$160 4K PTZ 8MP IP POE Auto Tracking Pan Tilt 18x Optical PTZ Freak @ Amazon (combining info from other threads)

D

dovedescent8

n3wb
Mar 1, 2025
8
2
charlotte, nc
After i bit bullet i bought THIS Mystery on Amazon last night. Hey i can always return it. Its really a 4818X-IZ Vikylin, Hik, Dua apparently.
I wanted to expand upon 2-3 other threads about this camera but decided on a new one to see if anyone wanted to help out.... I'm sort of a re-noob and just finished my computer science degree, haven't posted here in forever. Bottom line, i got one and yea, a bit scary, the hardware seems to be there, and some dudes here found FW too. Worst case i get a refund. I kind of like the challenge of seeing if i can get this to work on my Synology DVA3221, which from what I've read works fine at least on DSM. I believe the consensus is that this is a PTZ 4818X-IZ camera that's running MSTAR338Q+IMX415. So MSTAR338Q is the controller with Sony IMX415 image sensor. Thread with info and fw is here. Hikvision camera?
PTZ 4818X-IZ apparently sold by Vikylin and/or CCDCAM and rebranded as Dahua and Hikvision Pan Tilt Zoom Camera | Speed Dome PTZ | VIKYLIN Security
I'll give her a shot. Honestly i think I'll start by flashing the fw that supposedly works the best with this, which is supposed to be in here, (i already downloaded some fw from here) http://www.anjvision.com:8021/firmware/online/public/

If anyone has anything good to add besides just "CHUCK IT" I'd love to hear it.


Also attaching some stuff to remind myself of stuff i might need to do.
 

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flynreelow said:
terrible cam.

but please change our mind and post those day and night video samples.
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Woah! Everyone knows you don't challenge the guy who's "Known around here", I'm no IDIOT!

K so i already have my night cams covered, the problem is this German Shepherd 2 houses down in the Culdee. I'm a HUGE dog lover, but they just let her roam, she's bitten 2 neighbor kids and my dog in the last month-ish. My dogs chained, and extremely trained, Pure Husky, but the neighbors kids who got bit-not sure if their chained er not but i needed something cheap for the blind-spots daytime-only. It sucks with my budget i have to sacrifice plate reader/night tracking.
  • As much as this cam is shite for the night, is it possible that during the day, that this could possibly catch Cujo eating my 4yr old? Or is it 1000% total garbage juice?
  • This one makes me laugh but-any? chance the dudes on Amazon that actually DID like this cam using on their Synology, could those possibly be legit? There's like 5-6
  • ### Is there a grey mart alternative (like an actual decent Dua rebrand) or a 2019/2020 PTZ w/auto track i could score on eBay for an extra hundo MAX?<<-- If language not allowed i'll totally delete, haven't been around in like 5 years.
  • Or maybe a solution would work too, except i cant go crazy my wife will Bobbit me if i spend anything significant. Yes, protecting ones fam is PRIORITY, but feeding them is too.
 
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I tried this cam out. It had so many issues... forgetting ptz settings, rebooting, etc... and then, after only 3 days outside it went into an infinite reboot cycle. I returned it.

Disclaimer: I don't use my cams to watch for baddies (I use it for the local wildlife and our cats), so I can afford to "mess around" with this junk stuff knowing that Amazon does easy (and free) returns...
 
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My first PTZ was a Sunba when I tried to go the cheap route....it was replaced but sadly not until after the return period and it now sits in a box with all my other cheap cameras I bought expecting magic.

The nice cameras I could have bought with what I spent sitting in those boxes.

Someone says here "buy once, cry once"
 
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wittaj said:
My first PTZ was a Sunba when I tried to go the cheap route....it was replaced but sadly not until after the return period and it now sits in a box with all my other cheap cameras I bought expecting magic.

The nice cameras I could have bought with what I spent sitting in those boxes.

Someone says here "buy once, cry once"
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That's Right! Like i said, its been a minute And 60,000 of these 1740961720230.pngDEF make you a pro in my eyes.

Ok so my only option is none then? Er ..... Any super top-secret options?
 
Well if you sacrifice quality just for looking around purposes, you can keep trying the cheaper ones LOL.

Some of the Sunba's have Hikvision internals, so they can be kinda ok, but not as good as a hikvision.

I would suggest watching trusted member @EMPIRETECANDY website and his return list. Most of mine come from this list and I kid you not they look brand new. I think someone buys and gets buyers remorse and immediately returns it or it arrives and they say that is a big @$$ camera and bigger than the arlo they have and return without unboxing.

