Dahua Starlight Fixed Lens Turret (IPC-HDW4231EM-AS)

fenderman

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Hmm not bad considering the $40 savings.. If you know what focal length you need I see absolutely no need to go with the varifocal over this... Not to mention that they're actually available.
There is almost never an instance where they standard lenses are an exact match to the area you need covered. You will either be covering to much - wasting pixels on nonsense- or covering too little.
 
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Got my 4231 installed this evening, and the picture quality from this Sony/Exmor "Starlight" sensor is incredible. It beats the ever-living-snot out of the 4MP Longse that was up there previously.
 
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The most disappointing thing is, Spectrum/TimeWarnerCable has been down since around 7 pm last night, and STILL not back up. Which means I can't check the cameras from either my phone app or my work desktop. Fortunately, the power stayed on all night, and BlueIris is still recording reliably.
 

TechBill

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I am starting to have second thoughts about cameras for backyard now. I am currently waiting for Andy to get more 5231 in stock to get some more cameras for the backyard since I only ordered two 5231 the last time and both cameras will be going to the front door / yard. I also ordered a 4231 for inside the garage.

After comparing both 5231 and 4231 since my backyard is fenced in and it only like 20 feet wide from the house to fence so I am thinking 4231 will do the job well enough. I plan to order 4 more cameras but with a saving of 40 dollar a camera which would saved me 160 going with Fixed over the Varifocal in the backyard and on side of the house.
 
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Anyone unpack the firmware for this 4231 yet? I'm trying @cor35vet's extraction tool, but it's complaining about sudo and cramfsck dependencies?

Followup: The .bin firmware file is a ZIP archive, full of u-Boot images. Stripping off the first 64 bytes (the u-Boot image header) of any image file allows manipulating the images in their native Linux form.
 
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TechBill

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After some more testing between the two, I think I will be using this model for backyard and side of the house. I ordered 4 more and will be getting them soon thanks to Andy speedy order processing and shipping.
 

nayr

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I moved it next to the back door and its a fuck load better than the 4300S it replaced

a lil too wide for my tastes though, but it is good for back yard.. let me zoom my other turret in on the play equipment

NVR_IPC-HDW4231EM-AS_main_20170304220007.jpg NVR_IPC-HDW4231EM-AS_main_20170303221306.jpg

in the middle of cleaning up the back patio for new furniture..
 

slogik

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I also received a 4231 from Andy this past week. I replaced a Hikvision 2CD2332-I turret with the 4231 (L shaped back patio, so I didn't need the varifocal, 3.6mm is almost perfect). My backyard has motion lights but no external lights from anywhere, completely black other than the IR from the camera. The image from the Hik with the IR off is a completely black picture. The image from the 4231 with the IR off and only moonlight is better overall than with the IR IS enabled on the Hikvision. If you have any older Hikvision turrets, this is a worthy upgrade, IMHO. Of course the mounting is different so if you mounted these directly on the soffit like I did, holes don't line up (3 for the Hik vs 4 on the Dahua) and you are making new ones, which makes me wish I had choose to mount them differently; Perhaps a short depth waterproof box with multiple covers, mount the camera on the cover, new camera, just replace the cover.

I have external IR lighting in the front of the house because I didn't like motion events of bugs flying by the cameras all night and I turned the IR in the cameras off. I was going to add external IR in the back but the 4231 is so good, it's made me reconsider those plans. I'm going to install a higher class PIR sensor and hard wire it to LED floods that cover the back yard from multiple locations. Regular light is more useful than IR when I need to walk back there at night anyways. FYI, when I said the picture of the 4231 with no IR is better than the 2332 turret with IR enabled, it is; very much so. That said, you will need some source of light if you want to get any facial features and want more than someone was back there with a height and weight estimate. If you don't have an alarm or lights and they don't see the camera, they may continue trying to do whatever they came to do anyways.

The rest of the Hiks will definitely be replaced with Starlights, with the exception of a PTZ I installed last year and a 4k that's en route from Andy for watching the kids in the front of the house; I'm not as concerned about a Starlight there as it's during the day when the kids are playing out there and a car tears through the cul-de-sac to turn around that I need coverage. I plan on adding a IPC-HFW5231E-Z5 focused at the entrance of the cul-de-sac to get better ID of vehicles/people entering and exiting. If anyone is interested in the 4k (HDW5830R-Z) I can start a thread about it and compare it to the Hikvision DS-2CD2532F-IS it's replacing.
 

slogik

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Do you mean the patio with the 4231 and no IR? No real point in showing the Hik with no IR, as it's completely black under the same conditions. It looks like I need to host the picture somewhere, I can't simply insert it. Any suggestions as to a site I can do that on?
 

slogik

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GeneralIP Camera_2017-Mar-08_18_34_55-NoIR.jpg Thanks, good to know. I had to convert it to .jpg. Again to the Hikvision 2332 (which was set at 1/30) there was no image, complete blackness. The 4231 was default except I had WDR on as I found it evened out the contrast of the picture during the day at the cost of colors being slightly off, disabling WDR at night didn't seem to effect the image so I left it on. IR is of course off. The next night it was cloudy so I expected a darker picture with the moon obstructed; the only difference was there was no shadow of the tree you see on the upper right. The rest of the image was just as clear as this. With IR on the Hikvision, the foreground is of course brighter but you can't see more than a few feet beyond the patio. The swing set, playset and tree are not visible at all. I can't believe the neighbor's storage shed is visible. For reference, the Patio is about 21 feet wide by 50 feet long.
 

ypl

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What is the size of the PSU for this camera? Will it fit in PFA139? Can someone post a picture of the psu and post a dimensions?
 

nayr

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its Power over Ethernet; PSU should be on the other side of the network cable.. it comes w/no power supply.
 

ypl

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That's best case nayr, but I have 220v wire along lan wire, and I don't want to go for POE. I assume there is not standard PSU (220v -> 24v/12v/5v/) included right?
 

fenderman

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That's best case nayr, but I have 220v wire along lan wire, and I don't want to go for POE. I assume there is not standard PSU (220v -> 24v/12v/5v/) included right?
No, a power supply is rarely included with POE cameras...its a waste...why you ran a 220v line along your ethernet cable is beyond me..
 
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