Some time ago I did longer answer on Reddit to question: Which is better HIK vs Dahua...
It describes very well the big problem with Chinese camera OEM manufactures..
They are all almost the same good and bad in different categories..
Some of the problems are from the fact that both HIK and Dahua DON'T DEVELOP own hardware and a new features.
Everything is delivered by external companies (mostly by SOC manufacturers like HiSilicon as part of SDK plus some external software houses).
Things like 3/4/5 gen ISP video processing, SMD, IVS, VideoMetaData, AcuPick, AI SSA, AI Encoding, SmartCodec etc. are market names for technologies delivered by HiSilicon as part of new generations of SOCs.. If you will look at newest HIK cams (DarkFighter2) they have exactly the same features, simply HIK use different marketing names..
Both Dahua and HIK only combine individual elements and technologies delivered by external companies doing fine-tuning and differentiating them between camera lines and models to increase profit..
They want to sell.. not to support.. support is problem of resellers not HIK/Dahua..
-- Original my article from Reddit --
Similarity:
- both are the biggest cctv manufactures in the world and both are based in China,
- both are OEM's - so only some part of productions are sold under main brands (HIK / Dahua).. there are hundreds other brands which are in reality HIK or Dahua products rebranded under different logo,
- both offers products / solutions for different market segments at different price points... from cheapest analog cameras for 50 USD with bad performance to very costly ultra line high-end thermal / PTZ / multi sensor / AI solutions for 5k+ USD each...
- both are using very similar hardware / firmware / software technology... reality is that both are using SOCs (chipset with CPU/GPU/ISP/NPU) and image sensors from the same mostly Chinese suppliers which develops base firmware SDK / drivers / software for that tech..
- both companies are heavily copying each other - so if one put a new product with specific new feature or new usage scenario, second one usually will do the same in next 6-12 months,
- excluding cheapest lines, both produce mostly very good hardware for very good price..
- both companies sucks at firmware development - lots of bugs, not finished features, compatibility problems, fast forgotten products with no new firmware, limited support for html5 video (both require archaic plugins in Internet Explorer mode),
- both companies are terrible at software development. Mobile apps (HikConnect / DMSS) are bad / buggy / have old and not intuitive UI.. Desktop apps are horrible and almost not developed any more.. Cloud solutions (P2P) are primitive and very unstable.
I see main 3 differences:
- HIK have much faster product cycle.. it put hundreds of similar products models with almost identical spec sheet.. decoding features / differences from model numbers are much harder comparing to Dahua.. much faster forgets about previous models or revisions with no new firmware.. having 3 years of stable firmware upgrades with a new features for one product is unheard of in HIK world..
Dahua is releasing a lot less new product variants - and they are much easy to differentiate. There are 4 main lines (Lite 2xxx, Lite Pro 3xxx, PRO 5xxx, Ultra with higher numbers) and Dahua models numbers coding much more practical informations about product specification. Also support is much more stable - most products from PRO or higher have 3-year product cycle with stable firmware upgrades.. Dahua have history of adding to PRO / ULTRA products new important features even after 1-2 years of product life..
- Dahua have better NVR and camera UI (HDMI local, web services) - they revamped NVR UI 4 years ago and camera UI 1.5 years ago.. HIK for years had very not logical UX - it was very hard to find features / options especially on NVR.. This year HIK did big revamp of his NVR 5.0 UI and camera 5.0 UI - but they have very long list of missing/not working features in a new UI and resolving this will take some time...
- in Europe (this can be different in USA or different continents) HIK have very minimal / almost not existing support. You must really on installers or distributors... which are providing support / courses behalf HIK.