Initial review of the Hikvision DS-2CD2087G2-L(U) ColorVu 4K 8MP IP bullet camera.

alastairstevenson

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This is an initial review of the interesting Hikvision DS-2CD2087G2-L(U) ColorVu 4K 8MP IP bullet camera, linked to the marketing terms ColorVu 2.0 and Accusense 2.0
It’s a new model that’s already created a lot of interest on the forum.
The intention is to not overlap or duplicate the various other useful posts on the same device, but rather to try to pick out some different aspects that may be of interest to the forum. EOE.

Disclosure : The device under review was provided by Andy of @EMPIRETECANDY in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
Andy's ipcamtalk vendor forum: link
Andy's AliExpress store: link
Andy's Amazon store: link
Andy's Email: kingsecurity2014 (at) 163 (dot) com

The camera under review came with firmware V5.5.154 build 200928
At the time of writing, the Hikvision EU and UK firmware portals don’t seem to have caught up with this model. The firmware has some rough edges, so there should be some updates out soon.
There will probably be some confusion over which firmware series is valid for this model – G3 or maybe the new G5.
Hikvision’s product info can be seen here :
DS-2CD2087G2-L(U)

Of note is the large “Image Sensor1/1.2″ Progressive Scan CMOS”
Giving a claimed “Min. Illumination 0.0005 Lux @ (F1.0, AGC ON), 0 Lux with Light”
Hikvision have also helpfully started publishing 2 camera features which should be of help to forum members :

Depth of Focus. 2.8 mm: 4.5 m to ∞, 4 mm: 7 m to ∞, 6 mm: 13 m to ∞
With the use of small aperture lenses in earlier generation cameras, depth of focus hasn’t been limited enough to be a great concern. But now with the use of wide aperture (F1.0) lenses in the ColorVu series to even further enhance the sensor low-light performance giving a more limited depth of focus, all of a sudden it’s something we need to be more aware of.

DORI.
2.8 mm, D: 96 m, O: 38 m, R: 19 m, I: 9 m
4 mm, D: 111 m, O: 44 m, R: 22 m, I: 11 m
6 mm, D: 167 m, O: 66 m, R: 33 m, I: 16 m
Many forum members are aware that surveillance cameras are installed for a purpose, not to just give a pretty overview picture that turns out to be of no use after recording an incident, so being aware of DORI distances is important.
It’s useful to be reminded that even with 4K resolution, a 2.8mm lens may not be a great choice for that facial detail.
  • What’s good :
The combination of 4K 8MP resolution and a low-light performance similar to the familiar DS-2CD2347G1-L(U) ColorVu makes this an excellent surveillance camera.
Despite the oft-quoted advice on the forum to ‘not chase the mega-pixels’, the combination of the low-light performance and 8MP resolution makes the digital zoom genuinely useful and dilutes that advice in this case.

There are a number of scale expansions to otherwise existing and familiar configuration settings that should help users to fine tune the camera for their use case.
4 regions for intrusion detection, with a target that can be human or vehicle.
4 regions for line crossing detection, with a target that can be human or vehicle.

The firmware inherits the changes and improvements and quirks first seen in the ColorVu G2 cameras : Initial review of the DS-2CD2347G2-L(U) ColorVu 2.0 IP camera.

  • What’s new :
A target cropping facility in Video / Audio settings – for the third stream.
A camera-stored security log in the Maintenance menu.
A selection of 4 standard and 2 custom scene profiles for image parameters, which can be set on up to 4 schedules. These are monthly schedules covering a whole year!
‘Device maintenance’ - a scheduled reboot. Not common on Hikvision devices.
A grey scale slider in Image enhancement. Not sure what this does though.
There is now a Face Capture facility, which is mutually exclusive with Smart Events for the VCA resource (image processing capacity). I’ve not yet tested this.
  • What’s not so good :
Not a lot really apart from the slightly buggy G3 firmware.
This is a really good camera, definitely worth a good look.
  • What’s missing :
No ability (yet) to event-trigger the LEDs.
The model number in System Settings. It’s blank.
  • What’s quirky or bugged :
The ‘Snapshot’ button on Live View doesn’t work on h.265 with Firefox, OK with h.264 and IE11.

