Review - Dahua SD49225XA-HNR 2MP 25x Starlight + IR PTZ AI Camera with Deep IVS & SMD Plus

[Wildcat_1]

@ljw2k to clarify, my understanding and testing right now leads me to the conclusion that if you have a 49225 that supports Auto Tracking today, that WON’T disappear (believe yours has AT today) so no worries on that part, only new purchases run the risk and as I mentioned I want to try flashing a new unit back to see if that helps (albeit as mentioned above, I am doubtful as I believe this new change is build date/HW focused).

If you want to stay with Dahua cams then the 59xx models I listed above would be the new 2MP & 4MP equivalents in the Pro range and do feature Auto Tracking, Deep IVS & the new SMD Plus as part of their Pro AI alignment.

On any returns or issues with a purchase definitely recommend reaching out to Andy directly with a DM as he gets mentioned in so many threads it can sometimes be hard to keep track. I do know he is keeping his eye on the ball regarding this change as well and working hard (as always) to get as much info as he can.

I will also continue to update on testing I do on this model regarding any findings.

HTH

Very disappointing @ Dahua

@Andy As the camera I purchased as a Ai camera does not now or in the future allow AT is no good to me sorry,even more worrying the hardware failure of the PTZ Mechanism I have had since Day1. I would like you to send me a return label to return the camera back.

If you are saying the AT features and AI will only be on the more expensive models then I will have to look into purchasing one of these instead or changing brands completly.

 

[Arjun]

Dissecting new and old stock would be interesting to see if there are indeed any hardware changes. I wouldn't mind flashing back to older firmware, provided that AI can be re-enabled; making this one exception, otherwise for many still on a strict budget, the well-regarded SD49225T-HN (w/o AI) will be your best and safe bet

@ljw2k to clarify, my understanding and testing right now leads me to the conclusion that if you have a 49225 that supports Auto Tracking today, that WON’T disappear (believe yours has AT today) so no worries on that part, only new purchases run the risk and as I mentioned I want to try flashing a new unit back to see if that helps (albeit as mentioned above, I am doubtful as I believe this new change is build date/HW focused).

If you want to stay with Dahua cams then the 59xx models I listed above would be the new 2MP & 4MP equivalents in the Pro range and do feature Auto Tracking, Deep IVS & the new SMD Plus as part of their Pro AI alignment.

On any returns or issues with a purchase definitely recommend reaching out to Andy directly with a DM as he gets mentioned in so many threads it can sometimes be hard to keep track. I do know he is keeping his eye on the ball regarding this change as well and working hard (as always) to get as much info as he can.

I will also continue to update on testing I do on this model regarding any findings.

HTH

 

[looney2ns]

I have sent video's to Andy as you can actually see the camera slip on its own axis. This is certainly a Hardware fault inside as in slipping PTZ Motor hence why it's loosing the presets all the time.

The PTZ coordinates won't prove anything as its random and moves to a different position each time depending on how much the camera has slipped on the PTZ motor.

Mine has done it from Day 1.

If you are willing, I would suggest opening up the cam to see if it's possible something simple is causing this. When I first received my 59229 ptz, while putting in the SD card, I found a wiring harness that was partially under one of the belts. I re-positioned the harness and all was good. QC at the factory is far from perfect.
It saddens me that Dahua has not learned it's lesson's on proper firmware testing and QC overall. These sort of problems have been on going for sometime and shouldn't be.

 

[ljw2k]

If you are willing, I would suggest opening up the cam to see if it's possible something simple is causing this. When I first received my 59229 ptz, while putting in the SD card, I found a wiring harness that was partially under one of the belts. I re-positioned the harness and all was good. QC at the factory is far from perfect.
It saddens me that Dahua has not learned it's lesson's on proper firmware testing and QC overall. These sort of problems have been on going for sometime.

As a retired electrical engineer it would not be out of my realms to do this but would be a PITA for me as I am now disabled which often leads me to asking for help from other people with ladders and so on. If I had the camera in hand so to speak i would feel confident to diagnose the problem properly and as you say might just be something simple but going of my gut feelings and the way the camera sounds when looses position it would be a return item anyway.

I have already asked Andy did he want me to return the camera and for him to send a courier to collect it but he stated that he has Asked Mech for him to return his as the problem sounds the same but can't see how this would fix my own issue just by Mech returning his unless something simple.


Anything like this needs to be properly investigated now if Andy wanted me to take my camera down and open it up to see I would be willing to do this buy as everything you take apart you know sometimes it don't go as planned and can go tits up to speak and if Andy is OK with this then this would be the route I would take as long as he would take the return whatever the outcome would be.

I can not understand why Dahua has pulled the AT on these camera's as it works pretty well.

