Yep that is typical for a camera that plays with key parameters to make the still image look great, which the still image looks great, but then motion is complete crap.
I suspect if he checked your car, you would have seen the same blur/ghosting.
A 4mm, 8MP on a 1/2.49" sensor would be lucky under ideal situation (perp stops and looks at the camera) to get anything useful much beyond 10 feet. But then throw in a camera that plays with all the settings to produce a nice static image and this is what you get.
Thanks for sharing and glad you can return them!
Post this video to that YouTube comments section and thank them for the wonderful suggestion LOL.
For your next camera purchase, you need to decide what you want covered. Most of us here would have at least 3 cameras here - one on either side of your car facing in a criss-cross pattern and then one optically zoomed out to a point of interest or "pinch point" where someone would walk if they didn't come to your house.
My neighbor was bragging to me how he only needed his four 2.8mm fixed lens 4k cams to see his entire property and the street and his whole backyard. His car was sitting in the driveway practically touching the garage door and his video quality was useless to ID the perp not even 10 feet away.
Meanwhile my 2MP varifocal optically zoomed in to the public sidewalk provided the money shot to the police to get my neighbors all their stuff back. Nobody else had video that could provide anything useful, other than what time this motion blur ghost was at their car. That neighbor with the 4k started to replace with 2MP models based on what he saw my do compared to his.
Here are my general distance recommendations, but switch out the Dahua 5442 series camera to the equivalent 2MP on the 1/2.8" sensor or equivalent Hikvision works as well.
- 5442 fixed lens 2.8mm - anything within 10 feet of camera OR as an overview camera
- 5442 ZE - varifocal - distances up to 40-50 feet (personally I wouldn't go past the 30 foot range but I like things closer)
- 5442 Z4E - anything up to 80-100 feet (personally I wouldn't go past 60 feet but I like things closer)
- 5241-Z12E - anything from 80 feet to almost 200 feet (personally I wouldn't go past 150 feet because I like things closer)
- 5241-Z12E - for a license plate cam that you would angle up the street to get plates up to about 175 feet away, or up to 220 with additional IR.
- 49225 PTZ - great PTZ and in conjunction with an NVR or Blue Iris and the cameras above that you can use as spotter cams to point the PTZ to the correct location to compliment the fixed cams.
You need to get the correct camera for the area trying to be covered. A wide angle 2.8mm to IDENTIFY someone 40 feet away is the wrong camera regardless of how good the camera is. A 2.8mm camera to IDENTIFY someone within 10 feet is a good choice OR it is an overview camera to see something happened but not be able to identify who.
One camera cannot be the be all, see all. Each one is selected for covering a specific area. Most of us here have different brands and types, from fixed cams, to varifocals, to PTZs, each one selected for it's primary purpose and to utilize the strength of that particular camera.