The camera might not be correctly reporting Smart Events to the NVR or management system. While VCA data is being passed over correctly, intrusion detection is missed on the NVR logs, though it does appear on Rules playback. Tested via DS-7604NI-K1/4P with 3.4.103 firmware.

The Day / Night image selection doesn’t actually switch to B&W, despite the related settings still being available, unlike on the G1 ColorVu. This stopped me testing if it still had a fixed IR filter.

The default exposure time is 1/12 which might unreasonably accentuate low-light performance and create motion blur when used by unaware customers.

The ‘low illumination’ scene makes interesting changes to the image, but the default exposure of 1/6 could also mislead if not noticed.

Some, not all, references to ONVIF have been changed to ‘Open Network Video Interface’.
  • What’s techy :
The camera uses the Hi3516CV500 SoC which has a fast dual-core CPU with secure boot and built-in NNIE (Neural Net Inference Engine) for video analytics. The G1 ColorVu is single-core.
The Linux kernel is now based on 4.9.x as opposed to the much older 3.10 of the G1 ColorVu.
The G3 firmware filesize is a lot bigger than the G1 series – 80MB vs 36MB. The camera doesn’t seem to be running a dual OS.
The huge Accusense blob at 50MB+ has meant that Hikvision have stripped out the ‘secondary partition self-repair and recovery’ facility as there just isn’t the needed space even in the 256MB flash memory.
CPU utilisation rendering video under websocket in Firefox or Edge pretty heavy at about 45% (I5-6750) compared with 15% under the webcomponent plugin in IE11.


See the next post for some low-light comparison images.
 
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alastairstevenson

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A review wouldn’t be complete without some comparison images from other similar surveillance cameras.

The daytime image quality pretty much goes without saying – it’s really good.
What’s probably of most interest is how the camera performs at night, and in particular where the boundary is between being able to squeeze down the exposure to reduce movement blur enough, and still get a usable image, ideally in colour.

So what I’ve done here is some sample snapshots from the 8MP DS-2CD2087G2-LU, the original 4MP IPC-T2347G-LU (DS-2CD2347G1-LU) and the 8MP IPC-T2385G-I (DS-2CD2385G-I).

Using h.265 / 20fps / 8192bps with image parameters at default values and no camera LEDs, I’ve squeezed down the exposure on a fairly low-light scene such that the worst-performing (IPC-T2385G-I) is just not handling the scene well. The breakpoint was about 1/250s.
Then I’ve dropped the exposure to 1/500 and 1/1000 so the 4MP and 8MP ColorVu cameras can be compared.
It’s not a totally even comparison as the DS-2CD2087G2-LU camera has a 6mm lens, the others have a 4mm lens.
But I think it’s fair to say that there isn’t really much to choose between the 8MP and 4MP ColorVu cameras for low-light capability.

Exposure set to 1/250
DS-2CD2087G2-LU-250.jpgIPC-T2347G-LU-250.jpgIPC-T2385G-I-250.jpg

Exposure set to 1/500
DS-2CD2087G2-LU-500.jpgIPC-T2347G-LU-500.jpgIPC-T2385G-I-500.jpg

Exposure set to 1/1000
DS-2CD2087G2-LU-1000.jpgIPC-T2347G-LU-1000.jpgIPC-T2385G-I-1000.jpg
 

coney27

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@alastairstevenson I'd be interested to see a video with little to no ambient light in the scene if possible. It looks like you have a street light in your alleyway or neighbors yard.
 

zape

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The model number in System Settings. It’s blank.
That's because you got it from Andy who sells gray market, probably no logo too. Who knows if the quality if the same and obviously no warranty or support.

1612494428474.png
 

wittaj

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Many here have reported good warranty and support from Andy after the sale is complete. Many of my cameras from Andy came in Dahua boxes with Dahua logos and firmware in the cameras. Some are unmarked OEM as well, but I cannot tell a difference between the two. Probably depends on what he orders and the quantity that determines if they are logo or not.
 

zape

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My own experience was bad. I also saw other people here saying Andy screwed them over.
BTW. This particular model is sold by authorized dealers for $200, with legit warranty and support, Andy sells it for $230 if I remember right. So what's the point?
 