Regards the SD49225T-HN I had the pro 5 series version of this camera and it was no where near as good as this camera especially at night where I got blurry Ghosty images buy this model with the PFA is much much better.

My professional opinion is PTZ motor is too strong too much torque which causes the Camera's mechanical plastic cogs or rubber belt to slip and nothing to do with Auto tracking like Dahua must think.

I will wait till I get a reply of Andy to see what he wants to do as the ball is in court to speak and hoping this can be sorted either by me diagnosing the root cause and fixing it or Andy sending me a replacement camera he has now that still has the Auto tracking feature.

It would be better if Andy could ship me another to test and I would even pay for it and have a reimbursement when his courier collects my original faulty one or both if that's the case.

 

[mech]

I got mine down off the building (no bleeding involved this time) and have been running it through some maneuvers while holding it and listening to it. Interestingly, if I put my ear up to it, there's a constant sound coming from it (a fan perhaps?). I don't hear any abnormal sounds when it moves. I'll send it in to Andy's Dahua service guy, hopefully tomorrow, and see what they can discover. Now I'm congratulating myself for saving the original box.

The big attraction for me was indeed the auto-tracking. It was the game-changer I needed to get good views of prowlers that are outside the ID range of the regular cams, like over by our dumpster and at the far corners of the parking lot. So I'm a little annoyed with Dahua's plan to remove that feature. Going another $300=$400 deeper in debt to get an auto-tracking model is probably a little too far, I could slap up a couple 5442-Z4Es and zoom in on the farther parts of the lot, at that rate. Chalk it up under First-World Problems, I guess...

 

[looney2ns]

I got mine down off the building (no bleeding involved this time) and have been running it through some maneuvers while holding it and listening to it. Interestingly, if I put my ear up to it, there's a constant sound coming from it (a fan perhaps?). I don't hear any abnormal sounds when it moves. I'll send it in to Andy's Dahua service guy, hopefully tomorrow, and see what they can discover. Now I'm congratulating myself for saving the original box.

The big attraction for me was indeed the auto-tracking. It was the game-changer I needed to get good views of prowlers that are outside the ID range of the regular cams, like over by our dumpster and at the far corners of the parking lot. So I'm a little annoyed with Dahua's plan to remove that feature. Going another $300=$400 deeper in debt to get an auto-tracking model is probably a little too far, I could slap up a couple 5442-Z4Es and zoom in on the farther parts of the lot, at that rate. Chalk it up under First-World Problems, I guess...

Some have small fans.

 

[Wildcat_1]

As @looney2ns stated. Yes and this one also has the faintest sound of an attenuator clicking on and off when recording kicks in. That’s if you want .to really get close or are into ASMR sounds

Some have small fans.

 

[ljw2k]

@Wildcat_1 you are welcome to have a login to my camera to see how it looses PRESET positions.

 

[Arjun]

I'm interested in how this all turns out, lol

 

[FlipNJ]

So this unit auto tracking is having issues and they may not be resolved? I was looking forward to get one of these cameras, oh well, any other camera recommendations that can do what this camera is capable?
PS- Thanks Andy for the quote, but I will wait and see if these issues get resolved.
Regards.
Chewie

I purchased a 59230 from Empire Tech on Amazon. Andy is awesome but after messing with it for hours and hours, I reset everything back to default because the auto tracking got horrendously worse. I had a huge garbage truck go past my house about 50 feet away and the camera started to tilt up then zoomed in real close to the street where the truck was. It just doesn't have the tech in it to do a good job. Impressive in many other ways but I am severely disappointed on how bad the auto tracking works, especially for the price. Not super expensive but not cheap either. Had on many other occasions, a car go by real slow and the camera starts to move then pans all the way around to focus on my houses shutters. smh

 

[FlipNJ]

that’s what I mentioned above @Arjun in post #132, both the 4MP being disabled too and the 59xx series model equivalents that still have it enabled

—

My 59230 AT works real bad. Just got it and I am severely annoyed after numerous attempts to resolve with settings. Considering returning it if it doesn't work properly. Not expecting perfection but it decides to focus on my aluminum siding instead of a garbage truck going past, it is useless.

 

[Wildcat_1]

@ljw2k if you'd like my assistance and want me to login, happy to help. Just DM me your details. Can also then chat over Skype chat in real-time if you want. LMK

@Wildcat_1 you are welcome to have a login to my camera to see how it looses PRESET positions.

