Dahua DB6I / EmpireTec Model DB5X - 5MP Doorbell Initial Unboxing / Findings / Tips & Tricks / Comparison Video
- Thread starter Wildcat_1
- Start date
All, I wanted to share some further interesting tidbits. Here are some screen grabs of what's possible to control and configure through a Dahua AI NVR
First, the camera view, showing the model as the Dahua DB6I although this is the EmpireTec version of the same model (DB5X)
Next up camera image controls available through the Dahua NVR
IVS Plan is only option for rule type
IVS Rule configuration through Dahua AI NVR
First, the camera view, showing the model as the Dahua DB6I although this is the EmpireTec version of the same model (DB5X)
Next up camera image controls available through the Dahua NVR
IVS Plan is only option for rule type
IVS Rule configuration through Dahua AI NVR
Findings So Far
Doorbell Setup
No Web GUI
IVS Rules
Doorbell Related Controls
DMSS App(s)
Doorbell Setup
Heads Up On Secure / Locked Down Networks When Setting Up Doorbell
- One thing to be careful / be aware of is that this Doorbell and specifically the setup of it does not play well with secure/locked down networks. I've tested the setup through 3 different WiFi configs with various security from VLAN tagging to associated secure firewall rules all the way through to fully locked down (no internet access) networks and any config you use that restricts internet access starts to cause problems with finalizing the setup of the doorbell. This can lead to untoward end results such as device IP in limbo where the camera can continually try to pull another DHCP assigned IP and get into a loop. It can also cause issues where the camera appears on your network BUT will not take configuration changes (even though stating successful) through an NVR. Just some things to be aware of and I'll be feeding this back to Dahua as well. When I do a full review I'll break all this out too. TIP: I revisited this and one solution I found is to setup the doorbell on an unprotected WLAN (i.e. not blocked form internet) then press the reset button once (don't hold it down) and it will go into wifi hotspot mode. From there you then join it to your secure network and all good
Using the DMSS App - If using the new DMSS (not iDMSS) app you are forced to login to add the doorbell using the SN/Scan function. This may be a deal breaker for those not wanting to setup an account with Dahua
No Web GUI
- While IP's are assigned to the Doorbell and you do get a Web Service connection returned, there is no direct access currently to the doorbell's configuration as you would see with a regular Dahua camera for example. All access is through DMSS, iDMSS, NVR etc
IVS Rules
- The only selection is for Intrusion, no opportunity for Tripwires for example
- Does feature target filtering for Human or Vehicle. Side note: would be great to see smart object detection so you can be alerted to packages etc
Doorbell Related Controls
- No volume control for local doorbell ring and due to that the ring sounds distorted on the unit itself. Easily solved by adding an option to control this in FW or by allowing local GUI access at some point on a future release
DMSS App(s)
- Another finding here is that local notifications will clear generally if not using a logged in account. Again as above this may or may not be a dealbreaker for some
Last edited:
Bridged into HomeKit With Homebridge. Just remember that doorbell pushes are not natively carried over from this unit so can utilize dummy switches (which can be motion detection based) if you need that. Either way wanted to check out the quality and latency of the feed into HomeKit. Interestingly the latency is much more pronounced even though the Homebridge server runs all other Dahua cams without issue. Latency is not noted through the NVR connect so am putting this one down to Homebridge for now
Attachments
Thought I would post some screen grabs from the DMSS app so anyone interested in this doorbell can see the options you have in the app including options on white light, alarm linkage, person vs motion detection and recording audio messages for quick response
user8963
Known around here
But push notifications does not work without account mode and p2p ? or did they fix it?
Nope, as I said above, you have to have an account which is definitely a negative IMO
I finally found my working setup settings for my Blueiris. This seems to be running now flawless and on BI 5.5.5.0. The main stream / sub stream issue I had was due to me having the smart codec set to open ( I was thinking that meant off) but anyway now they switch almost instantly like other Dahua cams work in BI.
flynreelow
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do we have any video samples of this doorbell, or just some photos?
