Dahua or Hikvision 3MP?

[teech 0]

Having a hard time choosing which 3MP IR cameras to get. I believe Dahua use Aptina and Hikvision use Sony sensors for their 3MP 20fps models. Which would you choose?

 

Thanks.

[buellwinkle 0]

Have not heard that Hikvision uses Sony sensors, is that new? T

 

They are both good in their own way. Don't think it's worth thinking that hard on it, you will not be disappointed either way. The Dahua 3MP eco savvy has better WDR and lower noise at the expense of slightly less detail, the Hikvision has a better looking image with slightly more noise but slightly more detail.

[shockwave199 0]

Which cameras are you comparing, Op? if recording to a card is important to you, it will lean you towards hikvision.

[teech 0]

Thanks for your replies. I thought I read somewhere that Hikvision does, might be wrong then?

 

I'm looking at the IPC-HFW4300S and the DS-2CD2032.

 

Is night just as good as each other?

 

I'll be recording them to an NVR from whichever of those 2 I end up getting.

 

Thanks again guys.

[MaxIcon 0]

I have both of these, and overall, I prefer the Hikvision, but it's a close call.

 

The Dahua has problems with excessive compression in the shadows when there's bright light and shadows in the same scene, and the image isn't as saturated, colorwise, as the Hik. The second isn't a big deal, but some people like the better colors of the Hik. I've recently noticed the Hik's i-frames are overly compressed, recovering on the next p-frame, and don't know if that's new with the 5.1.0 firmware. I'm doing some tests now.

 

The Hik doesn't have a true 3MP image; it's resampled from the sensor and has a smaller horizontal FOV than the 1080p image. The quality isn't much different; there are some sampling artifacts here and there, but nothing obvious. The Dahua has a true 3MP image that's larger in both directions than the 1080p. If you're going to use 1080p, this won't matter.

 

You can download Hik firmware easily. Dahua's tech support is awful, and you'll be dependent on your vendor for firmware, so if your vendor provides good support, you're ok.

 

The Dahua's somewhat bigger than the Hik, and lets you unscrew the front hood to get at the lens, while the Hik has to be disassembled completely.

 

In side by side tests, I like the Hik's daytime images better, while the Dahua's are slightly sharper at night. I'm starting to think the Hik's lens may not have as good IR correction, but haven't had time to test this yet.

 

The Hik's WDR is better than Dahua's, but neither one is anything to write home about.

 

The deal killers for me on the Dahua are the terrible support and the ugly compression in the shadows, but overall, they're pretty similar in performance.

 

ETA:

One other difference is that the Dahua isn't very good at switching into night mode if there's any bright light in the FOV, even a porch light across the street. I believe the new firmware has sensitivity settings, but I haven't tested it much.

 

Both of these cams are reviewed on BW's site:

http://www.networkcameracritic.com

[teech 0]

MaxIcon, thank you so much for your extremely detailed reply. I really appreciate you taking the time to go into such depth. Thanks!