Review-Dahua Starlight IPC-HDW5231R-ZE 800 meter capable ePOE

[tangent]

got 5231, it seems it can only record to sdcard or ftp/nvr.

how can we record in sdcard and ftp at the same time? thanks

The camera can only have 1 storage destination for it's internal recording options. If you use an NVR/VMS, that function isn't used, the NVR connects directly to the camera and records the video feed. Think of this as the difference between pushing and pulling.

 

[Iemand91]

Me again.

I have 2 questions.

1. I recently bought a NVR from Andy (NVR4116HS-4KS2) and record 24/7 on it.
I checked the logs of the camera and it shows the NVR logging in and logging out pretty much every minute.
Is that normal behaviour or...?

2. For a while now, my 5231 is feeling sluggish. I have Pale Moon browser open on my laptop with live view from the camera. This used to be fine.
If something happened it was shown without pretty much without any delay in the browser's live view, or at maximum only about 0.5 - 1 second delay.

Nowadays it's very sluggish, many dropped frames and the live view can be several seconds behind.
When logging in to the NVR also through Pale Moon, live view there is also very laggy and big delay.

In general, browsing through the webinterface has also become sluggish/slow.
When in Playback, clicking an event to view the recordings used to be instant, now it takes seconds to load the clip and playing the clips is also with many dropped frames.
When I download the recordings, they are perfectly fine. (no stutter of dropped frames)
Also, it doesn't look like the NVR looses connection from the camera since it has a continuous recording without any missing moments.

I rebooted the camera, rebooted our router but so far, nothing helps.

 

[EMPIRETECANDY]

Me again.

I have 2 questions.

1. I recently bought a NVR from Andy (NVR4116HS-4KS2) and record 24/7 on it.
I checked the logs of the camera and it shows the NVR logging in and logging out pretty much every minute.
Is that normal behaviour or...?

2. For a while now, my 5231 is feeling sluggish. I have Pale Moon browser open on my laptop with live view from the camera. This used to be fine.
If something happened it was shown without pretty much without any delay in the browser's live view, or at maximum only about 0.5 - 1 second delay.

Nowadays it's very sluggish, many dropped frames and the live view can be several seconds behind.
When logging in to the NVR also through Pale Moon, live view there is also very laggy and big delay.

In general, browsing through the webinterface has also become sluggish/slow.
When in Playback, clicking an event to view the recordings used to be instant, now it takes seconds to load the clip and playing the clips is also with many dropped frames.
When I download the recordings, they are perfectly fine. (no stutter of dropped frames)
Also, it doesn't look like the NVR looses connection from the camera since it has a continuous recording without any missing moments.

I rebooted the camera, rebooted our router but so far, nothing helps.

what is your NVR firmware built date, contact me, i send you both firmware for nvr and the cams.

 

[catcamstar]

Me again.

I have 2 questions.

1. I recently bought a NVR from Andy (NVR4116HS-4KS2) and record 24/7 on it.
I checked the logs of the camera and it shows the NVR logging in and logging out pretty much every minute.
Is that normal behaviour or...?

2. For a while now, my 5231 is feeling sluggish. I have Pale Moon browser open on my laptop with live view from the camera. This used to be fine.
If something happened it was shown without pretty much without any delay in the browser's live view, or at maximum only about 0.5 - 1 second delay.

I checked my 5231's, they do not "suffer" from the same symptoms as you have: only at IVS triggers, the NVR is "logging in" and "out".

As @EMPIRETECANDY wrote: check your firmware versions, and at least try a factory reset. That will help!

Good luck!
CC

 

[Iemand91]

what is your NVR firmware built date, contact me, i send you both firmware for nvr and the cams.

NVR firmware: System Version: V3.216.0000002.0 Build Date: 2019-01-02
5231 firmware: System Version 2.640.0000002.0.R, Build Date: 2018-05-23

I believe the NVR firmware is the most recent one and the camera is one version behind.
I usually don't upgrade firmware immediately since there could be problems with it.

I checked my 5231's, they do not "suffer" from the same symptoms as you have: only at IVS triggers, the NVR is "logging in" and "out".

Ok, so the NVR logging in and out every other minute should not be happening.
It's not at IVS triggers though; just the last 24 hours the camera log shows 1024 items.

As @EMPIRETECANDY wrote: check your firmware versions, and at least try a factory reset. That will help!

Good luck!
CC

See about firmware above.

Probably a good thing to factory reset both the camera and the NVR.

 

[catcamstar]

NVR firmware: System Version: V3.216.0000002.0 Build Date: 2019-01-02
5231 firmware: System Version 2.640.0000002.0.R, Build Date: 2018-05-23

I believe the NVR firmware is the most recent one and the camera is one version behind.
I usually don't upgrade firmware immediately since there could be problems with it.

