Dahua T5442TM-AS quick review

[XrayDoc88]

Thanks for the excellent review. Greatly helps me to choose T5442TM-AS for most of the cameras for my new home video surveillance.

Does the camera eyeball still moves despite the screw being tighten as reported by Arjun and others ?

I also would love to know if the turret still moves despite a tight screw. Also, does IVS now work?

 

[biggen]

I also would love to know if the turret still moves despite a tight screw. Also, does IVS now work?

No and yes.

 

[Geomancer]

What is a good starting point for settings on these at night? I've been playing around some, but haven't been able to dial it in yet. I was really impressed when I forced it into color mode at night and how bright everything still looked. At dusk it still amazes me that it looks like noon outside!

But, if I go and walk outside when it's full dark (just moon & street lights) I turn into a ghost with my body phasing in and out. Kind of cool and creepy at the same time, but not good for its purpose

It may just be that I'm expecting too much with how much light there is of course. IR is triggering motion alerts constantly due to insects seemingly attracted to the IR lights. I get about 30-40 clips a night of a giant white blob meandering across the view.

 

[bigredfish]

Start with nighttime exposure at 1/60 min, I’m running mine now (bullet style) at 1/120 but I have a lot of light.

If at 1/60 it’s so dark as to not be able to make anything out, you probably don’t have enough light for forced color.

DNR below 50 (lower the better) and don’t use WDR at all at night. Both introduce blur in low light. You can fiddle with Gain but it will eventually introduce noise.

 

[aristobrat]

IR is triggering motion alerts constantly due to insects seemingly attracted to the IR lights. I get about 30-40 clips a night of a giant white blob meandering across the view.

If you use IVS instead of Motion Detection, you can set an object's min and/or max size so that if it's too small or too big it won't trigger an event.

@bigredfish's advice above is solid. If you haven't seen @wopi82's great camera tuning post here, it's probably worth a read (and bookmark) too.

 

[Geomancer]

If you use IVS instead of Motion Detection, you can set an object's min and/or max size so that if it's too small or too big it won't trigger an event.

@bigredfish's advice above is solid. If you haven't seen @wopi82's great camera tuning post here, it's probably worth a read (and bookmark) too.

Thanks, that is some good information and does address what I've seen! I'll do some more tinkering.

I've been using the motion detection settings in Blue Iris rather than in the camera. Is one or the other better? I've heard Blue Iris does a better job.

 

[Scale]

Hello,

In the April 2020 I bought Dahua IPC-HDW5442TM-AS and instlled it.

It has amazing quality of video in the dark time (not addtional light).
I can't understand why it's able to show colors when I can't see any colors even my eye.

I need to buy additional cameras for my home in the bullet format.

I noticed that appeared a lot of new others cameras 5442 with abbrevations ASE, AS, T, TM, E, Z4E .
Where I can find descriptions of these?
Do all 5442 cameras works equally well in the night?

Could you tell me a difference between IPC-HDW5442TM-AS and IPC-HDW5442T-ASE ?
Could you tell me a difference between IPC-HDW5442TM-AS and IPC-HDW5442T-ZE, PC-HFW5442E-ZE ?


What camera would you recomend me to consider that works not worse than IPC-HDW5442TM-AS in the night?

Does it make sense to consider Full Color Dahua cameras?

 

[aristobrat]

Could you tell me a difference between IPC-HDW5442TM-AS and IPC-HDW5442T-ASE ?

The one ending in E supports ePoE.

Could you tell me a difference between IPC-HDW5442TM-AS and IPC-HDW5442T-ZE, PC-HFW5442E-ZE ?

The Z models are varifocal, you can use the cameras web interface to zoom the lens to focal points between 2.7-12mm. The non-Z models are fixed lens, so you choose the lens size at purchase (2.8, 3.6, 6mm) and it is what it is.

The HXX part of the model number indicates if it’s a dime, turret or bullet.

Sometimes you have to search for the cameras on Dahua’s international website and compare the specs to find all of the differences.

 

[Scale]

Sometimes you have to search for the cameras on Dahua’s international website and compare the specs to find all of the differences.

Thank you for the information.

From Dahua web site I can see that almost all 5442 cameras have minimum illumination 0.002 Lux with max apperture F1.6 and these cameras support Starlight + technology.
Only 5442 model has apperture F1.0 and Full color HFW5442T-ASE-NI, but unfortunatelly it doesn't have LED or IR.

I noticed you use 5442 model cameras.
Do all 5442 cameras work equally well in the night? Is there a better version of 5442?

