What is this forced colour? Sorry seen it mentioned quite a lot as I've been researching but my focus has been on another things. Is this effectively where you feel you have lots of ambient light around the camera and so you want it to remain in "day" or colour mode and not switch to B&W mode with IR enabled?
Review - OEM IPC-B5442E-ZE 4MP AI Varifocal Bullet Camera With Starlight+
- Thread starter Wildcat_1
- Start date
bigredfish
Known around here
Exactly, effectively defeating the onboard light sensor
@EMPIRETECANDY would be great if you could provide @looney2ns with a HFW5442E-ZE to test and compare against the HDW2231T-ZS-S2 
@freddyq I agree with @bigredfish that you definitely don't want all in color, unless your house is in the grounds of a football stadium with more bright, overhead lighting than you can shake a stick at Many of us run multiple cameras to cover an area and have a B&W for ID, details etc and a cam in color mode (where possible and applicable) for further details such as color of a vehicle, clothing etc.
With that said either of the cams mentioned here are very nice, the 2231 or the 5442's that I reviewed here. The 1/1.8" 4MP really is a powerhouse of a bundle in terms of sensor and optics so the choice is certainly yours. My personal recommendation would be to go the 5442 way but again, don't think you will be unhappy with either. Just remember you'll pay a little more for the 5442's BUT you also get into the Pro AI range so get People vs Vehicle Detection which does help rule out false captures, plus the face detection with attributes. Again you may not want or need those BUT something to consider.
HTH
Many of us run multiple cameras to cover an area and have a B&W for ID, details etc and a cam in color mode (where possible and applicable) for further details such as color of a vehicle, clothing etc.With that said either of the cams mentioned here are very nice, the 2231 or the 5442's that I reviewed here. The 1/1.8" 4MP really is a powerhouse of a bundle in terms of sensor and optics so the choice is certainly yours. My personal recommendation would be to go the 5442 way but again, don't think you will be unhappy with either. Just remember you'll pay a little more for the 5442's BUT you also get into the Pro AI range so get People vs Vehicle Detection which does help rule out false captures, plus the face detection with attributes. Again you may not want or need those BUT something to consider.
HTH
Yea so these features make sense for a camera I'm putting at the front of the house so I'm definitely doing that. It's the one camera on the side and 3 at the back I'm wondering about in terms of 5442 or 2231. If there is hardly any real world difference in performance I'd rather go for the 5442 so I'm future proofed more...but I'm not an expert enough to be sure.
bigredfish
Known around here
A vote for the 5442
well let’s be honest, when it comes to tech nothing is future proofed anymore unfortunately with that said I don’t think you’ll be disappointed with a 5442 if you decide to upgrade to its 4MP all around. The sensors really have come a long way and these 1/1.8” are the only ones that really have started to turn heads towards something other than all of our favorites, the 2MPs that have done an amazing job (still do, looking at you 5231-Z12)
Your choice but again 2 great cams you have your eyes on just need to decide 2MP vs 4MP and AI or not, the sensors on both at their respective resolutions are solid. You also get a little boost in performance from the 4MPs due to the improved SOCs & increased RAM that they use in the AI cams (even more so on the 7x42’s), 128MB Ram on the 2MP vs 1GB on the 4MP. Again nothing that should sway you in a huge way but wanted to make sure you were aware.
with that said I don’t think you’ll be disappointed with a 5442 if you decide to upgrade to its 4MP all around. The sensors really have come a long way and these 1/1.8” are the only ones that really have started to turn heads towards something other than all of our favorites, the 2MPs that have done an amazing job (still do, looking at you 5231-Z12) Your choice but again 2 great cams you have your eyes on just need to decide 2MP vs 4MP and AI or not, the sensors on both at their respective resolutions are solid. You also get a little boost in performance from the 4MPs due to the improved SOCs & increased RAM that they use in the AI cams (even more so on the 7x42’s), 128MB Ram on the 2MP vs 1GB on the 4MP. Again nothing that should sway you in a huge way but wanted to make sure you were aware.
Really useful to know these finer details as well so thanks!well let’s be honest, when it comes to tech nothing is future proofed anymore unfortunately
Your choice but again 2 great cams you have your eyes on just need to decide 2MP vs 4MP and AI or not, the sensors on both at their respective resolutions are solid. You also get a little boost in performance from the 4MPs due to the improved SOCs & increased RAM that they use in the AI cams (even more so on the 7x42’s), 128MB Ram on the 2MP vs 1GB on the 4MP. Again nothing that should sway you in a huge way but wanted to make sure you were aware.
Parley
Known around here
What Wildcat-1 said and my vote is for the 5442. IMHO they are the next step up and I am replacing most of my cameras with them or their longer range brother. I am also hoping that Dahua installs this new 1/1.8" sensor in some of their PTZ cameras. I have some I would like to upgrade. Andy, are you listening?
I am also hoping that Dahua installs this new 1/1.8" sensor in some of their PTZ cameras. I have some I would like to upgrade. Andy, are you listening? Hang on - I've been meaning the IPC-HFW5442E-ZE bullet all this time. Are others meaning this too because I know there is also the IPC-T5442TM-AS turret version but I've discounted that as it's fixed lens and being my first jump into IP cams, even though I've used the IPVM calculator quite a lot, I just can't take the risk with a fixed lens so I wanted varifocal.What Wildcat-1 said and my vote is for the 5442. IMHO they are the next step up and I am replacing most of my cameras with them or their longer range brother.
Are these two cameras basically the same except the fixed vs varifocal and form factor?
bigredfish
Known around here
The fixed version 5442’s have a bit better low light capability, but yes they are the same sensor.
Review: Dahua HFW5442T-ASE 4MP Starlight+
Review: Dahua HFW5442T-ASE 4MP Starlight+
I was referring to the vari bullet in my comments @freddyq. That is also the one I reviewed here (remember the B5442 is Andy’s @EMPIRETECANDY OEM version) and recommend. As @bigredfish states, the fixed are very good too and slightly brighter being a fixed lens but if you need a vari you won’t go wrong with these cams based on the sensor.
Parley
Known around here
Yes, I have been talking about the IPC-HFW5442E-ZE and the IPC-HFW5442E-Z4E. There is also the Dahua HFW5442T-ASE 4MP Starlight+ fixed version.
I said dome. Realise this thread is all about bullets but not everyone wants/needs bullets & there's no dome thread for these, yet.As of this posting Andy has two in stock.
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What is the difference between IPC-HFW5442E-ZE and IPC-B5442E-Z4E?
mech
Getting comfortable
The Z4E has a longer-range lens. I've been thinking about a couple for parking-lot duty, in a crossfire arrangement (the lot is a rectangle) so they have a zoomed view of cars on the opposite half of the lot from a medium overhead angle that would catch faces on prowlers between the cars. Or I might do that with a couple of 8MP cams for the extra pixel density; we've got enough light that it's not a light-starved scene. The Z4E would be the right pick for hitting the opposite corners of the lot at about 20-25 meters range.
The relative field of view on the Z4E and the ZE are... let's see here...
Z4E
ZE
How does the IPC-B5442E-Z4E (range up 32mm) compare with the 5241-Z12 (range up to 60mm, mostly used for LPR). I know the Z4E has the better sensor, but for nighttime, in your opinion, what would you opt for?