REVIEW- Loryta T2831TM-AS Budget 8MP Starlight Turret

[bigredfish]

Many thanks once again to Andy @EMPIRETECANDY we have the Loryta IPC-T2831TM-AS 8MP Starlight Turret
This camera has been provided by Andy in exchange for a fair and honest review. This is a fixed 3.6mm turret from the Lite series with the 1/2.7” sensor. It also comes in 2.8mm

Amazon link
https://www.amazon.com/EmpireTech-IPC-T2831TM-AS-Fixed-Focal-Eyeball-Network/dp/B08CB29DBP
Just $109.99


Additional Specs here:
IPC-HDW2831TM-AS-S2

IPC-HDW2831TM-AS-S2
8MP Lite IR Fixed-focal Eyeball Network Camera

8MP, 1/2.7" CMOS image sensor, low illuminance, high image definition
Outputs max. 8MP (3840 × 2160) @15 fps, and supports 2688×1520 @25/30 fps
H.265 codec, high compression rate, ultra-low bit rate
Built-in IR LED, max IR distance: 30 m
ROI, SMART H.264/H.265, flexible coding, applicable to various bandwidth and storage environments
Rotation mode, WDR, 3D DNR, HLC, BLC, digital watermarking, applicable to various monitoring scenes
Intelligent detection: Intrusion, tripwire
Abnormality detection: Motion detection, video tampering, no SD card, SD card full, SD card error, network disconnection, IP conflict, illegal access, voltage detection
Supports max. 256 GB Micro SD card, built-in MIC
12V DC/PoE power support
IP67 protection

Image Sensor	1/2.7” 8Megapixel progressive CMOS
Effective Pixels	3840 (H) ×2160 (V)
ROM	128 MB
RAM	256 MB
Scanning System	Progressive
Electronic Shutter Speed	Auto/Manual 1/3 s–1/100,000 s
Min. Illumination	0.009 Lux@F2.0
IR Distance	30 m (98.43 ft)
IR On/Off Control	Auto/Manual
IR LEDs Number	2

General IVS Analytics - Tripwire; intrusion

Built-in MIC - Yes

DORI Distance	Detect	Observe	Recognize	Identify
2.8 mm	74.7 m (245.1 ft)	29.9 m (98.1 ft)	14.9 m (48.9 ft)	7.5 m (24.6 ft)
TESTED 3.6 mm	106.7 m (350.1 ft)	42.7 m (140.1 ft)	21.3 m (69.6 ft)	10.7 m (35.1 ft)

Review Notes






I have to admit I was skeptical of an 8MP camera with the 1/2.7" sensor and min Illumination just barely under the line that Dahua designates as Starlight. But for the price, I was pleasantly surprised at the image quality and value of this budget 8MP camera.

First some snapshots at 1/60 all others default settings under various lighting conditions

1)- Forced color- Flood and Coach Lights




2)- IR/B&W with Flood and Coach Lights



3) IR/B&W Coach Lights only




4) IR/B&W with IR only (and ambient street light)




5)- Daytime Auto

 

[bigredfish]

Videos

First video running 1/60 Exposure and IR only. No Coach lights or flood light.
Note with the street lights and neighbors I do have reasonably good ambient light. This turned out better than expected and while you do need some light, the 1/2.7" sensor performs pretty well. Also nice to see Smart IR working as it should
(Remember to change Youtube player to 4K)



Next video I have my garage coach lights on, IR in Smart mode.
Better detail and clarity as expected



Next up in Forced Color mode
This clip uses the Day/Night setting Color. (forced color) Note that at the very beginning before the flood light kicks in, even with my 1200 lumen coach lights its not a great image. As soon as you add another 3400 lumens with the flood light it does pretty well.
I wouldn't run forced color at night unless you have a very brightly lit scene with floods. This isnt going to get you the same low light nighttime color image that say the 5442 series will, but for 8MP the B&W/IR image is pretty darn good.



Daytime - WDR off
Obviously the daytime image is great. You dont see some of the sharpness artifacts you see in the 5442 series, a better daytime image I think. I could have turned on WDR I suppose, but I hate what it does to colors....



And Lastly, in this clip you can see towards the end the flood light time out, and as I trip the motion sensor again the camera (set to Day/Night Auto) initially tries to go to color, but quickly decides there's just not enough light to do so, and flicks back to B&/IR mode. The IR/B&W image is clean and crisp and more than usable.
I'm very impressed with how well it does and its going to find a permanent home on my pool deck

 

[bigredfish]

Overall impressions
I know I've said this before but I'm really impressed with this camera given its price point and being 8MP which are not typically great in low light. The camera does have a built-in mic which worked very well, and basic Tripwire/Intrusion with IVS plan turned on. That said, its NOT as good as the 5442/7442 series in low light conditions.

