Hikvision software superior to Dahua...?

[LittleBrother]

Until six months ago I had, for about a year, a Dahua 2 MP dome setup. The camera itself was nice; reliable, solid, good picture. My main points of complaint were its mobile apps were terrible (basically didn't work) and more to the point, since I don't have a PC with NVR and only a network FTP location, I was relying on the camera's embedded detection and it was not reliable; even on a really high sensitivity sometimes it missed things, and often saw things that weren't there. I also found that the on-camera web site was buggy and didn't work reliably, so setting it up was a pain. I realize most of these issues would be solved with PC-based software, but I want to avoid that. I've been using a Dropcam Pro for the last 6 months and its software is polished and reliable, but recently the timeline has stopped working properly (common issue last two months at Dropcam's site after they released their zone update), and given that IP cameras continue to get better I wouldn't mind going back to the free-per-month and superior picture of a wired camera.

I've been looking at Acti, Hikvision...Hikvision has some nice cameras in the ~$200 range, but is the firmware better than Dahua's? Does the on-camera software work nicely, properly configurable (and reliably so)? Mobile apps are more than an afterthought...?

Thanks in advance!

 

[bp2008]

In my opinion Hikvision's firmware is a lot better than Dahua's. I know Dahua has been improving, but their firmware is usually really hard to acquire. By comparison, Hikvision firmware is readily available.

But Hikvision firmware is not without its flaws. There were some NAS compatibility issues in "Raptor" firmware v5.1 I think, and I had FTP issues with one remote camera some months back. It was supposed to FTP an image to a server every 10 minutes but it became intermittent and eventually stopped FTPing altogether so I had to open ports and have a different server start pulling images off it every 10 minutes instead.

I don't know how well Hikvision's mobile apps work.

My experience with Acti is limited to just one camera model, and doesn't fill me with confidence in their company. I bought two of their E77 cameras early this year because they were 10 megapixels for about $300 each. But the cameras have serious flaws. The native resolution image has really poor processing, leading to blocky artifacts on all high-contrast angled surfaces. Noise Reduction causes significant smoothing-over of details, but without it the night-time video is unacceptable. They max out at 6 Mbps bit rate which I don't think is enough for the high resolution. The on-screen display is microscopic because it is fixed-size and they didn't optimize it for 10 MP video. WDR has absolutely no apparent function on either of my cams. One of my cams has poor focus beyond about 20 feet and it is not focusable. I even sent it to ACTI for warranty repair and they changed the lens out but it did not improve focus significantly. I replaced it with a 3MP Hikvision that has much better video due to the proper focus.

 

[LittleBrother]

Thanks. I actually looked at the E77 at networkcameracritic and comparing its image quality to a 3 MP--$50 cheaper Hikvision (e.g. minidome) I see that although the E77 has a higher resolution its image quality is significantly worse. I understand all megapixels due is amplify, though; they don't make images any better (specifically sensor, light balance, etc.), and when I compare the grass or cracks in the driveway on the Hikvision to the E77 the E77's 10 MP really fall short.

A couple of years ago I wanted a mobotix because of its on-camera NVR, but it was/is way out of my price range. It seems Hikvision kind of has its own one, though, and it may be okay. I'm hopeful that with FreeNFS I could just use my PC as a NAS and look at video timelines on the camera (I'm used it on the dropcam).

It sounds like it's possible to get images. Absolute worst-case I can create some script to pull images off the camera and put them in dropbox and then auto-delete older ones, this way at the very least I could bring up dropbox to get a snapshot of what's going on outside (e.g. which cars are there, for example).

EDIT: Are all the 3MP Hikvisions going to deliver the same day-time performance (I know the bullet has a lot of IR lights so that would help at night if using night mode)? The turret, the dome, the bullet, the mini-dome, all similar? It seems the turret is about the cheapest and doesn't suffer the pointing issues of the 2132. Temps for this camera will get down to around 0F.

 

[bp2008]

Yeah, though I don't think it will come to pulling images with a script

Yes, all the 3MP Hikvisions will deliver basically the same day-time performance. Lens focal length will be the primary difference (i.e. 2.8mm or 4mm or whatever). I don't recommend the 2132 for the reason that it is 2-axis as you have noticed. I have a 2332 and agree it is better. 0F is fine for these cams. They'll go a lot lower without problems.

The 2032 bullet is the cheapest if purchased from China directly. From sellers in the USA the prices tend to match each other a lot closer.

 

[LittleBrother]

Thanks for the comments, bp2008. I did end up buying a 3 MP turret and although, as you say, it's not without its flaws (they do need to spend more time on the firmware), I'm super pleased with the image quality, particularly at night, at which time cheap cameras struggle mightily. I've been using the built-in NVR and it's amazingly good, in fact--even on a smart phone with the hikvision app. My home connection speed is only 2 mbps upload and video is somewhat choppy but certainly watchable on a smart phone, with a clean image. Even if I login to the camera remotely through its web viewer on a remote PC I find that remote playback works surprisingly well at full res.

