Hey Guys,

Today we are setting up and reviewing footage of a Dahua fisheye security camera.  It’s a 12mp camera with a 1.98mm lens and given its hefty price and that has a Sony senor and Starvis technology on board, I can’t wait to get his one up and running.

IPC-EBW81230 12MP Fisheye Camera
Hikvision DS-7616NI-K2/16 4K NVR
6MP IP Camera IPC-EBW8630 Fisheye Camera

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Lots of info to cover today, so let’s get started.  First off, Starvis simply means the camera can produce high quality images in low visible light and with IR light.  It’s a back-illuminated sensor and can supposedly capture a wider range of light than a regular sensor.  We’ll put that to the test when we install this camera in various locations.

I got mine for $360US but the price can be as high as $1220.  Given the high price point, let’s be picky and see if we are getting a flawless end-to-end experience from unboxing to recording day and nighttime footage.  Product links are in the description below.

This camera has a huge 1/1.7” CMOS sensor and can deliver video at 25fps @ 12mp or 4000 X 3000 pixels.  I can tell already that BlueIris is going to struggle with disk utilization with my 12 cameras, even with “direct to disk” turned on and frame rates lowered.

Here inside the box, we have:

  1. A weather-sealing coupler to protect your RJ45 connector
  2. Some screws to install the camera onto a wall or ceiling
  3. 3 anchors for the screws
  4. A star wrench
  5. 3 star screws
  6. An awkwardly written/translated quick install guide
  7. A CD.  I no longer have a CD drive on my computer, so hopefully the install guide can let me know what I need to download so I can get the latest and greatest version.
  8. And here we have the camera itself.  Now you can definitely feel the quality here.  This is where they invested the money. It has a very solid and sturdy metal case and weights just over 2 pounds.  Given its low profile and good quality and secure mount this camera is classified as IK10 vandal-resistant.
  9. Here is the mounting bracket, which doesn’t seem to have a lock on it, so make sure to install the camera out of reach. It kind of snaps into the camera with these indentations but it doesn’t seem to lock
  10. Lastly a drill template

Here is a quick tour of the camera’s features:

  1. The camera is IP67 weather proof works at -30 degrees Celsius or -22 Fahrenheit which is important to know here in Canada
  2. There are 3 IR lights for night-vision allowing you to see 10m away or 32ft
  3. There is a little hole here for the mic
  4. On the bottom of the camera, there’s a door, let’s look inside.  There is a slot for a micro SD with a maximum capacity of 128 gigs for onboard storage. Side the latch and it will open on its hinge.  Place the card into position and close the latch and slide it to lock it.  I’m surprised there is no hard-reset button in here.
  5. We have the RJ45 connection which accepts Power Over Ethernet or PoE and the camera will use up to 12 watts of power
  6. Next, we have a 12v connection, but no power supply is included (as expected)
  7. We have audio in and out
  8. Followed by several wires for alarm inputs and outputs

Before installing this in my test locations, let’s get this setup on my network by plugging it into a PoE switch and recording footage in BlueIris and then let’s set it up on my dedicated NVR.

The quick guide indicates the IP address is 192.168.1.108.  My subnet is 192.168.0, so I will need a tool to change the IP address.  I need to download Dahua’s Config Tool to do this and to activate the camera.  Do a Google search for “Dahua’s Config Tool” and click the first result.  The title is “download links”.  Don’t click on the huge screenshot, this is not the right link.  The actual download link is the screenshot label below.

Once installed, Dahua devices will show in the list and press “Initialize” to activate the camera and give it a password.  The default IP address on mine was 192.168.1.108.  To update the IP address, select the camera and click on the green edit icon on the right.  Enter the new IP address, subnet mask and your router address.  I’ll change mine to 192.168.0.87.  I changed the 1 to a 0 to match the first 3 sets of numbers on my router.  When I hit save, it said there was a password error.  Hidden in the “Search setting” icon on top of the screen, there is a spot to enter the password you gave the camera.  Once updated, you can change the camera’s IP information and then access the camera from a browser.

