Review-I'll be the guinea pig for the new SD59225U-HNI PTZ.

looney2ns said:

Why so much noise in the audio?

Click to expand...

Mic is near the dang air condition compressor. It's incredibly sensitive.

n0xlf said:

Reseating my camera module didn't help anything - The optics in the module are all internal - The front of the camera is nothing more than a "window" so even if it were off somehow, it probably wouldn't make a difference. I did it anyway, and no luck.

It's also dropping packets, so there is more going on with this mystery cam than just hidden menu settings and focus problems...

Click to expand...

Just confirming that it's fed with PoE+ or via 24v?

Could you pull it down and test with another network cable and power source, eg if you were using POE try the 24v brick or the other way around.
Also test another switch port.

Pocket loss usually suggests either layer 1-2 issues or the device is at load and is dropping packets.
Wait, your camera is forwarded to the internet right? Turn off the forwarding and do your ping tests, these cameras really don't like being forwarded to the Internet, it was lagging out the other guys camera until we turned off port forwarding.
Otherwise plug a spare camera into that cable run and run test pings. (If you still experience packet loss on another camera, then you have cabling or switch port issues, then you'll need to reload the camera/ptz firmware again via another cable run as you may have corruption)
Otherwise if it goes away, then the camera has a fault.


Re the lens/focus issue, if you have reloaded the older firmware for both the camera and PTZ, as well as tested another power source, I'd agree that the camera has a fault.

Your cameras IR behaviour on auto certainly didn't behave like it should, normally they are good at auto swapping, even in manual mode, yours seems to get stuck.
Normally IR issues in my experience with other cameras is a lack of power (POE isn't up to it, wrong POE version, run too long, cable fault/poor crimps) but it wouldn't explain your other issues.
Be mindful many .AT switches with a large load can only fully power 1 or 2 devices at 30w, just that you aren't overtaxing that.

If you have ruled that all out, then I'd back you up with seeking warranty.

Yeah, been there done that with all of it - Power is via a Ubiquiti 48 port Edgeswitch (PoE+ on all 48 ports), even tested standalone plugged straight into the switch with a different cable.

Also have tried numerous firmware revisions, without success. The packet loss explains why TFTPing was such a pain too. My other SD59225U-HNI works great, so it's nice being able to compare the two for any oddities. Dropping ICMP isn't necessarily indicative of problems if it's done intentionally, but clearly this isn't the case. The other SD59225U-HNI doesn't do it and accepts firmware updates much more quickly, also indicating the packet loss.

I've invested a ton of time in troubleshooting it since the shipping back is probably going to be painful...There's just nothing left to try. I should have been a bit more suspicious when its IP out of the box wasn't the default. Someone else may have already been down this road with it, hopefully not related to Andy.

n0xlf said:

Yeah, been there done that with all of it - Power is via a Ubiquiti 48 port Edgeswitch (PoE+ on all 48 ports), even tested standalone plugged straight into the switch with a different cable.

Also have tried numerous firmware revisions, without success. The packet loss explains why TFTPing was such a pain too. My other SD59225U-HNI works great, so it's nice being able to compare the two for any oddities. Dropping ICMP isn't necessarily indicative of problems if it's done intentionally, but clearly this isn't the case. The other SD59225U-HNI doesn't do it and accepts firmware updates much more quickly, also indicating the packet loss.

I've invested a ton of time in troubleshooting it since the shipping back is probably going to be painful...There's just nothing left to try. I should have been a bit more suspicious when its IP out of the box wasn't the default. Someone else may have already been down this road with it, hopefully not related to Andy.

Click to expand...

Good good, just checking as some of the cheaper switches people use struggle with 2 power hungry .AT devices.

Re warranty shipping, thats why I suggested to test everything, as the RMA is going to be a pain, postage in the USA is certainly expensive, even compared with Australian couriers/post providers.

Strange that it was dropping packets with TFTP, certainly seems like something isn't 100%.
I've only had packet loss issues with ethernet when there was a faulty cable/swp or the device was experiencing issues.

Dropping ping can be on purpose, but in this case it suggests device is struggling to process.

What IP address was configured out of curiosity?

Speak to Andy re shipping, he might have a local distro he can use otherwise I'm sure he will work something out.

EMailed him already so just waiting for his response - I'm ordering another cam and some parts from him so we may be able to combine some of it at least.

I don't recall the exact IP, only noticing that it was not default when I couldn't get into it and did the ARP scan.

I setup IVS it's been working but it only tracks for about 10 seconds then goes back to its preset. I have IVS tracking time set at 30 seconds. Anyone else having this issue?

TheSuperServer said:

I setup IVS it's been working but it only tracks for about 10 seconds then goes back to its preset. I have IVS tracking time set at 30 seconds. Anyone else having this issue?

Click to expand...

Mine does that too after between 10-20 seconds, eventhough I have the tracking time set to 300 seconds. I guess it just looses track after only 10-20 seconds and then returns to preset. I have that both during daytime and nighttime.

ljw2k said:

As the Dahua fanboy's will say "user error"

Click to expand...

How would the user know? It is not as if there is decent documentation available (or is there?).

This page about IVS on Dahua's site is the only hint I have found about IVS and Smart Codec compatibility. It is the * point below the table at the bottom of the page.

