Review-Dahua IPC-HDBW4231F-E2-M Dual Starlight Cam

looney2ns said:
You are correct, it appears with the latest firmware that any back light settings, must be done for ch1, and that setting gets set for ch2. You can't adjust ch2 separately.
IVS will only work on one channel at a time.
The IR is weaker than a turret would be as well.
I've had it up in use for several months with BI, and other than that, it's a fine camera.
Click to expand...

Ok, thanks for the honest feedback. We are going to use it more or less as an additional camera that we were originally not going to purchase so even with those issues it sounds like it will work fine for our needs.
 
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I have just suggested this one to my dad who just wants a basic surveiilance system and needs to retro-wire. This simplifies the wiring by 50%!
 
May I get you guys' opinion if this camera would be suitable for our needs? Being an outdoor security camera placed just above all our emergency doors of our warehouse. Giving us the crucial 180 degree view with the 2.8 mm lens. Please see attachments for more info.

I have read about the risks involved using a dome camera exposed to the elements, but could that be mitigated with a proper sun/raincover?

The setup at each emergency exit door would be as follows.
On the map you may notice other 'CAM' locations without 4231 pictures. I'm still researching what Dahua camera would be suitable there (loading docks and front entrance)

Thank you in advance for any tips.
regards,
Maarten

Camera side A.png

Camera locations Warehouse doors.png
 
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This thing is ridiculously bad when it comes to IR reflections. Unless the heads are adjusted pretty much at 90 deg, the "boobs" reflect the IR leds in a way that make the whole thing close to useless at night. And I am not even talking about extreme angles, it's 60-ish deg in my case.
 
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Tomas Wettervik said:
This thing is ridiculously bad when it comes to IR reflections. Unless the heads are adjusted pretty much at 90 deg, the "boobs" reflect the IR leds in a way that make the whole thing close to useless at night. And I am not even talking about extreme angles, it's 60-ish deg in my case.
Click to expand...
One of the many pitfalls with domes.
 
I had domes from Dahua before (5xxx, 8xxx), and never ran into this to this extent. The bottom half of the image is practically white, with some foggy dots which are the LEDs. Going for external IR now, and I hope the IR of the cams stays off for good (had some trouble with disabling it for both channels, for some reason ch 1 kept returning to "SmartIR")
 
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Also, as if those issues weren't enough, if "Scene change" alarms are enabled, IVS is completely dead. No detections, no e-mails.

This is by far the crappiest Dahua product I ever had in my hands. Pardon my French.
 
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Tomas Wettervik said:
The bottom half of the image is practically white, with some foggy dots which are the LEDs.
Click to expand...
I have the same problem. I think it's worse if you angle the cams too high. I will post some pics when I get the chance.

Wonder why they can't mount the IR LEDs outside the dome??
 
If you manually set IR to 1-2, reflections are greatly reduced. You may still need external lighting depending on your situation though.

I'm on blue Iris, so the IVS thing isn't an issue for me.

Despite both issues, you're saving $75 and an Ethernet run off the cost of two turrets.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
 
Tomas Wettervik said:
Also, as if those issues weren't enough, if "Scene change" alarms are enabled, IVS is completely dead. No detections, no e-mails.

This is by far the crappiest Dahua product I ever had in my hands. Pardon my French.
Click to expand...

Boot that thing my way and I'll give it a go lol.
 
The versatility of this camera is amazing, here are two pictures I took of the utility closet, have a little cleaning up to do after a recent project, lol
 

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For pure recording purposes mainly during daytime, I think these camera(s) are excellent. I still haven't solved the IR reflections at night. Yet to test the temperature also.
 
Can someone please post a photo of their camera's IR reflection issue? I'm considering buying this camera for mounting it to a soffit that sticks out about 6 or so inches from my house. I've heard that IR "over exposure" can also be an issue when the IR's reflect off of lighter colored house siding. Does anyone have this issue?
 
Maybe this is common knowledge but I will share just in case it is not.

When I first logged into the camera I updated the password as requested. Then I decided to change the password. I did so.

After this change I went to add camera in blue Iris. Path just showed / and nothing else. Tried to manually paste in the path found on post #546. Did not work. Tried ONVIF Device manager and got some authentication errors.

Turns out your ONVIF password is not updated when you change the password the 2nd time, only the first time. After manually updating ONVIF password to match Find/Inspect now pulls down the full path channel=1&subtype=0&unicast=true&proto=Onvif

Like I said, probably common knowledge but just thought I would share.
 
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