I can't drop my existing Dropcam setup until I've had this going for a few days and confirm that it's stable and recovers nicely (in the various tests so far, it has) to stick it on my wife's phone, but if I get to that point I'll buy another one of these cameras.

 

[nayr]

I find the Dahua Mobile apps to be excellent; better than the 3rd party mobile apps I have tried.. I also find the SmartPSS Application to be quite responsive and easy.. Once you have more than 1 camera the web interface becomes mostly used to configure the cameras as the Native Application is much more capable and responsive, having several tabs open all running plugins will wreak havoc on your browser... Dahua is the only one who builds there software for MacOSX which I appreciate greatly as I have no Windows in my house

My biggest complaint is lack of hotkeys for SmartPSS; when I am on a PTZ camera pressing number keys should take me to that preset IMHO... but I can live without it. I also wish I could configure which monitor it would fullscreen to, I had to set my security camera monitor to the primary monitor to get it to work as I wanted.

As for the Dahua firmware; I've had zero issues.. all the features work as advertised and the cameras are all rock solid stable.. The audio on my mini PTZ is crap but I dont know if new firmware will fix it..

Tho I dont use my mobiles/native apps for reviewing any footage; just live view.. I record 24/7 so no motion detection and I just playback files directly off FTP server for reviewing; it could be a better solution like letting me map the FTP server to a path smartPSS can parse/search through directly.. but I digress; when I get a Dahua NVR I will get that functionality with the added benefit of pushing videos out to my mobiles when an alarm goes off.

 

[LittleBrother]

I find the Dahua Mobile apps to be excellent; better than the 3rd party mobile apps I have tried.. I also find the SmartPSS Application to be quite responsive and easy.. Once you have more than 1 camera the web interface becomes mostly used to configure the cameras as the Native Application is much more capable and responsive, having several tabs open all running plugins will wreak havoc on your browser... Dahua is the only one who builds there software for MacOSX which I appreciate greatly as I have no Windows in my house

My biggest complaint is lack of hotkeys for SmartPSS; when I am on a PTZ camera pressing number keys should take me to that preset IMHO... but I can live without it. I also wish I could configure which monitor it would fullscreen to, I had to set my security camera monitor to the primary monitor to get it to work as I wanted.

As for the Dahua firmware; I've had zero issues.. all the features work as advertised and the cameras are all rock solid stable.. The audio on my mini PTZ is crap but I dont know if new firmware will fix it..

Tho I dont use my mobiles/native apps for reviewing any footage; just live view.. I record 24/7 so no motion detection and I just playback files directly off FTP server for reviewing; it could be a better solution like letting me map the FTP server to a path smartPSS can parse/search through directly.. but I digress; when I get a Dahua NVR I will get that functionality with the added benefit of pushing videos out to my mobiles when an alarm goes off.

I almost hate to admit this in public, but when I had my Dahua 2MP it spent its entire life sending info to a laptop with wifi. So although the camera was wired the FTP server was hosted on a local network laptop that was not only on wifi, but this to an old linksys G-only router! In retrospect it's probably surprising it worked as well as it did.

One interesting thing about the dahua that the hikvision lacks is the dahua had onboard storage for logs, and not with an SD card (I never used one). My hikvision only shows any logs if it's connected to a NAS.

 

[LittleBrother]

Six week since I made this thread, > month since I've had my cams in place. I find myself thinking about them less and less, and naturally going to them as if they'll be there working--and they are. When I forget about tech I have that's typically a good sign, because it's working and not causing me headaches.

My three cams have been working just fine, glad I chose these. I can't reasonably grade how Dahua would have been in comparison right now, because it's two years since I bought my Dahua cam but these have been a great upgrade from Dropcam. I'll probably end up sneaking another one onto the property soon, then my wife will just see it pop up one day in the feed

 

[Shockwave199]

I can only comment on dahua. The cameras web service pages are mostly fine. The dvr/nvr Web service app is fine. And I totally favor PSS for pc software. The mobile app dmss is without rival, imo. No mobile app I have ever used comes even close to how good dmss is. And bonus for me, they support Windows phone too. Not as fully as Android or iPhone, but big kudos for Windows phone support with wdmss.

 

[Shockwave199]

Also nayr, in the full pss app there is a section for hotkey in system configuration. I haven't used it to know how extensive it is though. There is a pdf manual for pss. Search for dahua pss manual and you'll find it.

 

[nayr]

Also nayr, in the full pss app there is a section for hotkey in system configuration. I haven't used it to know how extensive it is though. There is a pdf manual for pss. Search for dahua pss manual and you'll find it.

that entire section is missing from the Mac version, ive compared the windows to mac and the Windows is much more feature rich, like opening to a pre-configured view without opening the cameras manually... Guess I should just be happy there is even a Mac version.

 

[Ömer Aslanbaş]

I have Hikvision and like them a lot. But no experience with Dahua to compare to.
Check out http://www.maxiguvenlik.com/default.aspx for some good reviews on these cameras and actual images from them.sure about any live demo sites though.