DS-2CD3T45-I5 mini review

[tigerwillow1]

I couldn't find any previous info about this camera on the forum. The DS-2CD3T45-I5 is a Chinese market 4 MP EXIR camera, with the web interface hacked to English, widely available for $80 to $100. I'm comparing it to an LTS CMIP 9142, and it looks like the Hikvision equivalent of the CMIP 9142 is DS-2CD2T42WD-I5. On the surface, the Chinese market DS-2CD3T45-I5 looks like it could be the same camera as the LTS for half the price or less. Putting the bottom line first and the details later, the lower cost DS-2CD3T45-I5 picture appears to be just as good as the LTS camera during the day, while the LTS camera gives a substantially better picture at night. The nighttime LTS picture has obviously better contrast and sharper details. Looks like a case of "you get what you pay for".

One problem with comparing is about half of the web pages for the Chinese DS-2CD3T45-I5 give the wrong specs, coincidentally the same as the LTS specs. If the resolution is stated as 2688x1520 the specs are wrong. If the resolution is 2560x1440 the space are maybe correct. Besides the minor resolution difference, the big technical differences I see are that the LTS camera has better light sensitivity, and true WDR instead of digital WDR. The Chinese DS-2CD3T45-I5 supports H.265 while the LTS version does not.

Some questions I don't know the answer to are:
(1) Is the image sensor in the Chinese market camera an older 4 MP sensor, or do they just use different sensors in the different markets?
(2) Is the Chinese market camera just an old model they're getting rid of?
(3) Why doesn't the higher-end LTS camera support H.265?

 

[Carcus]

1&2 I think it's just produced cheaper for the Chinese market.

3 I believe that they need to pay for H265 licensing or something so they don't ship English models with H265 from what I can gather. They can sell the H265 locally in China without paying for the technology.

 

[Jack B Nimble]

Same camera just a different sticker ! did you have same settings at night because I do not believe LTS manufacture cameras. It is very common as a business model to buy any electronics with mfg. permmision remove branded info on the software and put a sticker with your name on it.

 

[bulldozer]

Did you (or anyone) manage to upgrade the device's firmware from version 5.3.8 build 160108? I tried a bunch of firmwares (even CN ones) but none of them match.
Update - 22 Feb 2022:
according to the seller, the firmware cannot be upgraded (they definitely do not have any newer 'hacked' version or they disabled this function as well as telnet and SSH).
Although, I have not tried to reflash the IPC w/ TFTP method.

 

[trempa92]

There were 3 hikvision models of the same camera we encountered in distribution.

1. Branded hikvision WR
2. Nonbranded comes in brown box nohikvision brand.
3.Chinese version of same model with 2nd grade onboard elements and low durability