Review of the New Accusense DS-2CD2T46G1-4I

[coney27]

Hi all. I just installed my new Acusense DS-2CD2T46G1-4I 4mp 2.8mm lense. 4 MP Outdoor AcuSense Fixed Bullet Camera

I was sick of getting false alarms especially on the side of my house from shadows coming from my trees. I didnt expect much from this cam night time wise especially but so far the last 2 days I have been pleasantly surprised.

The camera was intended to use as a overwatch cam and is installed approximately 25 feet off the ground.

I have the cam hooked up to my DS-7608NI-I2/8P. I am running human detection on the cam along with smart event intrusion detection and I am pleased to say camera is detecting and logging human captures in my NVR.

In the little time the cam has been installed I have only recieved two false alarm notifications from shadows. I have tested the camera using a soccer ball and have not recieved a false alarm from the rolling soccer ball. I still would like to see how the camera behaves over time especially with shadows and moving trees.

I was surprised to say that the IRs on this camera are pretty impressive and I'm satisfied with the night time shots I'm getting with the settings out of the box.

I purchased the camera through 123securityproducts(dotcom) for 180$ including shipping. Hikvision DS-2CD2T46G1-4I 4 Megapixel IR Fixed Bullet Network Camera, 2.8mm Lens

I opted for the camera with no led light and no audible alarm. I have flood lights that cover the front of my house and the side of the house, where the camera is normally dark.

I'll attach some pictures and a few videos to show you the out of box settings. I am having a slight issue with what I believe is to be issues with the bitrate at this point but it seems fixable.

I'll update this post as needed and report back with any other findings.

Overall I'm satisfied with this camera for the 2 days it has been set up and have already noticed a dramatic difference in my false alarms.

I have attached 3 videos. One is a day time capture, one is a night time capture with my front floodlights on and the third video is night with floodlights off. The only other visible light is from my DeepInView LPR which is mounted in a tree. Just remember these captures are utilizing out of box settings and are being recorded from Hikconnect on my phone. I will try and get some better videos straight from my NVR the next time.

 

[ralphmouth]

Good picture. Tks for updates. Seen a "pic" capture on daylight video but it appears none for floodlight and night images. Is that correct or did I miss it. Do you have any IR illumination or just natural light?

 

[coney27]

@ralphmouth What do you mean by "pic" capture?

I have no additional IR illumination in the area besides my LPR which is positioned in a tree by the road way which is a good 100 ft away. The side of my house is basically completely dark besides the floodlight on the front of my house that barely seeps into my side yard.

I have attached a picture I took last night at midnight to represent how dark the side of my house is normally. The camera is positioned directly above me about 25 feet up.

 

[ralphmouth]

@ralphmouth What do you mean by "pic" capture?

I have no additional IR illumination in the area besides my LPR which is positioned in a tree by the road way which is a good 100 ft away. The side of my house is basically completely dark besides the floodlight on the front of my house that barely seeps into my side yard.

I have attached a picture I took last night at midnight to represent how dark the side of my house is normally. The camera is positioned directly above me about 25 feet up.

I seen in the daylight video that there was an stuttering in the video. My does the same when a photo is taken during a motion event.
Nice picture for no external lighting.

 

[coney27]

Hmmm I didnt think of that. I assumed it was a bitrate issue. Yea I'm actually very surprised how well the IRs on this thing are. My expectations wernt very high and assumed it was going to be another gimmicky camera like my ColorVue.

 

[John Williamson]

"I seen in the daylight video that there was an stuttering in the video. My does the same when a photo is taken during a motion event."

"Hmmm I didnt think of that. I assumed it was a bitrate issue."

That stuttering is caused by the default Pre-record time of 5 seconds. If you're using motion detection AND recording 24/7 schedule change it to 0 seconds for each camera as it's not needed. When affected, at the moment motion is detected the time and image will freeze and then jump forward 5 seconds during playback.

In the NVR web page the setting is at Storage > Schedule Settings > Advanced.

If on the NVR menu output it's at Record > Parameters > More Settings. Thats for Version 3 firmware. If you're running NVR 4 I forget where it's located.

 

[coney27]

I changed my settings for the pre record. I'll see if it straightens out.

 

[ralphmouth]

I changed my settings for the pre record. I'll see if it straightens out.

I had that same problem with mine (Lorex) and changed the time setting and it did fix my issue.
My HDD is scheduled for tomorrow delivery. Can't wait to be able to try out with my camera(s).

 

[dimo]

Thank you for video and pictures Coney.
4l IR is realy strong.

That stuttering is caused by the default Pre-record time of 5 seconds. If you're using motion detection AND recording 24/7 schedule change it to 0 seconds for each camera as it's not needed. When affected, at the moment motion is detected the time and image will freeze and then jump forward 5 seconds during playback.

