Dahua SD1A203T-GN-W Review

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you are confusing optical and digital zoom...optical zoom is superior... digital zoom is worthless. There are many browsers that support this plugin and will continue doing so for longer than your camera will last...search the forum.
I'm definitely not confusing optical and digital zoom. The optical on this camera is only 3x. With digital, it zooms to 12x, granted 12x digital is not what 12x optical would be but 12x digital vs 3x optical is still superior in my case. I tested it last night: with 3x optical zoom I cannot distinguish small artifacts in the room where I'm going to use this camera, with 12x digital, I can easily distinguish them.
 

fenderman

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I'm definitely not confusing optical and digital zoom. The optical on this camera is only 3x. With digital, it zooms to 12x, granted 12x digital is not what 12x optical would be but 12x digital vs 3x optical is still superior in my case. I tested it last night: with 3x optical zoom I cannot distinguish small artifacts in the room where I'm going to use this camera, with 12x digital, I can easily distinguish them.
Digital zoom on a camera should never be used...you always zoom in after the fact.
 
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I'm not following you. Why should you never use digital?

This is what I saw last night testing:
Digital zoom was disabled, I didn't even know how to enable it. I was zooming in to the far end of the room and trying to make out what I was looking at. Not even possible, just too small.
I read on this thread about enabling digital zoom, so I asked about the interface, found it has an internal, found the digital zoom switch and turned it on.
Then I could see the camera zoom to it's previous 3x optical and then could see it switch to digital zooming whereby I was able to make out what I was focused in on at the other end of the aviary.

Keep in mind, I'm using these cameras as a sort of 'baby cam', they are going in an aviary where my birds are notorious for getting behind stuff and all I have is a toe or a beak to zoom in on to find them and make sure they are ok while I'm at work. I'm not using this as an outdoor surveillance system.
 

NightLight

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Sorry, late to the party. I am using NACL in Chrome. I found a way to add it to the task bar so I can get to it quicker, as before you had to put in the IP address, put in your login, then open the app, then login again. Wish it would remember the IP address and login info though. I have trouble in IE where it only shows the top left of the camera feed, so IE is useless. And Edge doesn't work at all for me.

I am also trying to get iSpy to work or Xprotect to work. No success yet, but haven't dug deep into them yet. I will do some more research into iSpy today if I can.

I think Fenderman is saying to record without digital zoom, then you can always do a digital zoom later if you need to.
 
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Sorry, late to the party. I am using NACL in Chrome. I found a way to add it to the task bar so I can get to it quicker, as before you had to put in the IP address, put in your login, then open the app, then login again. Wish it would remember the IP address and login info though. I have trouble in IE where it only shows the top left of the camera feed, so IE is useless. And Edge doesn't work at all for me.

I am also trying to get iSpy to work or Xprotect to work. No success yet, but haven't dug deep into them yet. I will do some more research into iSpy today if I can.

I think Fenderman is saying to record without digital zoom, then you can always do a digital zoom later if you need to.
Can you let me know how you add the NACL to the task bar? It's going to be a while before I ever get a BlueIris machine setup.

That makes a lot more sense about digital zoom if you're recording. I'm live view only, I have no interest in any recording at the moment. Maybe when I get a BI machine up and running.
 

TL1096r

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Thanks, this should be very helpful. How do you view this on phone without using BI?
 

Jamson

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I'm not following you. Why should you never use digital?

This is what I saw last night testing:
Digital zoom was disabled, I didn't even know how to enable it. I was zooming in to the far end of the room and trying to make out what I was looking at. Not even possible, just too small.
I read on this thread about enabling digital zoom, so I asked about the interface, found it has an internal, found the digital zoom switch and turned it on.
Then I could see the camera zoom to it's previous 3x optical and then could see it switch to digital zooming whereby I was able to make out what I was focused in on at the other end of the aviary.