If you are a Chrome user and want to access the camera’s web interface, you’ll need a plugin installed.  When accessing the camera through Chrome, you’ll now need to click on this plugin, not Chrome’s address bar.  Most features work, but the dewarp features will not work here.  Also, when you make a change on the setting tab, it seems to take effect before hitting the Save button.  You’ll also need to still hit Save, or your changes could be lost after some time.

In Internet Explorer, the Live-View frame is huge and cannot be downsized or scrolled.  This prevents you from accessing the configuration features.  Through no help from the manual and unorganized website, I discovered there is a program out there called Smart PSS for Dahua cameras and NVRs giving you access to live view, recording footage and the camera settings.  Its user interface is just as confusing as the web interfaces in that their choice of labels and the general layout are awkward and not initiative right off the bat.   It will take some getting used to.  Also, when setting a password for the application during the install, the user is faced with an annoying alarm welcoming you to Dahua’s software.  Make sure there is no cat on your lap when installing the software like I did.

To add this camera to BlueIris, I selected the Dahua brand and Main Stream RTSP for the model series in the camera’s properties. Selecting the generic ONVIF connection would also work.  Every day of footage uses about 42gigs of space.

If you are using a dedicated NVR to record your footage, you can do so in a few ways

  1. Over your network. Note the camera’s IP address and port and enter that information into one of the channel placeholders.
  2. You could also update the camera’s IP address to be on the NVR’s sub network, such as 192.168.254.87. Update the IP address from your computer using the config tool.  Then plug the camera into a PoE port on the back of the unit.  Update an open channel with this IP address.
  3. If your camera is brand new and not activated, let’s plug it into the NVR’s PoE port of a different brand. The NVR cannot access it, so you will need to go through the activation process already discussed.

Let’s discuss where you would install this camera, but first the purpose of this camera is to cover as wide of an area as possible.  The viewing area is 180 degrees both vertical and horizontal, meaning it’s a circle.  You could install the camera outside, flat against a wall over a door to give a view of the entire surroundings.  If you have an awning, placing this camera on its ceiling would provide a 360-degree view, including the doorway.  Make sure you note which side is up so when you are looking at the image, so it’s positioned correctly.  It’s where this notch is located, and I marked it, so I wouldn’t forget during the install.  Also test it out in your proposed location to make sure you get the image you’re expecting and that there is no glare from nearby light fixtures.

Test Location 1: Let’s start here under the awning on my back deck for my first temporary location

Wow! I can see my entire deck…  anyone walking up the stairs and entering or exiting my house.  I can even see my back fence at 300 feet away.  This is actually pretty cool.  Let me take a walk from the fence to the door.  I can see what is going on at a distance.  Not a lot of detail until I reach 25 feet away and the daytime picture quality is perfect.  In Night mode and with the IR lights deactivated, I’m nothing but a blur.  With the IR lights on, the image isn’t very bright, except for the deck floor, since the IR lights don’t have a lot of spread just 9 feet away from the floor’s surface.  When I step in front of the camera, the IR lights blow out the image.  If I turn on the BLC backlight mode, the image is much brighter and offers the best night image in this scenario and will adjust so the image isn’t as blown out.  I am assuming that is the Starvis technology coming into play making the dark areas bright.

Let’s look at the live viewing modes in Smart PSS. To use Live View, you need to hit the plus button on top of the page, then click Live View.  Add the camera to the viewing pane and double click it to take up the whole viewing area.  Right click and select what they call the “Fisheye Installation Mode”, which refers to the Camera Installation Orientation.  Select the position to update the different possible de-warp views.  Next select how you want the fisheye view broken out.  This feature is pretty neat and allows you to setup different viewing angles as if you have multiple cameras.  This however doesn’t affect how the footage is saved in Blue Iris as you can see in this image here on the right.

Back on the web user interface through Chrome plugin, you can select various recording modes which can be recorded outside of Smart PSS, like in BlueIris.  Make sure to hit save after making a selection.  Blue Iris will need the camera refreshed by disabling it and re enabling it.  You do lose some detail, but these views may come in handy.  Strangely enough, the ability to update the record modes from Smart PSS is not available.

Before we move on, let’s do a quick sound test… pretty good.  If you are having trouble with getting sound like I did, make sure mic is set and the sensitivity is turned up on the Audio page.

