my driveway + yard for general surveillance, and use the starlight to focus solely on the driveway for increased night time surveillance. We'll see. I'm sure I'll make plenty of mistakes along the way. I'm okay with that.

 

[VorlonFrog]

At this moment, I'm mainly curious to see what this 'starlight/Starvis' talk is all about. I'll be doing to some side-side my comparisons between my LaView (Hik) 4k Bullet and this 1080p Starlight. I'm hoping for some excellent low light performance. My current plan is to continue using the 4k to record my driveway + yard for general surveillance, and use the starlight to focus solely on the driveway for increased night time surveillance. We'll see. I'm sure I'll make plenty of mistakes along the way. I'm okay with that.

I can promise you, you'll immediately see a dramatic, striking difference with regards to detail and shades of gray. It's almost unreal how good are the 2 MP Starlight cameras.

 

[HelloAgain]

I can promise you, you'll immediately see a dramatic, striking difference with regards to detail and shades of gray. It's almost unreal how good are the 2 MP Starlight cameras.

Wow, you weren't kidding. This thing is so good in low light, that it's not even going into night vision mode. The light from my garage light is enough to keep it in color mode and it looks great. I wish they made a 4k camera with this sensor (and was affordable).

I only had 2 incredibly minor issues with this camera:
1) The box didn't contain the correct mounting template. It contained one for a 4 screw mounting bracket, not a 3 screw one. I simply put the base on my scanner and scanned/printed my own template easily enough.
2) I set the time zone info during the initial power-on config, but the setting didn't take. I had to set it against once I was in the GUI. Again... trivial.

The only current issue I'm having is that I'm picking up what appears to be a slight lens flare on the camera from my garage light that's fairly close. I'm hoping to find a solution that doesn't involve me moving the camera.

 

[VorlonFrog]

Wow, you weren't kidding. This thing is so good in low light, that it's not even going into night vision mode. The light from my garage light is enough to keep it in color mode and it looks great. I wish they made a 4k camera with this sensor (and was affordable).

The only current issue I'm having is that I'm picking up what appears to be a slight lens flare on the camera from my garage light that's fairly close. I'm hoping to find a solution that doesn't involve me moving the camera.

To resolve that lens flare, either reposition the light source, or fit a small cardboard panel around that side of the camera. When you get the cardboard template cut and fitted and working to your satisfaction, transfer the template shape to a sheet of thin plastic or metal for the final product, and spray paint it to match the camera.