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alastairstevenson

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Where can I find the newest firmware?

That's because you got it from Andy who sells gray market, probably no logo too. Who knows if the quality if the same and obviously no warranty or support.
The blank model number is a firmware bug.
It's fixed in the next update.
The model number is no longer blank in the V5.5.160 firmware.

No ability (yet) to event-trigger the LEDs.
This linkage method is now available - but is a little bugged.
It works OK on Motion detection, Line Crossing detection, but the LEDs stay on when it's triggered under Intrusion detection.

The ‘Snapshot’ button on Live View doesn’t work on h.265 with Firefox, OK with h.264 and IE11.
This still doesn't work on h.265 / main stream under Linux/Firefox but is OK under Windows/Edge.

The Day / Night image selection doesn’t actually switch to B&W, despite the related settings still being available, unlike on the G1 ColorVu.
No change here.
 

Mtv

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This linkage method is now available - but is a little bugged.
It works OK on Motion detection, Line Crossing detection, but the LEDs stay on when it's triggered under Intrusion detection.
Funny, I just tested it only with intrusion detection :banghead: and now you mention that's the only event that's bugged :cool: will test the other event as well
 

fixxxer0

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Do any other Hik cameras use this sensor?

Like a 4mp in this size? Or a turret ?
 

Dave Lonsdale

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A review wouldn’t be complete without some comparison images from other similar surveillance cameras.

The daytime image quality pretty much goes without saying – it’s really good.
What’s probably of most interest is how the camera performs at night, and in particular where the boundary is between being able to squeeze down the exposure to reduce movement blur enough, and still get a usable image, ideally in colour.

So what I’ve done here is some sample snapshots from the 8MP DS-2CD2087G2-LU, the original 4MP IPC-T2347G-LU (DS-2CD2347G1-LU) and the 8MP IPC-T2385G-I (DS-2CD2385G-I).

Using h.265 / 20fps / 8192bps with image parameters at default values and no camera LEDs, I’ve squeezed down the exposure on a fairly low-light scene such that the worst-performing (IPC-T2385G-I) is just not handling the scene well. The breakpoint was about 1/250s.
Then I’ve dropped the exposure to 1/500 and 1/1000 so the 4MP and 8MP ColorVu cameras can be compared.
It’s not a totally even comparison as the DS-2CD2087G2-LU camera has a 6mm lens, the others have a 4mm lens.
But I think it’s fair to say that there isn’t really much to choose between the 8MP and 4MP ColorVu cameras for low-light capability.

Exposure set to 1/250
View attachment 81281View attachment 81282View attachment 81283

Exposure set to 1/500
View attachment 81284View attachment 81285View attachment 81286

Exposure set to 1/1000
View attachment 81287View attachment 81288View attachment 81289
Hello again Alastair

I‘ve only just found this thread and hadn’t realised you are reviewing this camera. Will you be posting more info to look out for? Motion test results would be good.

Being unfamiliar with Hikvision, there are quite a few settings that I don’t know what they mean and I may ask for an explanation in due course if that’s OK...

One thing is the ‘Expert’ noise reduction parameters - space and time?
As regards grey scale - when you posted you were unclear - it occurs to me just now that perhaps blanking the bottom 16 luminance levels permits the noise reduction to be reduced without having to tolerate noise in black parts of the scene? And then blanking the top 20 luminance levels prevents the remainder of the scene from becoming too dark? Can’t try it now, it’s not dark. Not a slider in my camera.
I think an issue with your low light testing is perhaps that your yard is not dark enough.

You had mentioned the low illuminance setting. I remember seeing this when I first powered the camera up but now can’t find it... Other than exposure time what else changes in the image?

