Review- Dahua IPC-HDBW4231E-AS Mini Dome Starlight Cam

looney2ns

looney2ns

IPCT Contributor
Sep 25, 2016
16,052
23,748
Evansville, In. USA
Greetings citizens of planet earth.

Once again, courtesy of Andy @EMPIRETECANDY at Empire Technology Co., Ltd - Small Orders Online Store, Hot Selling and more on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group we have another camera to check out.

As you may or may not know, dome cameras out of doors can have reflection issues and IR bleed back into the lens at night, causing a foggy look to the picture. Depending on it's mounting location, over time, the dome can possibly haze over from the UV light of the sun and make these issue's worse.

So we'll give this one a shot and see how it goes.
Available here $130 shipped at time of this writing.
Aliexpress.com : Buy IPC HDBW4231E AS 2MP starlight IR Mini Dome Network Camera IPC HDBW4231E AS ,free dhl shipping from Reliable network camera suppliers on Empire Technology Co., Ltd

Specs:
2MP IR Mini Dome Network Camera
>Test cam has the 3.6mm fixed lens
> 1/2.8” 2Megapixel progressive scan STARVIS™ CMOS
> H.265&H.264 triple-stream encoding
> 50/60fps@1080P(1920×1080)
> Smart Detection supported
> WDR(120dB), Day/Night(ICR), 3DNR,AWB,AGC,BLC
> Multiple network monitoring: Web viewer, CMS(DSS/PSS) & DMSS
> 2.8mm fixed lens (3.6mm, 6mm optional)
> 1/1 Alarm in/out, 1/1 audio in/out
> Max. IR LEDs Length 30m
> Micro SD memory, IP67, IK10, PoE
1/2.8” 2Megapixel progressive scan CMOS
Effective Pixels 1920(H)x1080(V)
RAM/ROM 256MB/32MB
Scanning System Progressive
Electronic Shutter Speed Auto/Manual, 1/3(4)~1/100000s
Minimum Illumination 0.009Lux/F2.0( Color,1/3s,30IRE) 0.07Lux/2.0( Color,1/30s,30IRE) 0Lux/F2.0(IR on)

S/N Ratio More than 50dB
IR Distance up to 30m (98ft)
IR On/Off Control Auto/ Manual
IR LEDs 24

More specs found here: http://www.dahuasecurity.com/Products/ProductDetail/3681

Conclusion: I like it!

First impressions, as we have come to expect with Dahua cams, it is very solidly built. All metal, everything fits together nicely.

20180125_105101.jpg 20180125_105125.jpg

Wires, lots of wires! Left to Right, Audio out, Audio In, 12vdc Pwer, Alarm in/out, Female RJ45 POE port.
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As you can see, they used a double ribbed rubber gasket around the lens, instead of the typical foam ring.
There is two contact areas on the glass with the dome. It fits firmly against the dome.
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Lens orientation adjustment.
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SD Card slot location. Up to 128gb.
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Descendant paks galore, also see some under the main circuit board.
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Close up of IR gasket.
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When I first saw the orientation of the IR's to the lens after adjusting the cam view, I was like what the fork, That won't work, blocking part of the IR's. (my first dome cam)
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Reset Button location20180125_113030.jpg


No need to remove the assembly as I did, the cam module simply rotates within it's mount.
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That's a lot of wire and connections to shove into that wall mount. Will they fit?
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Lots of sap, little full, but lots of sap. ;) With all connections in use, this is going to be interesting.
20180125_111838.jpg
 
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Video Outdoors. Finally got the cam temp mounted at the front door.
15FPS, variable 4096 max bitrate, manual shutter 1/100, NR 7, smartIR.
Not sure why it would be, but this cam seems to be less noisy at night. Firmware maybe?
First time I walk up the steps, 60 watt porch light is on, 5ft to the right of the cam.
Note, no dome reflection.
Second time I walk up, I've turned off the porch light, and there is very little ambient light coming from 5 house's away.
I'll get some daylight video tomorrow.
Exported from BI.

 
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Thanks @looney2ns , just try to check if this dome one can have good working in the night, because this dome is vandalproof, so can use some places which need protection for the cam. :)
 
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Thanks for the review @looney2ns, seems this cam will have its place for the cost of it, I have a few older Dahua domes and they do pretty well. The biggest issue I have is keeping them clean, one moth turd or rain drop and you will be out there wiping it clean.
 
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Great review Looney.

Looks like it does pretty good.
 
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Now that I've had this for a few weeks, I'm happy with it.
I tweaked settings for best face ID at night, and came to the conclusion that the best settings are the default's, with NR lowered to 5.
So far, I've had no issue's with the Dome causing weird reflections or such.

I think I'll add a microseven mic to it and I'm going to mount this permanently as my front door cam, it gets better WAF, and most people that come to the door either:
A-Don't notice it at all
B-Think it's a light fixture. ;)
Even though it's been mounted on my redneck test rig since it arrived, at 7' high and 12" from the door.

Porch is covered, it will get very little direct sun light, so we'll see how the Dome does long term.

Thanks for playing along.
 
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Thank you for the review.

looney2ns said:
and most people that come to the door either:
A-Don't notice it at all
B-Think it's a light fixture. ;)
Click to expand...

if you have time, a pic from how it looks at your door would be nice. just to have an idea. thanks
 
Looking very nice indeed. Probably would benefit even more when the mount was painted in the same color as your brick house (seen people did paint junction boxes and or housing of turrets) but I understand it is still on your test rig (hence the utp cable hanging loose I guess).

Nice work. Thank you!
 
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