REVIEW - Dahua Ultra AI SD8A840WA-HNF 4K 40x PTZ

New daytime test posted in 2.2 above. Night time video and findings from it will be uploaded shortly
 
Thanks Parley. Yes you know I’m an advocate for well dialed in systems and try and help others achieve the same here ;) While important on all NVRs and cams, this is definitely needed on 4K and Ultra series cams to truly make them shine, then sit back and enjoy the results :)


Parley said:
Much better after you dialed it in.
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New AI Features video posted in #3. I walk through setup, configuration and testing of Face Recognition that can be performed all in camera or on NVR as well. Take a look.
 
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smiticans said:
@Wildcat_1 @EMPIRETECANDY

Do you guys have any updates on the firmware for this camera? My friend has this camera with firmware from 2/2019 and we're having severe focusing issues when the camera is zoomed out at night time. During the day the camera is great!
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There has an Aug firmware, contact me for it.
 
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Wildcat_1 said:
All, thanks to Andy (@EMPIRETECANDY ) we have a new heavy duty, hardcore 4K PTZ AI camera for testing. This camera has been provided by Andy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This test is of the SD8A840WA-HNF 4K 40x Starlight IR PTZ AI Network Camera. This PTZ is based on a 1/1.8” sensor with 5.6mm to 223mm focal length 40x optical zoom. While this AI PTZ does not offer the newer SMD plus it DOES offer Face Recognition (including in cam), Deep IVS & Object filtering as part of its AI features. These and many other features I will be testing in this review.

Please note this is a Hi-POE camera therefore requires up to 50w power so WILL NOT work on regular POE+ switches. Either PFT1200 midspan or Hi-POE / 802.3at supporting switches will work with this PTZ.

I will be covering configuration, AI setup for critical capture, tips and tricks on how to best utilize and obviously a rundown of image quality in day/night capture scenarios, really pushing this sensor to its limits.
Full specs below and will be adding initial pics & vids in post 2, AI feature breakdown and testing in post 3, tips and tricks on how to make these features work and other settings / menu functions in post 4 and a summary of findings / recommendations in post 5.

As always, if anyone has any questions as I go just leave a comment.


Links

Andy’s AliExpress Link
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000328442332.html?spm=2114.12010612.8148356.7.7b2046f2f9YBjy

Andy’s Amazon Link
To follow later

Andy’s PFT1200 Midspan adapter Link
To Follow later



Camera Details

Image Sensor - 1/1.8” STARVIS™ CMOS
Effective Pixels - 3840(H) x 2160(V), 8 Megapixels
Electronic Shutter Speed - 1/1s~1/30,000s
Minimum Illumination
Color: 0.002Lux@F1.4​
B/W: 0.0002Lux@F1.4​
0Lux@F1.4 (IR on)​

IR Distance - Up to 500m (1640ft)
IR LEDs - 10
Smart Wiper


Lens Information

Focal Length - 5.6mm~223mm
Max. Aperture - F1.4~ F4.8
Angle of View
H: 63.9° ~ 2.0°​
V: 37.2° ~ 1.2°​
D: 71.2° ~ 2.4°​

Optical Zoom - 40x
Close Focus Distance - 100mm~ 1000mm

DORI Distance
Detect - 4400m(14435ft）​
Observe - 1740m(5708ft)​
Recognize - 880m(2887ft)​
Identify - 440m(1443ft)​

----

So lets jump in with some pictures but rather than just pics of the cam itself, I thought it would be good to compare size of the unit vs 49225, 59xxx series (more to come on this one in pic) and the 4K. So here you are

View attachment 57240

The lineup for comparison :)

View attachment 57239


Couple of profile images of the 4K

View attachment 57236 View attachment 57235

2 pics of the PFB306W that comes with the camera. This thing is a little longer than the usual 305 (needed as gives more clearance from a wall if installing with the arm and a PFA120) and has a VERY useful little door that you can unscrew to gain easier access to the cabling.

View attachment 57238 View attachment 57237

Little tip here, when installing using the 306W pull CAT 6 cable run from your wall / conduit through this hola and leave hanging down. Then install the cam to the arm and as you feed its connector along drop it through the same hole. Then after securing the cam with the carabiner and chain you can a) pull excess cam cable through the hole (so you can attach cam to the mount more freely) and b) when you are securing and weatherproofing the cable connect you have both in easy reach of the opening and can push back into the space easier when complete.


Spec Sheet For Full Details

Attached to post hi there to do you activate auto wipe ?
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Hi guys,
Wildcat_1
thank you for sharing your knowledge and videos with us it is great, thumbs up :)
I'm planing to buy one camera too and would like to have your opinion on which is better( or what is the difference) DH-SD8A840WA-HNF or DH-SD8A840VI-HNI
What I'm going to use it for:
I'm planing to connect it 230 feet high to over view city and would like to try if it is possible to track flying air-plains or moving ships and evening light scenarios, sunset ecs...
Everything will be live and all world could enjoy this view.
 
Sorry forgot to add to my replay above.
I'm new to all this and would like to know your opinion, thank you in advance.
I 'm getting only 1 this PTZ camera and what other hardware/software do I need to make my setup prefect. Do I need NVR or enough just computer ( I can dedicate just for this camera)? Would like to use joystick to move around PTZ also for control. ..
Like I sad above my plan is transmitting the view on Internet. What do I need to get/buy so the video can finally be published on Youtube? also, can I connect this camera straight to PC ?
 