Looney has a great review on this already here:
Review-Dahua/EmpireTech new doorbell cam Db6l 5mp
We have a brand new Doorbell cam to check out from @EMPIRETECANDY in exchange for a fair and honest review. At this juncture some details are not yet available, I will add them here as they become available. I don't believe this model will be available to purchase until sometime in January, if...
Definitely check out @looney2ns review on this one for his full test. I will post a Night Testing comparison today here on my thread looking at the Dahua 2K doorbell vs Unifi G4 Doorbell vs Dahua 5442 Turret
As mentioned, I wanted to put together a comparison of this 2K doorbell vs the Unifi G4 Doorbell (original not Pro currently in Early Access) vs the Dahua 5442T Turret for a night time comparison.
VIdeo Link Is Below. Please Remember To Watch on YouTube in 4K:
In summary, I would not recommend this 2K doorbell in its current implementation. There are 6 primary reasons (a 7th is basically a pause for thought) for this:
As I mentioned in point 7 above, there are potentially better options (albeit with caveats) including Dahua Turrets to cover an entrance while we all await a Video Doorbell without compromise
I’ll touch on just 2 examples as they were part of my comparison:
Dahua Turret cam (5442)
Pro’s
Con’s
Unifi G4 Doorbell (Only If You Have UI Infrastructure)
Pro’s
Con’s
So to be clear, am I saying you should not buy this Dahua doorbell, absolutely not. All I’m saying is that there is still a lot of work needed to perfect the doorbell offering and there may be other, potentially better options out there for this type of application albeit with tradeoffs. For the record, I don't endorse, advocate or recommend (in any way shape or form) consumer grade Arlo, Google, Eufy, Ring doorbells at all, in fact in all those cases I would without shadow of a doubt recommend people steer clear of those options. Inline with that, I still strongly caution people considering the G4 doorbells as well. With that said, If (and I do mean If) you must have a Smart Video Doorbell today then I believe that the G4 is currently one of the better options out there with a good mix of image quality, smart home integration options and critically, the ability to secure to local access only while keeping notifications and functionality consistent. This is however with the HUGE caveat that you are in (or getting into) UI infrastructure. If you don't have (or want) that infrastructure and/or alternatively just want to cover an entrance way, then the 5442 or even new 5842 turret (reviewed both) offer great quality with more highly configurable rule options, a plethora of connection and integration choices and your ability to alert on Motion, Person, and (as it improves) Smart Object Monitoring.
Summary
So, while I cannot currently recommend this 2K Dahua doorbell, remember that's limited to its current implementation. My hope is that in the next iteration of a Dahua doorbell, this will meet more of the needs I list above (that we all look for here), bring over key functionality already existing in other areas of the portfolio and fix the critical issues that currently exist on this product. In-line with that, my recommendations to Dahua for this and the next doorbell are to improve and offer the following:
HTH
VIdeo Link Is Below. Please Remember To Watch on YouTube in 4K:
In summary, I would not recommend this 2K doorbell in its current implementation. There are 6 primary reasons (a 7th is basically a pause for thought) for this:
- Clunky setup through iDMSS/DMSS with need for Dahua account even to initially setup the doorbell. This setup also often took many retries to register the doorbell
- Setup requires Internet access which can be problematic for secure/locked down networks. See my tip above on how to workaround this
- Lack of control over the image. Specifically no exposure control, no manual control of 3DNR, No IR control)
- Doorbell alerting / notification primarily requires account OR firewall rule (on secure network) to ensure push notification is delivered and delivered consistently when using NVR. This can be more problematic on iOS devices than others and there are workarounds BUT needs to be a more robust solution without need for individuals or businesses to use cloud access
- The 5MP 1/2.9” sensor produces a lot of noise in low/no light/IR only situations. This could be mitigated with a) further control allowed over the image (would help a little) and b) ultimately utilizing a better sensor combo such as the tried and true 4MP 1/1.8”. The noise generated by this 1/2.9” sensor is also a mix of a crawl + a pulsing therefore while I mention image control could assist (with crawl noise and 3D noise reduction) it would NOT remove this completely nor could it fix the pulsing noise
- No package detection rule. This is by no means a deal breaker however I thought it was worth mentioning as many other Smart doorbells now include this level of object detection and as Dahua turret and bullet cams are now offering Smart Object Monitoring this could / should be integrated into a doorbell product
