S800 vs S500

[Avareh]

I've been for a while monitoring this topic and found the night vision of S500 very good. Since I was looking for my 4th camera and wanted something with better performance in dark I decided to give this S500 a try and order it. After contacting Longse at Alibaba I got a newer PDF than what was posted before, see "Longse HD-IP Camera Price List V201606A". In this list I also could see all versions of S500 mentioned earlier by @klasipca.

Anyway, I told the seller that I definitely wanted a bullet version easily moving in 3-axis (like this) and that I had read good reviews about S500 and night vision was the main reason for me to consider this model. I also told that I really miss the audio support, and finally got an answer as follows:

- Audio support is no problem at all and (as external) can be built in PoE version
- That if I really care about night vision I better go for S800 since it has much better results than any S500 version

The only issue I was warned about was a very long production/delivery time: 2 months. Since I was assured this one also can be delivered with audio support I thought delivery time is not a problem. I just miss any review about this S800 and was searching on the net but can't find any single experience, snapshot, video sample or whatever made with this chip/lens.

Does anyone know anything about S800? I was looking at LBW60S800 (Option 1) which uses the following hi3519 chip.

 

[klasipca]

I was contemplating on ordering one, but price and sensitivity of the sensor is kind of off putting. I am contemplating about purchasing couple IMX290 with auto zoom lens, it has triple sensitivity then IMX178,

 

[Avareh]

I meanwhile received additional info form Longse seller at Alibaba. As you see there're even 2 different snapshots added which are made by S800 camera in day and night. I also got photo's about the option how they add (external) audio support for $2.00 which I am uploading here.

 

[Avareh]

Talking further about night vision: loose from which one - S500 or S800 - could be better I was told that I can also consider those devices/models from Longse SL200 series of camera's having good vision at night. Looking at the price_list uploaded in this thread I see all SL200 models can in best case record on 2MP )-:

These models start with plastic housing form $30 and go up till $75 but still have the IMX290 sensor, for instance the LVWDB204XSL200 has:

IMX290 + Hi3516D / H.264/H.265 / 2.8-12mm 4X AF
1/2.8" SONY Starvis Back-illuminated CMOS Sensor
HISILICON Hi3516D, HDR ; Internal POE +3.5USD
Main Stream: 1080P/720P@25fps; 3MP HD Lens, With IR-CUT

 

[Avareh]

About new StarLight technology:
http://www.longse.com/Info/View.asp?id=264

And here a footage of Longse StarLight SL200 series in action:

 

[sedace]

Thanks for sharing that video, unfortunately that's a pretty well lit business area and there's very little motion in the video. The shutter speed could be very low?

 

[Avareh]

I have a bit motion in next footage, but it's about comparison between Starvis_IMX290 and IMX322 (instead of IMX178). Started from IMX178, then passed by IMX290 - as Longse and @klasipca were suggesting - now am looking into IMX322.

The more I look the more I find, and also get more confused. There's still something I am for sure not confused about: I want to pay the least and still get the most

 

[klasipca]

Unfortunately (and as expected) IMX274 (s800) awful at night, IMX290 also bad even though it's a very sensitive sensor, I would stick with IMX322 & IMX178 for now.

 

[Avareh]

Looking at next test the IMX290 still performs better than IMX322 in dark.

 

[LittleScoobyMaster]

Looking at next test the IMX290 still performs better than IMX322 in dark.

How come the IMX290 performs better than the IMX322 in this test? Isn't the IMX322 supposed to be more sensitive to lower light? Could they have botched the test in this one or something? (maybe had some other setting turned off, etc.)

 

[Avareh]

I made my choice and ordered a so-called bullet starlight model. It was supposed to be a Longse but due to a few limitations of Longse models I still chose this one: Sectec ST-IP571S-5M.

This model is a bit more expensive but has variable lens and also 2-way audio. I am already for 1,5 week playing with it, in the beginning had a hell of difficulties with it since the first CMS shipped in box (HCMS software) was in my case nothing but a piece of garbage software. Last week I got another CMS from Sectec - called General CMS - which works like a charm. Camera performs excellent, has a very sharp and clear picture, records in .h264 format and the night vision - compared to my 4 other cams - is just awesome.