In the NVR web page the setting is at Storage > Schedule Settings > Advanced.

If on the NVR menu output it's at Record > Parameters > More Settings. Thats for Version 3 firmware. If you're running NVR 4 I forget where it's located.

I dont have stuttering in the video, but when I playback remotely using IVMS 4500, more than 5 seconds are passing before target shows into the area.
Do you think a 0 sec Pre-record time setting, will solve this problem?

You mean at NVR 4.0 menu, Storage->Recording schedule (is continuous)->Advanced->
Record audio-checked
Pre Record-now 5, make it 0?
Post Record-now 5, make it 0 too??
Stream Type-Dual Stream
Expired Time-0
Redundant Record/Capture-unchecked....what is that anyway???

Using 1 cameras intrusion detection and 1 NVR cameras intrusion detection.

 

[aster1x]

@dimo. In the NVR firmware previous to version 4, the post Record field cannot be set to 0. The minimum value is 5 secs. Please confirm if there is a change in the NVR firmware 4.0 and higher.
In the stream type, the Dual stream means recording both the primary high resolution video and the secondary lower resolution stream. I think it is pointless to record both streams. The primary high resolution stream has higher forensic value to record. In other words if you want o look at a playback stream you will always watch the primary higher resolution video and not the secondary low resolution video stream. The only reason you may want to record the secondary low resolution video is if you want to look a playback when you are connected to the NVR from the internet (WAN) side and only if your upload connectivity to the Internet is lower than the bitrate of the primary higher resolution video. So if you adjust your primary video to be for example 4-5Mbps AND if your Internet upload connectivity is 1Mbps (typical ADSL capability) AND if you want to watch the playback from Internet THEN you must adjust the secondary lower resolution video bitrate to less than 1Mbps (best value is around 750kbps to allow for other traffic as well). Otherwise the primary high resolution video of 5Mbps will never go through the 1Mbps upload connectivity to the internet.

The redundant Record/Capture is useful if you have two hard disks in the NVR. The first hard disk is configured as R/W and the secondary hard disk is configured as Redundancy. In this way, the video stream is recorded in both hard disks simultaneously. So if one hard disk fails (possible) then the video stream exists in the other hard disk. It is similar to RAID 0 in the computers.
The two hard disks do not have to be of the same same size, brand or model. If one hard disk is smaller than the other disk, then simply the smaller hard disk keeps less days of recording.
Also mind you that the events log is recorded ONLY in the primary hard disk and not in the secondary Redundant disk.

I hope the above to be useful.

 

[dimo]

Thank you very much and yes, you are right and I am wrong.
Nnr 4.0 post record field also can't set to 0, the lowest option is 5.

Dual stream recording is for remote playback. I use 2 internet connections for NVR.
My main connection is through antenna to a friends private network with 12Mbps up (for now).
My back up is my local provider with.........0.85 Mbps up !!!!!!!!!

Having unsolved (till now) problem with IVMS4500 that gives me an error "not supported by the device" when I try to playback everything else than "clear" (main stream) and also testing live view and playback with remote IVMS4200 on main stream, 12 up seem not enough.
And this with two 2 MP cameras. I wonder what will happen when the complete 9 cam system starts working including and a couple of 4MP cameras.

I am not an expert (I could say I am a tech idiot) but I suppose my cameras don't have proper settings.
My network "stuff" (hardware and software) are set by a "network professional" friend, but cameras unfortunately are the "monster" I must fight my self.

 

[coney27]

So I just wanted to add an update a week into using the Acusense camera. Over all I am still very please with the camera.

Over the last 7 days I have only recieved 3 false alarms, all coming from tree shadows. Normally without the Acusense I'd have close to 100 false alarms over a 7 day period just from tree shadows. So to say the Acusense portion of the camera with a running algorithm is pretty impressive.

I am also somewhat shocked at the night capabilities of this thing. My hopes wernt high to start out but this thing has pleasantly surprised me. The IRs are very strong and capture a lot of light over a long amount of distance, especially in an area where it is basically completely dark.

I have attempted to fool the camera into producting false alarms by using balls, toy cars, rakes and other random items and so far it has NOT been fooled.

I have tweaked some of the settings on the camera to eliminate my bitrate / stuttering issue along optimizing my day and night picture.

I have attached three videos below. The first being one of the 3 false alarms I received from my trees shadows. The second video is just an example of a line crossing alarm I have set up. The third video is from night with my front yard floodlights on with line crossing alarm set up.

 

[larryhagman]

Useful thread, thanks.

I am about to get some Acusense cameras, the flat dome type in the hope this may be a bit more resistant to rain on lens and mostly spiders/webs. I don't expect it to be much better though. Nature of the beast really.

