venturis
Getting the hang of it
I just installed my first Acusense turret camera which replaces a 2CD2385FWD-I (8MP) at the front of my property.
The reason for the update from the very capable 2CD2385FWD-I was primarily for better night time vision. The 2CD2385FWD-I has a wonderful image in good light but this deteriorates quickly under low light and night time viewing.
I have previously updated to the 2CD2385G1 turret however, it had to go back to the vendor due to some odd color aberrations down the entire left hand side of the frame. Whilst the 2CD2385G1 was a step above the 2CD2385FWD-I in terms of night time performance a couple of minor niggles stopped me from buying another.
The 2CD2386G2-ISU/SL is the microphone/speaker and digital input/output variant of the range in a turret format. The pigtail comes pre-molded with 4 separate connectors, Ethernet, DC power, audio line/out, alarm input/output.
I was initially concerned about how I would fit all the connectors through the 20mm pre-drilled hole where the previous camera had been mounted but fortunately, Hikvision were thoughtful enough to make sure that no single connector was larger than the original Ethernet socket meaning, they could be individually passed through the original 20mm hole. I'd hesitate to say though, that if you were trying to get the connectors through the same hole in a brick wall or similar, it might be a significant challenge. In my case, it was a thin 5mm thick cement eaves sheet so no great drama.
I did some bench testing prior to installation and was initially concerned by what appeared to be horrendous noise on the image. small objects and people in the distance appeared to have leading and trailing digital noise and objects that were crisp and sharp on the 2CD2385FWD-I were blurry and smudged.
After upgrading and downgrading the firmware and trying a combination of different bit rates which seemed to result in only marginal improvement, I had a moment where I realized that the problem was actually of my own doing. Whilst bench testing, I was holding the camera such that it pointed out of a window but even the smallest movements caused by my less than steady hand was causing the entire image to move which the internal software was trying to desperately compensate for. After mounting the camera firmly in its' final position, the noise all but disappeared.
Now to the initial impressions. The camera has the same fixing points as the previous 2CD2385G1 turret that I'd tested which was great since I didn't need to create new holes. The face of the camera is fitted with the same black plastic cover that I really disliked on the G1. I disliked the plastic for three reasons firstly, there appears to be an air gap between the plastic cover and the camera housing which is likely to become entrained with dirt. Secondly, the black plastic has a high gloss finish which will be easily scratched during periodic cleaning of the camera face. Thirdly, the plastic was in my view responsible for light aberrations when vehicle headlights approached from far left or right of frame. The light reflecting off the plastic cover would create flashes of light that were prone to triggering false alarms.
Finally, whilst the body and mounting base are die cast metal, the gimble frame inside the mount that secures the camera is plastic, something again carried over from the G1 design.
Looking at the face of the camera reveals the lens, white LED illuminator, IR Led and a small hole behind which the in built microphone sits.
On the bottom of the camera is the removable cover used to access the microsd card slot which also punctuated with holes for the internal speaker. Putting the speaker on the bottom of the camera was a smart move since the speaker will not hold water when getting wet.
Once installed, I configured the cam from it's web interface rather than my 7608NI/I2-8P since my NVR is not Accusense aware.
I configured with H.265+, 4096 average bit rate and 8192 max bit rate. Video and Audio was on for the main stream. I turned off both the audio alarms and flashing light since its not needed in my case.
What was interesting was the choice of alarm prompts. By default the alarm is a simple siren but after dropping down a selection box I found that there was a number of pre-defined vocal alarms which included such favorites as :
"Warning, this area is under surveillance"
"Welcome"
"Danger, do not enter"
It is also possible to add your own audio file as the alarm prompt but I've not tried.
There is also a volume control. The audio level was quite good for what is probably a small speaker. I would expect people could easily here audio prompts from 5 meters away without any trouble depending on background noise.
One of my key concerns when updating from the 2CD2385FWD-I to the 2CD2386G2 was the increased FOV using the same 4mm lens. The 2CD2385FWD-I has a 79mm horizontal FoV at 4mm whilst the 2CD2386G2 specs report 87mm at 4mm.
With the 4mm lens on the 2CD2385FWD-I I could resolve stationary vehicle license plates at around 20-25 metres from the camera. That was ideal since it was the distance between my camera and the park across from the camera where vehicles frequently park and occasionally some completely irresponsible person would decide to empty the rubbish in their car on to the park grounds. With the camera able to resolve number plates at that distance, it was a simple matter of handing over a screen capture to the local authority and an infringement could be issued.
