Knock-off wars - anyone willing to test?

[person0]

The Dahua Starlight 2mp line are popular, quality home security cameras. As those in this forum are aware, there are plenty of knock-offs being sold as Dahua but with hacked firmware that bring a slew of problems. However, what about a knock-off built from the ground up simply to match the same specs, but sold as its own branded item?

I recently found the following camera on ebay:
LongPlus 2MP PoE IP Sony Starvis Sensor Security Bullet Indoor/Outdoor IR Camera 600173674888 | eBay
It pretty much matches the specs of the dahua IPC-HFW4231S (especially an identical Sony STARVIS Sensor):
https://www.dahuasecurity.com/products/productDetail/3551

I am interested in running a comparison, however, I would have to buy both cameras. Anyone already have that model Dahua who would be curious enough to compare? Or if I buy the knock-off, anyone have one of that model Dahua I could borrow for testing and send back? Obviously I am new here so there is no reason for anyone to trust me yet, but I would be willing to provide collateral, although I'm not sure how.

 

[awsum140]

I have Dahuas, but don't want a bullet ever again. I will say you'll get what you pay for. There doesn't seem to be much information regarding configuration capabilities which is a big factor. Then there's the quality of the optics to consider as well.

 

[person0]

I have Dahuas, but don't want a bullet ever again. I will say you'll get what you pay for. There doesn't seem to be much information regarding configuration capabilities which is a big factor. Then there's the quality of the optics to consider as well.

Good point! After poking around, I found the seller's website. It looks like they have other cameras with the STARVIS sensor as well, including eyeball models. I am going to email them to see if they would be willing to send me one free in exchange for an honest thorough review. Their response could be telling in itself, so we'll see!

 

[fenderman]

Good point! After poking around, I found the seller's website. It looks like they have other cameras with the STARVIS sensor as well, including eyeball models. I am going to email them to see if they would be willing to send me one free in exchange for an honest thorough review. Their response could be telling in itself, so we'll see!

Stable firmware and reliable hardware is what you are paying for. Longplus looks like they are rebranded longse. Lots of longse cameras were dumped here a while back, tons of failures. Longse also is a prolific copyright infringer stealing code from both chinese and american companies. Avoid this brand.

 

[Q™]

My bet is that is a Longse LBH30HD400ESL

LBH30HD400ESL - Longse

I cured myself of my Longse problem quite a while ago.

 

[person0]

My bet is that is a Longse LBH30HD400ESL

LBH30HD400ESL - Longse

I cured myself of my Longse problem quite a while ago.

I am 100% confident that it is a longse. Evidence below:


That said, I did not know anything about Longse until you guys just now brought it up. I will search the forums for more info! Thank you

 

[Q™]

The thing to know about Longse is that...no matter how much firmware you update...no matter how much time you put into remediation...your Longse camera will NEVER display the correct time and date for more than a few days.

 

[person0]

The thing to know about Longse is that...no matter how much firmware you update...no matter how much time you put into remediation...your Longse camera will NEVER display the correct time and date for more than a few days. View attachment 35861

Is that the only issue you faced with their cameras? The main reason I ask is because, although that is a pretty big annoyance, computers timestamp file creation and modification dates, wouldn't it be possible to configure blue iris to start a new raw file dump every hour on the hour which would make it so that you could easily pinpoint the exact date/time of any event even without a visible timestamp? One would essentially have 24 files per camera per day, or one could do a different increment.

 

[awsum140]

Maybe that's 'cuz they use a sundial to keep time and don't compensate for shadows or nighttime. Alternately, they may not count the time it takes to flip the hour glass each time.

 

[fenderman]

Is that the only issue you faced with their cameras? The main reason I ask is because, although that is a pretty big annoyance, computers timestamp file creation and modification dates, wouldn't it be possible to configure blue iris to start a new raw file dump every hour on the hour which would make it so that you could easily pinpoint the exact date/time of any event even without a visible timestamp? One would essentially have 24 files per camera per day, or one could do a different increment.

once again, they suffered a HIGH rate of failure. Do this, go buy 10 of them. Use them for two years and come back and tell us how many failed.

 

[person0]

once again, they suffered a HIGH rate of failure. Do this, go buy 10 of them. Use them for two years and come back and tell us how many failed.

I think I misunderstood what you meant by failure earlier. Good to note though. I am not much of a risk taker, so I don't think I will be buying 10 of them. In fact, I plan to build my setup one camera at a time to help spread the cost.

 

[awsum140]

My findings, after about six years of fooling with IP cameras is that "inexpensive" cameras turn out to be expensive because you toss them as soon as you buy a decent camera and see the difference. I won't waste money on low end junk anymore and this forum lead me to really decent cameras at at least semi-affordable prices.

 

[Q™]

Is that the only issue you faced with their cameras

You mean besides the one day that they just stopped working?