@mraidas

Thats a lot of questions, let me try and answer as many as I can here and also please review the excellent Cliff Notes

First up, let me be clear that what you want this camera to do (tracking planes and ships day & night) is a tough ask of it. This very much depends on install location, distance, height, angle to target, lighting, FOV, config of camera etc. Remember this is also a 4K cam therefore although very good, will have limited performance at night depending on the areas I mention in the last sentence.

Lets Start With Some Questions For You:

  1. You mention ‘plan to connect it 230 feet’ do you mean cable length, run between POE switch/midspan and camera ?
  2. What does your install location look like, pictures ?
  3. How do you intend to run the cable, underground, up the side of a property etc etc ?
  4. What is the distance to the target area and then approximate distance to the targets themselves ?
  5. What is your budget because this camera and the joystick would be relatively expensive ?

You mention you only will be getting 1 camera so assume you don’t need assistance identifying fixed cameras a part of an overall solution and instead you want this for 1 purpose only ?

Note On Your Planned Purpose For This Cam

  • Assuming you mean PTZ tracking of planes and moving ships all depends on the install location and FOV you are working with. I also want to point out that I am only going to cover the daylight scenarios here as trying to do this with any kind of good picture at night would be almost impossible given that you would not have good light on these objects unless extremely close (which may be possible from a ship perspective if you were installing in a dock or port etc. but out to sea in the distance, thats a different ballgame altogether). If these objects are at a long distance and therefore will appear small in the FOV then tracking that would be tough and resulting image would be poor. Similarly and critically to your planned purpose you would have to dial in an FOV that captures the target area. With planes being in the sky and ships in the ocean you would need to either have a great FOV that can encapsulate the very drastic differences in altitudes (horizontal on with good detail for both) OR you would have to dial in presets to a specific area of sky or ocean etc to do this. Also, I would not rely on a PTZ to be Auto Tracking planes at all, you will most likely be disappointed with outcome. So in summary of this question and your proposed purpose for the cam, its not out of the question BUT would require a lot of thought and planning on the install location, FOV, camera config etc. You would also be better off (for planes) using the manual joystick control if this was something you absolutely wanted / needed.
  • If however you are positioned next to a dock/port or overlook a runway at an airport then of course that is different and potentially easier to solution for BUT again I want to be clear that what you are asking to do if at distance will be extremely hard for you to dial in and get great results in an automated fashion. Just want to make sure expectations are clearly set here
  • Also if when you say 'tracking' you actually just mean a live 4K stream of everything that passes the camera, no auto tracking by PTZ then that is different and absolutely achievable. Need more info from you to understand what you exactly want to do and what you mean by 'tracking'

Hardware / Software

If all you want is 1 PTZ, a joystick to control it and only want to stream (not using for security etc) then the requirements can be somewhat simplified to below:
  • Computer powerful enough to handle any extra processing, 4K stream (if you intend to stream at that res) live talent, other feeds etc you want to integrate with the streamed feed
  • You also need to run Hi-POE power to this so unless you have a specific switch to support this then you would need a midspan, I like the Dahua PFT1200 for this
  • Network switch needed to interface the camera / midspan if you don't already have one
  • SD card in camera so you have some form of backup and ability to review footage if this is going to be a hard to get to install - I prefer Samsung Pro Endurance 128gb)
  • Streaming can be accomplished by tapping onto the RTSP stream and sending that to Youtube Live OR if you want to get a bit more creative than just dumping a stream (mix streams and other assets including on-stream talent etc) you can use OBS - Open Broadcaster Software®️ | OBS
  • Camera = Dahua DH-SD8A840WA-HNF
  • Joystick = Dahua NKB1000
If you decide you instead also want an NVR then I would recommend either:

  • Dahua 5208 (8 port as no need for more if you are not adding a ton of cameras)
  • Blue Iris installed on the computer listed above

Again, I know I keep bringing this up but I want you to understand that the purpose that you envision for this camera and the 'perfect' setup that you mentioned will be hard to accomplish based on what you've shared about the install so far. That may change as you share more details but be under no misconceptions here, what you are wanting to do with 'tracking' (if this is indeed Auto Tracking in the the true sense of PTZ terminology) of Ships/Planes is extremely difficult unless the location is as I mentioned above.

HTH but let me know with any other questions
 
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Good morning,
[U]Wildcat_1[/U]

How are you? Thank you for your detailed answer, I have replayed to your questions in pm, when you have time please look at it ;)

Blue Iris omg I red just now about it and yes I need it sooo bad :) sounds and looks like a great software and it has overlays too. Just what I need to put a weather overlay over it so I don't need to mess with another program. Thank you thank you thank you :)
 
I will reply in DM later today

mraidas said:
Good morning,
[U]Wildcat_1[/U]

How are you? Thank you for your detailed answer, I have replayed to your questions in pm, when you have time please look at it ;)

Blue Iris omg I red just now about it and yes I need it sooo bad :) sounds and looks like a great software and it has overlays too. Just what I need to put a weather overlay over it so I don't need to mess with another program. Thank you thank you thank you :)
Click to expand...
 
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Does this camera have RTMP capability under Platform Access- RTMP? like its smaller brothers with the newer FW?
 
I would be very surprised if these camera's had a rain sensor, take them as manual ONLY.
 
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