Syncing time

The issue

One of the things suggested to save CPU on Blue Iris is to turn on the in camera overlay instead of having Blue Iris add it while viewing. Note this works most of the time but some instances in camera overlays mess with tools like LPR. But many of the clocks seemed to refuse to keep time. At first I thought it was the local ntp servers having problems and wrote a quick tool to test all my ntp server options. The real issue is I'm finding different models of cameras work with only some ntp servers. In a perfect world this would not be an issue but in the real world they are often off a bit from each other and for syncing of video you want them a close as possible. And it also means you need to know which cam works with which and set them to ones as close in time as possible. Plus I want to avoid uploading packets where possible given my network connection is 900 down with only 40 up and I'm backing up to the cloud contentiously. 

Main options I have to work with are:

• internet time servers (time.windows.com for instance)
• ntpd on OPNsense router box 192.168.0.1 using 0.opnsense.pool.ntp.org as source
• Windows time server on a Blue Iris server 10.10.3.48 using 192.168.0.1 as source
• NetTime on a Blue Iris server 10.10.3.46 using 192.168.0.1 as source
• ntp service running on IoT Unifi network gateway 10.10.0.1 using 192.168.0.1 as source

Note just setting the time server you want to use on a Windows 10 PC gets complicated. Microsoft really wants you to use time.windows.com. Detailed instructions to change the server can be found here.

What worked with what

Hikvision

System->System Settings->Time Settings (ColorVu)

Basic Configuration->System->Time Settings (older cams)

Would not even ping most of these. In the end the only one it would connect to was the Windows time server

Reolink

Network->Advanced->NTP

Only seems to like the OPNsense box. Takes 3 screens to set all the time options.

Amcrest

System->General->Date & Time

Hard to say since there is no test button. You just set it and hope. I'll set them to diff servers and see what keeps time. Though it looks like it might do a sync on save so you can see if something works if the time was off. After a day it appears OPNsense did not seem to work as the time was WAY off.

Used Windows time server 

Dahua

System->General->Date & Time

Like Amcrest (some claim the Dahua makes many of Amcrest cams and the software is very similar) it is hard to say since there is no test button. You just set it and hope. I'll set them to diff servers and see what keeps time. Though it looks like it might do a sync on save so you can see if something works if the time was off. After a day it appears OPNsense did not seem to work as the time was WAY off.

Used Windows time server 

JideTech

System->Time

Not sure if this is working or not. Comes set to time.windows.com which seemed to be working. When I set it to a local one it changed the date to 2036 and stayed there till I "Synced with PC time". Then tried to dup and could not. Set to OPNsense box. After a few days the time seems to be hold so think is OK. Note there is no option to set DST start and stop.  

Foscam

Basic Settings->Camera Time

OPNsense seems to work OK. Note this old enough there is no option to set DST start and stop.

Escam

Again OPNsense seems to work OK. 

Fact check: Amcrest cameras are Dahua rebrands.

 I hear people say this a lot but when you try and ping them down they never seem to be able to tell you which model is which. There are post like this one where people claim they have up Dahua firmware on some models of Amcrest cameras which they think implies Dahua made them but they do not know which model. Usually I just don't have the time to look into it with so little to go in. This one claims to have upgraded an Amcrest model I have, the Amcrest IP8M-2496EB, so I thought I'd take a it to see if I could actually find a Dahua model of that cam and if the Amcrest was any cheap or if there was any other reason to buy the Amcrest of just getting the Dahua (if there was on). The firmware mentioned, DH_IPC-HX5X3X-Rhea_MultiLang_NP_Stream3_V2.800.0000014.0.R.191203.zip, is used by a few models.

The Dahua wiki shows 3 8MP bullet models including the IPC-HFW2831T which is one of my current favs. Nothing that looks close to the Amcrest. But I'm not finding my Dahua 6MP model there either so not definitive.

A look at the Dahua product selector seems a bit more promising as it has my 4631 listed but still nothing that looks like the Amcrest. However the IPC-HFW4831E-SE is close and the specs match. The actual case is just a bit different.

A quick google search shows the IPC-HFW4831E-SE can be had for as little as $150 The Amcrest IP8M-2496EB can be had for as little $95. So I guess the main factor is price. But as my tests have shown you are generally better off with the 6MP Dahua IPC-HFW4631H-ZSA for as little as $110 and get a serious zoom and audio too for that extra $15. There does not appear to be an Amcrest equiv of the 6MP Dahua IPC-HFW4631H-ZSA.

If you want to compare the camera software features between the 2 8MP cameras you can get the Dahua manual here and the Amcrest IP8M-2496EB manual here.

So lets try another. The Amcrest IP4M-1026  which has similar low light performance to the Dahua 6MP IPC-HDW4631C-A Note you get 20% more rez plus audio for just $10 more than the Amcrest. The Amcrest it pretty distinctive with its angled shade and case. None of the Dahuas look anything like it. Same goes for the "eyeball" version IP4M-1055E. The closest Dahua match appears to be the IPC-HDW2439T-AS-LED-S2 which appears to be cheaper than the Amcrest.

So we are 1 for 3 which means some of them my indeed be made by the same people that make some of the Dahua cams. If Dahua makes all of its models is still a bit unclear. The Chinese supply chain seems to cross a lot.  But I don't think it matters all that much. Once you sort the specs you want for a cam you can see what models of what brands match up and then see if any one has loaded a more feature rich firmware on it or even give it a try yourself. It seems that in many cases the loader with not load something that will brick the cam though in some cases you might lose a feature you liked and not be able to go back.

You might also want to look at this Wikipedia entry which outlines known Dahua security issues.

Dahua IPC-HFW2831T-ZAS-S2 vs IPC-HFW4631H-ZSA

Mention in here:

8MP PoE Security IP Camera - OEM IPC-HFW2831T-ZAS-S2 2.7~13.5mm Vari-Focal Lens 5X Optical Zoom, Ultra 4K Bullet Outdoor Starlight Camera with 196.85ft Night Vision,SD Card Slot,H.265,IP67  Specs sheet

6MP Outdoor POE Bullet IP Camera IPC-HFW4631H-ZSA, 2.7-13.5mm Motorized Varifocal Lens, 5X Optical Zoom Security Camera with Built-in Mic, IR 197ft Night Vision, Smart H.265 WDR, SD Card Slot, IP67

Overview

First note, oddly they seem to use diff and conflicting plugins so you can only view the stream from one or the other in IE at the same time.

Second I had a 256 GB SD card from my old LG V30 phone that I had previously used in the SereneLife IPCAMOD47 failure which I tried to use in the IPC-HFW2831T-ZAS-S2  after formatting it but it appeared as 2 drives and failed to format. I did not have a second to 256 GB to try so it might have chosen that time to go bad. Sticking the 256 GB SD back in a Windows 10 PC it says only 47 MB like the second drive listed in the camera now. Sticking a 128 GB into it seems to work OK. I was able to recover the 256 GB SD with SD formatter.

Third you will notice (if you click on the images) the form factors between the 4Ks (3840x2160, Aspect ratio = 1.78) and the 6MP (3072x2048, Aspect ratio = 1.5) are quite diff. Most of the 4K's added pixels are in adding width not height which might factor into you choice.

The tests

One of my Reolink 511s is starting to have moisture issues so I thought it would be a good time to upgrade the IPC-HFW4631H-ZSA with a IPC-HFW2831T-ZAS-S2 and use the IPC-HFW4631H-ZSA to replace the 511. Before that though I wanted to do a quick compare so stick the IPC-HFW2831T-ZAS-S2 next to IPC-HFW4631H-ZSA and captured some video and snapshots from them and the Amcrest IP8M-2496 in the same location to get both zoomed and wide compares. 

Videos

Daytime

These videos the Dahuas start off on max zoom. You can see me stepping off and dropping eye charts at about 50, 100 feet and at the gate about 188 feet from the camera array.  There is an old license plate on the cart I'm pulling for reference too. At about 1:24 PM I start back from the gate. About 1:40 PM both Dahua cameras are zoomed to max view angle to compare with the Amcrest. 