In the parallel post for this type of camera, spammenotinoz asked me to post a BI stats clip (Hikvision ColorVu + 4K (DS-2CD2087G2-L)). I note you don’t use BI but if you look at that, although I now realise there are no column headings, it shows (for my fps of 10), the key frame (i-frame) rate from the camera is wrong (10.02/0.1) (10 seconds). It’s set at 20 in the camera and so should be 0.5/s. I recall 50 is the default. We can conclude, therefore, that as well as CBR/VBR, several parameter settings in the ‘Video/Audio’ tab are ignored.

Enough for now I think.
Cheers
Dave
 
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Dave Lonsdale

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Many here have reported good warranty and support from Andy after the sale is complete. Many of my cameras from Andy came in Dahua boxes with Dahua logos and firmware in the cameras. Some are unmarked OEM as well, but I cannot tell a difference between the two. Probably depends on what he orders and the quantity that determines if they are logo or not.
Isn’t it just that Andy is not allowed to export Hikvision/Dahua branded cameras in competition with authorised national distributors?
 

wittaj

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Isn’t it just that Andy is not allowed to export Hikvision/Dahua branded cameras in competition with authorised national distributors?
I don't think so, and that wouldn't explain how some cameras I have bought from him have been logo'd and some haven't (some are the same camera bought months apart). I think it is how many he orders that determines if they come logo'd or not. And I have seen many vendors elsewhere that when you order you specify if you want a logo'd one or not...
 

ljw2k

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First let me thank you Alister for the brilliant review and I enjoyed the read.

If you update the firmware to V5.5.160 firmware you will not be able to downgrade, the only thing I found is the brightness adjustment stopped working as when you move the slider it reverts back to the beginning.
 

Dave Lonsdale

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The model number is no longer blank in the V5.5.160 firmware.


This linkage method is now available - but is a little bugged.
It works OK on Motion detection, Line Crossing detection, but the LEDs stay on when it's triggered under Intrusion detection.


This still doesn't work on h.265 / main stream under Linux/Firefox but is OK under Windows/Edge.


No change here.
Hello Alastair
Let‘s assume that Andy Wong, as with Dahua, has a communication channel back to the Hikvision development team. Along with passing back our compliments from the Forum that this is a brilliant camera, I would suggest that you also ask him to request a firmware update for the most urgent issues. From my perspective, the top two headline problems are:-
1. The constant bitrate setting does not work
2. The i-frame rate is locked at 50 100

Thanks
Dave
ps. I found the low illuminance setting
 
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alastairstevenson

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From my perspective, the top two headline problems are:-
1. The constant bitrate setting does not work
2. The i-frame rate is locked at 50
Triggered by Dave's comments about the Video settings in the G3 firmware, I thought I'd take a look at those on the IPC_G3_EN_STD_5.5.160_210209 using the DS-2CD2347G2-LU camera.
It's a bit bugged, fps is stuck at 30 on h.265, but other settings seem to work OK.

Here is how it looked to me :

With h.264 codec selected, VBR.
OK fps setting
OK max bitrate setting. Actual will be less on a static scene.
OK I-frame setting
OK Video quality. A huge effect on bitrate, with 15fps, from 200kbps to 6Mbps from the lowest to the highest setting.

With h.264 codec selected, CBR.
OK fps setting
OK max bitrate setting.
OK I-frame setting
N/A Video quality. Fixed on CBR

With h.265 codec selected, VBR.
Bugged fps setting has no effect, actual is stuck at 30fps.
OK max bitrate setting. Actual will be less on a static scene.
OK I-frame setting
OK Video quality. A huge effect on bitrate, from 200kbps to 6Mbps from the lowest to the highest setting.

With h.265 codec selected, CBR.
Bugged fps setting has no effect, actual is stuck at 30fps.
OK max bitrate setting.
OK I-frame setting
N/A Video quality. Fixed on CBR


An observation -
With Video quality=Medium, at 15fps, the actual uncapped bitrate on a static scene is the same when using either h.264 or h.265
Presumably this is due the achieved video quality being better on h.265 but subjectively that was not obvious, even when the bitrate was squeezed well down with a low maximum value.

Do others with the same firmware have the same observations?
 
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