Do the microphones work reasonably well?

I found that you can get NVRs with Acusense software built in, which made me wonder if I could set up an Acusense system without buying all Acusense cameras (reducing cost). The new NVRs with Acusense on are silly money, but I saw a few older ones still available on fleabay - AoteTek Series 7600 acusense 8xip@12mp 8xpoe had disk 1tb SATA 4 Xbody Hikvision | eBay. I am considering this but not sure I want to go for older gear.
Thanks again

 

[coney27]

Useful thread, thanks.

I am about to get some Acusense cameras, the flat dome type in the hope this may be a bit more resistant to rain on lens and mostly spiders/webs. I don't expect it to be much better though. Nature of the beast really.

Do the microphones work reasonably well?

I found that you can get NVRs with Acusense software built in, which made me wonder if I could set up an Acusense system without buying all Acusense cameras (reducing cost). The new NVRs with Acusense on are silly money, but I saw a few older ones still available on fleabay - AoteTek Series 7600 acusense 8xip@12mp 8xpoe had disk 1tb SATA 4 Xbody Hikvision | eBay. I am considering this but not sure I want to go for older gear.
Thanks again

I believe you are referring to turret style camera when you say the flat dome type. I know many people on this forum say to stay away from bullet form factor due to spider webs and rain but honestly I have never had one of those issue with my bullet cams. I also feel like bullet cams are more versatile in different installation applications rather than the turret style especially if you have to worry about IR feedback.

As for the microphone I have not tested it so I cant speak for that option.

I too am debating on purchasing a Acusense NVR. More than likely I will be purchasing it sooner than later through B&H Hikvision 16-Channel AcuSense 256 Mbps NVR . I'd rather not gamble with a Chinese supplier or a ebay seller who doesnt provide a warranty with a expensive item such as the NVR. I also want to be sure I'm getting the most recent, up to date version of the NVR. I'd also like to have peace of mind knowing I can return it if it doesnt meet my expectations.

 

[larryhagman]

Ah yes you're right, Turret cam is what I meant. 8MP DS-2CD2386G2-IU AcuSense Turret Network Camera Hikvision

I have had bullets for years and have huge problems with spiders and rain (my environment to blame more than cameras). I thought I would try the turrets this time. I had an idea for reducing the spiders and that is to turn off the IR output (if that's an option), and use IR floodlights positioned well away from cameras but out of lens coverage. The spiders can spin webs to their heart's content over there

Yes, I know US v UK is a huge difference where ebay is concerned. I actually use it (in UK) to get exactly that level of backup and good service. You have to be careful who you buy from of course, but all mainstream outlets sell on ebay here, so that plus ebay customer support plus paypal protection, its better than high street in my view. But my friend in Alaska never uses ebay and I can see why with his experiences, its craigslist with a better GUI - Having said that, I won't be buying from that Italian seller for my NVR. If I can find one in UK from a reputable company I might, otherwise I will have to go for non-Acusense DVR and just have the two acusense cams on my driveway for the alerts. That's the main reason I want those cams as I have tested loads and yet to find one with accurate alerts with next to no false alerts. Not cheap but worth every penny if I don't ignore alerts like I used to (or turn them off!)

 

[coney27]

Update 30 day usage
Over the last 30 days I have run into no issues with the DS-2CD2T46G1-4I. I have only received 5 false alerts where normally I would have recieved close to 400 false alerts using a non Acusense camera. I am still pleased and pleasantly surprised with the camera especially it being relatively cheap.

Here is a video from today where the camera falsely alerted to a squirrel running in my yard and up a tree. This event created 2 false alarms.


I still have not set the minimum and maximum object size in the smart events but more than likely I will and that will probably fix the issue of the camera falsely alerting to something like a squirrel or a shadow.

 

[larryhagman]

Sounds to me like an Acusense camera integrated with the implementation of a .410 webley scott = the most accurate motion detection system ever.

 

[larryhagman]

PS just had a thought, maybe you would like to test it? I wonder what happens if someone was to sneak up behind the camera and put a cloth or a bag over it. I would expect the human/vehicle alerts not to detect that as worth of an alarm, but maybe it's intelligent enough? Would be interested to know if you fancied bagging your cam !

 

[coney27]

PS just had a thought, maybe you would like to test it? I wonder what happens if someone was to sneak up behind the camera and put a cloth or a bag over it. I would expect the human/vehicle alerts not to detect that as worth of an alarm, but maybe it's intelligent enough? Would be interested to know if you fancied bagging your cam !

I can try it when it's not monsoon out, especially since my camera is about 25 ft up

 

[larryhagman]

Safety first!! Would be interesting to know, but go steady there