Review Dahua OEM SD22204UE-GN by EmpireTech Andy

[EMPIRETECANDY]

Welp, got mine in today! Thanks to Andy's Amazon store, had it in 2 days So far Im extremely impressed, very very good bang for the buck, although well see how it does with rain next storm. Im still super impressed with the sensors ability in low light, Im getting a far better image at night than the Dahua 4MP (of course not starlight+) and this camera has no IR, and half of the driveway lighting is out. My biggest worry turned out to not be a concern at all, the PTZ functionality has been super responsive, using an xbox controller to control it is like playing a game hah. (Not quite as fast as the cameras in R6:Siege, but almost ) Only "issue" so far is that the onvif preset functionality with Milestone XP didnt seem to work, but I just instead set it to let XProtect handle the presets and theyve worked perfect. Id be happy to add some pics/videos, is it ok to tag on to your thread?

**EDIT** One thing I did learn, Im going to pick up one of the junction boxes (seems theyre only like $15 as well) as I didnt realize this camera would pitch so high up it actually gets blocked a bit by the small trim around my eve, Im thinking with this box it should create just enough offset Ill gain a bit more useable fov

Thanks Nick! If you can share us some pics that would be great, lol, or else we are hard to feel the great.

 

[thendawg]

Will do, to start with this is a day shot, hard to explain but you can prob tell from the shadows, the sun is just above the top right corner which often causes issues with shadows on this camera position (in fact thats why I adjusted it a bit) but the WDR on this camera seems to handle it MUCH better. I wish I had a good comparison shot, but unfortunately didnt take one on the old cam. Ill attach screenshots of settings as well. This is the day profile only, Ill attach the night with the night shots later (use manual shutter, less wdr, and less noise filtering at night). I also only screenshotted the tabs that I made changes to, others are still default (on this profile).

 

[thendawg]

A short video, that although Im not the "smoothest" operator, Id consider this PTZ very responsive, this was manually controlled using an XB1 controller (through Milestone XProtect) basically trying to keep the car in frame, travelling approx 25 mph. To be completely honest, I didnt really expect this camera to have this good of ptz performance at the size/price. Oh and you can notice what I mean about the trim board, if your house has these, do yourself a favor and buy the junction box now! Im now waiting on that, should add a little more usable fov, as you can see quite a bit of my eve/trim in the shot. Night stills and video will be added later

 

[thendawg]

Here's some "night ops" with a bit more of the same testing. 10PM, average night street-light-wise, although I made a couple small upgrade to my driveway lighting, now has all 4 60w (equivalent led, rated at 500lumen) working. Seems to be plenty of light now, although still contemplating a PoE powered infrared spot in case were out of town and the lights get left off, power goes out (all my "homelab" is on a fairly large UPS), etc.

Night Profile Settings -



PTZ Test Clip -


Another good night demo clip, the guy in the frame (when in that driveway) is about 80-100ft from the camera location, gives a good idea of what the 4x zoom is capable of, Im quite surprised actually, at least in this location, Im really happy with it. BTW, this is obviously in a public space, but if theres something against posting videos with random people in them, Ill take it down, it just happened to be a very good demo of what the camera is capable of

 

[looney2ns]

Here's some "night ops" with a bit more of the same testing. 10PM, average night street-light-wise, although I made a couple small upgrade to my driveway lighting, now has all 4 60w (equivalent led, rated at 500lumen) working. Seems to be plenty of light now, although still contemplating a PoE powered infrared spot in case were out of town and the lights get left off, power goes out (all my "homelab" is on a fairly large UPS), etc.

Night Profile Settings -

View attachment 45234

PTZ Test Clip -


Another good night demo clip, the guy in the frame (when in that driveway) is about 80-100ft from the camera location, gives a good idea of what the 4x zoom is capable of, Im quite surprised actually, at least in this location, Im really happy with it. BTW, this is obviously in a public space, but if theres something against posting videos with random people in them, Ill take it down, it just happened to be a very good demo of what the camera is capable of

These can cure the light being left off. https://www.amazon.com/Philips-Dusk...PDKIKX0DER&sprefix=philips+dus,aps,166&sr=8-3

Then jumper the light switch so it can't be "turned off". Or install one of these> Amazon.com: light switch guard

 

[bigredfish]

I like the 1200 lumen ones have them in the coach lights overlooking the driveway
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07C2PXY6T/
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07C2PXY6T/

 

[thendawg]

Thanks for the suggestion guys, unfortunately these lights use the (decorative) candelabra base bulbs. All the external front lights are on a single indoor switch, so Im considering replacing it with a smart switch. Are there any out there that dont use a cloud service/app but instead provide only local api/webui?

