Dahua New 5MP Starlight line up?

What were your settings set at?

Ok, so I thought I might have better success with the non-dome 5mp Starlight (N51BI23)...nope. See attached images compared to the $80 cheap 4431-RZ. To be honest this is even worse than the Hikvision 2042. And nowhere close to the Hikvision 2385 (all same resolution, shutter speed, bit-rate, etc.)

P.S. - Whoever does the lux ratings at Dahua needs fired on this one, lol.
 
Here's a direct comparison Between an ACTUAL starlight (5231R-ZE), a cheap Chinese 4MP (4431R-Z), the Hikvision 2385 @ 4MP, and the Dahua N51BI23 @ 4MP.

I've uploaded them in order of Best to worst (in my opinion). The 5MP "Starlight" seems to only capture detail in certain parts of the frame while seeming fuzzy or out of focus in the rest. (Take a look @ the Garage doors on the Warehouse to the left)

Oddly enough, I felt that (with the exception of the 5MP "Starlight") the other cameras did pretty well if you consider that they're cranking out decent detail with just a little more noise @4MP.

I have no reason with the above testing to purchase any of the 5MP "Starlight" cameras.
 

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Read the LPR subject area of this site.
Thank you, I have browsed through it already, but haven't had a chance to mount this camera where the License plates are going to be read.

I'm trying to find the best low-light + detail camera first, then move that into a LPR role because that will give me the most headroom with light to play with the shutter speed.

I'm also trying to find the best camera for general overview of these very poorly lit areas, so I'm kind of in-between going for higher megapixels and best low-light performance.

I just noticed this 5mp camera on Andy's Amazon Store-front: IPC-HDW2531R-ZS https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CGFCRB8/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A329YQ83EBQGJF&psc=1

Specs look better than the 6 and 8mp from the Eco-savvy Series:

IPC-HDW2531R-ZS

This also looks like a fairly new camera but I'm curious how it actually performs (after the 5mp "Starlight" disaster).

Has anyone else looked @ this camera?

Also, this 8mp from the same line has a 1/2" Sensor and some crazy lux ratings of .003???

Bullet:https://www.dahuasecurity.com/products/productDetail/21517

Dome: https://www.dahuasecurity.com/products/productDetail/21477

The plot thickens...
 
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Thank you, I have browsed through it already, but haven't had a chance to mount this camera where the License plates are going to be read.

I'm trying to find the best low-light + detail camera first, then move that into a LPR role because that will give me the most headroom with light to play with the shutter speed.

I'm also trying to find the best camera for general overview of these very poorly lit areas, so I'm kind of in-between going for higher megapixels and best low-light performance.

I just noticed this 5mp camera on Andy's Amazon Store-front: IPC-HDW2531R-ZS https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CGFCRB8/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A329YQ83EBQGJF&psc=1

Specs look better than the 6 and 8mp from the Eco-savvy Series:

IPC-HDW2531R-ZS

This also looks like a fairly new camera but I'm curious how it actually performs (after the 5mp "Starlight" disaster).

Has anyone else looked @ this camera?

Also, this 8mp from the same line has a 1/2" Sensor and some crazy lux ratings of .003???

Bullet:https://www.dahuasecurity.com/products/productDetail/21517

Dome: https://www.dahuasecurity.com/products/productDetail/21477

The plot thickens...

Hi Burton,

5MP reviews are here on the forum, just search a bit for them.

Summary - members are not impressed. Go 2MP starlight for low light.
 
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Hi Burton,

5MP reviews are here on the forum, just search a bit for them.

Summary - members are not impressed. Go 2MP starlight for low light.

Hi mat200,

I looked all over the forums for 5mp and couldn't find any besides the Models discussed in this thread. Also, I have found no mention of the 8mp 1/2" sensor cameras either.

Could you point them out?

Thanks,

Burton
 
Hi mat200,

I looked all over the forums for 5mp and couldn't find any besides the Models discussed in this thread. Also, I have found no mention of the 8mp 1/2" sensor cameras either.

Could you point them out?

Thanks,

Burton

Hi Burton,

Sorry, short on time for search the forum.

Just try "5MP" in the search terms and see what results you get.
 
Hi Burton,

Sorry, short on time for search the forum.

Just try "5MP" in the search terms and see what results you get.
No such luck. I've searched high and low for anyone who has experience with the above mentioned cameras and there is none to be found.

I e-mailed Andy @EMPIRETECANDY to see if he knows anything about them (at least the 5mp he has on his store).

He recommended the 5631R-ZE. Anyone else using these...chime in! They are very close in price to the 8mp 5831R-ZE but I want to know which high-resolution one works better in the dark.
 
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Hi Burton,

iirc there was a bit of a discussion on the following article ( pay walled - iirc the summary being shared here by some )
Dahua 5MP Starlight Camera Tested (N52BM3Z)
Yes, I read through all that. The camera I am referencing is DIFFERENT. It has a different model number, construction, and lux rating.

