Blue Iris is pretty awesome and will work with pretty much any IP camera. It works great with all of my Dahua IP cameras. I use a PoE switch to get the power/network to the cameras, and then have a PC running Blue Iris record everything.
I’d suggest you check out the Dahua 2MP Starlight models. They will do significantly better in low light than the cameras in the system you were asking about. They’re the models that most folks here use to build their home systems with.
If you’re going to use Dahua’s website to look for these, change the website location to “International”. For whatever reason, Dahua US doesn’t carry many of the popular Starlight models that forum members here have been using. This also means you can’t source a lot of these models here, which also isn’t a problem... the forum has a very trusted vendor who makes it easy to get the Dahua International models. Check out the “Empire Tech” sub-forum in the vendor area here when you have a chance.
For general purpose locations, check out the reviews of these two models — they’re the most popular. The biggest difference between these two models is that the 2231 model costs about $50 less, but doesn’t have a microphone.
Review-Dahua Starlight IPC-HDW5231R-ZE 800 meter capable ePOE
Review-Dahua IPC-HDW2231RP-ZS Starlight Camera-Varifocal
This model is used a lot by doors because of its smaller size:
Front door ID camera IPC-HDBW4231F?
Also, check out the
Cliff Notes document (just click on the link). It’s got info from a ton of different threads all in one area, .. saves from doing a bunch of forum searches.
