Dahua CCTV Help

[Jstar]

Hi everyone,

I'm in Australia and I am in need of help with my CCTV situation.

I currently have 5x 4MP cameras that are Dahua IPC-HDW4421E-A these are located around the house. They do a great job, but I want to upgrade at least one which faces towards the road to view 100ft in distance, to capture more detail. I think 4K is the way to go or at least 8MP or higher. Not sure with Optical Zoom?

I would like to at least see a vehicles number plate that pulls into the driveway, 50ft away from house and have better detail than I already have on people walking past my house as there have been some recent burglaries in my area, including cars that are parked on the road.

I currently have a Dahua lite NVR, but have noticed it is not that good in performance but I have ordered a Dahua 8 Channel 1U 4K&H.265 Pro Network Video Recorder. Not sure whether it will improve the 4MP camera quality compared to the current NVR which is struggling due to the lack of bandwidth

As with the zoom, I don't think a camera with Optical Zoom is ideal?, as I believe you would need an operator zooming in on the subject as it occurs? Not sure, if somebody could clarify this it'll be great.

What camera do you think is ideal for my situation?

Also, while I'm on these forums. How do I view my CCTV cameras on a Mac? On mobile I use iDMSS.

PS, I've just joined and not sure if these questions have been answered. I'll keep looking around on ipcamtalk.

Many thanks,
Jstar

 

[mat200]

Hi everyone,

I'm in Australia and I am in need of help with my CCTV situation.

I currently have 5x 4MP cameras that are Dahua IPC-HDW4421E-A these are located around the house. They do a great job, but I want to upgrade at least one which faces towards the road to view 100ft in distance, to capture more detail. I think 4K is the way to go or at least 8MP or higher. Not sure with Optical Zoom?

I would like to at least see a vehicles number plate that pulls into the driveway, 50ft away from house and have better detail than I already have on people walking past my house as there have been some recent burglaries in my area, including cars that are parked on the road.

I currently have a Dahua lite NVR, but have noticed it is not that good in performance but I have ordered a Dahua 8 Channel 1U 4K&H.265 Pro Network Video Recorder. Not sure whether it will improve the 4MP camera quality compared to the current NVR which is struggling due to the lack of bandwidth

As with the zoom, I don't think a camera with Optical Zoom is ideal?, as I believe you would need an operator zooming in on the subject as it occurs? Not sure, if somebody could clarify this it'll be great.

What camera do you think is ideal for my situation?

Also, while I'm on these forums. How do I view my CCTV cameras on a Mac? On mobile I use iDMSS.

PS, I've just joined and not sure if these questions have been answered. I'll keep looking around on ipcamtalk.

Many thanks,
Jstar

Welcome Jstar,

Do take a look at the notes here, including the cliff notes
IPCamTalk WiKi | IP Cam Talk

You need about 80 ppf to read a license plate in the day. At 50 feet that would mean a good "zoom" - I would recommend a varifocal camera to allow you to get a good "zoom" - that is a good customized FOV and appropriate lens focus for your needs.

Look for the IPVM calculator link to simulate a view with regards to being able to read a license plate. ( there should be a link in the cliff notes iirc on that )

 

[looney2ns]

See the LPR subject area of this site, it's an art.

 

[trucams]

Also, while I'm on these forums. How do I view my CCTV cameras on a Mac? On mobile I use iDMSS.

For viewing/reviewing on a Mac, try SmartPSS. It is available in the Dahua support/software section.

 

[bigredfish]

@Jstar you DO want optical zoom. That is what most cameras refer to in their zoom specs. It is quality lens zoom. Digital zoom simply blows up the picture and tends to pixelate past any short distance.

 

[Jstar]

Do take a look at the notes here, including the cliff notes
IPCamTalk WiKi | IP Cam Talk

Will do. Will also look into a varifocal camera and see what models I can find. Thanks for your help Mat.

For viewing/reviewing on a Mac, try SmartPSS. It is available in the Dahua support/software section.

Thanks so much. Got it to work. I can now view my CCTV from my Mac.

you DO want optical zoom. That is what most cameras refer to in their zoom specs. It is quality lens zoom. Digital zoom simply blows up the picture and tends to pixelate past any short distance.

Yeah I agree. But do you need someone to zoom in while recording? Or is there a feature that can have the camera automatically zoom in on the moving subject, and how reliable is this feature? Pretty sure I've seen it exist, but is it available on a Dahua system?

Upon reading into 4K and higher the MP, the night mode IR is worse with the higher quality in MP? This is what I understand and confirm as when I shoot with 4K video cameras, night time is a lot darker compared to 1080p recording etc. So if I put a 8MP 4K camera outside, the night vision will be terrible compared to a 2MP?


Thanks everyone for their help.

 

[looney2ns]

Again, @Jstar read the LPR section of this site and the notes @mat200 pointed you to.

 

[mat200]

Will do. Will also look into a varifocal camera and see what models I can find. Thanks for your help Mat.



Thanks so much. Got it to work. I can now view my CCTV from my Mac.



Yeah I agree. But do you need someone to zoom in while recording? Or is there a feature that can have the camera automatically zoom in on the moving subject, and how reliable is this feature? Pretty sure I've seen it exist, but is it available on a Dahua system?

Upon reading into 4K and higher the MP, the night mode IR is worse with the higher quality in MP? This is what I understand and confirm as when I shoot with 4K video cameras, night time is a lot darker compared to 1080p recording etc. So if I put a 8MP 4K camera outside, the night vision will be terrible compared to a 2MP?


Thanks everyone for their help.

Hi Jstar,

Right now the 2MP Dahua OEM starlight is preferred as the best low light option most of us are willing to pay for. ( $120-170+ ) Hikvision also has come out with versions which use the same chip family, so some with Hikvision setups are picking up the Hikvision darkfighter ( iirc Hiks term ) cameras.

There is a 8MP starlight version which have significantly larger imaging chip - and you buy the lens ( they're currently box camera models ), and box to put it in you're looking at iirc $800-1000+ ( USD )

The "normal" 8MP versions are using chips close to the same size as the 2MP starlight and thus effectively packing all 8MP worth of pixels in the same space - resulting in poorer low light performance. Those cameras iirc run $150-200+

There are reviews of various products here, so please look for them and their sample video clips.