• IVS, Smart IR, Mic, all worked as expected.
• At full 8MP resolution the camera streams at 15fps max.
• The mic is really awesome, listen closely to my neighbors in the nighttime clips between 30 and 60 feet away!

For lighting reference, here's two snapshots of the front of my house with and without the motion flood light on


I plan on hanging this on my pool deck this week which presents challenging conditions with regards to WDR needs. I'll update that info and some videos here when I get it hung

 

[danioj]

Hello from Australia! I have been looking at Cameras for weeks now and have only just come on this forum following a recommendation from a local FB group I am in. Wow there is wealth of knowledge and information here.

This is a cam that is locally available here in Australia although it seems to be called something different (Dahua DH-IPC-HDW2831TMP-AS-0280B-S2) and I can't get my head around why the names differ so much for the same product. It seems reasonably priced (especially when you put it up against the crazy priced UI ones) and one that I have been reading about for the last few hours. There is so much choice and clearly some brands to stay away from.

My application is home security and am looking to buy 8 cameras for my new property utilising BI as my NVR and HA for automation. Great that this one has sound too!

Looking forward to this review.

EDIT: would love to see you compare this and give your opinion of this camera against the T2831-ZS.

EDIT2: Apparently they also come in 2 Lens sizes. 2.8mm (105 degree viewing angle) and 3.6mm (87 degree viewing angle).

Review- OEM IPC-T2831T-ZS 4k varifocal starlight turret & PFB203W Wall Bracket.

OEM IPC-T2831T-ZS 4k from EMPIRETECANDY 8MP WDR Turret Varifocal Network Camera Review unit courtesy of Andy (@EMPIRETECANDY) in exchange for a fair and honest review. Purchase IPC-T2831T-ZS from the IPCT Store Andy's ipcamtalk vendor forum: link Andy's AliExpress store: link Andy's Amazon...

ipcamtalk.com

 

[jd415]

Wow those shots look amazing! Great review thank you!

 

[danioj]

Thank you for this review. Given my requirements I think I am going to go with these cameras predominantly for my setup. Now I have to find the best price for them in Australia and I guess Ill have to get mounts too so I will have to wait till I move in before I can decide where I am going to mount each of them.

 

[bigredfish]

If you're set on the 8MP, do mix in the VF model you linked to that @looney2ns reviewed as well. Id grab one of those first to test and see what you need in the fixed lens.

 

[Parley]

Good review. I agree, at that price point it is a very good camera.

 

[Kn10]

This is a cam that is locally available here in Australia although it seems to be called something different (Dahua DH-IPC-HDW2831TMP-AS-0280B-S2) and I can't get my head around why the names differ so much for the same product.

The local stuff from retailers generally use the branded name. The name Dahua themselves use. Often IPC-HDWXXXXABC

Most people here get stuff from @EMPIRETECANDY from Hong Kong and its much cheaper (10ish days shipping too). Myself included who is also in Melbourne Australia. Andy's are the unbranded versions, so the naming is more like IPC-XXXXABC. They are the same camera.

The Loryta brand if I recall correctly, is Empiretech Andy's brand in the US (which he sells on US Amazon). So they are Dahua's with Loryta branding printed on the cams.

 

[dcmkii]

Hello from Australia! I have been looking at Cameras for weeks now and have only just come on this forum following a recommendation from a local FB group I am in. Wow there is wealth of knowledge and information here.

This is a cam that is locally available here in Australia although it seems to be called something different (Dahua DH-IPC-HDW2831TMP-AS-0280B-S2) and I can't get my head around why the names differ so much for the same product. It seems reasonably priced (especially when you put it up against the crazy priced UI ones) and one that I have been reading about for the last few hours. There is so much choice and clearly some brands to stay away from.

My application is home security and am looking to buy 8 cameras for my new property utilising BI as my NVR and HA for automation. Great that this one has sound too!

Looking forward to this review.

EDIT: would love to see you compare this and give your opinion of this camera against the T2831-ZS.

EDIT2: Apparently they also come in 2 Lens sizes. 2.8mm (105 degree viewing angle) and 3.6mm (87 degree viewing angle).

Review- OEM IPC-T2831T-ZS 4k varifocal starlight turret & PFB203W Wall Bracket.

OEM IPC-T2831T-ZS 4k from EMPIRETECANDY 8MP WDR Turret Varifocal Network Camera Review unit courtesy of Andy (@EMPIRETECANDY) in exchange for a fair and honest review. Purchase IPC-T2831T-ZS from the IPCT Store Andy's ipcamtalk vendor forum: link Andy's AliExpress store: link Andy's Amazon...

ipcamtalk.com

Yeh mate, I had that confusion at first.
Dahua you see in Australia are the official Dahua branded ones with 3 years Dahua warranty. The ones that people buy here from EmpireCandy are OEM (google it up, just without the logo and 1 year warranty from overseas supplier)

I bought a varifocal 8mp IPC-T2831T-ZS but haven't installed i yet. I'm imagining it should be on par with the fixed lens version.

