Dahua 4k Starlight with 1/2 sensor (CVI only for now)

wopi82 said:

Sorry, it is indeed recording 4K. Dpreview web page is full of mistakes
I've got an access to A7S II. Maybe I'll add some comparison when testing HFW2831T-ZS

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When will you be doing the comparison ?

0.006Lux/F1.4 ( Color,1/3s,30IRE)
0.05Lux/F1.4 ( Color,1/30s,30IRE)
The figures above are for the 5231R-Z
and the ones below are for the NEW 1831 and 2831 cams
0.004Lux/F1.9( Color,1/3s,30IRE)
0.09Lux/F1.9Color,1/30s,30IRE)

It looks like the figures for the 1831/2831 cams are better than the 5231 cams
at least at 1/3s and this is at F1.9 !!!
So why don't we ask Dahua how they came up with these figures and why the tests
show otherwise.
Can we tell what sensor it is ? The Omni Vision or Aptina/OM or Sony

If I don't get behind schedule at work, I will have it up tonight and post the results tomorrow.

I have been unable to see any definitive results on which sensor it uses. You can scroll up the page to see the photos of the sensor and PCB itself (no branding or model numbers).

Does anyone know of any software that will dig into the details of the hardware so I can find out which sensor it uses?

@EMPIRETECANDY Do you have any information to confirm the sensor used and whether or not it's 1/2" or 1/1.8" (as listed on Dahua website)?

Burton_Flooring said:

If I don't get behind schedule at work, I will have it up tonight and post the results tomorrow.

I have been unable to see any definitive results on which sensor it uses. You can scroll up the page to see the photos of the sensor and PCB itself (no branding or model numbers).

Does anyone know of any software that will dig into the details of the hardware so I can find out which sensor it uses?

@EMPIRETECANDY Do you have any information to confirm the sensor used and whether or not it's 1/2" or 1/1.8" (as listed on Dahua website)?

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Thanks buddy
I checked with dahua guys the cmos is 1.8'' , 1/2'' is wrong.
For all cams if bug issues i think can fix up after firmware updating, just make a little waiting.

Maybe some more low level lighting is in order with those cameras. At night the Starlight is better.

EMPIRETECANDY said:

already get a new firmware for the IPC-HFW1831E, IPC-HFW2831T-ZE, 2018--07-31,should be the latest now.

IPC-HFW1831E New Firmware DH_IPC-HX2(1)XXX-Sag_EngSpnFrn_NP_V2.622.0000000.8.R.180731.bin

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Can you post the update for the IPC-HFW2831T-ZE? Thanks!

Kainsel said:

Can you post the update for the IPC-HFW2831T-ZE? Thanks!

Click to expand...

The firmware also can use for the IPC-HFW2831T-ZE, thanks for your checking.

Ok, I need to re-do this test tonight (HFW1831E is still flip-flopping between day/night profiles) because after I was done setting the parameters, the 1831E switched to color, so I wasn't able to get my 1AM static recording (with ALL the parameters the same).

However, I did manage to get some shots while I was messing with the Gain levels and WDR (Shutter speed is identical on each of them)

Also, I have Infrared TURNED OFF ON BOTH CAMERAS so as to truly test the amount of ambient light the sensors absorb.


1831E


4231EM-ASE


No doubt, the 2MP Starlight has less noise, but I find it very comparable to the 1831E.

There are some cases where the 8MP does provide a little more detail (at the expense of a noisier image) where the 2MP Starlight just runs out of resolution to properly provide the details.

Some areas of note are the parking barriers, the large shrub, and the warehouse across the street.

I will post again tomorrow, but what are your thoughts?

Still pics don't tell the entire story. Really need someone walking through the scene to test.

Send your ghost deer over, @looney2ns!

The shutter speeds this was taken with is 1/100. I wouldn't post stills w/ shutter speeds that aren't practical. But, I will upload a video clip as soon as I get some motion w/ which to share

Also, here's a still from the 4231 w/ adjusted settings to get a more evenly lit scene (No IR)

For Reference, here's some clips of the 5231R-ZE and the 2531R-ZS w/ a car driving by (Shutter set to Manual: Customized Range 0-14ms)

2531R-ZS

5231R-ZE

There are times where this setting doesn't quite cut it for faster moving cars, so in the long run I'll be probably using it at more like 0-12 or 0-13ms.

In those pictures the 5231 has the edge. Good for Dahua for trying to push the envelope. Progress is being made.