Eventually a good one will show up at a deep discount. I got mine for less than I paid for the Sunba LOL.

Refurbished Products | EmpireTech

Refurbished products have been professionally serviced, verified, and certified for optimal quality while minimizing environmental damage. Buying refurbished is a cost-effective and ecologically responsible choice.
empiretech01.com empiretech01.com
 
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Nah, i get tired of searching. I contacted an old friends' friend, and just purchased a legitimate (correct fw etc) DS-2DE4425IW-DE(T5) I'm just hoping setting up smart tracking with dsm isnt a massive ordeal.
I'm sure no one will approve of this one either but this was something he had ready to install, and client changed his mind, Moreso he upsold the client to more cameras/ higher budget.
Is this camera OK for my relatively simple needs? DS-2DE4425IW-DE(T5) Paid not TOO much more than what i spent on that amazon junk i returned.

Zisokay?



Datasheet-of-DS-2DE4425IW-DET5_V5.7.0_20220704_Page_1.png
 
wittaj said:
My first PTZ was a Sunba when I tried to go the cheap route....it was replaced but sadly not until after the return period and it now sits in a box with all my other cheap cameras I bought expecting magic.

The nice cameras I could have bought with what I spent sitting in those boxes.

Someone says here "buy once, cry once"
Click to expand...
I always get a kick out of Flintstone61 telling us he owns a JideTech ptz. But I never told him my first ptz was also a JideTech mini ptz I bought from Amazon. :lol:I bought it after watching a video on youtube review by the recommendation of an old dude who said he was a cameraman for a TV station for over 30 years. I don't know anything about security cameras at the time and I thought the camera must be good if he recommend it. :oops:
 
JDreaming said:
I always get a kick out of Flintstone61 telling us he owns a JideTech ptz. But I never told him my first ptz was also a JideTech mini ptz I bought from Amazon. :lol:I bought it after watching a video on youtube review by the recommendation of an old dude who said he was a cameraman for a TV station for over 30 years. I don't know anything about security cameras at the time and I thought the camera must be good if he recommend it. :oops:
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Yep, just because someone on YouTube makes a video, they are the expert....who gets commission for recommendations...

Many of have been there, done that LOL.
 
ziemowitp said:
I did some research:

This is a PTZ 4818X-IZ camera. It's running a Hikvision server and web UI but does not actually work very well. I flashed a different firmware to the camera and now it has focus issues. So this is not a Hikvision camera after all. Decent hardware from what I can tell but terrible software. I wonder who is the real manufacturer.
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blocksog said:
The camera turned out to be garbage.

I finally had the time to properly test the Jennov P87HM85-30X-EAS. I put it by a window and tested both with the window open and closed. I walked in front of the house and had a few cars that drove on the street in front of us. The camera is close to being total crap.

* Auto Track
The auto track is too dumb and too slow to do anything useful. By the time it decides to zoom or to move, the vehicle or person has already moved away. You have to walk really really slow for this camera to follow properly. On top of that, sometimes gets stuck inexplicably. It did not detect a child multiple times, despite the child standing in front of the camera and moving slowly. Following cars is impossible at the 20mph on a road 30 feet away The auto track has no configuration on trip wire or anything advanced either.

* Web interface
The huge problem with this camera is that the web gui crashes after a little bit. The camera continues to work but the web server goes offline and the only way to bring it back is to hard reboot the camera (gui is gone, so cannot do soft rebood).

* Settings
Settings are very basic. I tried to disable the IR during the night, but there is no such setting. Ah, yes, the camera it will also scream "Internet connection lost" anytime you unplug the ethernet (even when it has no internet connection).

* This product is the usual chinese scam
Two pieces of evidence here. First, the seller sent me an "offer" to refund half of the money if I give them a positive review on Amazon. They also asked me to conceal their payment and they offered to pay via paypal. Here is a screenshot of the email.

View attachment 213474

Second, Amazon lists a bunch of cameras that look very similar to this one all around $150-$200. It reminds me of some light bulbs I bought and they were identical from two supposedly different brands. So, it is very likely that this Jennov is just the usual chinese approach of selling the same things as different brands.
View attachment 212588

I think I should also report the seller to Amazon for trying to pay me for a review.
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wittaj said:
My first PTZ was a Sunba when I tried to go the cheap route....it was replaced but sadly not until after the return period and it now sits in a box with all my other cheap cameras I bought expecting magic.

The nice cameras I could have bought with what I spent sitting in those boxes.

Someone says here "buy once, cry once"
Click to expand...

wittaj said:
That will be better than you had or other no name junk lol.
Click to expand...