Moving to Dahua came with an anticipated learning curve. What really shits me, is that 4 cams have exactly the same settings except IP address but only one will overlay the time in a readable font and it has changed between two of the cameras. Rant over.

I saw this one posted in the youtube channel of dahua usa.

ljw2k said:

Come on peeps don't be shy and upload some night time video's in colour of moving objects.

Click to expand...

why? My 30x works great in BW, why would i even care about color at night?

Just wonder if there was a reason to waste my time and make a recording.

Well if you can settle for a 30x, I can make a quick video.

wantafastz28 said:

Well if you can settle for a 30x, I can make a quick video.

Click to expand...

I agree with @ljw2k. Why are members so reluctant about sharing forced colour video of moving objects during night time? I have shared many, but it seems hard for people to understand why i want to use colour instead of B&W. But that is one of the main reasons why i bought this camera. So people, please share your nighttime video in colour, so that it will help others who do want to use colour mode at night (like me).

BTW, i get headache from using B&W with IR. Even the slightest drizzle of rain makes it look like it is snowing all over the place. And bugs and insects make it look like it's raining all the time. Don't other people have that experience with B&W and IR? It's horrible to use in a country (like mine) where it rains a lot during night. Also my focus is horrible with B&W with IR. I get better video quality with full colour than with B&W, seemingly opposite compared to the experience of some other members here. That's another reason i want to use colour instead of B&W.

I think wanting a color image at night is something we all want to achieve, but frankly unless you have a ton of reliable white light available, it's not going to be the best choice as @nayr and others have mentioned and demonstrated. Its also going to be very location and condition dependent as to make comparisons difficult at best. The other consideration/tradeoff is that you have to be somewhat assured that the white light will always be on when you need it - not always an automatic certainty...

You may have seen some of my own forced color captures, but in each case there is usually another camera capturing the approximate same area in B&W/IR which allows me two views of the same general area in case white light doesn't cooperate. If you're lucky with white light placement and a good camera, you can ideally leave it on Auto and allow the color mode to kick in when motion/security lights or other switch operated white lights activate.

I've found forced color mode at night gives less viewable distance and detail, is usually a tradeoff between motion blur and noise, and is just generally much harder to achieve a good image with the consumer grade sub-$200 cameras we're playing with. The Dahua Starlights are certainly an improvement, but they still require many thousands of lumens of white light to capture good color nighttime images. Not everyone has that available. But yes it can be nice to know if the perp is wearing a red hoodie vs a grey hoodie or if the car is blue or black.

The one thing I think we can all agree on and that I'd like to see more of is video captures in general vs still shots from new cameras. Good still shots of parking lots/driveways/house are relatively easy with almost any $50 2MP camera. For me, video captures with vehicle or human movement are much more helpful in determining the image quality and effectiveness of the camera and the lighting in the scene whether they be color or IR/B&W.

Frank van der Heide said:

I agree with @ljw2k. Why are members so reluctant about sharing forced colour video of moving objects during night time? I have shared many, but it seems hard for people to understand why i want to use colour instead of B&W. But that is one of the main reasons why i bought this camera. So people, please share your nighttime video in colour, so that it will help others who do want to use colour mode at night (like me).

BTW, i get headache from using B&W with IR. Even the slightest drizzle of rain makes it look like it is snowing all over the place. And bugs and insects make it look like it's raining all the time. Don't other people have that experience with B&W and IR? It's horrible to use in a country (like mine) where it rains a lot during night. Also my focus is horrible with B&W with IR. I get better video quality with full colour than with B&W, seemingly opposite compared to the experience of some other members here. That's another reason i want to use colour instead of B&W.

Click to expand...

That's all I was asking for is... why? Make sense...it rains only a few times a year for me, so I've never worried about it, in color or bw, rain makes the cams almost useless for me since they don't have any cover. I'm not hesitant on making videos, I just don't want to waste my time unless it is constructive. The ambient light in my back yard is not the greatest, but in the side area it is adequate, only problem for making this video is finding a moving object. I did happen to see 10 little kids getting drunk at the park behind me last night then cram into a durango.

I have an external mic but there is an audio delay. Is there a way to sync the audio with the video?

Frank van der Heide said:

Mine does that too after between 10-20 seconds, eventhough I have the tracking time set to 300 seconds. I guess it just looses track after only 10-20 seconds and then returns to preset. I have that both during daytime and nighttime.

Click to expand...

Mine does the same set to 30 seconds and tracks for 9-12 seconds.

n0xlf said:

EMailed him already so just waiting for his response - I'm ordering another cam and some parts from him so we may be able to combine some of it at least.

I don't recall the exact IP, only noticing that it was not default when I couldn't get into it and did the ARP scan.

Click to expand...

Andy is sending me a new one - He's been great to work with! The $81.05 shipping back (and yes, I shopped around everywhere - USPS was cheapest) is a bit painful, but the cost of doing this kind of business...

TheSuperServer said:

I have an external mic but there is an audio delay. Is there a way to sync the audio with the video?

Click to expand...

If there is I've never found it. When I felt like it I coded video to avi and moved the audio manually in an editor.

It's so quiet here. Time for some footage. Mister Fox caught on camera. He's really loving our flowers ;-)

Don't forget to set it to 1080p to get the best video quality. I'm more satisfied now with catching moving objects at night in forced colour mode. Not quite there yet, but slowly getting there.