The 8 degree wider FoV would make it challenging to resolve license plates at 20-25 metres but I was pleasantly surprised that I was still able to do so, primarily because the far superior WDR of the 2CD2385G2 actually made license plates much more legible by having improved contrast which more than compensated for the loss of pixel density.
In fact the improved WDR of the 2CD2386G2 made everything much clearer and easier to see, particularly in the shadows cast by the large trees. The 2CD2385FWD-I would struggle to show any details in the shadows during daylight. The G2 does a marvelous job of cutting through the shadows, revealing a surprising amount of detail that would have been lost previously.
Finally, the night time testing. Whilst I have nothing to compare in terms of a low light camera other than my 2CD2335FWD-I which reports 0.008lux at F1.2, the 2CD2386G2 produced an outstanding image at night. In fact, on initial testing over the last couple of nights, the camera has refused to switch into IR/Black&White mode at night, instead providing full colour video images that are clear and full of detail. Even changing the night sensitivity to its highest setting is not enough to get the cam to switch to night mode.
The only illumination outside is a single street light fitted with an 18 watt fluorescent lamp that is about 10 years old. It's very dim and well past the end of it's useful life. So whilst we are not in complete darkness, the street light provides very little useful illumination.
Under the same conditions the 2CD2385FWD-I would produce very grainy images. Anything moving would be a blur/smudge and this was with a 1/12 shutter speed. Anything higher would make the scene too dark.
Its' actually a little odd to look outside my window at night and be unable to see much further than say 10metres but open up IVMS4500 on my Ipad and it looks like someone has switched on a flood light, illuminating the entire scene.
I am very impressed with the performance after only two nights of testing.
I also continue to be surprised when I call up the camera on my Ipad on IVMS4500 and immediately hear background noises such as birds chirping in the distance.
I am starting the think the 2-way audio could be very useful in the right applications such as near a doorway or access gate to a private property and in fact a cheaper solution than some dedicated video doorbells.
I think the 2CD2386G2 has been a worthwhile upgrade to my 2CD2385FWD-I and honestly, I am very much tempted to replace all my existing cams with the same.
I plan to add some representative snapshots in the coming days when I get more time.
The 2CD2386G2-ISU/SL sells for AUD $300 compared to the previous gen 2CD2385G1-I it replaces which still sells for around AUD $270. The extra $30 for the extra functionality the G2 provides is a bargain.
The reason for the update from the very capable 2CD2385FWD-I was primarily for better night time vision. The 2CD2385FWD-I has a wonderful image in good light but this deteriorates quickly under low light and night time viewing.
I have previously updated to the 2CD2385G1 turret however, it had to go back to the vendor due to some odd color aberrations down the entire left hand side of the frame. Whilst the 2CD2385G1 was a step above the 2CD2385FWD-I in terms of night time performance a couple of minor niggles stopped me from buying another.
The 2CD2386G2-ISU/SL is the microphone/speaker and digital input/output variant of the range in a turret format. The pigtail comes pre-molded with 4 separate connectors, Ethernet, DC power, audio line/out, alarm input/output.
I was initially concerned about how I would fit all the connectors through the 20mm pre-drilled hole where the previous camera had been mounted but fortunately, Hikvision were thoughtful enough to make sure that no single connector was larger than the original Ethernet socket meaning, they could be individually passed through the original 20mm hole. I'd hesitate to say though, that if you were trying to get the connectors through the same hole in a brick wall or similar, it might be a significant challenge. In my case, it was a thin 5mm thick cement eaves sheet so no great drama.
I did some bench testing prior to installation and was initially concerned by what appeared to be horrendous noise on the image. small objects and people in the distance appeared to have leading and trailing digital noise and objects that were crisp and sharp on the 2CD2385FWD-I were blurry and smudged.
After upgrading and downgrading the firmware and trying a combination of different bit rates which seemed to result in only marginal improvement, I had a moment where I realized that the problem was actually of my own doing. Whilst bench testing, I was holding the camera such that it pointed out of a window but even the smallest movements caused by my less than steady hand was causing the entire image to move which the internal software was trying to desperately compensate for. After mounting the camera firmly in its' final position, the noise all but disappeared.
Now to the initial impressions. The camera has the same fixing points as the previous 2CD2385G1 turret that I'd tested which was great since I didn't need to create new holes. The face of the camera is fitted with the same black plastic cover that I really disliked on the G1. I disliked the plastic for three reasons firstly, there appears to be an air gap between the plastic cover and the camera housing which is likely to become entrained with dirt. Secondly, the black plastic has a high gloss finish which will be easily scratched during periodic cleaning of the camera face. Thirdly, the plastic was in my view responsible for light aberrations when vehicle headlights approached from far left or right of frame. The light reflecting off the plastic cover would create flashes of light that were prone to triggering false alarms.
