First turn the camera to get the IR bounce out of the field of view. That is destroying your exposure for the rest of the image. Your image will get better without that IR bounce.
2nd, most here run H264 and not H265. In theory H265 is better, but real world shows that isn't the case. H265 will "macro-block" large areas and that decreases visual performance. The storage savings is minimal.
3rd, most here say 4MP is the optimal resolution for these kind of cameras.
4th, an 8MP on the ideal 1/1.2" sensor only sees white light, so you would have to provide enough white light or be willing to use the built-in white LEDs.
5th, many of the 8MP on the ideal 1/1/2" sensor suffer from a small focus area of 15-18 feet and anything shorter or longer than that can be soft/fuzzy. YMMV depending on your own eyes and monitor.
Your 8MP camera is on a sensor designed for 2MP and a 2MP at night will blow the socks off of this camera.
If you care about night performance, you will want a MP/sensor ratio in green:
Here is a recent
example someone posted with an 8MP on the 1/2.8" sensor (similar to the camera MP/sensor ratio you have) versus 8MP on the proper sized sensor (1/1.2" sensor) - which image looks better to you?
Now keep in mind this is a static image. Motion would convey a completely different picture.
Of more importance is that the top picture is default settings, so a horribly slow shutter of maybe 1/12 so any motion would be a blur. The 2nd picture is a 1/100 shutter and will get a clean capture. The faster the shutter speed, the more light that is needed. That bottom picture at 1/100 shutter is impressive. If the top camera was set to a 1/100 shutter it would be a very dark image.
Almost any camera can do well in the daytime with enough light, even cameras that are 8MP put on a sensor designed for 2MP. But keep in mind that usually the processor and other stuff are still designed around 2MP, so the camera struggles trying to keep up with 8MP worth of data.
So buying an 8MP camera on the same sensor as the 2MP processor means that the processor is potentially working 4 times as hard for the 8MP camera. The cameras you are looking at are designed for 2MP, so when they pop an 8MP lens on it, the processor is still the same and has to work harder. In some situations that is problematic.
Next would be what is the goal of the camera - to OVERVIEW your side yard or to IDENTIFY someone at the gate?
Most here would say go with the 5442-ZE (54IR-ZE) varifocal so that you can dial in the focal length for the area you want to IDENTIFY.
