IPC-Color4K-X

This camera serves to overview the front of my home & the street. Thanks to the street lights the image almost looks like daytime. Under a circumstance where the street lights weren't on but this cameras were, the quality didn't drop much it just got somewhat darker. You could see what's important under the right placement. Microphone is alright, didn't expect much as it's not the main focus of this item. While I understand the price may be a little high, it beats having to figure out firmware updates yourself & which ones won't brick the camera. In my experience, EmpireTech provides phenomenal support for their products. Thinking of buying a 6mm one of these for a specific use-case where identification is necessary. The other versions of the camera really just serve as overview cameras; somewhere to be placed up high to capture the most due to the wide angle.

If you are looking for good outdoor security cameras with decent night performance that will actually be useful in the case of an incident, go look up "DORI" and do some research, and then evaluate the specs on this camera. I've used a half dozen different cameras over the years, and the low light performance of this camera has been the best I've seen by a wide margin at this price point. Note there are good arguments for "night vision" vs "color night vision" and their effects on DORI which you'll have to tailor to your actual needs, though I find color information to be useful enough in a security situation that I like using this for the "wide view" for DOR, and more focused regular night vision for Identify, which can have a slightly smaller sensor if you have to (1/1.8 for night vision, 1/1.2 for color night vision is a good test). The sensor size on this camera is fantastic and really makes the color night vision impressive. Anything smaller than this sensor size is basically garbage for the purpose. Its a Dahua rebrand, so take proper precautions with network security (I used the matched NVR to isolate the cameras, and then block the NVR from talking to the internet at all). The Empire Tech has a relatively good reputation in the community from what I understand too, thought I haven't had to exercise that at all, but was a factor in me choosing THIS rebrand over others.

This is really the best night vision camera I've seen. I've another 6 cameras and they are all IPC-T5442TM-AS, which are very good at night. But, I was looking for something better. All cameras I've had over the last seven years have had great images during the day. It really has been night vision where I see the big difference. Two years ago I tried an IPC-T5442TM-AS and it was so much better than my older cameras at night... so I replaced them all with IPC-T5442TM-AS (mostly 6mm). As soon as I read about the larger sensor size and very low 0.0005 Lux, I ordered this EmpireTech 4K 8MP camera. After only 1 night up, the night vision was just so much better, I ordered a second one of these cameras the very next day. I have now replaced 2 of my IPC-T5442TM-AS with these cameras. If you're looking for a night vision, this is the camera. If you are primarily concerned about daylight video or are simply monitoring your porch, then purchase a less expensive IPC-T5442TM-AS.

Defective a portion on the lower right is blurry and out of focus. Do not buy 6mm version unless ur willing to risk it

After a recent uptick in criminal activities, i needed to upgrade some of the cameras around the house. Typically, I'll avoid 8MP cameras due to their small sensor size, but this one had a 1/1.2 sensor in it and i decided to give it a try. It replaced the IPC-HDW5231R-ZE (2MP Starlight varifocal zoom with a 1/2.8 sensor) i purchased from the same seller years ago. Note that the screenshots shown are a comparison between IPC-HDW5231R-ZE (optimized tuning and would be at 2.8MM zoom or close to 2.8MM) and the IPC-Color4K-X 3.6MM (no optimization, this was an initial testing picture). Both screenshots taken from BlueIris Console. Note that the screenshot with the IPC-Color4K-X 3.6MM is overblown with the street light, but again this screenshot was taken without optimization of the camera itself. Due to the larger sensor, the IPC-Color4K-X 3.6MM has quite a wide view, but the difference in detail is significant over the IPC-HDW5231R-ZE 2MP. Even compared to the IPC-T5442T-ZE (4MP 1/1.8 Starlight) which i purchased alongside the IPC-Color4K-X 3.6MM the differences between the two are significant. IPC-T5442T-ZE 4MP is a step up to the IPC-HDW5231R-ZE 2MP. The IPC-Color4K-X is several steps ahead both in my opinion. Cons: - there is an odd stuttering when it is set to h265 recording, but it does not do this in h264. I expect a firmware update would fix this. - 3.6MM on this is quite wide with a 1/1.2 sensor and there would be more purposes with a varifocal zoom or a 6MM fixed lens version. More models should be coming in the future though. The IPC-Color4K-X's performance is similar to when i jumped from the Canon 7D to a Sony A7RII; completely caught off guard in the best means possible. I look forward to either purchasing another IPC-Color4K-X as well as future models with a 6MM lens or varifocal lens.