Finally, whilst the body and mounting base are die cast metal, the gimble frame inside the mount that secures the camera is plastic, something again carried over from the G1 design.
Looking at the face of the camera reveals the lens, white LED illuminator, IR Led and a small hole behind which the in built microphone sits.
On the bottom of the camera is the removable cover used to access the microsd card slot which also punctuated with holes for the internal speaker. Putting the speaker on the bottom of the camera was a smart move since the speaker will not hold water when getting wet.
Once installed, I configured the cam from it's web interface rather than my 7608NI/I2-8P since my NVR is not Accusense aware.
I configured with H.265+, 4096 average bit rate and 8192 max bit rate. Video and Audio was on for the main stream. I turned off both the audio alarms and flashing light since its not needed in my case.
What was interesting was the choice of alarm prompts. By default the alarm is a simple siren but after dropping down a selection box I found that there was a number of pre-defined vocal alarms which included such favorites as :
"Warning, this area is under surveillance"
"Welcome"
"Danger, do not enter"
It is also possible to add your own audio file as the alarm prompt but I've not tried.
There is also a volume control. The audio level was quite good for what is probably a small speaker. I would expect people could easily here audio prompts from 5 meters away without any trouble depending on background noise.
One of my key concerns when updating from the 2CD2385FWD-I to the 2CD2386G2 was the increased FOV using the same 4mm lens. The 2CD2385FWD-I has a 79mm horizontal FoV at 4mm whilst the 2CD2386G2 specs report 87mm at 4mm.
With the 4mm lens on the 2CD2385FWD-I I could resolve stationary vehicle license plates at around 20-25 metres from the camera. That was ideal since it was the distance between my camera and the park across from the camera where vehicles frequently park and occasionally some completely irresponsible person would decide to empty the rubbish in their car on to the park grounds. With the camera able to resolve number plates at that distance, it was a simple matter of handing over a screen capture to the local authority and an infringement could be issued.
The 8 degree wider FoV would make it challenging to resolve license plates at 20-25 metres but I was pleasantly surprised that I was still able to do so, primarily because the far superior WDR of the 2CD2385G2 actually made license plates much more legible by having improved contrast which more than compensated for the loss of pixel density.
In fact the improved WDR of the 2CD2386G2 made everything much clearer and easier to see, particularly in the shadows cast by the large trees. The 2CD2385FWD-I would struggle to show any details in the shadows during daylight. The G2 does a marvelous job of cutting through the shadows, revealing a surprising amount of detail that would have been lost previously.
Finally, the night time testing. Whilst I have nothing to compare in terms of a low light camera other than my 2CD2335FWD-I which reports 0.008lux at F1.2, the 2CD2386G2 produced an outstanding image at night. In fact, on initial testing over the last couple of nights, the camera has refused to switch into IR/Black&White mode at night, instead providing full colour video images that are clear and full of detail. Even changing the night sensitivity to its highest setting is not enough to get the cam to switch to night mode.
The only illumination outside is a single street light fitted with an 18 watt fluorescent lamp that is about 10 years old. It's very dim and well past the end of it's useful life. So whilst we are not in complete darkness, the street light provides very little useful illumination.
Under the same conditions the 2CD2385FWD-I would produce very grainy images. Anything moving would be a blur/smudge and this was with a 1/12 shutter speed. Anything higher would make the scene too dark.
Its' actually a little odd to look outside my window at night and be unable to see much further than say 10metres but open up IVMS4500 on my Ipad and it looks like someone has switched on a flood light, illuminating the entire scene.
I am very impressed with the performance after only two nights of testing.
I also continue to be surprised when I call up the camera on my Ipad on IVMS4500 and immediately hear background noises such as birds chirping in the distance.
I am starting the think the 2-way audio could be very useful in the right applications such as near a doorway or access gate to a private property and in fact a cheaper solution than some dedicated video doorbells.
I think the 2CD2386G2 has been a worthwhile upgrade to my 2CD2385FWD-I and honestly, I am very much tempted to replace all my existing cams with the same.
I plan to add some representative snapshots in the coming days when I get more time.
The 2CD2386G2-ISU/SL sells for AUD $300 compared to the previous gen 2CD2385G1-I it replaces which still sells for around AUD $270. The extra $30 for the extra functionality the G2 provides is a bargain.
Last edited:
