What PTZ IP camera to buy?

[JohnnyBeGood]

Hey all,

I’ve been doing some research here and online, trying to narrow down the best PTZ IP camera for use in my driveway and connect it via POE to my NAS where I will be storing the footage.
So far, I’ve narrowed it down to the Hikvision Pro Series DS-2DE4A425IWG-E, which I’m planning to purchase from AliExpress.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Alaska Country]

Depending on your overall needs a 4 meg camera with a 1/2.8 sensor will not work well in low light night conditions. Indoors a dome will work fine, but outside it should not be considered.

Have been using the Dahua SD5A425XA-HNR PTZ with excellent night results as it is 1/1.8 at 4 megs camera. Price from Andy in the range of $750. Also note that Andy will be having a sale on cameras later this month.

 

[mat200]

Hey all,

I’ve been doing some research here and online, trying to narrow down the best PTZ IP camera for use in my driveway and connect it via POE to my NAS where I will be storing the footage.
So far, I’ve narrowed it down to the Hikvision Pro Series DS-2DE4A425IWG-E, which I’m planning to purchase from AliExpress.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

View attachment 171911

FYI- posting more info on the camera ..

 

[bigredfish]

Looks to be a direct competitor to the Dahua SD4A425DB-HNY
SD4A425DB-HNY - Dahua Technology

Its a great little PTZ for the money, but agree with @Alaska Country that ANY 4MP camera with a 1/2.8 sensor is going to be marginal at night unless you have good ambient light or throw a lot of extra external supplemental IR at it.

 

[JohnnyBeGood]

Thank you all for the heads up!

I was hoping to spend below $500.

Since I will be using it in low light night conditions I guess I have to go back to the drawing board

 

[wittaj]

Yep, someone once said here buy once, cry once! Better to spend a little more and get something that meets your goals.

Here is a real world example from the 49225 and 49425 PTZ, which are a 2MP and 4MP on the same 1/2.8" sensor. I bought the 4MP version first when I thought chasing MP was the answer.

The 49225 is a 2MP PTZ on the 1/2.8" sensor. It deems it has enough light at a 1/60 shutter so it stays in color:

Here is the 49425, which is the same camera as the 49225 except is a 4MP on the same 1/2.8" sensor as the 49225.

Here is a big issue you see with a double the resolution on the same size sensor - It deems that it does not have enough light at a 1/60 shutter so it goes to B/W with Infrared:

Personally I think the color one looks better. Look at all the leaves you see in the color image that you don't in the B/W image - these were taken at the same time.

No imagine the detail that is lost because of that.

 

[ComfySofa]

Just pulled the trigger on one of these as well... (the HikVision) its going to be used at the front of my house....there are streetlamps up and down the road on both sides....main reasons are...

i cant have the style of the Dahua SD4A425DB-HNY - as its at the front of the house it has to go under the eves of the house plus i dont want that shape (want to keep it as hidden in plain site as i can)

Im replacing one of these which has been up for a few years... DS-2DE2A404IW-DE3 - this has been great (first ip cam ive bought - although not enough range to see up at the top and the bottom of the road.

The biggie for the new one is motion tracking and facial recognition/anpr numberplate reading....

Just wondering what the OP went with in the end...

 

[JohnnyBeGood]

Just wondering what the OP went with in the end...

After doing more reading I decided that the PTZ camera might miss some events and I would be better off with adding another bullet camera on the opposite side of the driveway.
Let us know how it's working for you!

 

[ComfySofa]

Hi there. Fitted it on the weekend. Little bit mixed but on the whole good (no fault of the camera)....ive upgraded the firmware (which has given me the new gui look) - downside but not really (and no fault of the camera) my old one was a 4x zoom model (same style) which at minimum zoom gave me more of a wide view...this one is a 25x zoom which gives me more zoom (i live in the middle of a straight road) so can see right up and down the road at max zoom...so my parked position on the front of the house gives me less of a view...that being said..in a way im happier (if i can get the smart tracking working) then it means i wont inadvertantly be looking at anyone houses oppositel as i appreciate everyone likes their privacy. The reason for the change was that some of the lighter sleepers in our road have spotted naer-do-wells hanging round on electric bikes at each ends of the road - it should be able to see them...and hopefully track them..

