improving night time cctv quality

[wjwren]

i have a 4mp hikvision dome on the house but the night image is quite grainy. What is the best way to improve this? It has internal IR, shall i turn this off and get an external IR unit? Or a flood light better?

[matty g]

Flood light serves 2 purposes. Gives better image quality and poss scares off intruder.

Any CCTV can be beaten with a £2 balaclava. Not being broken into is always preferential to being able to identify the guys who have already robbed you

[Spare tyre]

Depends what you are trying to capture I guess, potentially move the camera closer to the target having a narrower but clearer view

With mine, ambient lighting made a massive difference

I have hi lo security pir light, so on low until it senses

A tiny amount of light makes a big difference

[SavanP]

I thoroughly recommend the Hikvision IP (ethernet) 4MP Turret Dome Cameras.

Above is a screenshot of the current view of the garden, with no lighting and pitch black.

[wjwren]

my hikvision dome 4mp is quite grainy - its located top of house by bedroom, would a different style of hikviison camera be any better?

[Mgd_uk]

Have you enabled smart IR and checked the WDR settings?

[OldGermanHeaps]

Is it a dome or a turrent? The domes are ste at night ,exir turrents are great

[OldGermanHeaps]

Savan if you aim yours down and to the right slightly the image will brighten up a bit, ir reflecting off the brickwork is causing the agc to dim the whole image down a bit.

[OldGermanHeaps]

Mgd_uk said:

Have you enabled smart IR and checked the WDR settings?

Try wdr off, wdr can make it grainier at night but better during the day.

[juggsy]

OldGermanHeaps said:

Is it a dome or a turrent? The domes are ste at night ,exir turrents are great

Is this the one you have? Keen to get one of these myself and image quality looks great https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B017C4YXZO/ref=cm_sw_r...

[Mgd_uk]

I have a mix of domes and turrets, to be honest I don't see much difference in them, lighting and height of mounting makes the biggest change in my opinion.

This is a 2732 varifocal dome





This is a 2132 4mm dome



This is a turret 4mm

Edited by Mgd_uk on Wednesday 12th October 09:32

[wjwren]

How do you adjust the smart infared and other setting? Im using a Hikvison 7604 NVR. Ive tried logging in via the web interface on my pc but cant seem to see it?

[wjwren]

would this be a better choice?

[Mgd_uk]

wjwren said:

How do you adjust the smart infared and other setting? Im using a Hikvison 7604 NVR. Ive tried logging in via the web interface on my pc but cant seem to see it?

Manually assign your pc/laptop with an address on the same range as the cameras, then plug cable from your computer into one of the camera ports on the nvr and type the ip address of each camera into your browser, it's the easiest way I have found to do it

Edited by Mgd_uk on Wednesday 12th October 09:32

[OldGermanHeaps]

juggsy said:

Is this the one you have? Keen to get one of these myself and image quality looks great https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B017C4YXZO/ref=cm_sw_r...

Yep, i sell those for £115

[OldGermanHeaps]

[quote=Mgd_uk]I have a mix of domes and turrets, to be honest I don't see much difference in them, lighting and height of mounting makes the biggest change in my opinion.

I was referring to the 2142 domes that a lot of uk sellers are pushing at the moment, the curvature of the dome is tighter and the foam seal is crappier than the previous generation 2132 ones and its impossible to keep agood seal, you can get them good to start off with but after a cold night the foam round the lens shrinks and you get ir bleed. The 2742 has a bigger dome and better foam seal and doesn't suffer this issue. Your garage cam looks like it is starting to bleed ir is the rain shield extended too far? Or is it maybe a 2132 dome? the 2142s get a really bad grey haze over the image at night once the foam no longer seals the lens from the leds.

Edited by OldGermanHeaps on Wednesday 12th October 01:03

[OldGermanHeaps]

wjwren said:

would this be a better choice?

The brackets on those are more of a pain when fine tuning the angle on those, and the length they stick out from the wall make them a much bigger vandal target than the turrets. A lot easier to hit them with a stone or pole.

[SavanP]

OldGermanHeaps said:

Savan if you aim yours down and to the right slightly the image will brighten up a bit, ir reflecting off the brickwork is causing the agc to dim the whole image down a bit.

Thanks for this.

The only reason I have not done this is that the camera's main purpose is to monitor the back wall of the house. If I move this to the right, it will reduce the area which is monitored.

[Mgd_uk]

OldGermanHeaps said:

I was referring to the 2142 domes that a lot of uk sellers are pushing at the moment, the curvature of the dome is tighter and the foam seal is crappier than the previous generation 2132 ones and its impossible to keep agood seal, you can get them good to start off with but after a cold night the foam round the lens shrinks and you get ir bleed. The 2742 has a bigger dome and better foam seal and doesn't suffer this issue. Your garage cam looks like it is starting to bleed ir is the rain shield extended too far? Or is it maybe a 2132 dome? the 2142s get a really bad grey haze over the image at night once the foam no longer seals the lens from the leds.

Yes! the garage cam is actually a 2132, I was typing on my phone last night and didnt realise I had mis-typed it.so no, its a dome and doesnt have a rain shield, tho the IR is starting to bounce off the rafter in the garage, it was a little worse before and I have moved it down slightly, but im sure you know yourself the smallest movement when tightening them up can make some difference to the focal point.

[OldGermanHeaps]

SavanP said:

Thanks for this.

The only reason I have not done this is that the camera's main purpose is to monitor the back wall of the house. If I move this to the right, it will reduce the area which is monitored.

I would move it so that the edge of the window is at the edge of the image that way you are still covering the entry point but you have less brickwork in the image, that should brighten it up a bit without losing any area of interest.