Luminys vs EmpireTech?

L

lipelliot

n3wb
Oct 5, 2025
17
4
USA
I'm hoping to learn what the differences are between Luminys vs EmpireTech.

I know this forum strongly supports Andy w/ empiretech, and that's great, but since Luminys is the same Dahua hardware, is there a big difference between the two? What I can tell it would be two things: international shipping availability and firmware. is that about it?

I have plans to get cameras installed at my house, and have an installer who would prefer to use Luminys instead of me buying empiretech. It's easier for me so I'd love to, but what am I losing out on if I do it his way? Same cameras (as close as I can manage it). Is there a comparison chart to translate empiretech models to Dahua/Luminys?


Thanks!
 
There isn't a lot of real world use data on them yet, but it appears the functionality between Dahua and Luminys could be problematic trying to add a camera from one brand to another NVR.

FCC is questioning if they should allow it. Since Luminys claims they are phasing out Dahua by next month, likely you won't get any firmware updates. And any future Luminsys cams bought after next month may not work on your NVR.

There is a chart to the US region cameras:

1762892193863.png

H

Thread 'Luminys'

Was poking around on the Luminys website. Thoughts on this one? Look like the color4k-t with a 1-1/8" :

  • Like

U

Thread 'DahuaUS>Luminys First impression'

Well finally got the first product, went ahead and got a 12mp just to see what it could do in well lit retail environment. To my surprise they are not backwards compatible with Dahua NVRs like Flir was when Dahua took them over. Only Onvif support and only in sub stream of D1 even though NVR shows 4512x2512 resolution. Looks like after 10 years I’ll finally be looking for different vendors.
1742655031279.jpeg

 
  • Like
Reactions: Parley, JDreaming and lipelliot
I saw those posts, but figured maybe in the 8 months since then we'd have more data.

Thanks for the chart. Is there another that correlates EmpireTech to Dahua, I'm not familiar enough with Dahua models, or can I get some help on which ones are closest to these - PTZ3E10X-T180, IPC-T54PRO-ZE, IPC-B58PRO-Z4E, H4C (little indoor camera)?

I'm building my own NVR w/ BlueIris, so compatibility isn't a problem.

My biggest concern would be lack of firmware updates, why wouldn't they continue? One comment in those threads mentions that people were quitting Dahua before Luminys was created and maybe there wouldn't be anyone capable of writing new firmware? that seems like a weak argument, since it's been well over a year that this has been happening, but it's exactly what I'm afraid of, and why I would rather get EmpireTech. Would it be possible to put Andy's firmware on Luminys? it's the same hardware, right?
 
You can't put Dahua International firmware on Dahua USA cameras and vice versa as they are region locked, so likely you can't put it on Luminys either.

Coupled with the fact that people were not able to put Dahua cams on Luminys NVR and vice versa without there being issues would lead me to believe there is enough of a difference in the firmwares that you will be stuck with whatever firmware it comes with.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Parley, lipelliot and JDreaming
wittaj said:
You can't put Dahua International firmware on Dahua USA cameras and vice versa as they are region locked, so likely you can't put it on Luminys either.

Coupled with the fact that people were not able to put Dahua cams on Luminys NVR and vice versa without there being issues would lead me to believe there is enough of a difference in the firmwares that you will be stuck with whatever firmware it comes with.
Click to expand...
Thanks, that seems like sound logic.

Would there be fears that the firmware would never be updated in the future? Eventually they'll have to hire developers and update things, right?
 
I think given they claim to be moving away from Dahua hardware next month that there is zero chance they would invest in improvements to those cameras.

They will want to focus on the lines they produce and encourage those sales.

Keep in mind that even Dahua and other cams don't have a long life of firmware updates. So really I wouldn't worry about that part.

Most here don't update the cameras if they are working for their needs. Too many times a firmware update breaks functionality of something you were using.

Personally, the only reason I wouldn't want to go to that route is they are selling older gear to begin with, so as an example their 5442 equivalent will be an S2 or older version. Unless you get bargain basement deals, you are better off spending the comparable money on the newest version. There is a big difference between the 5442 S2 version and the 5442 S3 version.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bigredfish, JDreaming and Parley
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom