Dahua IPC-HDW5442T-ZE 4MP Varifocal Turret - Night Perfomance testing

[Dave Lonsdale]

What's your recording setup like: NVR/BI? what about retention schedule and recording drive space? Just curious, as I was planning on relaying on the motion sensors to trigger recording, but if I can not get sensitive right I just might switch to continuous. Right now I am using BI, 4 cams, 6TB of recording drive space. Not overly concerned with drive space usage as I could add more if need be, my original plan was to retain 30 days but not at continuous recording.

I have Blue Iris and had been using a little over 2TB plus an SSD to continuously record 12x2MP Dahua cams. I get 7 days of recordings by using h.265 where possible and a max frame rate of 10fps with top end bit rate settings. I will definitely know if I need to archive a recording within 7 days and so don’t need more. I put up with a little bit of noise to limit NR motion blur caused by a low frame rate.

Some of my cams are a bit long in the tooth and I have upgraded so far with 2x5442 4MP cams now that Ken Pletzer has worked his magic using the substreams for signal processing to limit CPU load. That guy deserves a medal. More pixels create more bits and I’m looking at adding another drive.

Wildcat_1 also deserves full credit for his perseverance. Regarding SMD, could the problem be Dahua’s marketing team? I can imagine them sitting round the meeting table and deciding, “wouldn’t it be nice and sell more product if...” “What about a press release next week and - oh - instruct the technical guys to make it happen.” I hope the software engineers don’t throw in the towel and need upgraded hardware. If that happens, FW upgrades for the products we’re buying now will cease like it did for the Dahua IP cams I bought some years ago.

 

[biggen]

I hope the software engineers don’t throw in the towel and need upgraded hardware. If that happens, FW upgrades for the products we’re buying now will cease like it did for the Dahua IP cams I bought some years ago.

I, for one, don't have any faith Dahua (or whomever is actually writing the code for these cameras) will be able to get it right. I mean, SmartIR worked on other cameras before the 5442 came around. So why the change? What is different about the 5442 that breaks it?

I wonder is there not a quality control team that vets the camera FW before being pushed to the public?

 

[Zimberto]

I've been using local storage for this camera and earlier this week the card reached full. A couple of days later I saw that none of the video before that point was available but the card still showed as full even though there was only two days of motion capture available. I have now reformatted the card so that should keep it going another while but it looks like there may be a bug in this area. I would expect the card to remain full once it has reached full, but I would not expect to lose ALL previous recordings.

FWIW I'm using a 64GB Samsung Endurance Pro card that does not have a lot of wear.

 

[truglo]

Curious, what is the difference if any between the HDW5442T-ZE and the T5442T-ZE? I can't seem to find the HDW part# on Andy's site.

 

[aristobrat]

Curious, what is the difference if any between the HDW5442T-ZE and the T5442T-ZE? I can't seem to find the HDW part# on Andy's site.

AFAIK, OEM resellers like Andy can't resell using Dahua's exact model numbers. For his model numbers, Andy typically swaps out the HD* part in Dahua's model numbers with a B for bullet, a T for turret or a D for dome.

 

[nhs128]

Ok, so there is a lot of discussion around FW and which to update to and use etc... and I still don't own the damn camera So my question looms, I have multiple 5231R-ZE. It still sounds like these are the choice though right? Even with the firmware snafoos?

 

[Andyh747]

That's a really good question. I also have a stack of 5231R-ZEs but may want to replace with the 5442. So is the new 5442 actually any better?

 

[S0619212]

Can someone please provide list of settings need to changed ? I understand some settings may vary depending on where the camera is located, but I would like to things that are strongly recommended to change. TIA

 

[Zimberto]

Can someone please provide list of settings need to changed ? I understand some settings may vary depending on where the camera is located, but I would like to things that are strongly recommended to change. TIA

I thought someone already did that. Did you read thru this thread?

 

[bigredfish]

That's a really good question. I also have a stack of 5231R-ZEs but may want to replace with the 5442. So is the new 5442 actually any better?

Yes

 

[S0619212]

I thought someone already did that. Did you read thru this thread?

I did read through most of them, yes they are talking about quite few settings and I am TOTALLY lost..lol.. I will spend some more time trying to collect the settings, would be nice if has a single place with all recommended settings for a given use case. In my case I have camera located about 7 feet by the garage door and I would like to ID anyone who is on my property.

 

[bigredfish]

I did read through most of them, yes they are talking about quite few settings and I am TOTALLY lost..lol.. I will spend some more time trying to collect the settings, would be nice if has a single place with all recommended settings for a given use case. In my case I have camera located about 7 feet by the garage door and I would like to ID anyone who is on my property.

Each location and camera is different. You have to work at it.
Review-OEM 4mp AI Cam IPC-T5442TM-AS Starlight+
Common issues with camera image

 

[bigredfish]

would be nice if has a single place with all recommended settings for a given use case.

I'll get right on that

 

[samplenhold]

would be nice if has a single place with all recommended settings for a given use case

Right. For every cam and every use case.

You do realize this is a free, member supported forum, right? No one here gets paid to help you.

You have been given loads of info, links to various threads that cover every topic imaginable, loads of information. It is YOUR job to comprehend the info presented and act upon it for your SPECIFIC situations. Only you can decide how to proceed. Take some responsibility here. Or pay someone to do it for you.

 

[S0619212]

Right. For every cam and every use case.

You do realize this is a free, member supported forum, right? No one here gets paid to help you.

You have been given loads of info, links to various threads that cover every topic imaginable, loads of information. It is YOUR job to comprehend the info presented and act upon it for your SPECIFIC situations. Only you can decide how to proceed. Take some responsibility here. Or pay someone to do it for you.

Sorry about that, I completely get it. Will read through those. Thanks again

 

[Zimberto]

Are we giving up on ever getting solid firmware for this camera? At this rate we'll be onto the next big thing before this one is working at spec.

 

[samplenhold]

Other than my two LPR cams, all of my cams run in color 24/7, so I could care less about the IR issue. The big deal about this cam is it's low light color performance. Most decent prosumer cams all work well under IR. So if this Smart IR issue is a problem for you, then maybe pick a different cam. There are many in the Dahua prosumer line that have working Smart IR.

 

[biggen]

It would be nice to have IVS working. It doesn't work worth a heck for me at night so I ended up turning it off. Even in the daytime, its hit or miss.

 

[Zimberto]

It would be nice to have IVS working. It doesn't work worth a heck for me at night so I ended up turning it off. Even in the daytime, its hit or miss.

I agree, I could do with the IVS working too. I certainly wouldn't buy any more of these or advise anyone else to buy them while there are such issues outstanding. I'm surprised to see them still for sale.

 

[bigredfish]

I will just say I'm not having any IVS issues at all with 5 fixed lens and one VF 5442's. Working great.

* MIne are all bullets