I knew I'd be getting a lot of cameras over time, so when I I bought the first few I ordered them with different lens to see what would work best for the different indoor areas cameras would be placed. I've got 4 Duhua HDW4431C-A cameras, which are 4mp. One has a 2.8mm lens, one 3.6mm, one 6mm and one 8mm. The 5th camera is a HDW4830EM-AS, this is 8mp and has a 4mm lens.
I've been playing around with the settings so I don't remember exactly what they were at 35%, but probably 20fps each. When I first installed everything I had some ghosting and jerkiness on a couple cameras, but after adjusting some things they don't do that anymore...maybe a little jerkiness once in a while but no ghosting. I've always left the bit rate at what the Dahua Config software defaults it to (it's on the low side, less than 2000) until yesterday. I didn't mess with the 4mp cameras, just the 8mp camera. BI doesn't recognize it as a Dahua, so it defaults to generic. I used the Dahua Config software to set the camera to the highest resolution it allowed, which I think was 3042x2078, and the max frame rate it would allow, which was 25, and the highest bit rate it recommended (don't remember the exact setting but over 10k). I then deleted the camera from BI and added it again. On the video tab, BI just had a question mark for resolution. I manually set the frame rate to 25.
I attached a pic of the 8mp camera. The gray door is the only entry door to the entire first floor. This is the camera that 11' high. The bench to the left is where I've watched people take things, but I can't see what's in their hand. One time it was something right next to the soda machine, another time it was something next to the yellow bin. Should I be able to zoom in and and have a clear picture of the things around the yellow bin, or is this the best a camera at this price point is going to do for me? I know I could put a 6mm or 8mm camera there and that might help, but it'll reduce what I can see side to side, which is something I don't want to do if I don't have to.
EDIT - the snapshot isn't with the camera settings at their highest. I don't know if that makes a difference but wanted to point it out. I have the jpg setting in BI set to 100%.