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

Marc O. said:
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?
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Answer: It depends ;)

Here's a camera I have that is less-than-ideally situated. It's a compromise that serves two purposes. You can clearly see part of the side of the house and the side of the extended soffit over the porch.

Front%20Porch-20190615-1609124879.jpg


It's not ideal, but it works.
 
Marc O. said:
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!
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Test all potential cam spots prior to permanent installation. Use a 2*4*8 in a 5gal bucket, fill with rocks for ballast. Test the location for 24hrs or more. Best to not mount cams over 8ft high. Lower is better. Read this if you haven't, Cliff notes.
 
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Dramus said:
Answer: It depends ;)

Here's a camera I have that is less-than-ideally situated. It's a compromise that serves two purposes. You can clearly see part of the side of the house and the side of the extended soffit over the porch.

Front%20Porch-20190615-1609124879.jpg


It's not ideal, but it works.
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+1 on this. It's gotta be a coincidence. Yesterday, I had to reposition the camera to avoid the soffit glare. Like your situation, now the IR illuminates the grass and not the actual path.
Next thought is to add some kind of base to increase the space between camera base and mounting area. Wife will not allow mounting it lower onto the porch columns which would be ugly to look in front of house. So, yeah, compromise.
Either that or mount it desired position / field of view and use external IR at another location to illuminate the area desired and avoid IR reflections.
 
looney2ns said:
Test all potential cam spots prior to permanent installation. Use a 2*4*8 in a 5gal bucket, fill with rocks for ballast. Test the location for 24hrs or more. Best to not mount cams over 8ft high. Lower is better. Read this if you haven't, Cliff notes.
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I'm in The Netherlands, we don't have rocks here :winktongue: But I get the point, will definitely do some testing. Thnx for the link to cliff notes!
 
Marc O. said:
I'm in The Netherlands, we don't have rocks here :winktongue: But I get the point, will definitely do some testing. Thnx for the link to cliff notes!
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You don't have rocks? :p I even got evidence:
720

Grab them from the dams in your "Dutch Lakes" :p Your country will be flooded :)

You can also fill the bucket with rijnzand/concrete.

Greetings from your friendly Southern Neighbor!
CC
 
Marc O. said:
True, but I don't intend to zoom in too much as I need the angle to see all relevant areas.
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If you’re really not going to zoom much there is a less-expensive fixed-lens (4231) model. You can try the IPVM Camera Calculator V3 tool to get a simulated image and see if the 2.7mm or 3.6mm fixed gives you the angle that you’re after.
 
Marc O. said:
Too late, just paid the invoice to Andy. ;)
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IMO, I don't think it is a bad choice. Plus, I read somewhere that the VF lens is a tad bit better. Also, it is nice to be able to zoom if you need to. What if you switch this camera to another location where the zoom is essential to establish proper FOV?
 
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Another update.

Live view seems to be fine now. Not as much lag anymore or many dropped frames.
Also not thousands of logs of the NVR logging in and out anymore.

As for backing up the settings; at that time I hadn't thought of that, but it doesn't really matter much, since I only have 1 camera and 1 NVR. So dialing everything in didn't take long.

But I really dislike the latest firmware of the camera. As I said before; many things are missing and on my laptop with Pale Moon 28.5.2 the live view automatically switches to a sub stream for "for bettery video playing experience". I never had that problem before.
On a different PC (connected via ethernet) with Pale Moon 27.0.0 this does not happen; also there all the old options are still visible. :idk:
I'm afraid to hit CTRL-F5 on the PC, afraid it might mess it up too.

Also I'm having problems with plugins now, especially the NVR...

So there are some things I still need to do:
- Perhaps downgrade the camera's firmware. (if possible)
- Download an older version of Pale Moon on my laptop.
- And/or just use SmartPSS as mentioned here.
 
Try going back to some basics such as factory resets, use another laptop/computer to access / test. Clear/delete history, cookies and autocomplete and temp files on computer. Try again after that. Isolate the problem. If you do find the camera's firmware is not good, there are some threads to help revert it old version. That is always a risky task as you can brick it (and there are some threads to show how to recover that as well)... But why go through all of this without identifying problem to specific area first? Remove NVR from setup, access camera directly and see if you find any issues there. Clear all browser stuff, uninstall and reinstall the plug-in(s) if needed.
 
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Crazykiller said:
For anybody who’s interested, the PFB203W is combinable with the PFA137. In some cases like mine you’ll need the PFA137 in addition to get a little distance to the PFB203W.
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Is that camera and mount been painted? It looks gray and I am kinda looking for gray.....
 
Rebelx said:
Is that camera and mount been painted? It looks gray and I am kinda looking for gray.....
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Yep, they have been painted with RAL7016 (anthracite) spray paint.
 
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Only a little bit, not completely. Only for better adhesion of the new paint. Not sure if it’s really needed. My first try was to paint it with a brush, which wasn’t really adhesive. I think spray paint is even more adhesive, but it’s always better to have a rough surface.
The FritzBox is a handy router for a lot of use cases, but I’m still waiting for digest auth within the live view.
 
Rebelx said:
Did you have to sand it down first?
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If I were doing it I'd be inclined to give it a light once-over with a medium grit emery cloth, wipe thoroughly with mineral spirits or acetone to remove any oils or other residues, prime with Rust-Oleum 2X Ultra Cover Primer--two light coats w/in ±30 mins., let stand for 48 hours, very lightly sand with medium grit emery cloth, tack rag, then two coats of Rust-Oleum 2X Ultra Cover Paint, in your choice of colours, again w/in about 30 minutes of one another.

I did this to a metal support pole in the basement. Looks like it was done in an automotive body shop :)

If I really wanted to be sure: Another 48 hours later and it'd get two coats of Rust-Oleum 2X Ultra Cover matte or satin clear coat.
 
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