 

[biggen]

The fixed lens 5442 cams have slighter better night time specs on paper than the varifocal 5442. Whether you can actually discern the difference is another matter.

 

[kobebeef]

Thank you for the information.

From Dahua web site I can see that almost all 5442 cameras have minimum illumination 0.002 Lux with max apperture F1.6 and these cameras support Starlight + technology.
Only 5442 model has apperture F1.0 and Full color HFW5442T-ASE-NI, but unfortunatelly it doesn't have LED or IR.

I noticed you use 5442 model cameras.
Do all 5442 cameras work equally well in the night? Is there a better version of 5442?

I am using HFW5442TP-AS-LED
Replace the M16 F1.6 inside with M16 F1.0
plus a hidden built-in MIC.

Remove front trim panel.


Find the wires for the audio input and the 12V.

The front cover hole needs to be dug 6mm to fit the mic head.


Remember to add waterproof glue after placing the mic.


Finished look.




The mic material I use.

 

[alecz]

Hi folks. I bought a set of T5442TM-ASs from Andy, so here is a quick review of this model.
This camera is identical to T5442TM-AS-LED, which I reviewed here some time ago. The only difference is that this one owns infrared LEDs instead of white light LEDs, and has an ICR (removable IR filter). The IR LEDs are hidden behind front, dark plastic as opposed to white LEDs, which are easily visible.

...

After checking all settings I can tell you, the T5442TM-AS is no different from white LED model. It has identical gain scale from ISO50 to roughly ISO40000. Noise reduction works the same. The lens brightness is identical. I got white LED model with 2.8mm lens, while all IR models with 3.6mm lenses. So below animations are a direct comparison between 2.8mm and 3.6mm.

The only visible difference is when you turn on IR/BW mode. In case of white LED model there is no ICR and no IR LEDs. The T5442TM-AS has both. After switching to this mode, the white-LED model drops its sensitivity by about 1EV while IR model rises by 1EV. While in case of white-LED model I have no clue why it happens so, the IR model gets brighter because IR filter is removed, there is additional supply of IR light, so it gets brighter. I haven’t noticed any image softness after rising IR filter in IR model.



In summary I don’t see any reason to choose LED model over IR one. The T5442TM-AS is superior in terms of IR with almost 2EV better night vision. If you’re a fan of white LEDs, remember that these have only ON and OFF option and can’t be triggered by motion detection. For such functionality you'll have to choose Active Deterrence models.

If I was asked today, which model from all Dahua’s cameras I’d choose, this would certainly be T5442TM-AS. Every time I log to my HDW4231EM-AS, I see huge difference in image quality. I’m pretty sure the HDW5231R-ZE would fall behind T5442TM-AS if directly compared.

I'm trying to decide between T5442TM-AS-LED and T5442TM-AS (IR). I usually have enough ambient light to stay in Color mode and I want to keep that. From your statement above, I understand that the T5442TM-AS (IR) is better in B/W mode than T5442TM-AS-LED because of the IR filter that is removed, but how about in Full Color at night? Is one better than the other?

I'm tempted to choose the T5442TM-AS-LED because it gives the possibility to eventually remote trigger the LEDs on movement at night.

 

[looney2ns]

I'm trying to decide between T5442TM-AS-LED and T5442TM-AS (IR). I usually have enough ambient light to stay in Color mode and I want to keep that. From your statement above, I understand that the T5442TM-AS (IR) is better in B/W mode than T5442TM-AS-LED because of the IR filter that is removed, but how about in Full Color at night? Is one better than the other?

I'm tempted to choose the T5442TM-AS-LED because it gives the possibility to eventually remote trigger the LEDs on movement at night.

The lights are about as bright as the light on your cell phone, not very.
This is the new version of the camera mentioned in this thread, and is much improved.

 

[alecz]

The lights are about as bright as the light on your cell phone, not very.
This is the new version of the camera mentioned in this thread, and is much improved.

Thanks. Do you think the IR lights are better? At least I have a better chance of color with with LED.
For the new version, is that a Dahlia? Can't find it on their website.

 

[TonyR]

For the new version, is that a Dahlia? Can't find it on their website.

You won't find that model number on the Dahua site. Andy ( @EMPIRETECANDY ) sells Dahua-OEM'd cameras made for him under the Loryta and EmpireTech brands either on his web site or on Amazon.

This is the EmpireTech with IR: EmpireTech IPC-T54IR-ZE-S3

This is the full color EmpireTech (no IR): EmpireTech IPC-T549M-ALED-S2