I was on vacation for some time. Actually I got HFW1831E from Andy instead of HFW2831T-ZE. Started testing on monday. The results are much better than I thought they will be. Right now I'm comparing it to 5831R-ZE but I also need to put it next to 4231EM-AS. One thing I'm really really happy is that Dahua has unlocked the bitrate settings

wopi82 said:

I was on vacation for some time. Actually I got HFW1831E from Andy instead of HFW2831T-ZE. Started testing on monday. The results are much better than I thought they will be. Right now I'm comparing it to 5831R-ZE but I also need to put it next to 4231EM-AS. One thing I'm really really happy is that Dahua has unlocked the bitrate settings

View attachment 32409

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Does it actually let you exceed the rarer bitrate, or is it an interface glitch. (I tried setting it to 10240kbps on mine and when I logged back into the camera, it reverted to 8192kbps)

Parley said:

In those pictures the 5231 has the edge. Good for Dahua for trying to push the envelope. Progress is being made.

Click to expand...

Were you referring to the video clips?

Remember the top one is the 5MP H.265 Lite not the 1831E that we're testing .

wopi82 said:

One thing I'm really really happy is that Dahua has unlocked the bitrate settings

Click to expand...

You must have the magic touch. I have the 2831T-ZE and with the same parameters the highest I can go is 15104
Have you updated to the latest firmware ie 2018-07-31

@Burton i can set it to 15000 and it seems to stay at that value

Burton_Flooring said:

Were you referring to the video clips?

Remember the top one is the 5MP H.265 Lite not the 1831E that we're testing .

Click to expand...

I was referring to the picture that has "Dahua (2MP-IPC-HDW5231R-ZE)".

So, oddly enough, I could not get it to stay at that bitrate using the latest firmware from Andy, but here's what happened to fix it.

After upgrading the firmware, I factory reset, and then when the camera came back up it had ".sysadmin" in the place of the usual icons and graphics, but I logged in and changed the password thinking "it's just beta firmware".

But I was still having issues, so I did the un-reasonable and factory reset again...voila! It keeps the bitrate, I didn't get any weird graphics on initial setup, and it no longer freaks out when switching from day/night....very strange that TWO factory resets were needed to correct this.

(I also did not backup/restore settings, I set everything back up manually after the second factory reset).

Will post some vids later today of the resulting test between 4231EM-ASE and 1831E.

Could have been that your browser cached files from the old firmware version. That can cause no end of headaches.

Ok here's a video clip of the 4231EM-ASE and 1831E.

BOTH ARE AT THE SAME SETTINGS (Shutter @ 1/100, Gain 100, WDR 100) UNLESS NOTED.

INFRARED IS OFF ON BOTH CAMERAS! (much more difficult lighting situation than I would normally have the cameras set to)

4231EM-ASE (Gamma @ 50, 3DNR @ 20)

Still Image:


1831E (Gamma @ 100, 3DNR @ 50)

Still Image:


I still think the 4231EM-ASE has a slight advantage (it can become MUCH brighter when you raise the GAMMA than the 1831E) but overall image quality is very, very close when you tweak the settings a little bit (just raised the Gamma and 3D NR).

I find it very interesting that you can raise the 3D NR so far. On nearly all of my other cameras, raising the 3D NR to values above 10-15 result in MAJOR GHOSTING in moving objects.

The 1831E can maintain a MUCH HIGHER NOISE REDUCTION RATE W/OUT GHOSTING. So, there must be some kind of new-fangled wizardry at play here. Very impressed.

Once again, this is running the 1831E w/ newest firmware that allows you to set the bitrate to 15104kbps (as opposed to the 8192kbps officially stated) and only @ 7fps (the 4231EM-ASE I ran @ 22fps and 10240kbps)

I definitely think this, hands down, outperforms the existing 8MP "Pro/Eco-Savvy" line of cameras. I would personally, not buy any other 8MP than this one. And for that matter, any other camera EXCEPT the Starlights (and of course the ULTRA series, but who has that kind of dough ;-) )

@EMPIRETECANDY Any rumors about them making a Turret design? Anyways, here's hoping .

P.S. - Just lost power here and when everything boots back up, neither this camera, nor the other 2MP, 6MP, Cameras hold their "Customized" bitrate. FYI

Has anyone done real comparisons w/ H.265 vs. H.264H to test image quality between the two? Because you can at least get decent frame rates out of H.265 at it's "Reference" bitrate as opposed to H.264H