Dahua Starlight Varifocal Turret (IPC-HDW5231R-Z)

how is this camera during the daylight? i have a hikvision dome camera and during the morning to around noon time, the picture looks white/washed out because of the bright sunlight (camera is under a balcony).. and parts of the picture at time (where the are shadow under the balcony) is pretty dark..

you should use a cam with 120db WDR or 140db WDR.
 
Ugh. I did all this research 4 months ago to be ready to pull the trigger now on a Hikvision NVR system with 2332 turrets. Checked back and now this is king of the block.

As a IP cam newb, I'm only looking for 4-5 POE cameras to be mounted at the corners of my house hooked up to an NVR that I can set it and forget about it. I'd read that Dahuas take a bit more expertise to set up, but I'm willing to spend the extra time for a clearly better picture. Is the NVR I'm looking for the DH-NVR4208-8P? And is it much harder to set up than a Hikvision system?
I bet if you were to pause for another 4 months and checked back there would be another camera in its place. Much like any electronic item you buy as soon as you buy it - it's dated.
 
I bet if you were to pause for another 4 months and checked back there would be another camera in its place. Much like any electronic item you buy as soon as you buy it - it's dated.

Im very guilty of reading learning, waiting and reading some more and waiting some more before ever buying anything....someone here once replied to me that while Im waiting to pull the trigger on just the right perfect cameras to identify a robber...Ill probably have already been robbed ha-ha.

Guess we all have to decide what is good enough for or needs and price range and make a decision and go with it.

That said, based on @nayre's posts and testing, who I think we can all trust here given his past massively detailed contributions, this IPC-HDW5231R-Z seems near perfect enough for most any need I may have around my house becuse of the variable focal length and good quality night images. So Im just going to buy several of these and get going...uh, when they are availablel again.

I also bouht 1 Mini Black Face PTZ (SD29204S-GN) after his reviews and am not disappointed with it so far...sjust wish they made that one in a weatherproof version as is and Id probably go with more oth them instead bc of the ptz. but they don't.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jack B Nimble
It would be nice if the mini ptz series gets an update with this new exmor chip, than the non ir modell would be more usable also.

Will just test with the mini ptz and this turret and see what is available at the time i really need them when new house is build.
 
Last edited:
Im very guilty of reading learning, waiting and reading some more and waiting some more before ever buying anything....someone here once replied to me that while Im waiting to pull the trigger on just the right perfect cameras to identify a robber...Ill probably have already been robbed ha-ha.

Guess we all have to decide what is good enough for or needs and price range and make a decision and go with it.

That said, based on @nayre's posts and testing, who I think we can all trust here given his past massively detailed contributions, this IPC-HDW5231R-Z seems near perfect enough for most any need I may have around my house becuse of the variable focal length and good quality night images. So Im just going to buy several of these and get going...uh, when they are availablel again.

I also bouht 1 Mini Black Face PTZ (SD29204S-GN) after his reviews and am not disappointed with it so far...sjust wish they made that one in a weatherproof version as is and Id probably go with more oth them instead bc of the ptz. but they don't.
I am the same as you in terms of sometimes over study to the point that opportunity can be missed at times. When I started my pursuit of cameras I spent hundreds of hours going through these posts and opinions. It ended up at the time that Hikvision was the answer for me and they are very large and reputable company. Years ago I had started with Foscam and that was when I bought Blue Iris and from them was promised "lifetime updates and support" which did not happen. So I learned and today although I did buy a few 2.8 mm cams that should have been 6 mm I do like the wide view and so does my wife in certain areas of the property. Today after the last few months of Nayr's always positive comments about Dahua products I know my decision today would have been a Dahua NVR with all IPC-HDW5231R-Z as the camera choices. Having those vari focal lens cameras would be perfect in any situation and now they have the turret style its a no brainer ( really like turrets ). Also a mic would be nice on some cameras to add to the effect on my Wild life area. SO at the end of the day when my current system is dated it will be going to my cottage perhaps next summer and then I will jump on the Dahua train for a ride.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dorcse
Jack B Nimble had me thinking "What situations would the IPC-HDW5231R-Z NOT be good for?". Obviously, not if you need a PTZ. If you didn't need low-light and were certain of the lens size, you could save a few bucks and go with a lower-cost non-varifocal camera. What else?
 
Jack B Nimble had me thinking "What situations would the IPC-HDW5231R-Z NOT be good for?". Obviously, not if you need a PTZ. If you didn't need low-light and were certain of the lens size, you could save a few bucks and go with a lower-cost non-varifocal camera. What else?
The difference is only 35 dollars...you can almost never get a perfect view with a fixed lens...generally you either get a bit more or a bit less than you truly need....
 
  • Like
Reactions: FlipNJ and vasycara
So there isn't a reason to buy any other camera (not talking about pro series stuff)? Again, I'm just trying to understand if there are situations when this isn't the optimal camera. Doesn't sound like there is.

Now if only Andy would start taking orders on them again! (Andy's storefront stopped taking orders on them and he said via PM to check back in a week).
 
So there isn't a reason to buy any other camera (not talking about pro series stuff)? Again, I'm just trying to understand if there are situations when this isn't the optimal camera. Doesn't sound like there is.

Now if only Andy would start taking orders on them again! (Andy's storefront stopped taking orders on them and he said via PM to check back in a week).

I received a message from him this morning and he's still waiting on them. I see another seller with them in stock but I can wait. I've been very happy with his service from previous purchases.
 
Could you please let me know who the seller is and who i should message to notify me when they are back in stock please?

Anyone have a link to the Dahua NVR?
 
Andy from Empire Technology is who I think you should message. He or someone from that storefront has been posting here as "EMPIRETECANDY" I personally have bought cameras from that store numerous times without issues. I think a member posted they ordered from BEC Technology, not sure if "Andy" runs that store also. The other sellers that show them in stock are Shenzen Ancotech and Shenzen Sanvis CCTV.... But I have not dealt with either of them in the past. If you search for this camera model on AliExpress you'll see.

I would order from Andy and Empire Technology, but that's just me...

Sorry I don't have a link for an NVR, I'm sure Nayr or someone will chime in with a recommendation.
 
Andy from Empire Technology is who I think you should message. He or someone from that storefront has been posting here as "EMPIRETECANDY" I personally have bought cameras from that store numerous times without issues. I think a member posted they ordered from BEC Technology, not sure if "Andy" runs that store also. The other sellers that show them in stock are Shenzen Ancotech and Shenzen Sanvis CCTV.... But I have not dealt with either of them in the past. If you search for this camera model on AliExpress you'll see.

I would order from Andy and Empire Technology, but that's just me...

Sorry I don't have a link for an NVR, I'm sure Nayr or someone will chime in with a recommendation.
Oh, that company we know, they bought stock from us yesterday, but i told them, i also need stock urgently.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ChrisX
@nayr Could you post a 1920x1080 (1080P) and 1280x960 (1.3MP) image with the camera pointed in the same direction?

what exactly would this accomplish? just resize the images ive posted to the size you want.. changing the output resolution dont change the fact its a 1080p sensor.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kpanic09
what exactly would this accomplish? just resize the images ive posted to the size you want.. changing the output resolution dont change the fact its a 1080p sensor.

It would accomplish letting me know if the sides of the image get cut off or if the whole image gets squashed into a 4:3 aspect ratio.
 
thats been covered multiple times already; in this very thread..

4MP has zero benefit; my 4MP Dahua cameras will be in the trash bin in a few weeks and replaced with 2MP Starlights.