mikey2k

You clearly didn't see or thoroughly examined all the screenshots I posted. Dahua software *does* let you see the full frame on any resolution when you are on the sub-stream, hence, the sensor can do that and this is clearly something that Dahua can implement on their MAIN stream and *it is* a serious bug/oversight of their development team.

actually, no, i called your post stupid. it displays a seriously distorted thought process. no, it's not. you used mp cameras because you want the best image quality you can get... but then you're crushing that image down to d1. whether it's cropping or not, you're buying high-def cameras and then *intentionally* reducing the image quality. don't be stupid - get an nvr and take full advantage of the cameras' capabilities, and stop whining about stupid $#!t. Oh, so not only stupid, also got a distorted thought process. You also decided for me why I bought the camera, wow, brilliant. Do us all a favor - pls go troll elsewhere and spare us your ridiculous insights.

You are absolutely right. Dahua IP cameras do produce good image quality, their prices are usually attractive, but they do have 2 major problems: 1) Their software/firmware is buggy, like in this case. 2) Their updated firmwares can only be obtained from the official distributor. They don't officially offer them for direct download. And this is a major problem. Most hardware manufacturers do let end-users download updated firmwares, including most camera manufacturers. I do understand the reason that Dahua (and maybe a few other manufacturers) do that. They are trying to protect and support their official distributors from the gray market importers, but, the end customers suffer from that because we are left to the mercy/support of the official distributor, who not always contact Dahua to obtain the latest firmware and even when the distributor has the latest, he won't easily inform you or install it for you and certainly won't give it to you, because he fear of leaks... I hope someone from Dahua is reading this and they will start giving better support for their products to end-customers...

Which models?

wait... you're paying extra for a megapixel camera, but then only running the analog output to a regular dvr?? and then complaining because it crops the image? this is not off-topic, this *is* the answer: you're choosing the wrong equipment for the job, and trying to use it in a way it's not designed to work - the fault is *yours* if it's not performing properly, not the manufacturers', not anyone else's. this is stupid on so many levels. it's like buying a v-8 pickup to haul your groceries around, and then complaining because you're spending more on gas than on food. start with analog cameras. if 3.6mm is too tight a view, *put in a wider lens*. better yet, *buy an analog camera with varifocal lens*. better yet, trade up to an nvr or hybrid that will actually make proper use of all those extra pixels, instead of simply counting on them for a miniscule improvement of the analog recording. Did you really just call me stupid!? Your post is stupid on so many levels I don't even know where to begin... 1) I am NOT paying extra, these cameras are cheaper than many analog cameras, and I need Network camera, regardless of the pixels. Most network cameras are much more expensive, so I bought this one, and it it is more future proof than buying a D1 camera today and change it to MP in the future. 2) Even if I am only looking for D1, there is no D1 camera that I have seen that shows as good/clear D1 picture quality as a MP camera can/does. 3) This is ALL COMPLETELY off-topic!

EXACTLY!

No, it doesn't really. Technically, you are correct, BUT, if you look at the substream - the frame IS full, with no distortions at all at D1/CIF (except for obvious dropped quality due to drop in pixel count), when setting the main to 1.3MP, and it should show the same full-frame pic on the main stream. Also, if you look at their 2MP Sony Sensor IP camera HDB3200C, you will easily see the full frame on the main stream, no matter what resolution you set, with almost no distortions at all. So, the point is, they should make the main stream display full lens frame/angle, no matter what resolution/pq setting you choose. I was told by my distributor they are working on a new firmware that will address that, which should be ready within about 2 months....hopefully

I am not in the USA and didn't buy the camera from eBay or the gray market. I live in Asia (not China) and bought it directly from THE official distributor here. Dahua is available in MANY countries outside of China, under their own Dahua brand (Thailand, Singapore, HK, Australia, South America etc.). I am using a 1.3MP camera for D1, simply because I have a 16ch DVR which doesn't accept higher than 16CH x D1 @ 25FPS, and using MP camera normally gives the best PQ you can possibly get with D1, better than any TVL camera at the same price range I tested. In any case, this is a bit off topic. Did you look at ALL the pictures I posted? This is not minor cropping, this is serious cropping on D1 that doesn't suppose to happen, not even slightly, regardless of aspect ratio. The lens is losing a huge amount of angle when dropping resolution. Changing resolution on cameras supposed to reduce PQ, not "crop and fill" obviously. I am sure if you try to replicate my findings, reducing to D1 - you will see significant cropping, which doesn't happen on any other MP camera that you will test, other than those three Dahua/Q-See models. As my screenshots also show, the 2MP HDB3200C Dahua Camera doesn't crop anything, it simply reduce the amount of Pixels and thus reduce quality when I changed the resolution, that's proper and how most MP cameras work. I am not expecting Dahua to care about me (I've already contacted them directly via my distributor and hopefully this will be resolved soon, for the benefit of all their customers, including Q-See's), I am merely trying to notify prospects and customers of this severe problem with their products. Q-See is purchasing and re-branding many Dahua products, using the same exact hardware and firmware in most cases, like other companies. There is nothing wrong with that, it's a common practice in many industries, but if a product suffer from the same issue/s - customers should to be aware of it. Caveat emptor... Or I can simply contact them directly via the official distributor that I bought from (as I already did) and keep my fingers crossed that the problem gets fixed, as it should (think positive, my friend...) Meanwhile, the more people aware of this, the better for us all.

I just noticed the Q-See QCN7001B, which is AFAIK (and please correct me if I am wrong) a re-branded model of this same exact camera, thus probably suffer from the same problem. Heads up for anyone planning to buy it - check the cropping/zooming problem I wrote about before you purchase!

Yeah... I tested today the dome version of this bullet camera - IPC-HDW2100, and unfortunately it suffers from the same exact problem

I just purchased several Dahua cameras, 3x HDB3200C, which is a decent 2MP camera for office, as long as you don't need IR. I also purchased the IR model IPC-HFW2100P (P = Pal system) with 3.6mm lens. I made sure I have the latest Firmware installed, 2.100.0000.9.R, build : 2012-06-21 The strange problem I found is when I want to drop the camera's Main Stream to lower resolutions, it doesn't keep transmitting the full frame, it zooms in and crops the picture. This is an unbelievable oversight by their QC department and I certainly hope they know about it and will fix it urgently, as I do need to set all my cameras to D1 (I have 16 and my DVR can only take D1 on 16 channels, not higher) and I can't accept the much more limited field of view that it creates! Here are screenshots that show the problem and compare to the HDB3200C which isn't affected by this:

FWIW, I use an Android app called TinyCam Monitor - it allows viewing cams 1 at a time, 2 at a time, or 4 at a time, with multiple pages. https://market.android.com/details?id=com.alexvas.dvr&hl=en AFAIK, TinyCam doesn't work with Dahua DVRs yet unfortunately.

Thanks! One last (2) question(s). I saw your thread regarding the problem you had with 2 channels: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=32033 Did you manage to fix it? If yes, how?

I saw this DVR model and the 1650DC which is significantly cheaper, but I can't find the differences between them. Do you know by any chance what's the difference between the 1650DC and the 1670DC model? Thanks again

Yeah, VLC and/or K-Lite Mega Pack supposed to work: http://www.free-codecs.com/download/K_Lite_Mega_Codec_Pack.htm