Ok, so the NVR logging in and out every other minute should not be happening.
It's not at IVS triggers though; just the last 24 hours the camera log shows 1024 items.

See about firmware above.

Probably a good thing to factory reset both the camera and the NVR.

My 5231 is like yours, NVR is also 2018. 1024 times logging in is not okay. Are 200% sure it's from the IP of the NVR (and not a hackerd?)

I would go for factory reset all. There is a "save configuration" setting somewhere, but then you might import bogus settings.

Succes!
CC

 

[Iemand91]

My 5231 is like yours, NVR is also 2018. 1024 times logging in is not okay. Are 200% sure it's from the IP of the NVR (and not a hackerd?)

I would go for factory reset all. There is a "save configuration" setting somewhere, but then you might import bogus settings.

Succes!
CC

It's shows the NVR's IP-adress. When the NVR logs out, the content only mentions the IP adress, but the login logs shows the content as "Type DVRIP".
I also blocked the camera from accessing the internet in our router (I forgot to do that for the NVR)

 

[catcamstar]

It's shows the NVR's IP-adress. When the NVR logs out, the content only mentions the IP adress, but the login logs shows the content as "Type DVRIP".
I also blocked the camera from accessing the internet in our router (I forgot to do that for the NVR)

I also got plenty of those DVRIPs, but only right after an IVS/MoDect event. Which happens merely every 8 hours (my working hours) But inbetween I haven't seen any in the past 10 days.

Succes!
CC

 

[looney2ns]

It's shows the NVR's IP-adress. When the NVR logs out, the content only mentions the IP adress, but the login logs shows the content as "Type DVRIP".
I also blocked the camera from accessing the internet in our router (I forgot to do that for the NVR)

NVR's can and do get hacked if exposed to the internet without proper security in place.
How to Secure Your Network (Don't Get Hacked!) | IP Cam Talk

 

[Iemand91]

I also got plenty of those DVRIPs, but only right after an IVS/MoDect event. Which happens merely every 8 hours (my working hours) But inbetween I haven't seen any in the past 10 days.

Succes!
CC

Thanks. It's quite odd.

NVR's can and do get hacked if exposed to the internet without proper security in place.
How to Secure Your Network (Don't Get Hacked!) | IP Cam Talk

Yep. No port forwarding or UPnP here. I did set up VPN on my router (TP-Link C7) but after a while it won't connect anymore. And it's not that our ISP changed our IP-adress, it's still the same.
That's something I have to look into.

And I just blocked the NVR's MAC adress from accessing the internet in the router's parental settings.

 

[truglo]

... I also blocked the camera from accessing the internet in our router (I forgot to do that for the NVR)

That last part in parenthesis is the elephant in the room bro... it technically only takes a moment of vulnerability to be hacked. How long was it inadvertantly exposed? Did this start happening before you fixed the router settings? The vpn... you said it has issues... are you sure it is secured properly (these days, that means 2-4k rsa encryption and cert auth).

If I was you I would go about this with the assumption the nvr and/or the router might be hacked.

 

[Iemand91]

An update.

First I tried to manually update the camera to the latest firmware (this one).This really screwed up the camera; after trying to update the firmware the information settings still showed the older firmware yet the whole UI was screwed up.

I then did a physical hard reset in the camera. (the little switch on the board). This also gave me the chance to clean the camera/area and to spray some anti-insect spray around the place.
(I wonder if that spray helps to keep the spider(webs) away...)

Some how, some way I managed to update the camera's firmware. I don't think this was the solution to my problems (see later in this post) but me updating the camera was bound to happen.
I'm not happy with the new firmware because it removed several key things I frequently used:

- double click in live view would turn the live view full screen; this does not work anymore.
- You had several buttons/settings in live view including switch on/off IVS rules; not there anymore.
- When in playback; I could easily download recordings to a MP4 file. Not there anymore; now only dav format.

To me, the *only*benefit of the new firmware is that the video seems to look a bit more vibrant/contrasty.
So if possible, I probably like the downgrade the firmware.

Then the NVR. I did a reset the only way I could find; in the NVR's UI somewhere under System-Default with al boxes checked apart from the "Storage" since I did not want to lose my recordings.
I'm not sure this helped the weird logins/logouts from the NVR since the last hour does still shows about 14 of those logs but I'm not entirely sure it that's the same old problem, or something relating to the fact that I'm still have to dial in all the settings (IVS etc.)

Also somewhere in the whole thing this afternoon; I deleted Pale Moon from my laptop (who knows; maybe the problem was in the browser) and reinstalled it again.
Now the video of the NVR is impossible to see. Pale Moon/NVR asks me to install the plugin which I try to do but nothing happens. Video of the camera is fine, but video of the NVR can't be seen.
Video from the NVR is also impossible to see in Chrome, Internet Explorer and Edge; whether it's because of plugins (that don't work) or the UI is completly screwed up.
So at this point; if I want to see recordings from the NVR I have to use the TV it's plugged into...