I ordered the device at Alibaba for $114.00 plus DHL shipping ($26.00), Paypal fee ($5.60) and finally tax/.. ($55.00) which arrived within a few days:

Sectec ST-IP571S-5M

• Chipset HI3516A+IMX178
• Starlight 5.0MP
• Lens: 3.6-10MM HD
• Resolution H.265/264
• With IR CUT & POE & WDR, Auduo-IN, Audio-OUT, ...
• And own free mobile App (CloudLens)

You can use IE plus ActiveX to configure it which in my case had to be my Win_7_x64 laptop. I use a Windows_10_x64 in my attic as NVR desktop (with a few 2TB SATA built-in disks) but no matter what I did I just could not manage to get the ActiveX there working properly!

Regarding audio recording I use this mic and I'm still looking around for an outdoor speaker but have not found nothing so far, any help on a good (and of course cheap) outdoor speaker is really appreciated!

 

[klasipca]

What about daylight? I don't like daylight image on my imx178 cam

 

[Del Boy]

You don't like the daylight image on the IMX178. I mean that's one of the good points on mine.

I haven't actually got round to doing anything with the S500 yet.

 

[klasipca]

It's fine but not stellar, colors are off when sunny and a bit more grain then I like when looking at full 5 MP, 3 MP is fine

 

[Avareh]

What about daylight? I don't like daylight image on my imx178 cam

To me is the picture quality in daylight very good. It also depends to what you compare and what you exactly don't like about daylight performance. I have another HD cam Y-Cam (which cost me $265) and this Sectec records in daylight 50x better than it.

I still have noticed something about focus: A few weeks ago I also got my 2nd Ganvis camera, this time a GV-T525V varifocal 5MP bullet. I really had a problem to get the right focus with Ganvis lens, the problem was that I could not get a clear focus for whole area on the lens. The area close to camera was always a bit sharper than the one far, mentioning I used the widest view angle of lens.

In contrary to that I could get a very equal (sharp) focus on this Sectec with IMX178. Still I have the feeling my older 5mp Ganvis GV-T530A with fixed lens has in general a bit sharper picture.

And one more thing regarding daylight colours: The first (crappy) CMS I was using last week gave me the impression the recorded video was kinda yellow-ish. Without any modifications I get much better/nicer and livelier colours in my current General CMS.

I try tomorrow to grab a few snapshots and post those in this thread.

 

[Del Boy]

It's fine but not stellar, colors are off when sunny and a bit more grain then I like when looking at full 5 MP, 3 MP is fine

Mine is a little washed out compared to the IMX322 and DS-2CD2032-I, is this what you mean?

 

[Q™]

I made my choice and ordered a so-called bullet starlight model. It was supposed to be a Longse but due to a few limitations of Longse models I still chose this one: Sectec ST-IP571S-5M.

This model is a bit more expensive but has variable lens and also 2-way audio. I am already for 1,5 week playing with it, in the beginning had a hell of difficulties with it since the first CMS shipped in box (HCMS software) was in my case nothing but a piece of garbage software. Last week I got another CMS from Sectec - called General CMS - which works like a charm. Camera performs excellent, has a very sharp and clear picture, records in .h264 format and the night vision - compared to my 4 other cams - is just awesome.

I ordered the device at Alibaba for $114.00 plus DHL shipping ($26.00), Paypal fee ($5.60) and finally tax/.. ($55.00) which arrived within a few days:

Sectec ST-IP571S-5M

• Chipset HI3516A+IMX178
• Starlight 5.0MP
• Lens: 3.6-10MM HD
• Resolution H.265/264
• With IR CUT & POE & WDR, Auduo-IN, Audio-OUT, ...
• And own free mobile App (CloudLens)

Does this camera use HersoSpeed firmware? Would you please be so kind as to post some screenshots of the camera's browser interface screens?

 

[alastairstevenson]

Mine is a little washed out compared to the IMX322 and DS-2CD2032-I, is this what you mean?

Just as a simple apples to oranges comparison from a while back when I first got the S500, a couple of snapshots of the same scene in daylight but not sunlight.
The Hikvision camera is a DS-3332-I

 

[bp2008]

As low as the bit rate is in that image on the right, it isn't comparing much beyond maybe the field of view

 

[alastairstevenson]

Indeed. But maybe the colours relative to Hikvision, in response to the 'washed out' comment.