Two cameras with identical settings one uses 3x more space

[luder888]

I have two Dahua IPC-HDW4431C-A cameras. Camera 1 I bought from Aliexpress, and Camera 2 I bought from Amazon. Camera 2 is newer (V2 and has a later firmware). However, Camera 2, even though has the same setup as Camera 1, has almost 3x more bit rate as Camera 1. I cannot for the life of me figure out why. Does anyone know?

 

[SouthernYankee]

I have a similar situation which annke i61dr cameras. I have always assumed that it was caused by the complexity of the images. One camera has a simple image the other is very complex (alot of color and shade changes).

I switched from CBR to VBR that seemed to reduce the differences.

 

[c hris527]

You could always backup your config file from the cam that working well and restore or upload it to the cam that is giving you a issue, I have done this a few times to correct issues. If it works the only thing you might have to do is change the name of your cam back to what it was before, the config file will keep the cam name also. Just make sure the cams are the same. Proceed at your own risk but I would make sure to update the firmware to the latest version first.

 

[luder888]

I have a similar situation which annke i61dr cameras. I have always assumed that it was caused by the complexity of the images. One camera has a simple image the other is very complex (alot of color and shade changes).

I switched from CBR to VBR that seemed to reduce the differences.

Definitely not because of the image. I put a piece of tape on both camera lens and nothing changed.

 

[Mr_D]

Could one sensor be running hotter and causing more noise in the image? How do their sunlight exposure and ambient temps compare?

 

[luder888]

Could one sensor be running hotter and causing more noise in the image? How do their sunlight exposure and ambient temps compare?

I doubt it's temperature related either. It's CBR and it's been consistently using the same amount of space day or night. About 4.39 GB per 1:40 of recording time, compared to the other camera 4.39 GB per 4:49 of recording time.

I have to reboot Camera 2 once a day because the image would shake from time-to-time. Maybe it's just a defective camera. I'll just replace it when I get a chance.

 

[mcx]

title says ...3x more space. I think It should be 3x less...

Camera 2 bitrate is more close to real life than camera 1. In theory 6144kb/s = 768kB/s. But in real life the camera hardware / software has a big impact to bitrate even with CBR. Anyway, whatever causes it the camera 1 bitrate is way too low (284kB/s = 2272kb/s). It might due to SVC, even it looks like it is off but because those are junk China cameras it may also be on, regardless of the settings.

 

[luder888]

title says ...3x more space. I think It should be 3x less...

Camera 2 bitrate is more close to real life than camera 1. In theory 6144kb/s = 768kB/s. But in real life the camera hardware / software has a big impact to bitrate even with CBR. Anyway, whatever causes it the camera 1 bitrate is way too low (284kB/s = 2272kb/s). It might due to SVC, even it looks like it is off but because those are junk China cameras it may also be on, regardless of the settings.

All the while I've been focusing on Camera 2, but in fact you are right, Camera 1 is the culprit. I noticed the image quality is very jpegy and I decided to reboot the camera (auto maintenance off and it's been a while since I rebooted it). Well when it came back up the bit rate matches Camera 2 @ about 780 kB/s. Problem solved. I now have it set to reboot once a week.