One more thing, my camera is connected to my network through a powerline adapter. Obviously not my prefered choice but running ethernet from my router or one of the switches is borderline impossible due the house layout, concrete floors and walls.
My powerline setup was working fine for several years, including my previous Hikvision dome, but when I plugged the powerline out and in, the live view improved tremendously. It's lag free and and live.
We'll see how long this continues to be.

Maybe since I used to only use the powerline connection sporadically for live view but now also 24/7 for recording to the NVR it became to much for the powerline setup.
We'll see if this creates problems in the future, maybe I just have to turn it off and on again from time to time...

Well, this post turned out waaaaaay longer than I planned for. Sorry.
Now I'll just have to dial all the settings in again in the camera and NVR...

 

[myipcam]

An update. ...
...
Now I'll just have to dial all the settings in again in the camera and NVR...

Can't you just restore the settings backup -if you have one... This should be done before a firmware upgrade.

This is the reason why I always export a settings backup right after making "semi-permanent" changes or tweaks to existing setup.

 

[catcamstar]

Can't you just restore the settings backup -if you have one... This should be done before a firmware upgrade.

This is the reason why I always export a settings backup right after making "semi-permanent" changes or tweaks to existing setup.

I agree this might be a best practice, however if one suspects the NVR/cam to be hacked, saving config and restore that config might "open" up hidden backdoors or users to your config. That's why my advice is to note down (at least electronically) the implementation steps you take.

 

[catcamstar]

An update.
*knippie*

If you upgrade firmware on NVR/Cam: clear all cookies and cache! I always work in "privacy mode" in FF, so closing the IPC/NVR tab will clean up the cookie trail behind me, not only as "precaution", but also to avoid conflicting (cached) websites. I once had a mix of chinese/english language. Very weird. Rebooting the internetz did solve that issue

In case you don't like watching the NVR on your tele, I advice you to look into "SmartPSS" (link: https://dahuawiki.com/Template:SmartPSS) - installation possible on WIN/MAC, verrrrrrrrrrrry handy to configure IPC/NVR (including all special features like IVS/tripwire etc etc) --> NO need of any plugin or other annoyances like pale wolf browsers. Plus off course "live view" capabilities.

And most of all: it's free!

Isn't that great news?

Denk het wel eh

Good luck!
CC

 

[myipcam]

I agree this might be a best practice, however if one suspects the NVR/cam to be hacked, saving config and restore that config might "open" up hidden backdoors or users to your config. That's why my advice is to note down (at least electronically) the implementation steps you take.

The settings file in general, (possible that not all camera makes/models do the same) saves user settings and camera parameters. If the camera has UPNP turned on AND connected to Internet etc., then saving and restoring a backup won't do any good as that would restore same insecure conditions that existed before an upgrade or patch. The idea is to make sure it is secured and configured to requirement and then export a backup.

Nevertheless, re-configuring the camera might take few extra minutes but it would be a good approach as well. If I felt hacked, I'd probably do the same. Which brings me to this burning question: Why are they connected / accessible to an Internet connection to begin with? << stop this and it would be fine.

 

[Marc O.]

I'm about to buy this camera and just sent an email to @EMPIRETECANDY for a quote. I just have a question though on its placement. I intend to mount it just under a small overhang in front of the garage. This overhang is constructed from white panels which extend approx. 50cms / 20inches in front of the camera. Is this going to reflect too much of the built in IR lighting and thus negatively affect the image quality at night?

By the way: Great forum and special thanks to @looney2ns for the very informative reviews!

 

[aristobrat]

This overhang is constructed from white panels which extend approx. 50cms / 20inches in front of the camera. Is this going to reflect too much of the built in IR lighting and thus negatively affect the image quality at night?

IMO, how you angle the camera will factor into that. The more of the angle, the less the IR should hit/reflect.

I think the zoom will factor in, too. If the IR does hit part of the overhang and make it really bright, if you’ve zoomed the camera tighter to where the over-exposed overhang isn’t in the image, that should help too.

 

[Marc O.]

True, but I don't intend to zoom in too much as I need the angle to see all relevant areas.

 

[myipcam]

True, but I don't intend to zoom in too much as I need the angle to see all relevant areas.

This is same issue I was dealing with and finally decided to reposition (turn the camera away and adjust angle/tilt as well) which helped a great deal but now I have a "curved" picture towards the edges of video output. Still, it is better than having IR reflected so strongly that output was practically useless. The other option was to remount it elsewhere... if you adjust it properly and dont see the overhang/soffit area in video, it should work fine.