Keep in mind, I'm using these cameras as a sort of 'baby cam', they are going in an aviary where my birds are notorious for getting behind stuff and all I have is a toe or a beak to zoom in on to find them and make sure they are ok while I'm at work. I'm not using this as an outdoor surveillance system.
How do you acvtiate digital zoom on this camera. Thanks
 

TL1096r

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@Jamson, Settings > Camera > Conditions > Focus & Zoom > Digital Zoom On | Off


There used to be free iOS/Android apps from Dahua ... iDMSS and I think gDMSS?
Do they still have this? Is it direct or goes through China servers? I'm nervous about setting up port forwarding in router through BI and having it hacked as I do not use VPN program after reading that the apps were logging.
 

fenderman

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I'm nervous about setting up port forwarding in router through BI and having it hacked as I do not use VPN program after reading that the apps were logging.
none of that makes any sense.
 

aristobrat

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Do they still have this? Is it direct or goes through China servers? I'm nervous about setting up port forwarding in router through BI and having it hacked as I do not use VPN program after reading that the apps were logging.
Their apps supports either direct connection or P2P, which involves their servers (at least to initiate the connection), but does not require port-forwarding.

Do you have a link to what you're talking about with VPN apps logging? It sounds like you might be talking about an outgoing VPN service (that folks pay to use use when they're at home and want to try and hide their real IP address as they access the Internet). That's not the type of VPN that you would setup yourself in order to be able to securely access your BI server remotely.

On my iOS devices, I like the Blue Iris app for viewing cameras/clips a lot more than the Dahua app.
 

TL1096r

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Their apps supports either direct connection or P2P, which involves their servers (at least to initiate the connection), but does not require port-forwarding.

Do you have a link to what you're talking about with VPN apps logging? It sounds like you might be talking about an outgoing VPN service (that folks pay to use use when they're at home and want to try and hide their real IP address as they access the Internet). That's not the type of VPN that you would setup yourself in order to be able to security access your BI server remotely.

On my iOS devices, I like the Blue Iris app for viewing cameras/clips a lot more than the Dahua app.
Thanks. I could not see the SS.

VPN - I thought it was an app on phone also to make it secure. So you setup VPN on computer using BI to forward info? It is the first time setting it up.

Referencing this as it suggests apps:
VPN Primer for Noobs
 

Guido87

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Use openvpn app to make connection with vpnserver at home. Easiest way is to use an Asus router 68 or 86 or something like that wich has openvpn server on it.

With openvpn you make connection with home. When connected it's very simple.
You're on your local lan home network everywhere in the world.

So at home you can use tinycam pro to view the camera's, setup with the local ip you gave the camera. Only thing you have to do when you'e not at home, is make the VPN connection and everything else is the same.

Nicest thing is that you can acces your routergui and cameragui everywhere to and make remote changes.

Iam very happy with it :):)
 

TL1096r

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Great info. The main issue is my router is all done by ISP and not many great features like a VPN.

A VPN (Virtual Private Network) system is designed for communication between a business headquarters (main office) and remote locations or mobile users.

To configure a VPN system using DDNS all hardware and software must be able to support DNS (name/URL) for authentication at both headquarters and endpoints. If access from remote locations will be restricted based upon DNS name, the firewall needs to support DNS name.

Using DDNS, the Firewall is managed through DNS name access control lists rather than IP address control lists.

If a stand-alone router is being used, the router needs to support VPN pass through.

Note: Equipment varies; please refer to your equipment manufacturer for more detailed information.
 

Guido87

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Great info. The main issue is my router is all done by ISP and not many great features like a VPN.

A VPN (Virtual Private Network) system is designed for communication between a business headquarters (main office) and remote locations or mobile users.

To configure a VPN system using DDNS all hardware and software must be able to support DNS (name/URL) for authentication at both headquarters and endpoints. If access from remote locations will be restricted based upon DNS name, the firewall needs to support DNS name.

Using DDNS, the Firewall is managed through DNS name access control lists rather than IP address control lists.

If a stand-alone router is being used, the router needs to support VPN pass through.

Note: Equipment varies; please refer to your equipment manufacturer for more detailed information.
My Asus router is behind the isp router. The VPN port is portforwarded to the Asus router. Also the Wi-Fi on the isp router is disabled.

Ddns I don't use. My isp ipdres is fixed.
For know I am happy with it.

Only it's not possible to stream the full 8000 kbps on my 4g+ mobile connection. Don't know what the limit is coming from...
4g? Asus router cpu?
 

NightLight

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I wanted to follow up that Andy gave me a $15 credit that I used for a mount, which showed up today. So Andy made it right.

On a different note, I wish the night vision without IR was better. The best I could get was by setting backlight to BLC at night. Which means if I don't time the shift from day to night the image looks bad if BLC is on when still daylight, and I get black image if WDR is on while still dark.
 
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