Is Dahua the best bang for the buck?

[GeekDad]

New to the forum. I've been reading reviews and originally thought I wanted a bullet cam. After seeing some of the installs, I am now leaning towards a turret model. Any suggestions for less than $150?

And how exactly is 'Dahua' pronounced?

-Thanks-

 

[bigredfish]

Da wa

For the most part yes, along with HiKvision they seem to be the sweet spot. You get professional technology at a good price. Far better than most box sets you find in WallyWorld and they compete well against cameras 3x+ the price

 

[AP514]

Good to know

 

[Hammerhead786]

New to the forum. I've been reading reviews and originally thought I wanted a bullet cam. After seeing some of the installs, I am now leaning towards a turret model. Any suggestions for less than $150?

And how exactly is 'Dahua' pronounced?

-Thanks-

Welcome. Read the Cliff Notes and the Wikis on this site. Bullet cameras have the problem of attracting spiders so for external cameras, turret is your best bet.

 

[K175un3]

Hello GeekDad, the 2MP Dahua Starlight (1/2.8” SONY Starvis CMOS) have the best low light performance and they're reasonably priced as well.

 

[tigerwillow1]

the 2MP Dahua Starlight (1/2.8” SONY Starvis CMOS) have the best low light performance

In saying this I'm wondering if you have read the reviews for the newer 4MP Dahua cameras?

 

[bigredfish]

Hello GeekDad, the 2MP Dahua Starlight (1/2.8” SONY Starvis CMOS) have the best low light performance and they're reasonably priced as well.

IMHO they now are second best since the release of the newer 1/1.8 4MP 5442 and 7442 series

 

[K175un3]

A large sensor with a larger pixel size and a lower pixel density is paramount in capturing photons tigerwillow1, as bigger pixels are better for low light performance due to their ability to capture photons.

As a bigger target is much easier to hit than a smaller one.

That's what any Astrophotography forums and buffs will tell you.

 

[K175un3]

bigredfish, what's the pixel size and density?

And you do know that it's a smaller CMOS?

 

[bigredfish]

Not that smart. But my eyes don’t lie

I and others have compared both. Spend some time on this thread

Review: Dahua HFW5442T-ASE 4MP Starlight+

Many thanks once again to Andy @EMPIRETECANDY we have the Loryta IPC-B5442T-ASE 4MP Starlight+ bullet. This camera has been provided by Andy in exchange for a fair and honest review. This is a fixed 3.6mm bullet from the newer Eco-savvy 4.0 AI series(Pro AI) series with the 1/1.8” sensor...

ipcamtalk.com

 

[K175un3]

The effect of pixel size on noise

A quick look at why, in most circumstances, a larger sensor will make much more difference to your images quality than the size of your pixels.

m.dpreview.com

 

[bigredfish]

Yep I get it.
The 1/1.8" (bigger sensor) 5442/7442 series is better in low light IMHO than the 1/2.8" 2MP Starlights.

 

[SouthernYankee]

My standard welcome to the forum message.

Please read the IP Cam Talk Cliff Notes and other items in the IP Cam Talk Wiki. The wiki is in the blue bar at the top of the page.

Read How to Secure Your Network (Don't Get Hacked!) in the wiki also.

Quick start
1) If you do not have a wired monitored alarm system, get that first
2) Use Dahua starlight cameras or Hikvision darkfighter cameras or ICPT Night eye cameras (Store | IP Cam Talk) if you need good low light cameras.
3) use a VPN to access home network (openVPN)
4) Do not use wifi cameras.
5) Do not use cloud storage
6) Do Not use uPNP, P2P, QR, do not open ports,
7) More megapixel is not necessarily better.
8) Avoid chinese hacked cameras (most ebay, amazon, aliexpress cameras(not all, but most))
9) Do not use reolink, ring, nest cameras (they are junk), no cloud cameras
10) If possible use a turret camera , bullet collect spiders, dome collect dirt and reflect light (IR)
11) Use only solid copper, AWG 23 or 24 ethernet wire. , no CCA (Copper Clad Aluminum)
12) use a test mount to verify the camera mount location. My test rig: rev.2
13) (Looney2ns)If you want to be able to ID faces, don't mount cams higher than 8ft. You want to know who did it, not just what happened.
14) Use a router that has openVPN built in (Most ASUS, Some NetGear....)
15) camera placement use the calculator... IPVM Camera Calculator V3

