IP Camera recommendations

[RexIT]

I'm looking for an IP camera that I can use at a gate:
-Outdoor since it's at a gate.
-Ethernet, Wifi, or 4G/LTE.
-Bullet would probably work best.
-2 Outputs (logic level, open collector, etc). One to open the gate and another to hold the gate open.
-1 Input (logic level, etc) for our vehicle loop detector.
-Take a picture when the input is triggered via the vehicle loop detector.
-Send the picture via email (gmail), smartphone MMS, etc.
-A smartphone app where the operator can trigger the outputs. Android.
-Color (day), B&W (night w IR illumination).
-2MP or more.
-Distance between camera and vehicle is about 40 feet.
-The gate has a 12V battery that is charged via AC power.
-If the camera is Eth or Wifi then I'll buy a LTE modem/router for internet communication.

I have started looking through the specs online but the number of digital outputs seems to be buried deep in the individual spec sheets and it's taking forever.

 

[mat200]

Welcome @RexIT

Do check out the cliff notes, and the notes by Southern Yankee...

Check higher models of Dahua OEM international models if they have the inputs you want.

 

[looney2ns]

The Ultra line of bullets tend to have many alarm in/outs.

 

[looney2ns]

Use the compare chart.

Product Selector

Product Selector

www.dahuasecurity.com

 

[RexIT]

The Dahua suggestions were welcomed. Thank you.
The product Compare suggestion was a huge help; of the 46 outdoors bullet cameras, I compared 5 at a time to get the I/O counts. Thank you.

Below are the bullet cameras that have enough I/Os and support their smartphone app.
Next I'd like to research cost (I'm in IL USA) and learn if I can try out the smartphone app before I buy.

Thank you every one.

Model	No. Inputs	No. Outpus	Desc
IPC-HFW5242H-Z6E-MF	3​	2​	2MP Vari-focal Bullet WizMind Network Camera
IPC-HFW5242H-ZE-MF	3​	2​	2MP Vari-focal Bullet WizMind Network Camera
IPC-HFW5242H-ZHE-MF	3​	2​	2MP Vari-focal Bullet WizMind Network Camera
IPC-HFW5442H-Z4E	3​	2​	4MP Vari-focal Bullet WizMind Network Camera
IPC-HFW5442H-ZE	3​	2​	4MP Vari-focal Bullet WizMind Network Camera
IPC-HFW5442H-ZHE	3​	2​	4MP Vari-focal Bullet WizMind Network Camera
IPC-HFW7442H-Z	3​	2​	4MP IR Bullet WizMind Network Camera
IPC-HFW7442H-Z4	3​	2​	4MP IR Bullet WizMind Network Camera
IPC-HFW7442H-Z4FR	3​	2​	4MP IR Bullet WizMind Network Camera
IPC-HFW7442H-ZFR	3​	2​	4MP IR Bullet WizMind Network Camera
IPC-HFW5842H-ZHE	3​	2​	8MP IR Bullet WizMind Network Camera
IPC-HFW7842H-Z	3​	2​	8MP IR Bullet WizMind Network Camera
IPC-HFW71242H-Z	3​	2​	12MP IR Bullet WizMind Network Camera

 

[looney2ns]

The Dahua suggestions were welcomed. Thank you.
The product Compare suggestion was a huge help; of the 46 outdoors bullet cameras, I compared 5 at a time to get the I/O counts. Thank you.

Below are the bullet cameras that have enough I/Os and support their smartphone app.
Next I'd like to research cost (I'm in IL USA) and learn if I can try out the smartphone app before I buy.

Thank you every one.