5MP "Starlight": 5MP IR Vari-focal IP Dome – Dahua North America

5MP Lite H.265 Series: https://www.dahuasecurity.com/products/productDetail/20037

I'm also curious to see if these 8MP ones are better/different than the 5831 series:

https://www.dahuasecurity.com/products/productDetail/21517

It has a DIFFERENT sensor (1/2" F1.6 vs. 1/2.5" F1.4) AND a better Lux rating (.003 vs. .05)

I'M CURIOUS, EVEN THOUGH MY GUT TELLS ME THIS IS JUST DAHUA BLOWING MORE SMOKE.
 
Hmm, those don't seem to have the Starlight logo attached to their descriptions.
 
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Just ordered this from Andy @EMPIRETECANDY .

The Model number is: IPC-HDW2531R-ZS https://www.dahuasecurity.com/products/productDetail/20037

Andy said, "this is the new model just released still no one buy it, i think it's be a great camera, i tested last week, all good, pic may not as sharper as the 2mp HDW5231R-Z, but still be enough for house using. Daytime is sharp..."

Hoping it's way better than the N51BI23 that was mentioned earlier in this thread (plus it is Vari-focal).

Here it is on his Amazon store:

https://www.amazon.com/EmpireTech-I...merchant-items&ie=UTF8&qid=1525976592&sr=1-23

I will upload pics soon to compare it w/ 4631EM-ASE (also on order) and the REAL starlight 5231R-ZE (which I'm very happy with).

It's about the same price and better lux rating as the Dahua 6mp fixed lens, but has zoom. Lots of potential...hopefully. :)

See Attached specs.

Edit: fixed model number (it's the fixed lens I ordered not varifocal)
 

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Yeah, no problem. However I was mistaken, it's the Fixed lens version (4631EM-ASE 3.6mm). And as I've heard around here, the fixed lens isn't always the same experience due to better optics in the varifocal models.
 
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If you could add a link to your comparison to the 5631R-ZE review thread, that'd be awesome!
Dahua ePoE 6MP Varifocal Turret (IPC-HDW5631R-ZE)

I love the 5631R-ZE during the day, and static images at night aren't too bad, but man... motion at night is blurry, even with the shutter set to 1/60...
I'm dealing w/ the Reolink (RLC-423 and 411) which only lets you adjust the shutter by ms. I've found that it still blurs slowly moving cars (parking lot) @ 9ms = ~1/100 shutter speed. (Yeah, it's a pitiful camera to grab license plates with, but it works fine if the cars are going slow enough.)

A trick I used to compensate for the poor camera performance was to zoom out ever so slightly, until the motion blur (without changing any other settings) would disappear and give me a perfectly frozen license plate (albeit a much smaller version because of the focal length).

1/60 is probably still too slow. Could it be that the reason the 5631R-ZE blurs when the 5231R-Z doesn't is because of more photons hitting the sensor, and the sensor automagically increasing the shutter speed? It could be that they don't arrive at the same F-stop at the same focal length and therefore replicating the shutter speed doesn't yield the same result.

It may be that 1/60th is just the LOWEST ALLOWED shutter speed and the 5231R-Z is using it's amazing amount of light to bump it up further in the background. I highly doubt that (because Dahua is not Reolink) but that's my theory :-)
 
I'm dealing w/ the Reolink (RLC-423 and 411) which only lets you adjust the shutter by ms. I've found that it still blurs slowly moving cars (parking lot) @ 9ms = ~1/100 shutter speed. (Yeah, it's a pitiful camera to grab license plates with, but it works fine if the cars are going slow enough.)

A trick I used to compensate for the poor camera performance was to zoom out ever so slightly, until the motion blur (without changing any other settings) would disappear and give me a perfectly frozen license plate (albeit a much smaller version because of the focal length).

1/60 is probably still too slow. Could it be that the reason the 5631R-ZE blurs when the 5231R-Z doesn't is because of more photons hitting the sensor, and the sensor automagically increasing the shutter speed? It could be that they don't arrive at the same F-stop at the same focal length and therefore replicating the shutter speed doesn't yield the same result.

It may be that 1/60th is just the LOWEST ALLOWED shutter speed and the 5231R-Z is using it's amazing amount of light to bump it up further in the background. I highly doubt that (because Dahua is not Reolink) but that's my theory :)
You can try out and let us know, thank you buddy!
 
Ok Here are some quick daylight stills to get you started. Cameras compared:

IPC-HDW5231R-ZE
IPC-HDW4631EM-ASE
*New* Non-starlight 5MP IPC-HDW2531R-ZS
IPC-HDW4830EM-ASE (possibly has a bad lens)

So far I'm very impressed w/ the "New" 5MP H.265 Lite series.

However, it does have a narrower field of view as the sensor is 4:3 and not 16:9 or 3:2 like the others.

Also, It doesn't have any of the advance video detection features of the more expensive "Pro" or Eco-Savvy models.

HDW2531R-ZS Event Settings.PNG


It doesn't record audio. And has only one Sub-stream.

HDW2531R-ZS Camera Settings.PNG

For some of you, that may be a deal breaker, but for me, I just need regular Motion Detection so I'm fine with it. At the same price as the Fixed-lens 6MP...I'll take it! :-)

I will post more tomorrow of the night-time shots. Stay tuned.
 

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