- There are potentially better options including other Dahua products
As I mentioned in point 7 above, there are potentially better options (albeit with caveats) including Dahua Turrets to cover an entrance while we all await a Video Doorbell without compromise
I’ll touch on just 2 examples as they were part of my comparison:Dahua Turret cam (5442)
Pro’s
- Image quality day and night with granular controls to dial in for your install
- Ability to schedule day/night profile changes rather than just rely on changing light
- IR controls and SmartIR on supported FW
- Bitrates greater than 8192 (H.264H)
- Deeper IVS rules + SMD
- NVR or NVR platform Integration
- Can be fully configured and run in a secure, locked down environment, no internet or cloud required (nor associated accounts)
- Does not rely on WiFi
- Easily integrated with SmartHome configurations
- Supports POE (albeit this should be seen as an additional plus as many people are replacing an existing doorbell and don’t have POE run to their entrances)
- Offers Smart Object Monitoring which could be used for package monitoring although (as I mentioned in the Color4K-X review) this IVS rule type still needs a lot of work
- Relatively small (turret form factor)
- Price is around $189 (turret) so about $50 more than Dahua 2K doorbell
Con’s
- Not a true doorbell replacement but can be integrated with other cameras and Smart Home integration to offer similar (albeit hands off) alerting at your door
- Form factor is not as small as traditional doorbell or G4 below
- Cost is higher than the doorbell
- Does not support 2-way audio out of the box
Unifi G4 Doorbell (Only If You Have UI Infrastructure)
Pro’s
- Image quality day and night is decent (albeit color at night does suffer motion blur at a distance UNLESS you use high frame rate mode)
- Still offers Human + Vehicle detection along with multiple customizable zones for each
- Can be fully configured and run in a secure, locked down environment without cloud or internet access
- This one is a Pro and a Con. NVR is through your own Unifi Protect server which can be locked down and run on your choice of security rated drives BUT cannot connect to a standalone NVR (Dahua etc) without interfacing the stream through scripting or 3rd party utilities
- Easily integrated with SmartHome configurations such as Homebridge with Unifi Protect plugin or Scrypted if you want to use HomeKit or Home Assistant etc
- Form factor is smaller than 2K doorbell and a traditional turret cam
- Has LCD screen for customizable text messages (if this is important to you)
- Supports 2 way audio
Con’s
- Must have UI infrastructure to run it (this is a BIG con)
- No ONVIF
- No local on camera storage (SD card) but records to your choice of hard drive in Protect NVR
- Does require WiFi although new Pro version supports POE (for data and power). As per the 5442 above, this should be seen as an additional plus rather than strictly a con as many people are replacing an existing doorbell and don’t have POE run to their doorbells currently)
- No Exposure control outside of Auto, 50hz, 60hz
- No package detection which other smart doorbells have been doing for a long while now
- Price is $199 so around $60 more than the Dahua 2K doorbell
- Produced by a network tech company (that has had at least 2 data breaches in the past year hence my advice to lock down on secure network) rather than a leading security camera manufacturer
So to be clear, am I saying you should not buy this Dahua doorbell, absolutely not. All I’m saying is that there is still a lot of work needed to perfect the doorbell offering and there may be other, potentially better options out there for this type of application albeit with tradeoffs. For the record, I don't endorse, advocate or recommend (in any way shape or form) consumer grade Arlo, Google, Eufy, Ring doorbells at all, in fact in all those cases I would without shadow of a doubt recommend people steer clear of those options. Inline with that, I still strongly caution people considering the G4 doorbells as well. With that said, If (and I do mean If) you must have a Smart Video Doorbell today then I believe that the G4 is currently one of the better options out there with a good mix of image quality, smart home integration options and critically, the ability to secure to local access only while keeping notifications and functionality consistent. This is however with the HUGE caveat that you are in (or getting into) UI infrastructure. If you don't have (or want) that infrastructure and/or alternatively just want to cover an entrance way, then the 5442 or even new 5842 turret (reviewed both) offer great quality with more highly configurable rule options, a plethora of connection and integration choices and your ability to alert on Motion, Person, and (as it improves) Smart Object Monitoring.