Ive not been able to get the smart tracking working (nothing to do with the camera) but more the fact that its new to me and i just dont understand it all at the moment (trying to get my head round it) but as its the new gui i havent been able to find a walkthrough on said gui.

Other thing to note is its a fair bit heavier (espcially at the top of a 2 stage ladder in the wind!!)

Just for the record i got mine off ebay, turned up in 4 days (HK to the UK)

My old one(i say old its still a current model - DS-2DE2A404IW-DE3) is for sale if anyone wants it! (ive got the box and original packaging) waterproof boot is unused and sealed. It was placed under the eves of the house so was out of the weather....its in as new condition.

 

[markfoy]

This is my most beloved camera for the past 4+ yrs - check out the timestamps on the top left corners to appreciate the night/day performance.
But it pains me to ask for help/suggestion. Looks like its beginning to fail. It just goes offline randomly and all I get on Blue Iris is No Signal - Failed to connect.
Nothing seem to be wrong with the setting as far as I can tell.
The only thing I suspect is in the datasheet. The operating range is between -30deg cel to 65 deg cel. and I live in an area where we dip down to -40deg quite regularly during winter.

 

[wittaj]

This is my most beloved camera for the past 4+ yrs - check out the timestamps on the top left corners to appreciate the night/day performance.
But it pains me to ask for help/suggestion. Looks like its beginning to fail. It just goes offline randomly and all I get on Blue Iris is No Signal - Failed to connect.
Nothing seem to be wrong with the setting as far as I can tell.
The only thing I suspect is in the datasheet. The operating range is between -30deg cel to 65 deg cel. and I live in an area where we dip down to -40deg quite regularly during winter.

These cameras run pretty hot, so I doubt dropping below the min temp is it.

More than likely is the sensor has "burned in" and it is time to do some adjustments to brightness, saturation, etc.

And maybe you have some unseen corrosion at the connection and some deoxit could do wonders.

Also, the firmware could be corrupt and a factory reset will clear out the issues.

 

[markfoy]

These cameras run pretty hot, so I doubt dropping below the min temp is it.

More than likely is the sensor has "burned in" and it is time to do some adjustments to brightness, saturation, etc.

And maybe you have some unseen corrosion at the connection and some deoxit could do wonders.

Also, the firmware could be corrupt and a factory reset will clear out the issues.

Thanks for the tips.
This is mounted under the soffit, so I want to believe corrosion due to water is not the issue - I have bigger fish to fry if that's the case. Also, it is mounted at a corner of the garage overseeing the side of the house and can pan to cover the driveway. Climbing and balancing the ladder against the corner is not something I am thrilled to embark on right now. So, I'll go with factory reset first and hopefully I won't have to adjust the other settings you mentioned.

 

[wittaj]

Thanks for the tips.
This is mounted under the soffit, so I want to believe corrosion due to water is not the issue - I have bigger fish to fry if that's the case. Also, it is mounted at a corner of the garage overseeing the side of the house and can pan to cover the driveway. Climbing and balancing the ladder against the corner is not something I am thrilled to embark on right now. So, I'll go with factory reset first and hopefully I won't have to adjust the other settings you mentioned.

We have seen it here countless times - it doesn't have to be exposed to water to get corrosion on it you can't see.

Just the thermal cycling of humidity in the air can get into the connections - especially if you did not use dielectric grease.

We have seen people have issues in less than 6 months in some climates where a connection was under a soffit in a junction box but they did not use dielectric grease. They swore the connections were clean of corrosion but they finally relented and used deoxit on the connections and guess what, the camera started working again.

These connection points are tiny and doesn't take much to have a poor connection.

@TonyR calls it thermal differential cycling:

* Thermal Differential Cycling : the device heats up during day, air inside expands, cools off at night and contracts, drawing in damp outside air, condenses, travels to low point, is trapped and won't escape during warm up cycle, just continues to collect inside at low points.
-TonyR 2020