Test & review: Dahua 4K UHD H.265 IP camera DH-IPC-HF81230E

4K ultra high definition and H.265 are two main trend in today's video surveillance industry. IP cameras deliver 4K ultra high definition images can provide amazing detail even when zoomed-in. The 4K image resolution is 4 times larger than 1080p image resolution, so installing a 4K IP camera can replace 4 sets of 1080p IP cameras to cover the whole surveillance area. H.265 is the latest video compression format which has can save up to 50% network bandwidth and video storage, when compared with the existing H.264 standard.

Dahua, the leading manufacturer of network video surveillance equipment, the company has a complete 4K H.265 product portfolio. DH-IPC-HF81230E, a 4K H.265 network camera utilizes 12 megapixel (4096x2160) CMOS image sensor with ultra low light performance, equipped with Dahua F1.5@3.5-16mm lens. This camera has good heat-dissipation performance, white color plastic housing, after the long-time operation, the security camera's temperature keeps stable. In terms of its interface, it has a 1 Gigabytes (10/100M/1000Mbps) RJ45 port, 1x RS485, 2CH Audio Input, 1CH audio output, 1CH HD-CVI video output, 2CH Alarm Input, 1CH Alarm Output, easy for installation.

Exceptional picture quality, low bandwidth

As the important aspect of its performance, we test its image resolution. Mounted a Dahua F1.5@3.5-16mm CS lens, under the minimum optical zoom, the camera aims at 4K image resolution testing card. In real-time mode, we find the camera's both vertical and horizontal resolution can reach up to approximate 2200TVL, shows the exceptional picture quality of 4K resolution. Most importantly, in the following color reproduction testing, we find its color reproduction is accurate, no color cast problem, its recognizable gray-scale level also reaches up to 17, 18 grade.

Dahua DH-IPC-HF81230E supports triple video stream output, ACF (Activity Controlled Framerate). In order to test its network bandwidth, we let the camera monitor the outdoor traffic road, in 4096*2160@25fps, 6Mbps parameter, we using the bit-rate calculating software to check its bitrate controlling, we find its bitrate is stabilized approximate 6.6Mps, within 5.3-6.8Mbps, adopting the H.264 High profile encoding, high compression ratio, ultra low bitrate; then set the video parameter to 4096*2160@25fps, 4Mbps, switch to H.265 encoding, we find the bitrate is stabilized within 4.4Mbps. Overall, its video stream performance is good, especially in H.265 encoding mode, this network camera's ROI encoding, ensuring the picture quality of important details, greatly saved video storage.

Excellent video surveillance environment adaptation

DH-IPC-HF81230E is equipped with intelligent techniques to improve quality and lower the costs of video surveillance. Wide Dynamic Range (WDR) technology can maintain proper image brightness and exposure, also the contrast and ensures image clarity. High Light Compensation (HLC) function enables camera to detect the strong spots (the over-exposure portion of image), then reduce the brightness of the strong spots to improve the overall images. This function is designed to allow security cameras capturing vehicle plate license. Additionally, DH-IPC-HF81230E also support BLC, digital Defog functions.

Good low light performance

We put the camera into the testing box, gradually reducing the illumination to simulate a dark environment, before switching to night mode (B/W), with help of AGC controlling, this IP camera can maintain good picture quality with color images, no image noise and color distortion problems; when illumination approaches to 0.38Lux, the network camera automatically switches to night mode; we keep reducing the illumination, when environment is close to 0.21Lux, image noise appears, image visibility is low;we also find in order to obtain color image, the minimum illumination is approximate 0.14Lux.

Intelligent Video Analysis (IVA)

In addition to the exceptional picture quality, DH-IPC-HF81230E supports ROI, SVC intelligent encoding, it also supports Intelligent Video Analysis (IVA) that can assist by alerting you when predefined alarms are triggered. By smartly combining up to 8 IVA rules, complex tasks are made easy and false alarms are reduced to a minimum.

Product Features

• >1/1.7" 12 Megapixel progressive scan CMOS
• >Support H.265/H.264 dual codec
• >Smart triple streams supported
• >Max 25fps@12MP(4096x2160)
• >BLC / HLC / DWDR / WDR
• >3D Dynamic noise reduction
• >Defog, ROI, EIS
• >Auto back focus
• >Audio I/O, Alarm I/O
• >100/1000M Base-T Ethernet

What's ACF?

Activity Controlled Frame rate is a camera function which determines the transmission rate of images onto the camera network. This is usually based on activity and is useful for camera installations where activities are usually low such as unmanned buildings during the night. This technique saves on storage and bandwidth requirements by streaming a low frame rate during periods of inactivity and automatically increasing the frame rate when activity is detected within the field of view of the camera.