Probably a Dumb Question...

[molimelight]

I know, there are no dumb questions, but here's a question. I recently purchased the following camera to include in my system: Dahua IPC-HFW1320S 3MP HD 2.8mm Wide Angle. It didn't say anywhere on the Amazon page but it is PAL. It appears fine in BI3 and I'm able to log in and set the resolution to what I want, etc. Does this impact anything as far as compatibility, etc. as opposed to NTSC?

 

[Q™]

There has been some chit-chat that under USA 60hz fluorescent lighting you'll experience some anomalies (flickering I think???) if you run PAL, but I have not read anyone posting any bad experiences here in the USA...nor have I experienced any problems myself with the Hikvision PAL only cameras I purchased on Aliexpress. These "PAL only" cameras are designed for the Chinese market and they are missing the PAL/NTSC setting in the camera configuration program/firmware. The Aliexpress camera listings do not mention this deficiency. Have you no shame Chinese camera mongers?

 

[molimelight]

There has been some chit-chat that under USA 60hz fluorescent lighting you'll experience some anomalies (flickering I think???) if you run PAL...

I already noticed the anomaly of which you speak. It's a sort of rolling band of slight shadow that goes down the frame. It doesn't happen all of the time, just when there's a lower level of fluorescent light. I'm thinking I'm going to return it. As it is missing the ability to change it to NTSC in the settings and I'll be using it in the shop which is fluorescent lighting. I'll check with the seller, maybe there's a firmware upgrade I could make? Too bad, as it's a nice 3MP image. At least it's Amazon. Thanks for the help.

 

[molimelight]

SafeGuard Design, the Amazon seller, fixed me up with a firmware update that changed it to NTSC. That took care of the artifact. Great little 3MP wide angle camera for the price. Thanks for the help Q. :victorious:

 

[Q™]

I already noticed the anomaly of which you speak. It's a sort of rolling band of slight shadow that goes down the frame. It doesn't happen all of the time, just when there's a lower level of fluorescent light. I'm thinking I'm going to return it. As it is missing the ability to change it to NTSC in the settings and I'll be using it in the shop which is fluorescent lighting. I'll check with the seller, maybe there's a firmware upgrade I could make? Too bad, as it's a nice 3MP image. At least it's Amazon. Thanks for the help.

Nice, can you share/upload that firmware?

BTW, there's nothing wrong with the camera because if it's a Chinese region camera then it only supports PAL 50hz and it does not NTSC 60hz. In such a case there would be nothing wrong with the camera. You can't expect it to support NTSC because it was built as a PAL only camera, and it was not manufactured to support NTSC.

 

[molimelight]

Here's the file. I don't know why Dahua can't post these on their site. I'm guessing it's specific to this camera? I wouldn't want to be responsible for anyone bricking their camera so use at your own risk. :single_eye:

View attachment general_ipc-hx1x2x-themis_eng_n_v2.400.0000.23.r.20151215.bin