Cameras to look at
IPC-T5442TM-AS-LED Review IPC-T5442TM-AS-LED (Full Color, Starlight+)
IPC-T5442TM-AS Review-OEM 4mp AI Cam IPC-T5442TM-AS Starlight+ - 4MP starlight+
IPC-HDW2231R-ZS Review-Dahua IPC-HDW2231RP-ZS Starlight Camera-Varifocal
IPC-HDW2231T-ZS-S2 Review-OEM IPC-T2231T-ZS 2mp Varifocal Starlight Camera
IPC-HDW5231R-ZE Review-Dahua Starlight IPC-HDW5231R-ZE 800 meter capable ePOE
IPC-HFW4239T-ASE IPC-HFW4239T-ASE
IPCT-HDW5431RE-I Review - IP Cam Talk 4 MP IR Fixed Turret Network Camera
DS-2CD2325FWD-I
IPC-T2347G-LU Review of the Hikvision OEM model IPC-T2347G-LU 'ColorVu' IP CCTV camera. (DS-2CD2347G1-LU)
N22AL12 New Dahua N22AL12 Budget Cam w/Starlight -- low cost entry

Other dahua 4MP starlight Dahua 4MP Starlight Lineup

My preferred indoor cameras
DS-2CD2442FWD-IW
IPC-K35A

https://ipcamtalk.com/threads/review-dahua-ipc-k35a-3mp-cube-camera.37581/#post-373517

If interested in Blue Iris and other setup items see the following post

Newbie Starter Guide to IP Cam System – VPN setup – Computer Hardware – Blue Iris – Dahua Cameras

This is an intermediate / newbie guide for people just starting out looking for a surveillance setup. I know this setup might not be for everyone and there are many options. You can find a lot of this information in the Wiki: IP Cam Talk Wiki | IP Cam Talk A great place to start in the Wiki...

ipcamtalk.com

Read,study,plan before spending money ..... plan plan plan
Test do not guess

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
if you are interested in International Dahua cameras, a forum member sells dahua (and some Hikvision) and ships world wide. You can read some of the members recommendations on his service. He also provides cameras to other forum member for evaluation and reviews.
you can email him for a quote, or purchase from his Aliexpress store or his Amazon store. The cameras are fully upgradable, he posts upgarde software when available.

Andy
@EMPIRETECANDY
kingsecurity2014@163.com

Andy's ipcamtalk vendor forum: EmpireTech Andy
Andy's AliExpress store: Empire Technology Co., Ltd - Amazing prodcuts with exclusive discounts on AliExpress
Andy's Amazon store: EmpireTech-Andy @ Amazon.com:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[jd415]

Go with Lorex, (Dahua OEM) has less bells and whistles but they work great.

 

[fenderman]

Go with Lorex, (Dahua OEM) has less bells and whistles but they work great.

Lorex has a very limited low light camera selection. They don’t have the 4mp and 2mp starlights. Difference is night and day.

 

[jd415]

Here is my Lorex 8 MP with a 1/1.8 sensor. At night it's pretty good and during the day its amazing. It's a good bang for your buck. I never buy the ones from Costco like everyone else, all the high end ones are on their site or Amazon.

 

[aristobrat]

Here is my Lorex 8 MP with a 1/1.8 sensor.

Can you post an image from that cam that has someone moving around at night in it?

Getting the least amount of blur when someone is moving at night is the challenge most here have. Even a little bit of blur can sometimes mush up someone’s face to where it’s significantly harder/impossible to ID them.

Dahua’s 8MP 1/1.8” cameras weren’t as good in low light as the popular 2MP 1/2.8” Starlight models, and now those are becoming second fiddle to the newer 4MP 1/1.8” models.

If this Lorex meets your low-light requirements, that’s great. If not, Dahua/Hik have two series of cameras that should do better that use tech not available in consumer brands (Amcrest, Lorex, etc) yet.

 

[K175un3]

Bigredfish I'm used to the metric system. But I have noticed something very interesting, attached .PDF has some cameras selected from Dahua's website and all say that they're 4MP Starvis CMOS cameras.

But when you go to the product pages they are not listed at all as having Starvis CMOS sensors, this includes the technical documents as well.

 

[GeekDad]

Thanks to everyone for your input.

@SouthernYankee, as an engineer I research, research, research and then plan, plan, plan. Like the test jig!

 

[bigredfish]

Bigredfish I'm used to the metric system. But I have noticed something very interesting, attached .PDF has some cameras selected from Dahua's website and all say that they're 4MP Starvis CMOS cameras.

But when you go to the product pages they are not listed at all as having Starvis CMOS sensors, this includes the technical documents as well.

Actually if you look closely on your PDF they dont all say Starvis. The 7442 series for example.

I dont believe "Starvis" is the only low light sensor. We had that discussion here sometime back. But it really doesnt matter to me if they call it, or use, the Starvis or the BigredfishMambo (TM) sensor to me. The results are pretty incredible for a $200 surveillance camera.