ACTi E32/E33 Firmware release - better noise reduction

[buellwinkle 0]

Some of you read my reviews on the ACTi E32 and E33 and purchased the E32 or E33 and may have experience more noise at night that they were happy with.

 

They had a fix in beta but today they release the production version. It's not yet on their website, so for now you can download it from my website - http://www.networkcameracritic.com/ACTi/A1D-500-V6.03.15-AC.zip

 

I have not tried it yet because I just got it and I'm backlogged with other camera reviews so no place to even plug it in.

[Razer_SE 0]

I just upgraded 6 of my ACTi E31 cameras and we will see what happens overnight tonight I guess. 5 of the 6 have very little light though they vary in how much. I'm tweaking a couple of them, the rest I'm leaving as is other than the firmware upgrade to see what it does by itself, if anything, on the E31.

[PluffMud 0]

Great thanks for the heads up!! So as Razer indicates, this updated firmware also is for the E31? If so I'll upgrade tonight and get before and after video.

 

This is good news b/c one thing I've been noticing in your reviews and other sample video between Axis and ACTi cameras is the level of noise. The difference is significant to the point of one being usable and the other being relatively useless even at close range. This is why I've been curious to know the sensor size of the newer ACTi cameras.

[Razer_SE 0]

He never said, so I thought I'd try it as they use the same firmware when you download from ACTi and the version number seemed to make sense. They upgraded fine, no issues and are still working correctly for me anyway.

 

Upgraded using the ACTi IP camera utility, one by itself to test I would not brick it, then the next 5 all at the same time.

[Razer_SE 0]

I can tell almost no difference in my recordings overnight. I compared the same camera side by side with as close a time frame as I could get, shots from 11:40pm before upgrade to 11:59pm after upgrade shots and I could not tell a difference at all on the e31.

 

In my absolute darkest camera there might have been some improvement, but not enough to call it a real difference, they still basically looked the same.

[buellwinkle 0]

Could be because the 1MP sensor does not have nearly the noise of the 5MP sensor.

[ctbaker 0]

So, now that some time has passed since the beta release of the new firmware. What is the verdict of the night performance of the 3MP and 5MP E-series cameras? I am eagerly wanting to pick one up to begin my home camera build but the night time performance looks pretty grainy from the pre-beta firmware.

 

The dahua ipc-hfw3300c looks to have much better night performance but is impossible to get in the US from what I can tell.

 

Thanks!

[buellwinkle 0]

I don't know about that, had them side by side and while more noise is visible on the E32 vs. the HFW3300C, the noise reduction blurred a lot of the image both day and night on the HFW330C, so while the image may look prettier, it did not have more detail than the noisier E32 image. For example, the detail in grass for example, even during the day gets blurred over. If noise bothers you, the best high res camera I reviewed is the Axis P3367-VE, very clean low light image and 5MP albeit more expensive than the E32, E33 and HFW3330C combined.

 

If you want their best low light bullet, the E44 is the one to get. Should be out in a week or two.

[Razer_SE 0]

6.03.17 is now out for these cameras, I'm upgrading 4 of them now but they will not be installed until next week as they are brand new.

[PluffMud 0]

I have an E31 and with the new firmware I notice a difference with the quality of night video. It's still very grainy but at least it's getting better.

 

I recorded before and after video that shows the difference...I will try to post the comparison tomorrow.