 

[Wildcat_1]

@rcirz you may find the new 59232XA I listed above works better. I know for me personally having used many PTZ's at differing price points (some extremely expensive) that the AT on this new 49225 is very very good in conjunction with the AI. As I've spoken about in my review, I find it way better than my SD6C. WRT the Aluminum you mentioned, assume your cam is tracking then potentially hits IR splash back from siding etc and loses itself ? If so then yes bright lights or splash back can always impact AT BUT with AI and Deep IVS it does help for sure in my experience.

My 59230 AT works real bad. Just got it and I am severely annoyed after numerous attempts to resolve with settings. Considering returning it if it doesn't work properly. Not expecting perfection but it decides to focus on my aluminum siding instead of a garbage truck going past, it is useless.

 

[Wolf4Ever]

As @Wildcat_1 mentioned if you currently have AT and update you should be safe, as it should only be in new purchases/models. I just flashed mine although I haven't had any of the mentioned issues as of yet.
Everything still seems to be fine, it's keeps/returns home and if I do a reset it also goes back home (preset:1). I was a little concerned as there was a pretty big difference in the file size, so assumed the AT was removed.
However I did notice at least for me I can't adjust the AT time from 15s to anything else. It just defaults back to 15s. Tried Chrome, IE w/Plug-in, Pale Moon. Will try from the DVR if I decide to get into my closet.
Well, while the options are still there the AT does no longer work and the IVS just flashes but the camera doesn't pan or zoom. I will try to see if I can flash back of if they are preventing it.
So it looks like it's disabled and why I couldn't change the track time. Also didn't find PSA under focus and zoom and I didn't see it elsewhere, so looks to be removing other features as well.
Was able to flash back to 190802 as I didn't get 190809 before link expired and its working again so it does look like they are removing it as of 191121 even if the options are still visible in that release. At least on mine.

 

[FlipNJ]

I checked for updates today and it said I have the newest version. Well I don't have the options you do. Wish I did, my issues are strictly problems with vehicles.

 

[Wildcat_1]

Hey @Wolf4Ever that is very strange. I’ve upgraded a couple from 8/19 to 11/21 and still have the AT option + the ability to adjust track time. Also would generally expect that if disabled Alarm Track would not appear at all like Andy’s image he shared that showed no option. Did you default after flashing to 11/21 ?
While I typed this,logged into another and sitting at 30s track time without issue.

As @Wildcat_1 mentioned if you currently have AT and update you should be safe, as it should only be in new purchases/models. I just flashed mine although I haven't had any of the mentioned issues as of yet.
Everything still seems to be fine, it's keeps/returns home and if I do a reset it also goes back home (preset:1). I was a little concerned as there was a pretty big difference in the file size, so assumed the AT was removed.
However I did notice at least for me I can't adjust the AT time from 15s to anything else. It just defaults back to 15s. Tried Chrome, IE w/Plug-in, Pale Moon. Will try from the DVR if I decide to get into my closet.
Well, while the options are still there the AT does no longer work and the IVS just flashes but the camera doesn't pan or zoom. I will try to see if I can flash back of if they are preventing it.
So it looks like it's disabled and why I couldn't change the track time. Also didn't find PSA under focus and zoom and I didn't see it elsewhere, so looks to be removing other features as well.
Was able to flash back to 190802 as I didn't get 190809 before link expired and its working again so it does look like they are removing it as of 191121 even if the options are still visible in that release. At least on mine.
View attachment 53280View attachment 53278

 

[Wolf4Ever]

I checked for updates today and it said I have the newest version. Well I don't have the options you do. Wish I did, my issues are strictly problems with vehicles.

That's strange as your IVS should be DeepIVS if the same model SD49225XA-HNR also I don't see SMD (Smart Motion Detection ) there either so I don't think its the same model.

 

[Wolf4Ever]

Hey @Wolf4Ever that is very strange. I’ve upgraded a couple from 8/19 to 11/21 and still have the AT option + the ability to adjust track time. Also would generally expect that if disabled Alarm Track would not appear at all like Andy’s image he shared that showed no option. Did you default after flashing to 11/21 ?
While I typed this,logged into another and sitting at 30s track time without issue.

I did and it didn't help I have some videos on my phone to show the IVS lines, but it's being dumb and I wasn't able to get them off to post.
Is this the one you used? "DH_SD-Prometheus_MultiLang_NP_Stream3_V2.800.0000002.3.R.191121" File size 110,837

I'll see if I can get some free screen capture software and capture the process. As I do think it's strange if you're not seeing this at all.

 

[ljw2k]

Did you also do the PTZ fix General_SD49XXX-HN_MCU_V2.401.0000000.45.R.190815.bin

 

[Wolf4Ever]

Did you also do the PTZ fix General_SD49XXX-HN_MCU_V2.401.0000000.45.R.190815.bin

No, if that's a thing I must of missed it somewhere.