Hik DS-2CD2H85FWD-IZS

[Quantum 0]

Seems to have everything I'm looking for, WDR, Varifocal, good night, audio.  Anyone have experience with this?

Anyone compared it side-by-side with the Dahua IPC-HDW5831R-ZE?

My intention is to mount this at the street and to try and catch US license plates at night without getting blazed by headlights.  Don't need its IR LEDs as I have an IR flood.

Also, any problems ordering Hik from AliExpress?  I realize it may be a month for me to receive it, but any weirdness like Chinese firmware or inability to upgrade firmware?

Edited December 26, 2018 by Quantum

[mshaffer 0]

We have been using a Hikvision DS-2CD5085G0 8MP for a couple months. It's not the same exact camera but it's 4K and also a "Dark Fighter" version which is supposed to be especially good at night. Compared to the previous camera, a Sanyo VCC-HD2500, it gave more viewing time during sunrise/sunset. It also helped some at night. But, it didn't turn night into day or anything like that.

It was purchased from B&H.

One problem we had was that we found out the anti-fog mode only works in black and white. This was important for us and a big let down. When we contacted Hikvision technical support, the person didn't even seem to understand the features of the camera. I thought they would know if the camera had a color defog or black and white, but they didn't. Also, when I called tech support they wouldn't let me talk to a level 2 tech because I wasn't a professional installer. Even though we paid over $500 for the camera. They would only let us email their level 2 tech, who seemed to be Chinese from his writing.

Another thing, the camera is called a 4K, but when it's in 4K mode the highest menu setting is 16384kbps. So it's barely 4K. The Youtube Live control center complains that the bandwidth isn't high enough for 4K. So we had to set it at 1440p mode to get it to stream to youtube with smooth video.

Compared to the Sanyo VCC-HD2500.. the Sanyo seemed to have a more pleasant picture. Hard to explain since the Sanyo is lower megapixels. The Hikvision just sort of looks grainy. Don't get me wrong, it does look pretty amazing in 4K mode, but the Sanyo seems to have better color and a smoother picture.

Edited December 26, 2018 by mshaffer

[mshaffer 0]

I just saw the part in your post about being unable to upgrade the firmware. That is another problem we had. Their tech support sent us the newest firmware, in hopes that it would have a color defog. We weren't able to upgrade the firmware. When you log in to the camera, it's supposed to say "firmware update available" or something like that, if you have put the firmware on an SD card in the camera. We put the newest firmware on an SD card and put it in the camera. Then went into the software.. nothing showed up. It doesn't list the files on the camera or anything.

[tomcctv 190]

Hi. Buying from eliexpress you will be buying a gray market .... you get no support from hik.

sanyo was one of the best for licence plates 2500 was a good camera.

 

if your in the USA take a look at lorex licence plate cameras ..... comes with all the software you need to create a data base ... licence plate and colour 

[Quantum 0]

Interesting, thanks all.

I'm not particularly concerned about support, just so the firmware is English.  I've had a Hik 5Mp running for 3 years, and used to have a second but ruined it trying to install US firmware in a gray-market. (tftp failed)  I am not enthusiastic about buying another Hik, much less supporting RED CHINA, but if there's nothing better for the price...

Just had a bad experience with a 14Mp Samsung/Hanwha $995 camera (PNO-9080R) which did its hard work for all of 6 months, and then died.  I was never happy with the image.  The inside of the lens window fogged! (Really?)  As I hadn't installed it for 8 months (since I trusted them) I am sure that any warranty is gone.

Therefore I'm wary of Sanyo, but will look at what they have.  Don't necessarily need to capture license plates ongoing, only when there's been an incident.  But it's good to know it's possible.

Edit: It seems that Sanyo was subsumed by Panasonic in 2009.  I'll evaluate [url=https://security.panasonic.com/]their line[/url].  I'd thought Sanyo was Korean, but turns out it was Japanese.

Edited December 26, 2018 by Quantum

[tomcctv 190]

Hi. Sanyo does not exist anymore you won’t find there cameras..

 

gray market are not made by hikvision there a copy ... 

have you looked at the dahua lorex camera ?

[Quantum 0]

Lorex seems to be just a reseller now.  I've thoroughly examined all Dahua products and come down to the camera I mentioned above.

Hmm, the Aliexpress seller claims it is a Hik with the model# I cited above.  Are they allowed to lie like that?

Looking over the Panasonic site they come up with only three cameras that match my specs, and one is not outdoor. (attached)  The two that are have features which seem to match Varifocal and Wide Dynamic Range, tho they don't use those terms.  Seems more likely Panasonic would actually have Vf and WDR of much better quality than Hik or Dahua. 

I simply don't believe in Panasonic's "Rain wash coating".  Rains alot here and domes are simply out of the question.

But then it says their max color sensitivity is .3 lux (F1.6), compared with Hik's and Dahua's claimed .014 (F1.4).  Even considering the difference in F-stop that's many times' difference.  Surely Hik and Dahua are lying, but still...

Holy sh*t, the Panasonic WV-SPV781L is a $2,400 camera!  Out of the question.

