Camera Faceoff: Dahua Starlight IPC-T5442TM-AS vs Hikvision ColorVu DS-2CD2347G1-LU

[pbc]

So had a 2.8mm Hikvision ColorVu DS-2CD2347G1-LU for a few weeks and enjoying the full colour night time picture it delivers at my main house entrance porch which has a street light some 80 feet away that provides enough light to keep the camera in 1/60 exposure, even 1/120 looks fine.

But have a backyard location which poses a bit more difficulty for it given the lack of light, and thought I'd pick up a Dahua and a Hikvision in their respective 3.6mm and 4mm lens configurations to compare. A bit of a challenge I would imagine for the Hikvision given it does not have IR ... but what the heck. I will likely end up using the Hikvision in the front of the house facing the driveway given how well it performs with street lights, and the Dahua in the backyard.

Thanks to @EMPIRETECANDY for the quick delivery of the cams.

First things first, the Hikvision is considerably larger than the Dahua, it's not even close. So if size is a concern, the Dahua takes the cake by a mile.



Set them both up in the same spot in my backyard (excuse the mess on the counter!), couldn't mount them to the ceiling as I think Andy either forgot to send the junction box for the Dahua, or maybe there was a misunderstanding in the order!




I seem to be having some issues with the passive POE/Splitter I purchased (LINOVISION Mini 2 Port Passive POE Extender PoE Splitter 802.3af/at Power Over Ethernet 330ft over Cat5/6 Cable Powering 2 POE Devices Like IP Cameras Over One Cat5/6 Cable: Amazon.ca: Electronics) right now, so will have to figure that out since the cameras don't appear to be online, even though they turned on when I connected them.

This is a picture I took with my phone camera (night vision off) to give some perspective into how dark it gets. Will take another one tonight without any landscape lighting on.



Anyhow, once I figure out how to get these puppies turned on, will set them both to say 1/60 in Day mode and compare, and then in night mode to compare and see if I can take a few videos as well. But right now I have to spend the next hour with my daughter watching her favorite show, which is way more important.

 

[wittaj]

Is your power going to the splitter a POE or POE+? You may not have enough juice going to it with POE, especially if it is a POE switch.

I use a POE+ injector for that splitter.

 

[pbc]

It's a POE Switch, worked fine with two 2142FWD's. Maybe the colorvu takes up too much juice? Specs imply up to 30W per port.

BV-Tech 18 Port PoE+ Switch (16 PoE+ Ports | 2 Gigabit Ethernet uplink) – 130W – 802.3at– POE-SW1602A: Amazon.ca: Electronics

BV-Tech 18 Port PoE+ Switch (16 PoE+ Ports | 2 Gigabit Ethernet uplink) – 130W – 802.3at– POE-SW1602A: Amazon.ca: Electronics

www.amazon.ca

 

[pbc]

Okay, so managed to get both up and running on the same switch. Set each to 1/60, very different white balances from the looks of it.

 

[pbc]

FWIW, I set the Dahua W/B to Outdoor, and the Hikvision to AWB1. Gain are both at 50, other picture settings at 50.




Dahua with IR on:

 

[pbc]

So at 1/60 and at 10pm, neither are really proving useful in color mode. Changing to 1/30 and adjusting gain to 100 for each.

 

[pbc]

Just for fun, my pixel 3 without flash or night sight:



and with night sight on:

 

[David L]

Very nice, thank you for taking the time to post this comparison review of these two Cams.

 

[wittaj]

What are they looking like when you walk by?

 

[David L]

Just for fun, my pixel 3 without flash or night sight:

View attachment 64534

and with night sight on:

View attachment 64535

And the Winner is: Your Pixel 3

 

[pbc]

What are they looking like when you walk by?

At 1/60 and 100 Gain, basically I look like a transparent ghost on both cameras, literally can barely notice I'm walking by and footage is useless, at least via the BlueIris video. Trying to figure out how to download from BI and post.

Using IR on the Dahua and B/W, you can see me but I'm completely blown out in a white haze.

Let me know what folks recommend for settings and I can redo them tomorrow.

Strangely, my CPU is running at 100% as well so something is up with my BI server.

 

[wittaj]

Knock gain and noise down - preferably below 50.

In the dahua, you can cut the IR back.

If you are running both cams GUI as well as BI, that can cause it sometimes.

 

[pbc]

Just running in BI right now, shut everything else down, and still at 98%. Hmm.

Thanks to @fenderman, figured this one out after reading through the Wiki on BlueIris optimization, did not have direct to disc on.

 

[pbc]

Used the XBox capture function (and forgot to hide my other cam), you can see in the first video that at 1/60 I'm basically translucent as I walk to the end and back. Give it a few seconds as I didn't realize I had to click play twice (first click just got me out of the "xbox" like UI). The second video shows the Dahua in IR..

Let me know how folks think I should better optimize the settings for both cameras and can rerun these tonight.


View attachment Blue Iris 2020-06-23 22-47-50.mp4

 

[pbc]

View attachment Blue Iris 2020-06-23 22-48-45.mp4

 

[biggen]

Faster shutter gets rid of blur and ghosting. 1/125 or 1/100 minimum. I gain up to around ~70ish max.

I run my Dahua PTZ without IR in forced color at night but I have strong lighting in the area its located in. I have that shutter set to 1/125. The Hik will need the same thing if you want to force it to color.

 

[pbc]

So one thing I don't understand, is adjusting both to 1/120 exposure yields this, basically a completely washed out picture on the Dahua? Must be a setting on the Dahua I'm not configuring properly.

 

[wittaj]

One of the cams must be auto adjusting the iris and the other isn't. I'd look for that setting.

 

[pbc]

Hik:



Dahua:

 

[biggen]

Set the shutter range on the Dahua. Hit the drop down on the shutter and go to the bottom and select "Customized Range". Then put in "0" for the 1st number and 8ms for the second number (which is 1/125).

I've not tinkered with the Iris. I'm not sure if the Dahua cameras leave it be at 50% (or whatever you happen to have the slider set to) no matter what the shutter speed is set to or if they auto adjust. It appears they leave it set and auto adjust the shutter instead.