PS: if you want to buy a IPC-B5442E-ZE 4MP WDR IR Bullet (OEM model) give me a holla, brand new, not installed yet. Keen to sell. Dahua equivalent is DH-IPC-HFW5442E-ZE

 

[Tekbotslaya]

How does this camera compare to IPC-T2431T-AS? Are they very close in terms of low light?

 

[bigredfish]

I no longer have the 2431 so can't do a side by side with same settings/same ambient light and say for certain, but generally speaking the 2431 was a bit brighter in low light and I was able to keep it in color mode without the flood at night, whereas the 8MP required the flood (more light) to get a good color nighttime image. But when you did give it enough light, it is a superior image I think..

If you have the light, the 8MP I think clearly shows greater detail as to be expected day and night.

Here's 3 comparison shots but not on the same day obviously and the Sun moves and nights can be more or less cloudy....but a reasonable comparison
Day 2431 4MP

Day 2831 8MP



Night Color 2431 4MP (with flood)

Night Color 2831 8MP (with flood)



IR 2431 (No floods ***however 1/30 exposure so brighter and not a fair comparison)

IR 2831 (No floods - 1/60 exposure)

 

[Warptrooper]

Would you say this is a better value overall than 2431 ? Price wise there isn't TOO much difference. Hmm

 

[bigredfish]

IF you have enough white light it’s a great little camera.

 

[handinpalm]

Thanks for taking the time to review this cam, and for Andy supplying the hardware. Those were some some surprising results for the 4K cam. Were your neighbors reviewing a cam also? Seems like a lot of activity out there.

 

[bigredfish]

Hehe... I have the best neighbors you could ask for. Yeah he saw me out testing so he was checking on his. There’s always a bit of friendly competition going on among us, who makes the best BBQ, best lawn, newest firearm... all in good fun.

I put up the first cameras in 2012, along with our HOA cams covering the neighborhood, and it caught on. I think we counted one time and if you drive down our little 1500 ft culdesac of 41 homes, you’re caught on video from 28 different camera angles including 3 LPR

We probably need to coordinate field of fire angles too

 

[Tekbotslaya]

Thanks for posting that comparison and providing your insight, very valuable.

 

[bigredfish]

Just updated the buy link in 1st post- - now available in Andy's store on Amazon for $109.99 - a very good value!
Amazon.com : EmpireTech IPC-T2831TM-AS S2 2.8mm Lens 8MP Lite IR Fixed-Focal Eyeball Network Camera English Version : Camera & Photo

 

[Arjun]

The mounting mechanism is greatly different, where one utilizes a plastic base and other is metal

Hello from Australia! I have been looking at Cameras for weeks now and have only just come on this forum following a recommendation from a local FB group I am in. Wow there is wealth of knowledge and information here.

This is a cam that is locally available here in Australia although it seems to be called something different (Dahua DH-IPC-HDW2831TMP-AS-0280B-S2) and I can't get my head around why the names differ so much for the same product. It seems reasonably priced (especially when you put it up against the crazy priced UI ones) and one that I have been reading about for the last few hours. There is so much choice and clearly some brands to stay away from.

My application is home security and am looking to buy 8 cameras for my new property utilising BI as my NVR and HA for automation. Great that this one has sound too!

Looking forward to this review.

EDIT: would love to see you compare this and give your opinion of this camera against the T2831-ZS.

EDIT2: Apparently they also come in 2 Lens sizes. 2.8mm (105 degree viewing angle) and 3.6mm (87 degree viewing angle).

Review- OEM IPC-T2831T-ZS 4k varifocal starlight turret & PFB203W Wall Bracket.

OEM IPC-T2831T-ZS 4k from EMPIRETECANDY 8MP WDR Turret Varifocal Network Camera Review unit courtesy of Andy (@EMPIRETECANDY) in exchange for a fair and honest review. Purchase IPC-T2831T-ZS from the IPCT Store Andy's ipcamtalk vendor forum: link Andy's AliExpress store: link Andy's Amazon...

ipcamtalk.com

 

[spkldbrd]

Thanks for the reviews of these cameras. I'm going to be testing a couple (just ordered) with my first BI setup and had a couple questions. I know this thread is a couple months old...but perhaps you have answers

For motion sensing on these cameras, are you using BI motion detection or the Camera Trigger?
Any performance difference when recording direct-to-disk between H265 and H264?

Thanks!