IPC-HFW4631H-ZSA video

IPC-HFW2831T-ZAS-S2 video

IP8M-2496 video

Nighttime with IR

The 6MP looks slightly better to me. Start with just IR lights on (note mainly from IR flood). Shortly after the start the white driveway lights come on the go off just before the end of the video. The driveway lights have almost no affect on the video detail. Passing cars give indications of motion blur affects from the slow shutter speed.

IPC-HFW2831T-ZAS-S2 video

IPC-HFW4631H-ZSA video

Nighttime low light color

The 8MP does way better here. Both cams are set to manual 1/12 exposure, color mode and 0-100 gain range. Otherwise all default settings. Start with just IR lights on, mainly from IR flood, but they seem to have no real affect unlike the HikVision ColorVus that tend to get a purple tint when IR floods are on. About 9:38 PM the white driveway lights come on making a dramatic change in both videos. 

For instance the old school house across the street lit by its own security light is about all you can make out on the 6MP though if you look real close can see where the sky is slightly lighter the trees and shadow on the ground. After the driveway lights come on the detail is better but 50 foot detail is still not as good as in IR night vision. Though past 50 feet it was better in color mode.

By contrast the 8MP actually appears to be in color though again the details are few. You can kind of make out the eye chart silhouette and moon shadows. After the driveway lights come on the detail is almost that of day time. 

Passing cars give indications of motion blur affects from the slow shutter speed. Shortly before the end of the video the driveway lights go back off again showing how quickly the cameras adapt.

IPC-HFW2831T-ZAS-S2 video

IPC-HFW4631H-ZSA video

In pics

The UPS box is at about 160 feet.

You can watch the videos to see how fast the zooms and focusing work but are some quick snaps to see how the cams compare in max zoom. The calculated DORI numbers are

Click on an image to see close to full screen and rapidly switch between.

The 6MP camera view

The 8MP/4K camera view

Just to drive home the diff distance makes, here are views from the cameras mounted about 20 feet from the UPS box. 

View from another Dahua 6MP in widest view mode.

View from an old Foscam FI9804WS 720p cam.

I used the 6MP Dahua and will use the new 8MP cam in max zoom but while I have them all together I though I'd get some wide angle view compares as well. Not e how much the auto focus improves the detail. The 50 foot chart is clearer even to the 6MP camera than the fixed Amcrest 4K. The Dahua 4K is even better. Granted it is also almost twice the cost of the Amcrest.

The Dahua 6MP in widest view

The Amcrest 8MP/4K wide angle view

The Dahua 8MP/4K in widest view

Nighttime with IR

6MP just IR

6MP in IR mode with driveway lights on.

8MP just IR

8MP in IR mode with driveway lights on.

Nighttime low light color

6MP color mode.

6MP in color mode with driveway lights on.

8 color mode

8MP in color mode with driveway lights on.

ColorVu supplemental light off/on axis tests

As I mentioned in my review HikVision ColorVu cameras the supplemental light is really too bright to use in most cases but it is also lights up pretty much 180 by 180 degrees, which is also an issue if anything is close, so enabling it on a sky cam might be helpful to other near by cams.

Off axis test. 

It is raining with heavy clouds taking the moon out of the picture. The supplemental light settings at times (bottom time stamp) are:

• 8:47 change from 10 to 50
• 8:48 change from 50 to 100
• 8:49 change from 100 to 10

The ColurVu is mounted on the edge of the roof above the bird feeder.
The trees seen to light up on the edge of the view are about 50 feet from the cam on the left to about 33 feet center. The rain helps show some of the limitations of illumination from a camera instead of off axis. Camera is 2.8mm OEM of the Hikvision DS-2CD2347G1-LU I bought off Amazon. (video)

The Amcrest is mounted on the barn 43 feet from the ColorVu. Camera is a IP4M-1026 pushed to the max 1/3 second exposure and max gain. (video)

Dahua mounted about 4 feet behind the ColorVu on the soffit.  Camera is a IPC-HDW4631C-A also pushed to the max 1/3 second exposure and max gain. (video)

No light test.