Summary
So, while I cannot currently recommend this 2K Dahua doorbell, remember that's limited to its current implementation. My hope is that in the next iteration of a Dahua doorbell, this will meet more of the needs I list above (that we all look for here), bring over key functionality already existing in other areas of the portfolio and fix the critical issues that currently exist on this product. In-line with that, my recommendations to Dahua for this and the next doorbell are to improve and offer the following:
- Offer standard doorbell transformer + PoE options
- Allow more granular control over the image (points above)
- Revisit sensor choice and strongly consider the 4MP 1/1.8"
- Increase IVS rules supported by the camera
- Offer 100%, internet free and account free setup
- Enable (or have it as an option) a true Dahua web GUI front end
- Improve notification options that don’t require cloud access or workarounds
- Allow API calls as you do with the other Dahua cams. This opens the door (no pun intended) to a lot of options
- From a Smart Home integration perspective (knowing a doorbell is key to this and a secure home through NVR etc) consider upcoming communication protocols such as Matter be added to other standards in place such as ONVIF
- Increase the price (yes I think this is a good idea) inline with competition ($199 to $299 etc) to allow Dahua to add the features above
HTH
flynreelow
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another amazing review as usual.As mentioned, I wanted to put together a comparison of this 2K doorbell vs the Unifi G4 Doorbell (original not Pro currently in Early Access) vs the Dahua 5442T Turret for a night time comparison.
VIdeo Link Is Below. Please Remember To Watch on YouTube in 4K:
In summary, I would not recommend this 2K doorbell in its current implementation. There are 6 primary reasons (a 7th is basically a pause for thought) for this:
- Clunky setup through iDMSS/DMSS with need for Dahua account even to initially setup the doorbell. This setup also often took many retries to register the doorbell
- Setup requires Internet access which can be problematic for secure/locked down networks. See my tip above on how to workaround this
- Lack of control over the image. Specifically no exposure control, no manual control of 3DNR, No IR control)
- Doorbell alerting / notification primarily requires account OR firewall rule (on secure network) to ensure push notification is delivered and delivered consistently when using NVR. This can be more problematic on iOS devices than others and there are workarounds BUT needs to be a more robust solution without need for individuals or businesses to use cloud access
- The 5MP 1/2.9” sensor produces a lot of noise in low/no light/IR only situations. This could be mitigated with a) further control allowed over the image (would help a little) and b) ultimately utilizing a better sensor combo such as the tried and true 4MP 1/1.8”. The noise generated by this 1/2.9” sensor is also a mix of a crawl + a pulsing therefore while I mention image control could assist (with crawl noise and 3D noise reduction) it would NOT remove this completely nor could it fix the pulsing noise
- No package detection rule. This is by no means a deal breaker however I thought it was worth mentioning as many other Smart doorbells now include this level of object detection and as Dahua turret and bullet cams are now offering Smart Object Monitoring this could / should be integrated into a doorbell product
- There are potentially better options including other Dahua products
As I mentioned in point 7 above, there are potentially better options (albeit with caveats) including Dahua Turrets to cover an entrance while we all await a Video Doorbell without compromise
Dahua Turret cam (5442)
Pro’s
- Image quality day and night with granular controls to dial in for your install
- Ability to schedule day/night profile changes rather than just rely on changing light
- IR controls and SmartIR on supported FW
- Bitrates greater than 8192 (H.264H)
- Deeper IVS rules + SMD
- NVR or NVR platform Integration
- Can be fully configured and run in a secure, locked down environment, no internet or cloud required (nor associated accounts)
- Does not rely on WiFi
- Easily integrated with SmartHome configurations
- Supports POE (albeit this should be seen as an additional plus as many people are replacing an existing doorbell and don’t have POE run to their entrances)
- Offers Smart Object Monitoring which could be used for package monitoring although (as I mentioned in the Color4K-X review) this IVS rule type still needs a lot of work
- Relatively small (turret form factor)
- Price is around $189 (turret) so about $50 more than Dahua 2K doorbell
Con’s
- Not a true doorbell replacement but can be integrated with other cameras and Smart Home integration to offer similar (albeit hands off) alerting at your door
- Form factor is not as small as traditional doorbell or G4 below
- Cost is higher than the doorbell
- Does not support 2-way audio out of the box
Unifi G4 Doorbell (Only If You Have UI Infrastructure)
Pro’s
- Image quality day and night is decent (albeit color at night does suffer motion blur at a distance UNLESS you use high frame rate mode)
- Still offers Human + Vehicle detection along with multiple customizable zones for each
- Can be fully configured and run in a secure, locked down environment without cloud or internet access
- This one is a Pro and a Con. NVR is through your own Unifi Protect server which can be locked down and run on your choice of security rated drives BUT cannot connect to a standalone NVR (Dahua etc) without interfacing the stream through scripting or 3rd party utilities
- Easily integrated with SmartHome configurations such as Homebridge with Unifi Protect plugin or Scrypted if you want to use HomeKit or Home Assistant etc
- Form factor is smaller than 2K doorbell and a traditional turret cam
- Has LCD screen for customizable text messages (if this is important to you)
- Supports 2 way audio
Con’s
- Must have UI infrastructure to run it (this is a BIG con)
- No ONVIF
- No local on camera storage (SD card) but records to your choice of hard drive in Protect NVR
- Does require WiFi although new Pro version supports POE (for data and power). As per the 5442 above, this should be seen as an additional plus rather than strictly a con as many people are replacing an existing doorbell and don’t have POE run to their doorbells currently)
- No Exposure control outside of Auto, 50hz, 60hz
- No package detection which other smart doorbells have been doing for a long while now
- Price is $199 so around $60 more than the Dahua 2K doorbell
- Produced by a network tech company (that has had at least 2 data breaches in the past year hence my advice to lock down on secure network) rather than a leading security camera manufacturer
So to be clear, am I saying you should not buy this Dahua doorbell, absolutely not. All I’m saying is that there is still a lot of work needed to perfect the doorbell offering and there may be other, potentially better options out there for this type of application albeit with tradeoffs. For the record, I don't endorse, advocate or recommend (in any way shape or form) consumer grade Arlo, Google, Eufy, Ring doorbells at all, in fact in all those cases I would without shadow of a doubt recommend people steer clear of those options. Inline with that, I still strongly caution people considering the G4 doorbells as well. With that said, If (and I do mean If) you must have a Smart Video Doorbell today then I believe that the G4 is currently one of the better options out there with a good mix of image quality, smart home integration options and critically, the ability to secure to local access only while keeping notifications and functionality consistent. This is however with the HUGE caveat that you are in (or getting into) UI infrastructure. If you don't have (or want) that infrastructure and/or alternatively just want to cover an entrance way, then the 5442 or even new 5842 turret (reviewed both) offer great quality with more highly configurable rule options, a plethora of connection and integration choices and your ability to alert on Motion, Person, and (as it improves) Smart Object Monitoring.