Yikes... That wasn't the reaction i expected. I realize it isnt a new or top model etc, but for the extra $$$ i paid for the Hikvision (new-unused) i hoped it would be at least more than "better than junk" rofl..
The purpose of this camera is to hopefully, along with my DVA3221 and SS be able to pick out license plates, auto-trackingly in my culdee, which is at the end of my very average length driveway. Interesting fact, synology SS will "smart-track" even if your cam only does "auto-track" . How good? IDK.. I have BI but was hoping to avoid this for rt now.


Just measured actually.
Driveway is 35ft long, and right where license plates will be is 50ft.


Would a camera, The camera i purchased, even be enough to see a plate from 50ft with these specifications? Data Sheet Link
 
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LOL. Well it is 4MP on a sensor designed for 2MP. For PTZs that is an even bigger killer at night. The range is severely cut compared to a 2MP on the same sensor.

Just because it is a Hikvision doesn't mean they don't sell budget cams too LOL.
 
wittaj said:
LOL. Well it is 4MP on a sensor designed for 2MP. For PTZs that is an even bigger killer at night. The range is severely cut compared to a 2MP on the same sensor.

Just because it is a Hikvision doesn't mean they don't sell budget cams too LOL.
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FECK!.. This makes this camera no better than the other one i got, right?
Bummer, i was told this was mid-range-ish.

So are there any cameras that use a 4mp on sensor designed for a 4mp?
Whats known as Hikvisions base/decent model to start with for these ptz's?
 
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Well being a hikvision, the firmware should be better at image control than the cheap no name you had - even if it had hikvision internals, the firmware would be different.

Regarding these sensors and algorithms, if two manufactures are using the same model sensor, then it comes down to firmware implementation as to how well the camera performs.

It is somewhat common to see many cameras claim Starlight capabilities. Starlight and Starvis are simply a marketing term created by Sony for certain models of a Sony sensor. But at least we know the camera has the same sensor.

So we will see many 2MP cameras on the market claiming Starlight as their selling point. HDView, Dahua, Amcrest, Lorex, Reolink, and many no-name brands on Amazon and AliExpress use Starlight in their write-up.

But does that mean these no-name cameras will perform as well as say a Dahua with the exact same Sony Starlight sensor?

The answer is NO.

This is an example from a cheap consumer camera - Reolink. Here is a snapshot from Reolink's marketing videos of their Starlight camera with the same sensor that is in a 2MP Dahua - do you see a person in this picture...yes, there is a person in this picture.... Could this provide anything useful for the police? Would this protect your home? The still picture looks great though except for the person and the blur of the vehicle... Will give you a hint - the person is in between the two columns:

1697071403754.png




I have found there is a simple test to determine the quality of the firmware as it relates to the sensor - shutter speed!

It has been shown that Reolink (and most consumer grade cameras) favor nice bright static images at night over performance. So at some point even if you can set shutter settings, the camera will override your input in favor of a nice bright image. This is done by slowing down the shutter and increasing the gain. So then you see what Reolinks are notorious for - ghost blur invisible person images at night and inability to capture plates.

So the difference between a better camera like say a Dahua and a Reolink or some no-name camera on Amazon with a Starlight sensor is that you can set parameters on the Dahua and it will hold. If you set parameters on these other cameras that would result in a darker image the algorithm internally says "idiot alert" and it won't let you set parameters that the firmware thinks will result in not displaying a nice bright image. Don't believe me, set the shutter to 1/10,000 at night and the image should be completely black. It won't with the reolink...or any cheap camera. It will override your 1/10,000 shutter and favor a bright image. It is a good test to determine how good the camera is.

Same with my Sunba - I made the shutter speed the fastest setting and at night it was still a bright image with blur motion.

But most consumer grade camera manufacturers know that consumers chase MP, so to keep costs down, they will put 1/3" or 1/2.8" sensors in the cameras. And 8MP on a 1/3" sensor looks great on default settings for a static image at night....and that is what the consumer looks at. No consumer then tests it with motion.

It is always comical to me when a neighbor buys a camera and asks me to help them set it up. I set the shutter to 1/60 or 1/120 and the image gets darker (because the faster the shutter, the more light that is needed but the faster shutter is what gets clean captures with motion). And they always complain the image is too dark. So at some point they go back to auto settings and then capture a blur motion of the perp that door checked their car.
 
Its weird, before buying this model i read it has auto tracking, after of course i see posts saying it has no auto tracking, or it does with right fw.
Would anyone be able to tell me if this damned thing at least has that?
 
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