REVIEW: Budget 4MP Turret Comparison - IPC-T2431T-AS vs Chinese HDW4433C-A

I ordered this one from Amazon Prime, and I thought I'd get a fast ship. I was wrong, lol. Past orders I've made with Andy shipping from overseas using DHL were actually faster than Amazom was. lol. I hadn't bought this camera before, so with Amazon it would have been simpler to potentially return it and upgrade to a better camera. Overseas, I would never bother to return/upgrade. I'm quite happy with this unit, no complaints.
 
Does anyone have any more video footage other than stills for the HDW4433c-a ? For a comparison this is mainly focusing on the 2431.
 
wetto said:
Does anyone have any more video footage other than stills for the HDW4433c-a ? For a comparison this is mainly focusing on the 2431.
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OK.... not the 4433 footage you want, but some 2431 footage that has me scratching my head...

Watch the "trails" behind my dog as she runs after a ball--- or the horrible grainy quality of ME standing there or tossing the ball. There is some other very weird crap going on-- like compression artifacts--- is this a Bitrate issue?? Exposure is on Shutter-Priority at 1/60th. Let me know what you think. This cam produces a fanatastic night image-- as long as nothing is moving. LOL



So---I looked at the settings this morning, and bitrate was set to CBR at 2048kb/s. Seems low for a 4mp cam-- so I changed that to VBR and set the max bitrate at the max-- 6144kb/s and I will look at footage again tonight to compare. Should that be CBR at the max bitrate instead of VBR? It only records when triggered within BI.
 
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I think I saw in another thread you said you were running 1/60. I found 1/120 better on the 5442's, but you got to have the light for it.
 
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bigredfish said:
I think I saw in another thread you said you were running 1/60. I found 1/120 better on the 5442's, but you got to have the light for it.
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How does the camera limit the amount of light to the sensor since there's no aperture diaphragm on these cameras? I have my camera set to auto and when I set it to 1/60 I can see some horrible artefacts being generated. I'm assuming it's some digital manipulation to reduce the amount of light on the sensor to prevent overexposure. I can see it reduces when I set it to 1/120 but auto is producing the best overall image quality as far as I can see. Obviously when the shutter speed drops below a certain speed it switches to night mode.
 
Not smart enough to tell you how it does it..
Auto may well produce the best still image but typically unless you have an enormous amount of light, (or a bigger sensor) you'll get blur, graininess, and trails like you see on moving objects. You can minimize it, but not all cameras are designed to do nighttime color. The 1/3 sensor on that 2431 is only capable of so much in forced color at night. You may get better ID in B&W with IR,.. will be interesting to see how it looks with the higher bitrate and lower DNR.
 
bigredfish said:
Not smart enough to tell you how it does it..
Auto may well produce the best still image but typically unless you have an enormous amount of light, (or a bigger sensor) you'll get blur, graininess, and trails like you see on moving objects. You can minimize it, but not all cameras are designed to do nighttime color. The 1/3 sensor on that 2431 is only capable of so much in forced color at night. You may get better ID in B&W with IR,.. will be interesting to see how it looks with the higher bitrate and lower DNR.
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I'm referring to video quality during the day. My camera automatically swaps to B&W with IR illumination at night which works fine for me. I'm not so interested in colour video at night since I live in a rural area and there's very little to no ambient light.
 
LOL, sorry had you mixed up with the post by @sdkid above :banghead: So yeah, I run Auto in daytime as well.
 
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thinking of getting this camera, are there any real benefits of getting the IPC-T2431TM-AS-S2 over the IPC-T2431TM-AS other than the S2 being all metal?
 
Interesting camera. Have a 5442 which is a very good camera, but need to buy a few more around the house. E.g., in my garage (would need to be run in IR mode as very little light), sides of house (generally keep the light on, see 3.6mm 5442 shot below).


@bigredfish, How much "worse" does this camera perform vs the 5442? On the sides of the house like this just need motion detection and IR.

IIRC you also have some 5442s?


1593485193874.png
 
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It's a great budget 4MP cam, but they dont hold a candle to my 5442's. For that side with the light on, you'll be way good. In total darkness you may need to add an external illuminator to help out in B&W.
 
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bigredfish said:
It's a great budget 4MP cam, but they dont hold a candle to my 5442's. For that side with the light on, you'll be way good. In total darkness you may need to add an external illuminator to help out in B&W.
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Because the IR isn't that great you mean? E.g., here's a shot from an existing 2142FWD that I want to replace. But thinking in some areas do I really need a 5442 given the videos and pics in this thread seem quite good of the budget camera, especially if I'm going to be using IR anyhow and not use it in color/day mode at night in a few locations.

1593605057674.png
 
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The IR is fine but as with most 4-8MP cams I feel they need supplemental IR in very dark conditions. Added external IR also help open up the IR coverage area as like with most cams the onboard IR tends to create a focused hot spot or cone that decreases in intensity at the edges.
 
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Guess what I'm wondering is, would you ever recommend "don't bother spending more on the 5442 in that sort of area/situation just get this budget camera"?

Genuinely curious what the real advantages are say to a 5442 where 1) you have ample light to leave it colour, or 2) to your point, if you have to use an external IR in a location, what's the advantage of going with a 5442 in the darker location FTM?

I'm an accountant by trade, so always happy to "save money" if the benefits are slim. At the same time, while the 5442 is double the cost, I wouldn't really sweat it I guess, so curious more than anything!
 
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The hotspot thing is real. Here is my 5224 in 2.8mm showing it. But I'm not sure how helpful external IR would be in this situation at the far right anyway as the distance is really too far way to make IDs. This is also near blackness in my backyard. No external lighting at all except for a bit of accent lighting in my neighbors back yard and the house across the pond.

Rear Cam 2020-07-01 03.00.19.380 AM.jpg

But would a 2431 look this good? I don't know. I don't think so.
 
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Yeah, though if using IR, can you ever really ID someone given what they look like with IR? Typically they're fairly "white washed" in terms of the face sort of thing.

It's just interesting, as folks recommend significant external lighting or IR with just about any camera, so guess the question in my mind is..."why bother with a 5442 if a T2431 will get you 90% of the way there, probably higher during the day and in ample light, and if none get you there at night and really it's more for motion triggers at that point, why spend double"?

Heck, we've had some break-ins in the last couple of months here and they're essentially smash and grabs. The criminals literally look into the camera as they've broken in and are out in 2 minutes sort of thing (usually wearing some form of facial cover that they throw on within a certain distance of the house, and at night).
 
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