Summary
So, while I cannot currently recommend this 2K Dahua doorbell, remember that's limited to its current implementation. My hope is that in the next iteration of a Dahua doorbell, this will meet more of the needs I list above (that we all look for here), bring over key functionality already existing in other areas of the portfolio and fix the critical issues that currently exist on this product. In-line with that, my recommendations to Dahua for this and the next doorbell are to improve and offer the following:
- Offer standard doorbell transformer + PoE options
- Allow more granular control over the image (points above)
- Revisit sensor choice and strongly consider the 4MP 1/1.8"
- Increase IVS rules supported by the camera
- Offer 100%, internet free and account free setup
- Enable (or have it as an option) a true Dahua web GUI front end
- Improve notification options that don’t require cloud access or workarounds
- Allow API calls as you do with the other Dahua cams. This opens the door (no pun intended) to a lot of options
- From a Smart Home integration perspective (knowing a doorbell is key to this and a secure home through NVR etc) consider upcoming communication protocols such as Matter be added to other standards in place such as ONVIF
- Increase the price (yes I think this is a good idea) inline with competition ($199 to $299 etc) to allow Dahua to add the features above
HTH
CCTVCam
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That Unifi unit is amazing. It's not far behind the 5442 in qaulity which is saying something for a doorbell camera.
Looks like the Guantlet is thrown down to Dahua now to produce something that can beat this.
I'm just so glad that doorbell cameras appear to be heading in the right direction now for quality.
Looks like the Guantlet is thrown down to Dahua now to produce something that can beat this.
I'm just so glad that doorbell cameras appear to be heading in the right direction now for quality.
I'm now using the Dahua version (DH-DB6I) and it's way better than my previous attempts. That said, there are some issues. Most glaring for me right now is that the RTSP stream for the main feed appears to be H.265 (sub stream is H.264) meaning that it can't be viewed in a browser without conversion (Browsers only support H.264) And my NVR computer is somewhat underpowered meaning that I'd really rather not be doing on the fly format conversions.
The DMSS app is VERY limited in config options for this camera.
I also have some quality concerns. I had 2 of the Amcrest version fail in less than a week, apparently due to the relay/power supply not being able to handle the current draw of my chime. This time I'm not using the built in relay to avoid a repeat of that, but of the 2 doorbells I just bought, the first one setup right away properly, but the second one doesn't seem to be enabling it's wi-fi hotspot, so I can't complete the setup (bad wifi chip?)
Overall, this feels like a half-hearted attempt. So many things right, and yet so many things that just weren't thought through (like being able to configure it easily through a web interface, or at least the DMSS app, or the current rating on the relay/power supply, picture quality issues on default settings (and no easy way to change those defaults!)). The smart doorbell space in general is just so full of absolute garbage though, that even a half-hearted attempt here puts it somewhere near the absolute top of the category.
The DMSS app is VERY limited in config options for this camera.
I also have some quality concerns. I had 2 of the Amcrest version fail in less than a week, apparently due to the relay/power supply not being able to handle the current draw of my chime. This time I'm not using the built in relay to avoid a repeat of that, but of the 2 doorbells I just bought, the first one setup right away properly, but the second one doesn't seem to be enabling it's wi-fi hotspot, so I can't complete the setup (bad wifi chip?)
Overall, this feels like a half-hearted attempt. So many things right, and yet so many things that just weren't thought through (like being able to configure it easily through a web interface, or at least the DMSS app, or the current rating on the relay/power supply, picture quality issues on default settings (and no easy way to change those defaults!)). The smart doorbell space in general is just so full of absolute garbage though, that even a half-hearted attempt here puts it somewhere near the absolute top of the category.
You must use SmartPSS to configure the encoder:
ipcamtalk.com
Dahua DB6I / EmpireTec Model DB5X - 5MP Doorbell Initial Unboxing / Findings / Tips & Tricks / Comparison Video
How about something a little different. This doorbell arrived today so thought why not do a quick unboxing here. Video Link Below - Remember To Watch In YouTube And Select 4K
You can also use a Dahua AI NVR as wellYou must use SmartPSS to configure the encoder:
Dahua DB6I / EmpireTec Model DB5X - 5MP Doorbell Initial Unboxing / Findings / Tips & Tricks / Comparison Video
How about something a little different. This doorbell arrived today so thought why not do a quick unboxing here. Video Link Below - Remember To Watch In YouTube And Select 4K