Im also considering a bit more lighting, Im sooo close to being able to use color at night, which I believe would really help with ID, I feel if I added another light of some sort (maybe flood?) over the center of the garage door, Itd work perfect.

So far Ive found this for the switch solution - apparently theres an open fw for the sonoff switches or you can do it this way, interesting - Sonoff switch complete hack without firmware upgrade

 

[YYZed]

Thanks for the suggestion guys, unfortunately these lights use the (decorative) candelabra base bulbs. All the external front lights are on a single indoor switch, so Im considering replacing it with a smart switch. Are there any out there that dont use a cloud service/app but instead provide only local api/webui?

Im also considering a bit more lighting, Im sooo close to being able to use color at night, which I believe would really help with ID, I feel if I added another light of some sort (maybe flood?) over the center of the garage door, Itd work perfect.

So far Ive found this for the switch solution - apparently theres an open fw for the sonoff switches or you can do it this way, interesting - Sonoff switch complete hack without firmware upgrade

You might consider a "dumb" programmable timer switch that doesn't utilize any kind of internet based service to keep the schedule - Timers - Wiring Devices & Light Controls - The Home Depot

I just installed two of these in my backyard and a third is about to go up on my side yard. 1000 lumens with a dusk/dawn sensor and it's very compact and low profile - Commercial Electric Bronze Outdoor Integrated LED Wall Pack Light with 1000 Lumens and Dusk-to-Dawn Photocell-DAWN12-PC-3K-BZ - The Home Depot

 

[looney2ns]

I like the 1200 lumen ones have them in the coach lights overlooking the driveway
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07C2PXY6T/

Had not ran across those.....

 

[thendawg]

After a week with this cam, Ive tweaked it a bit more at night, and fixed a couple shadows, this is another quick run-around test I did tonight (part of the review I put on Amazon). Probably my last update until it rains, no idea when that will be.

 

[tomas21]

What are the optimal settings folks are tuning in their condition profile settings for Normal, Day, and Night? Especially those with low light situations at night?

 

[mech]

What are the optimal settings folks are tuning in their condition profile settings for Normal, Day, and Night? Especially those with low light situations at night?

On mine, I wavered between Auto exposure and Shutter Priority mode. It currently looks out on a fairly-low-light scene from a 3rd-floor eave, but Blue Iris will send it to a brighter scene (3rd-floor porch) if other cameras detect motion there. In the overview scene, its job is just to track car headlights and taillights and approximate movement, so a bit of motion blur is not an issue, thus there's no point restricting shutter speed, so I went with Auto exposure.

Here is a sample where the PTZ switches scenes. I could make the street scene look a lot brighter by using Backlight Compensation, but it seems like there's always a tradeoff in detail level, and for the porch scene I'll take the detail. At the right edge of the porch scene, that's a Hikvision Colorvu providing the foreground light, so this preset also doubles as a defense against camera tampering.

 

[tomas21]

Any tips to fine tuning night settings in a low light condition?

 

[mech]

Any tips to fine tuning night settings in a low light condition?

If your objective is to see movement, play with the Backlight Compensation options. They can brighten up the dark areas. You'll pay for it with less identifiable detail. The other tip is to change the equation by adding more light, either infrared or visible light. A cheap motion-sensing LED floodlight could really help, if your situation allows it.

 

[3lij4h]

Did you try auto tracking on this one (night)?

 

[mech]

Did you try auto tracking on this one (night)?

It doesn't have auto-tracking in the firmware. I do have Blue Iris use other cameras to turn the PTZ to the desired direction, and then the PTZ's onboard "idle motion" setting will turn it back to its primary direction after a minute, unless the other cameras continue to send alerts.

 

[jfoley22]

I just purchased this cam from Andy on Amazon. Am I missing something, mine didn't come with any hardware mounting at all. Just the cam?

 

[mech]

I just purchased this cam from Andy on Amazon. Am I missing something, mine didn't come with any hardware mounting at all. Just the cam?

That is how they come, and you could get a PFA137 junction box as shown in Post #2 if it suits your purpose. That's what I bought to go with mine.

 

[aristobrat]

Am I missing something, mine didn't come with any hardware mounting at all. Just the cam?

If you take the dome off of the camera you should see some screw holes that let you mount the camera to a horizontal surface, like a ceiling. There should be three screws (and some wall anchors) in the box as well.

 

[d5775927]

How does the IVS for this IPC work, does it support object detection - vehicle/human (like the 5442) or its naive IVS like 2431 (the old model)?