Test Location 2: Next we will test the camera here over my garage door

Wow, the visibility is fantastic.  I can see the entire view from my home with just one camera.  Now, on this cold sunny day, I’m holding a license plate.  At the 75-foot mark, you can read barely make out the text.  It’s not until 50 feet where you can comfortably see the characters.  This is perfect.  A super-wide camera is able to pick up fine details and the sun is shining directly on the lens.  Wow.

Now, from the side, up here on the step, I’m 30 feet away and the plate is legible at close to 180 degrees.  Impressive!

At night, with the IR lights off, the visibility is great, but any motion creates burr.  The plate isn’t visible until I stop at 8 feet away.

When the Christmas lights are off and the IR lights turn on and the image is ok.  Reading the plate is impossible with its reflective surface.  When I approach from the side, the IR lights are actually able to reach that angle, which I was not expecting.

The only usable recording mode beside 1O is 1P… as we scan through the modes.  In Smart PSS, you have a few more options but the regular fisheye is best.

Oh yeah, check out the trailers left behind by this rabbit.  Normally we don’t see trailers with a high quality sensor.  This reminds me of some footage I posted a few years back using a $100 Hikvision camera of a fox.  That’s quite the difference.

On the other hand, the color of the sky in this sped up 24 hours of footage is pretty nice.

Test Location 3: Next, let’s say I want to install a camera here inside my living room

We can test out this location by attaching the camera to this fan in my living room.  Using the normal profile, I am able to capture good footage during both day and night.   There is little to no blur at night.

Here’s a quick look at the recording modes in this scenario.

Let’s test the various views available in Smart PSS.

Test Location 4: Lastly, let’s have some fun and place it in the yard looking at the stars

This is my test location here, in the middle my yard.  The blue sky is perfect.  I’m so impressed with the daytime footage.  In order to see the stars at night, I increased the shutter speed and gain on the Night profile.  I also turned off the IR lights.  Since the camera will not switch profiles based on lighting conditions, the image gets blown out when the sun is up as the camera is still using the Night profile. I set up a schedule to switch between the two.  Definitely a strike against this firmware.  Normal means, the camera will always use the normal profile.  Full Time is, the camera will always use the Day or Night profile all the time.  Since I’m using schedule as the camera’s firmware doesn’t automatically switch between profiles, I will need to update it monthly with the sunrise and sunset time changes.  This is not the same as switching between day and night modes where the camera will auto adjust to various settings within the profile.  It’s more confusing than it needs to be.  I also found it very frustrating that my scheduled profile change would not take effect until I logged into the camera and click on the conditions tab where you define the profile.  See how the picture adjusts for my nighttime profile here but I didn’t make any settings change.  Anyways… let’s check out a 24-hour time-lapse.  Pretty cool.  One thing I noticed here which I did not like was the frost buildup on the dome cover when the temperature drops quickly at night.

Let’s dump a bucket of water on the camera and see what happens.  As expected, no issues.

IPC-EBW81230 12MP Fisheye Camera
Hikvision DS-7616NI-K2/16 4K NVR
6MP IP Camera IPC-EBW8630 Fisheye Camera

Auto Amazon Links: No products found.

During my testing, I struggled with the user interface.  Labels often got messed up, setting didn’t behave as expected and I needed to learn awkward terminology.   I often received a “too many online users logged in” message when trying to access the camera, when I try again, it goes away. I didn’t find their help on the UI or on Dahua’s own site or wiki that helpful.  But from what I see, this is a common issue.  The camera’s daytime image quality is top notch but the nighttime does suffer, especially if there is any movement, which is not cool when you are paying hefty price for that Sony sensor.  The 12mp sensor may also be overkill for this camera as it slows BI down and eats up more NVR space.  Those extra mega pixels do provide awesome resolution but the 6mp version of this camera should suffice.  They also need to update the firmware to include an option to have the daytime and nighttime profiles switch based on the environmental lighting, like some of their other cameras do.  I do like the fact that the camera is weather proof and the mic quality is also better than expected.  Overall, I feel the camera is overpriced and I expected a flawless end-to-end experience when paying so much.

Thanks for letting me share my experiences with you on this camera.  If you found this helpful!