Review: Dahua IPC-EW5531-AS 5MP Fisheye Camera

[aristobrat]

Dahua IPC-EW5531-AS from EMPIRETECANDY
5MP Panoramic Network IR Fisheye Camera

Review unit courtesy of Andy (@EMPIRETECANDY) in exchange for a fair and honest 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

Price: Approximately US $163
Link to camera on Andy's AliExpress store: link

Notes:
Can be installed horizontally (either lens up or lens down) or vertically (wall).

Not rated for outdoor use, SD card slot is not weatherproof at all.
Noticeably lighter than an a traditional camera.
Chrome/Firefox can view live video from the camera's web UI without a plugin, but IE + plugin is required to configure many aspects of the camera.
I'm still very much new to this camera, but it seems a *lot* more functional in terms of de-warping capabilities with Dahua SmartPSS than it does with Blue Iris.


IPC-EW5531-AS SPECS

https://www.dahuasecurity.com/products/productDetail/28477

Camera
Image Sensor: 1/2.7” 5Megapixel progressive scan CMOS
Effective Pixels: 2592(H)x1944(V)
RAM/ROM: 512MB/32MB
Scanning System: Progressive
Electronic Shutter Speed: Auto/Manual, 1/3~1/100000s
Minimum Illumination:
0.006Lux/F2.0( Color,1/3s,30IRE)
0.02Lux/F2.0( Color,1/30s,30IRE)
0Lux/F2.0(IR on)
IR Distance: Distance up to 10m(33ft)
IR On/Off Control: Auto/ Manual
IR LEDs: 3

Lens
Lens Type: Fixed
Mount Type: Board-in
Focal Length: 1.4mm
Max. Aperture: F2.0
Angle of View: H: 180°, V:180
Optical Zoom: N/A
Aperture Type: N/A
Close Focus Distance: 1.3m(4.27ft)/1.9m(6.23ft)/3.8m(12.47ft)
DORI Distance
Detect: 28m(92ft)
Observe: 11m(36ft)
Recognize: 6m(19ft)
Identify: 3m(9ft)

 

[aristobrat]

Unboxing










SD CARD SLOT

Note: This is not weatherproof!!!




MOUNT

The lock slider on the mount will cause the clips on the mount to separate or combine which holds the camera in the mount.

Lock Slider

 

[aristobrat]

Managing the Camera with a Web Browser

Note the difference between accessing the camera with IE (with plugin) and Chrome (no plugin).

IE (with plugin)
Gives you Install Modes and Display (de-warp) Modes on the Live tab.




Chrome (no plugin)
No Install Modes or Display (de-warp) Modes on the Live tab.
You can view the Live stream from the camera, though.






Using the camera with Blue Iris

Live View

I haven't found a way to de-warp the camera for Live View so this is what I see when I look at my extremely messy garage "live" in Blue Iris:




Alerts/Clips Playback

Blue Iris can dewarp the video with playing back recordings. Again, my amazingly messy garage:




Exporting Video

I have not been able to export de-warped video from this camera in Blue Iris. It de-warps when playing back, but when exporting it goes back to fish eye.

 

[aristobrat]

Dahua SmartPSS/PC-NVR

I had a lot more luck using this camera with Dahua's SmartPSS/PC-NVR software combo.

SmartPSS was able to dewarp the video into multiple customizable views where you can aim each view independently of the other, making this one camera seem like it it is anywhere between one and eight different cameras.

What's nice is that SmartPSS remembers your customized settings when you close the Live View, so the next time you open this Live View and select this camera, it's configured the same way you left it.

Here are the different Fisheye Views that you can configure:



Here is the view with the fisheye on the left + four separate views:



Here is the view with the fisheye pano on the bottom and six separate views above it:




SmartPSS Playback

Viewing recordings from this camera (stored in PC-NVR), SmartPSS gave me the same Fisheye View options (after I set the Fisheye Installation Mode) as Live View did, but it did not save the settings between uses. Meaning if I took the time to setup a customized view where I set the aim of six different regions, if I closed out of Playback and went back in to view a different recording, those customizations were gone. Bummer.

 

[jack7]

In the Web Ui, does this camera have a Settings/Conditions/Fisheye - Record Mode with a dropdown box? I haven't used it but saw it in a video. I think it allows setting the view to be recorded.

 

[aristobrat]

In the Web Ui, does this camera have a Settings/Conditions/Fisheye - Record Mode with a dropdown box? I haven't used it but saw it in a video. I think it allows setting the view to be recorded.

Thanks for reminding me about this! There was a Fisheye setting in Settings > Conditions > Fisheye, but it was only had options for how the camera was installed.