Cameras are all in the same places as off axis test but ColorVu is angled down to roughly match the view form the Dahua. Also since there is more light I also tested motion with my black dog and me moving about. Moon would have been down to about last quarter but as the lack of any shadows shows it was pretty much obscured by clouds.

The test starts with the back door light on and a ladder in view of the Dahaua cam. The following happens at these times (the lower timestamp):

• at 8:43 the back door light is turned off and after a few seconds the ColorVu light comes on auto. Note black dog near far corner of house and the kind of purple tint the IR floods give the ColorVu video before the supplemental light kicks in.
• at 8:44 I turn the ColorVu light off. A few seconds after that I come out to get the ladder with a hat light on so I can see what I'm doing. Note the blur and low frame rate.
• at 8:46 I go back inside then come back out to walk carefully past with the hat light off
• at 8:47 I come back, ( I forgot my keys) with the hat light on cause it really is too dark to be walking safely with it off, then go off to feed.
• at 8:48 my white dog appears at the far corner of the house and wanders about for around 5 minutes. 
• at 8:53 I come back from feeding, turn my hat light off and wander carefully into the yard a bit to test for motion blur. Note I have to turn my hat light back on to see where I'm stepping part of the time.
• at 8:55 go back in triggering the back door light to come on.
• at 8:56 I come back out to do another motion test with the back door light on. Then plug a hole something dug next to the bird feeder.
• at 8:57 I go back in. Not the cats lurking on the walk way.

ColorVu video
Amcrest video
Dahua video

On axis test

Cameras are all in the same places as off axis test but ColorVu is angled down to roughly match the view form the Dahua. ColorVu camera has the supplemental light set to a fixed value of 10. For this view 10 seemed to be the max I could run the supplemental light at without causing glare that would diminish the view of the stars and distance trees.

22:21 to 22:25 White dog starts by the back door and then wanders the yard.

ColorVu video
Amcrest video
Dahua video

A quick compare of focus

Compared in this post
Reolink PoE IP Camera Outdoor (Pack of 2) 5MP HD Video Surveillance Work with Google Assistant, Security IR Night Vision Motion Detection Audio SD Card Slot RLC-420-5MP

Reolink PoE Camera 5MP Super HD 4X Optical Zoom Outdoor Indoor Video Surveillance Work with Google Assistant, IP Security IR Night Vision Motion Detection with Phone App RLC-511

Amcrest ProHD Fixed Outdoor 3-Megapixel (2304 x 1296P) Wi-Fi Vandal Dome IP Security Camera - IP3M-956W

I wanted to do a quick compare of auto focus vs fixed and highlight depth of field. I was upgrading the bird feeder cams from a Escam Q900 and Amcrest IP3M-956 to a Reolink 5MP. I wanted to see if the auto focus RLC-511 or the static focus RLC-420-5MP would work better. While the bird feeder is the primary thing I want to monitor having coverage of the yard beyond is a definite plus. So I replaced the Escam with the 2 Reolink models and stuck some wet floor signs in the yard to get a better idea of focus / detail, randomly placed at 26, 32 and 45 feet. There is also a license plate one the fence just beyond the barn in the shadows but that turned out to be irrelevant for this test.

The 4 cams pointed at the feeder.

Note there is a 4th cam, a Hikvision DS-2CD2142FWD-I , looking down though it is mainly to cover the north end of the walkway.

The Amcrest IP3M-956 was OK but was really too close to the feeder for good focus and too low rez for good detail of the yard. Plus being an outdoor dome it needed cleaning a lot.

Full Amcrest shot

For a better look here is a cropped version

Cropped shot from Amcrest

Oddly the flower pot seems close to the center of focus. This would tend to indicate that despite being and "outdoor camera" it is probably focused for indoors. Thinking I need to go back and test my cameras for center of focus. The outdoor models generally seemed focused around 30 feet but I had not done any real testing.