Model	No. Inputs	No. Outpus	Desc
IPC-HFW5242H-Z6E-MF	3​	2​	2MP Vari-focal Bullet WizMind Network Camera
IPC-HFW5242H-ZE-MF	3​	2​	2MP Vari-focal Bullet WizMind Network Camera
IPC-HFW5242H-ZHE-MF	3​	2​	2MP Vari-focal Bullet WizMind Network Camera
IPC-HFW5442H-Z4E	3​	2​	4MP Vari-focal Bullet WizMind Network Camera
IPC-HFW5442H-ZE	3​	2​	4MP Vari-focal Bullet WizMind Network Camera
IPC-HFW5442H-ZHE	3​	2​	4MP Vari-focal Bullet WizMind Network Camera
IPC-HFW7442H-Z	3​	2​	4MP IR Bullet WizMind Network Camera
IPC-HFW7442H-Z4	3​	2​	4MP IR Bullet WizMind Network Camera
IPC-HFW7442H-Z4FR	3​	2​	4MP IR Bullet WizMind Network Camera
IPC-HFW7442H-ZFR	3​	2​	4MP IR Bullet WizMind Network Camera
IPC-HFW5842H-ZHE	3​	2​	8MP IR Bullet WizMind Network Camera
IPC-HFW7842H-Z	3​	2​	8MP IR Bullet WizMind Network Camera
IPC-HFW71242H-Z	3​	2​	12MP IR Bullet WizMind Network Camera

Smart phone app is free. Not much you can try out until you get at least one camera.
Our trusted vendor is the place to buy. EmpireTech Andy | IP Cam Talk

 

[aristobrat]

-If the camera is Eth or Wifi then I'll buy a LTE modem/router for internet communication.

If you have line-of-sight between the gate and a building that has Internet, Ubuiquiti's UniFi line has some cool and fairly inexpensive point-to-point radio solutions to extend Wifi.

Ubiquiti nanostation AC LOCO

Hey guys So I have 2 ubiquiti nanostation ac locos. I have them setup and connected to eachother inside. Soon I'm going to be installing them outside. Sender is going here on the mount arm of my dahua ptz and the other where the red X is on the attached picture.. How hard is it going to be to...

ipcamtalk.com

Dahua's smartphone app used to give you the option of adding one of their public cameras, which was useful for getting a general feel of how the app works.

All of Dahua's cameras should be able to email a photo when an event happens, although when services like gmail make major changes on their end it can sometimes cause problems until Dahua releases an updated firmware. Unless they've changed things recently, when Dahua cameras send emails about events, it sends multiple emails per event, with one of the emails simply to notify you that the event is over. The last email does not contain pictures and a lot of people would prefer to not receive it. There isn't a way in the camera to prevent that email from sending. The usual work-around is to setup an email rule on the server that automatically deletes those messages.

Like @looney2ns mentioned above, Andy (@EMPIRETECANDY) is a trusted vendor that's been helping folks on the forum here for years now. He's based in China, ships quick via DHL, and sells OEM Dahua equipment under his own brands. He's got stores on AliExpress and Amazon (US), plus you can also order/ask questions by sending him a private message on the forum (or direct email).

That can be a little confusing at first, but if you go to Dahua's website and set the location to International, you'll be able to see just about every camera model that Dahua makes. Andy is able to get most of those. If you set the website location to "US", you'll notice that the selection of cameras is a lot less, and the model numbers change. Almost always, when folks post about cameras here they use the international model numbers. So if you somehow end up on Dahua's US website and find a camera you're interested in, that model number probably won't pull up much information here, but if you can find the equivalent international model number, there's a much higher chance there will be info about it in threads here. It's also more common to find posts here that refer to the camera by the four digit model number of the series (5442) vs the whole model number (IPC-HFW5442TM-AS-LED). Since Andy sells Dahua models under his own brand, he usually changes the model number a little. The four-digit mode number doesn't usually change, but where Dahua uses HFW to indicate that it's a bullet model, Andy usually uses the letter B.

Of the cameras in your search above, the ones with the "4MP" description has the best low-light image sensor (4MP 1/1.8") of the bunch in them and should do the best when it comes to image quality at night (assuming your gated area doesn't have a street light literally over it).

Because of the inputs/outputs, the specific model numbers in your search are a little more niche. If you can't find review threads for them on the forum here, def. don't hesitate to shoot Andy (@EMPIRETECANDY) a private message to get pricing/more info on them.

 

[RexIT]

@aristobrat, thank you for the wonderful, helpful, post.

Because multi-digital-output cameras appear to be ~$500, I feel like I need to test the app before buying and maybe that's unrealistic. If the (or any other) app does not work as needed, then the camera-controlled gate idea won't be feasible.

I read about Andy and have checked out his sites. Thank you.

The gate isn't near a building with an ISP. LTE is our only realistic option. Maybe Starlink will be an option when it is available.

I found DahuaWiki but the credentials don't appear to work. At least for the port I tried (4500).

