Review- EmpireTech IPC-E35IR-AS-S2 5MP 1/2.7" CMOS IR Fixed-Focal Dome Network Camera

[looney2ns]

Another camera to checkout courtesy of @EMPIRETECANDY
Thanks for Andy's continued support of the community.

Please Keep This Thread on Topic!

This cam is a Dahua OEM.

We have the 2.8mm version to try out, it is also available in 3.6mm and 6mm lens.

See much more info here: Link

Pros: Camera is compact in a all metal housing, IVS works well, audio works well, it works without issue in Blue Iris. Works well in the daytime. The cams GUI is very responsive, IF you install the plugin. SD card works as it should.

Cons: Just like the previous cam I reviewed Here the smart/auto IR does not work. It is a 5mp on a 1/2.7" sensor, so it's not the best after dark. You really need to install the browser plugin for all settings to function properly. Drawing IVS rules for one does not work correctly if you do not install the plugin. It's a dome cam, so it will have the typical drawbacks that all dome cameras have if used outdoors. SMD picks up too much overall motion, the Human and Auto filters are hit and miss.

 

[EMPIRETECANDY]

Thanks looney, this camera is to replace the old IPC-E3541F-AS-M with a little different housing, and external IR. So no worry about the IR reflection now on this mini edge dome.

 

[bigredfish]

Thanks Looney

Interesting design, smart to get the IR out of the dome to eliminate reflections. Tiny little cam, maybe great for tight spaces...

IR Issues:
Try putting your hand up in front of the cam from about where you were standing. If i'm right, you'll see the IR adjust. Same problem on most of my 5442 cams. Its like the sensor position for the IR is centered high and for most installations we angle down a bit, so the sensor doesn't pick up the IR reflection to dim... OR is it simply distance to the camera?

5442 ASE S2 Turret 3.6mm
View attachment Home_ch3_20231108203514_20231108203549.mp4

 

[EMPIRETECANDY]

We test yesterday, within the 1.5m(6ft), the IR will wash out at the central, and camera i installed at 0.9m (3ft) It has a minimum IR distance now like focus minimum distance.

 

[bigredfish]

You would think after all these years they’d get smart IR figured out…

 

[bigredfish]

I haven’t played with any of the 5MP cams. I guess they have them doing the 16:9 ratio now huh?

 

[EMPIRETECANDY]

You would think after all these years they’d get smart IR figured out…

Actually all 5442 fw we have the special smart IR fw, but most people upgrade dahua logo fw which not support smart IR. We will go on to build a speical fw for the newer cams.
(1) IPC-T5442T-ZE IPC-T5442TM-AS IPC-T5842T-ZE SMD 3.0 Smart IR Latest New Firmware From EmpireTech | IP Cam Talk

 

[looney2ns]

I haven’t played with any of the 5MP cams. I guess they have them doing the 16:9 ratio now huh?

Lots of options given.

 

[joma]

i bought the cam from @EMPIRETECANDY and received it one week earlier as the shipment info said. VERY GOOD JOB from Andy!!!

So i started to play around with the cam on my desk, at first i wanted to test the functions and after it is ok for me i'm going to install it at the designated position.

Picture quality is quite good and it looks like it's good enough for my purpose.

But honestly i'm a little bit disappointed about the firmware.
Cam arrived with version V3.140.0000000.3.R.231121

My requirements would actually be quite simple:
1) access a live stream from my cell phone (direct with a url as i do it on my other cams from different manufactures)
2) send an alarm mail if there is a movement in a certain area
3) store a video on my NAS if there is a movement somewhere in the area

as there are some issues i upgraded it to the latest version i found at empiretech01.com ==> V3.140.0000000.15.R.240330
but also with this version i could not reach my goals........

ad 1)
it is not possible to activate "sub stream 2" at all
with the latest firmware even the "MJPEG" option disappeared completely on "sub stream 2"
and in "sub stream 1" the max. resolution is 704x576 (which is awful and 4:3 ratio)


ad 2)
basically there are alarm mails, but you can not really configure this mails
and there is ALWAYS a separate mail if the event starts, than the mail with the snapshots and after that a separate mail that the event stopped.
==> this is sooo annoying!!!! i just need the mail with the snapshots, is there a way to disable the information mail at the beginning and the end?

ad 3)
this looks like it's working as i expected


So finally for my purpose it's ok in 1 out of 3 points......

I hope there will be some improvements in the firmware quite soon....... until then the cam will remain on my desk......

 

[EMPIRETECANDY]

My requirements would actually be quite simple:
1) access a live stream from my cell phone (direct with a url as i do it on my other cams from different manufactures)----It has app DMSS, no one use phone browser to watch the video.
2) send an alarm mail if there is a movement in a certain area-----Can set up the IVS zone.
3) store a video on my NAS if there is a movement somewhere in the area ---This can be ok.

 

[joma]

My requirements would actually be quite simple:
1) access a live stream from my cell phone (direct with a url as i do it on my other cams from different manufactures)----It has app DMSS, no one use phone browser to watch the video.
2) send an alarm mail if there is a movement in a certain area-----Can set up the IVS zone.
3) store a video on my NAS if there is a movement somewhere in the area ---This can be ok.

ad 1)
i also do not use a browser for this but as i use since years different manufactures (Mobotix, Axis, Hikvision, Dahua, Levelone,.....) i use some other programs eg. iSpy, IP Cam Viewer......
on all these it is possible to access the live pic with a substream, except the IPC-E35IR-AS (i have no idea why i can't even activate substream 2 on this) .... so i hope it will be available soon on a firmware update.

ad 2)
i know, and basically it works, but there are always several mails - instead of only one.
i do not need an extra mail, that just contains the information that the area is "clear"
==> i hope this will be fixed also in the next firmware

 

[T-Halen]

I recently (~ 6 weeks ago) bought two of these cameras, one a 3.6mm, and the other a 2.8mm.

I loaded the most recent firmware (v3.140.0000000.15.R 2024-03-30) into both, and installed them. They both work fine as cameras, but one has trouble that the other does not.

These are remotely installed cameras, at a business running a Sonicwall firewall. I use Sonicwall's "NetExtender" software to access devices behind the firewall.

On the one camera, the interface loads quickly and correctly, and I can manage the camera without issue. On the other, the login interface might load after several minutes, and you might even be able to login, but managing the camera is difficult at best. I've tried Chrome, FireFox, and Edge. I've tried from Windows, and from Android, but nothing makes it better.

The odd part is that locally, the camera is fine. If I remotely connect to a computer on the same network as the camera, I can manage it just fine. It's only a problem when trying to connect through the NetExtender product, and it's only that one camera, not the other. I've tried re-loading the firmware, which was successful, but didn't fix the problem. Next step would be to do a factory reset, but I'm hesitant to do that remotely.

Any other ideas I haven't tried? Or maybe I just got a bum camera somehow?

Background: I manage multiple locations with more than 70 security cameras, mostly Axis, Hikvision, and EmpireTech. I only have issues with this one camera.