Help with IP camera selection: 4K, SD card, wide angle. No cloud, no pan, no NVR

M

MacMan

n3wb
Dec 29, 2021
15
2
San Francisco
Hi everyone. My house has four outside 1080 HIKvision IP cube cams with 128GB sd cards. I can live view from anywhere (IVMS, Guarding Expert) and can save clips from the SD cards from remote playback. There's two way audio. No POE needed as they have separate transformers. No cloud. No panning, but a good wide angle. Had to make at least three changes in the router ports to make the 1080 cams work.

I simply would like the same setup/config BUT with 4k. Dome preferred over bullet.

It also would be super if I could save the config file from each 1080 HIK cube cam and upload it into the 4k cam so it wouldn't need all the tedious interface programming.

Having trouble finding such a model with all these features. Could anyone here please help?
 
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Domes are problematic when used outdoors, they get dirty and water spots, and haze over as they age. This cause's odd reflections and IR bounceback thus in some case's ruining nighttime video.
Use turrets instead.
Keep in mind that a 4k camera takes a LOT more horsepower to handle the data.
You won't be able to import saved config from your old cameras to your new.
Each field of view of a cam is different and for best results, each cam needs to be tuned for it's FOV.

The current go to cameras:
Review-OEM Loryta IPC-T5442T-ZE Varifocal 4mp camera (Dahua) | IP Cam Talk

Review-OEM 4mp IPC-T5442TM-AS 2.8mm Starlight+ | IP Cam Talk
 
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Do you have enough light for 4K or be willing to use the built-in white LEDs?

If not, 4MP is more than adequate and can see infrared.

A 4K camera that can see infrared is a budget cam on sensors made for 2MP and a 2MP will beat a 4K on the same size sensor all night long.

Real 4K cameras are designed for color only, but they are not magic and still need light.

Chase sensor size, not MP.

 
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wittaj said:
Do you have enough light for 4K or be willing to use the built-in white LEDs?

If not, 4MP is more than adequate and can see infrared.

A 4K camera that can see infrared is a budget cam on sensors made for 2MP and a 2MP will beat a 4K on the same size sensor all night long.

Real 4K cameras are designed for color only, but they are not magic and still need light.

Chase sensor size, not MP.

Click to expand...


1. We have sunlight.
2. There's an IR array pointed toward the street with good coverage as viewed through the 1080 ip cam now.
3. Internet is 40MB up and 1000 down.
 
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As I said and mentioned above, the good 4K cameras do not see infrared, so all the IR array in the world won't help it.

If you get a 4K camera that can see IR, then it is on a 1/3 or 1.2.8" sensor designed for 2MP and the 2MP will kick its butt at night.

If you get a 4K camera that is not on the 1/1.2" sensor, then the existing camera you have will perform better at night...

What is your use case as that dictates the proper camera recommendation.

Do you want to DETECT, OBSERVE, RECOGNIZE, or IDENTIFY and at what distance?

That answer dictates the camera recommendation.

Sometimes 2MP or 4MP is the better camera for the distance and what the goal is.

See this thread:

The Importance of Focal Length over MP in camera selection

At the urging of several folks here, I created a thread to show the importance of focal length and how focal length can be more important than megapixels (MP). I mentioned some of this in the post regarding The Hookup’s latest video demonstrating different cameras, including one sold from a...
ipcamtalk.com ipcamtalk.com
 
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Because they are designed for full color and these cameras are bigger, so they would be even bigger to add IR cut filters and IR.

At the moment that size sensor and firmware is better suited for full color and I suspect the IR would simply wash out the image and they haven't been able to tone that down.

So they provide white LED instead of infrared.
 
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garycrist said:
If you have to have IR stick with the 5442 series! They are outstanding day or night.
Click to expand...

Okay. Fine. I'm stupid when it comes to cameras. How difficult are they to set up/program? The HIKvision required over an hour to set up the first camera. What's the maximum field of view? Can it be moved/adjusted remotely? Is cloud required?
 
Some people have a lot of light like streetlights and thus can run it in color at night instead of with infrared.

Color is preferred if the available light is there.
 
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The cameras are not complicated to set-up. No NVR no Blue Iris, no problem.
Stick a SD card into the cam and set up trips that way. One may log into the camera with a browser
and configure, manipulate or view events although a server/nvr really is the way to go.

To address your question about the street and IR, it depends on the ambient light available for the full color cams.
The minimum amount of light to just identify something, needs light equal to a full Moon. About
what one might see about 45 to 60 after sunset. (4K-T or 4K-X)
 
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