Back to Hik and Dahua.

Edited December 26, 2018 by Quantum

[tomcctv 190]

Lorex is dahua it is 100% owned by dahua.

lorex plate cameras have been designed by one of the best in the market flir. 

 

47 minutes ago, Quantum said:

Hmm, the Aliexpress seller claims it is a Hik with the model# I cited above.  Are they allowed to lie like that?

 

You only need to do a search on the forum from aliexpress and hikvision gray market....... some people leaned from it some wasted money ..... hikvision even put out a news letter..... they don’t sell or any authorised sell on aliexpress 

people who copy hikvision can lie at anytime 

 

are you just looking for a camera that can see licence plates or licence plate capture ?

[Quantum 0]

Looking further I find this interesting Lorex camera, which does not seem to be in the Dahua line:

https://www.lorextechnology.com/4k-security-camera/nocturnal-4k-8mp-ip-dome-security-camera-with-zoom-lens/LNE8974BW-1-p

It claims to have WDR of 100dB, although the specs say HDR of 90dB.  WDR is what I need most, to suppress headlights so I can get license plates.  Hik claims 120dB and Dahua above doesn't seem to have WDR, so this Lorex beats that.

The specs say that it has the Sony Exmor R sensor which has a larger than most 8.51Mp, although they say nothing about color sensitivity at any F-stop, which is concerning.  I've found this sensor in another camera with specs of "6 lux (1/30 Shutter Speed".  Well is that color, and what F-stop?  Impossible to compare that with Hik's F1.4 rating, but it's all I can find.

It's an interesting camera but I can't find any nighttime videos testing the WDR.  No idea if it's a FLIR panel.

The camera will be on my street looking toward the driveway.  If an incident happens the perpetrator will be parking in this area, most likely at night as has happened twice in the past year.  My current Hik camera is over 3 years old with no WDR and is blinded by taillights, much less headlights.

Another camera will be on my long driveway with an IR flood;  I'll most likely move my existing Hik here.  And the third camera will be covering the house with an IR flood, and will probably be the same model as the street cam as the qualities I need specify the best all-around camera:

- Must be outdoor, ideally sealed to IP67 standard.

- Must have Wide Dynamic Range - And not fake DigitalWDR but true dual-optical WDR.  This should be 120dB or more -- which is the difference in brightness it can compensate for.

- Must be high resolution - Like 8 megapixel and above.  You pay only a little bit less for half this resolution.

- Must have excellent night image - It is much easier to find this today in cameras than 3 years ago.  Brand name sensors like Sony Starvis and Exview do not mean a better image, despite their marketing, as evidenced by actual video comparisons by users.

- I want it to be able to add audio from an external mic into the datastream.

- Preferably have Varifocal, which automatically focuses to different distances in real-time.

- Ideally have onboard storage (SD card) so it still saves video even if my main recording application (ZoneMinder) goes down.

 

Edited December 26, 2018 by Quantum

[tomcctv 190]

Ok so your just looking for a camera that can see a licence plate. Not capture.  

 

Using zoneminder you only need something like the dahua starlight 4mp

going 4k is going to use a lot of pc processing power and with audio.

 

[Quantum 0]

I'll need some network bandwidth;  I read that it's not possible to have four 4k cameras on one LAN, but I don't understand why.

Assuming each is burning 20Mb for h.264, that would be a total of 80Mb.  Add network overhead so say 100Mb total, on a 1Gb LAN.  And it is megaBITs, as I confirm from Hik's and Dahua's datasheets.

ZoneMinder can't do H.265 yet unfortunately, but it can do passthrough storage of H.264.  Of course there's zone and intrusion analysis but I've been running two cameras just fine in a CentOS KVM virtual machine with 4 cores.

[Quantum 0]

Whelp, I am loathe to buy another Hik after my prior experience and the testimony above.

As best I can determine, the Sony Exmor R is good technology and we have a Lorex acolyte above who believes in the product and kept after me.

And when I found it for $130 on eBay I couldn't resist and bought three.  Hopefully these will work out for my license plates.

Edited December 27, 2018 by Quantum

[tomcctv 190]

Hi. 4k main compression is h265 .... half of what h264 is so it’s not a problem on 4 or more but there is a big problem if it’s not h265 from start to end.. like your zoneminder it will be h265 at camera but once it gets to your pc it will re compress to h264 as pc would not be h265 compression so will max out you cpu if running 4. Nothing stopping you from lowering the resolution down to 4 mp tho.

a NVR allows h265 from start to Finnish we’re a pc does not if no h265 compression 

[Quantum 0]

Unfortunately ZoneMinder can't do H.265 yet. 

I probably will peg the 4 cores in the VM, but I have 8 in the machine.  The only other thing it does is LAN machine backups.  Conceivably I could allocate 7 cores to the camera VM and nice the backups.

As storage of the datastream is passthrough, theoretically the main CPU usage will be analysis. (zma)  The less of a scene is zoned, the less analysis, so I draw thin trip rectangles in the right places to minimize areas, and increase capture time for the event.

Edited December 27, 2018 by Quantum