Email rules are okay as long as the user isn't flooded with unrelated emails. The user's isn't me, I'm just doing the feasibility research. The user won't tolerate noise notifications.

dahua's international mode showed me IPC-HFW4230M-4G-AS-I2 and IPC-HFW3441M-AS-SFC-I2, which I didn't see in USA mode. I probably need to play dahua's international mode more because I didn't see most of the above models in International mode.

The 4-digit model search hint is really useful. I already figured out that Google is the best way to search IPCT since IPCT's search appears to OR vs AND keywords.

The gate has 2 small, decorative, lights that provide some light to gate approach. Therefore IR strength may not be critical in this application.

Thank you everyone

 

[aristobrat]

Because multi-digital-output cameras appear to be ~$500

Maybe less?

I know the IPC-HFW5442-ZE doesn't meet requirements (because the three alarms are 2 in/1 out) but Andy's version of that model is $210.

Review - OEM IPC-B5442E-ZE 4MP AI Varifocal Bullet Camera With Starlight+

All, thanks to Andy (@EMPIRETECANDY ) we have a new 4MP AI camera for testing. This camera has been provided by Andy in exchange for a fair and honest review. This camera is using the OEM model number of IPC-B5442-ZE which is the equivalent of the Dahua IPC-HFW5442-ZE for reference. The IPC-B...

ipcamtalk.com

The IPC-HFW5442H-ZE looks to be pretty much the same camera but with five alarms (3 in, 2 out). I'm sure it's priced more, but hopefully not $300 more.

Two other random thoughts. With the camera being 40 feet away, you probably want to consider a varifocal (zoom) model. This will let you digitally set the zoom (at time of install) anywhere between 2.7mm and 13.5mm. This will let you change the width of the picture which has a big impact on how far away from the camera you can clearly see things. A non-varifocal model with a 2.8mm, 3.6mm or 6mm fixed lens might not give enough detail at 40ft. Being able to zoom the lens precisely with a varifocal (vs, being stuck with whatever a fixed lens gives you) can make a big difference.

With the phone app, if the client just wants to see a live view of the cameras stream they're not limited to Dahua's web app. The camera supports ONVIF/RTSP which lets it stream video to countless apps, which brings up another point... By default most apps would need to connect directly to the camera which typically means having to setup port-forwarding on the router which isn't recommended because both Hikvision/Dahua have had security issues with their firmware in the past that made them vulnerable when exposed directly to the Internet. The usual remote access suggestion is to not allow the cameras to have Internet access and then to access them locally via VPN, but IMO that's not going to be easy to implement in this case. Dahua cameras offer a P2P service that allows the Dahua smartphone app to stream video from the camera without having to open ports on the firewall. That utilizes a Dahua cloud service to authenticate and setup the streaming, so theoretically it's as safe as that cloud service is. I've seen some articles talking about insecurities found there, but I haven't seen any posts from folks here having their cameras hacked (like I have seen with port forwarding).

 

[RexIT]

Update: Andy on AliExpress suggested I look at the IPC-HFW7442H-Z . It is $520 on Amazon.

 

[aristobrat]

That's a great camera but I think a lot of the price of the 7000 series are because of the extra "smarts" (check out the Face Detection and ANPR <LPR> details) vs the extra input/outputs. He may not be able to as easily get the 5442H-ZE...

IVS (Perimeter Protection)	Tripwire, intrusion, fast moving (the three functions support the classification and accurate detection of vehicle and human); parking detection, loitering detection, and people gathering.
Face Detection	Face detection, track, priority, snapshot,Upload Optimized snapshot picture; face enhancement, face exposure, face attribute extract, 6 attributes and 8 expressions: Gender, age, glasses, expressions (anger, sadness, disgust, fear, surprise, calm, happiness and confusion), Mouth mask, beard; Face matting setting: face, single inch photo Three snapshot; methods: real-time snapshot, priority snapshot, quality priority; Face angle filter Priority time setting; Support Duration Optimal,Non-living Filtering;
ANPR	ANPR, track, priority, snapshot Vehicle attributes: license plate, vehicle type, vehicle color,vehicle brand Other attributes: sun visor, seat belt, smoking, phoning, in-car accessories, annual vehicle inspection mark