Now compare that to the view from the RLC-511 that zoomed out all the way has almost the same view angle as the Amcrest.

Full RLC-511 shot at widest view angle.

Obviously just going from 3MP to 5MP helps a lot.

RLC-511 cropped view of shot.

Cropped you can the feeder is in center focus but even the first sign looks pretty good.

Here is the same view from the RLC-420-5MP. It is running a 3.6 mm lens so it is not quites as wides as the others so you would expect it to be just a touch sharper.

RLC-420-5MP full shot

In the cropped version the signs look noticeably clearer while the feeder has lost just a bit. Obviously the depth of field on the static is the around 26 feet the first sign is setting at.

Since I set these up for monitoring the feeder it is in the center of the field and close enough to cause the auto focus to focus on it. Not to mention get in close like this.

Though obviously I need to up the shutter speed. Unfortunately The Reolink cams only allow for changing the frames/second. So I'm putting this back on 30 fps from the 15 fps in the above shot. See the matching video here showing the auto focus recovery times after various amounts of zoom.

Amcrest and the similarly functional Dahua definitely have Reolink beat when it comes to exposure options. Note the Amcrest and Dahua interfaces are almost identical.

Amcrest manual exposure settings

Amcrest auto and semi auto exposure settings.

Auto focus on zoom can be a bit laggy as in the video above and even sometimes get stuck out of focus when things pass in front of it. Generally though it is not too bad as this video shows. And just for compare here is the matching video from the static focus RLC-420-5MP,

Reolink 511 vs Amcrest IP8M-2496 (5MP autofocus vs 8MP fixed)

I look like a bad cable might have killed the Amcrest IP8M-2496 I had pointed at the north yard. I was thinking I might want to swap it with a Reolink 511 anyway as I had a couple spares. With all the posts suggesting 4K (8MP) cams I thought this would be another good compare of 5MP autofocus vs 8MP. Or how rez does not make up for proper focus. Since the Amcrest died the shots are not exact compares but are from the same time on two consecutive night so damn close. Ignore the on screen times. The Reolink seems to be on PST. Bost cams were tweaked a bit to get the best looking video though not that far off default values.

The old cam is the Amcrest UltraHD 4K (8MP) Outdoor Bullet POE IP Camera, 3840x2160, 131ft NightVision, 2.8mm Lens, IP67 Weatherproof, MicroSD Recording, White (IP8M-2496EW-28MM) which according to specs has a 112 degree horizontal view angle and 0.06 Lux/F1.6(Color,1/3s,30IRE) 0.3 Lux/F1.6( Color,1/30s,30IRE) low light rating. And went for about $110 new.

The replacement is the Reolink PoE Camera 5MP Super HD 4X Optical Zoom Outdoor Indoor Video Surveillance Work with Google Assistant, IP Security IR Night Vision Motion Detection with Phone App RLC-511 which claims a 90 degree horizontal view angle but give no low light info other the 0 Lux with IR on. And as I'm writing this is going for $71 on Amazon.

First at high noon. You can see the view is a bit wider in the Amcrest though not as clear. Especially in the shadows. Note the white dog in the Amcrest shot is not easier to see than the black dog in the Reolink shot.

Amcrest at noon

Reolink at noon

Zoomed in to roughly the same section of dirt.

The Amcrest zoomed in. Note the black dog behind the white one. You might not even notice it if not looking for it.

Reolink zoomed in a bit more than the Amcrest. The black dog is almost the same spot as in the Amcrest shot though facing the other way.

How about an early morning shot just as the cam flips to color mode? In this one it is a tougher call but the Amcrest might be a bit better.

Reolink early morning

Amcrest early morning

On IR the Amcrest is better close in but the Reolink kills it in the darker areas. Note there is an IR flood on the side of the house near the dog.

Amcrest IR shot. White dog in front of tree.

Reolink IR shot. White dog on walkway near IR flood.

As a compare and to kind of take the cams IRs out of the equation here is a shot from the Reolink with the cams IR LEDs off. I wish I'd saved a similar shot from the Amcrest when I installed the IR flood.