The User Manual PDF (which is generic, written for all fisheye models) mentioned that feature being located on the Video tab, but I didn't see it there either.




I thought I might not be seeing it because of a plugin issue, so I uninstalled whatever version of plugin I was using then visited the camera and downloaded the plugin version that it offered up. No change.

 

[trauts14]

i read your comment in reference to the cam not exporting a dewarped vid, yet can a dahua nvr export the vid as a dewarped vid?

 

[Arjun]

How many channels does this take up?

 

[aristobrat]

i read your comment in reference to the cam not exporting a dewarped vid, yet can a dahua nvr export the vid as a dewarped vid?

@trauts14, I'm sorry I missed your comment until now. I"ll try to test this tonight and post the results.

How many channels does this take up?

@Arjun, one channel. If you're using SmartPSS to split the 360 into different views, all of the views come across in that one channel.

 

[aristobrat]

@Arjun, below is an example of the one channel. You'll see SmartPSS is set to display four channels. This cam is in the top left, ... so all four de-warped views are in that one channel, you couldn't record them individually (that I've seen).

 

[aristobrat]

@trauts14, I couldn't find a way in SmartPSS to export a de-warped view.

I first tried setting the Playback to dewarp as big panel and then did an export to AVI.




The AVI of the export played back warped:



I tried to export in its native format (including the option to bundle the player), but that also played back as warped. I was hoping the bundled player had an option to de-warp, but I didn't see one.

 

[adamg]

Welcome to the joys of using fisheye/360 cameras. This is definitely one place where a quality VMS can justify its expense, as they handle this very well.

 

[Arjun]

Thank you @aristobrat

 

[trauts14]

@aristobrat if i had 2 of these fisheye cams which would be viewed in real time via dahua NVR (via hdmi cable to hd tv), would i have the option to make each cam show as 2 long rectangular livestreams? for example, as you showed us, 1 cam can display itself as 2 rectangular, "virtual cams." that is great because it looks, "normal." if i had 2 of these fisheye cams, could i make them appear as 4 elongated cams? each cam would use a total of 2 rectangular views...if that makes sense.
i want to view 2 small rooms (with 2 fisheyes), yet want the NVR to make them easy to view for employees.

 

[aristobrat]

if i had 2 of these fisheye cams, could i make them appear as 4 elongated cams? each cam would use a total of 2 rectangular views...if that makes sense.

With only having one camera, I don't have a way to fully test that out, but I was able to add my one fisheye to the SmartPSS Live View twice, which ended up looking like this:




Keep in mind that I'm not a SmartPSS expert so there may be a way around this that I don't know, but to display two cameras on the screen you have to choose the four camera layout like above, which leaves two camera spots on the right column that aren't being used.

The only option I saw to try and optimize this space (if only displaying two cameras) was to customize the size of the grids in the four camera layout, shrinking the size of the spots on the right a bit, which allows the spots on the left to expand a bit.

 

[trauts14]

With only having one camera, I don't have a way to fully test that out, but I was able to add my one fisheye to the SmartPSS Live View twice, which ended up looking like this:

View attachment 50178


Keep in mind that I'm not a SmartPSS expert so there may be a way around this that I don't know, but to display two cameras on the screen you have to choose the four camera layout like above, which leaves two camera spots on the right column that aren't being used.

The only option I saw to try and optimize this space (if only displaying two cameras) was to customize the size of the grids in the four camera layout, shrinking the size of the spots on the right a bit, which allows the spots on the left to expand a bit.


View attachment 50180

good idea to do custom config. thank you

 

[dimammx]

Not to get sidetracked but have anyone tried converting turret to fisheye by changing the lens. I mean camera software will not be able to do much but VMS still can do de wrapping.

 

[HMC8403]

I just plugged in the EW5531 I got from @EMPIRETECANDY. Right now it’s just hanging over the mantle but plan on a ceiling mount. Love the compact footprint.

This cam is mostly to watch the dogs during the day but love being able to see the front door and garage entry which is to the far left. Don’t know if anything can be done about the bright light from the windows as it washes out the dogs. Was thinking of getting one for the garage but wonder if I would have the same washout if the garage door was open.

FYI this is plugged into my home LAN and not directly into the POE.

 

[HMC8403]

First day and we finally figured out which dog has been vomiting on the rug.

 

[aristobrat]

Don’t know if anything can be done about the bright light from the windows as it washes out the dogs.

If you haven't already, try enabling WDR in Settings > Camera > Conditions > Backlight and then playing with the value (while it's bright outside).