Mini-Review EmpireTech IPC-Color4M-T

[bigredfish]

Sample #2
Ok so obviously 4ms is too fast for the rather weak LED's.

• 1st clip is using just the onboard LED's, 2nd is with my normal motion flood
• Take Exposure to 8ms
• Take Sharpness down to 25
• The far point at the neighbors corner is 50ft

View attachment 2-NoFlood-192.168.1.110_ch10_20251121190607_20251121190712.mp4
View attachment 2-WithFlood-192.168.1.110_ch10_20251121190915_20251121191014.mp4

 

[bigredfish]

Sample #3
Ok similar but tweeks:

• reducing Expsoure to 7
• Smart Illum to 100
• and turning on AFSA

Again with and without added flood assistance



View attachment 3-NoFlood-192.168.1.110_ch10_20251121194011_20251121194110.mp4
View attachment 3-192.168.1.110_ch10_20251121193425_20251121193527.mp4

 

[bigredfish]

Sample #4
Ok same settings as the one above but Illumination set to IR mode

• Pretty static picture but video goes to shit after 20ft.
• IR AND white LED's are both less powerful on this camera than the 54PRO

View attachment 3IR192.168.1.110_ch10_20251121194613_20251121194719.mp4
-

 

[bigredfish]

Sample #5
Finally, closer to how I would actually run it with the 5442 looking at the dock turned on as well as the motion flood enabled

Still needs some work but its getting there




Showing Dock 5442 OFF (as has been for all videos above) and ON




View attachment 4-192.168.1.110_ch10_20251121201419_20251121201517.mp4

 

[bigredfish]

My old beat up 5442 ASE 3.6mm fixed S2 turret and some volunteer testers


View attachment 192.168.1.110_ch10_20251117022541_20251117022605.mp4

 

[lightnup]

Not seeing a difference between onboard and floods

EDIT: wrote this after viewing post #240, did't see the others.
Like you said a little extra light and closed in is not to bad if you need to have color.

 

[bigredfish]

Try sample #2 and 3 on a real screen not a phone. I can assure you there's a BIG difference

 

[bigredfish]

A word about AFSA

I had it on AUTO and it never did activate.
When you instead turn it to ON, its obvious.

Problem is, it does as @steve1225 mentioned, slow Exposure greatly, and boost Gain greatly.
I'd leave it OFF unless your priority is pretty still images with no movement.



View attachment AFSA-ON-192.168.1.110_ch10_20251121214821_20251121214915.mp4

 

[bigredfish]

Not seeing a difference between onboard and floods

EDIT: wrote this after viewing post #240, did't see the others.
Like you said a little extra light and closed in is not to bad if you need to have color.

LOL you were right on #240, my apologies. The Motion Flood added starts with Sample #2.
Fixed it. Thanks

 

[lightnup]

Old beat up 5442 still looks better

 

[lightnup]

Saying this since 3449 loses it shit after 20 ft. Even though being it picks up light better at 50 ft in color

 

[tmxv4128]

I guess I am just lucky. In the two locations where I have the Color4M-T cameras located (front entry and backyard dog play area) these cameras work better than expected with no added lights. Yesterday I swapped T54PRO-ZE and T54IR-ZE cams in their place, and it wasn't even a fair comparison. The Color4M-T's just work a lot better. These cameras are great in total darkness using their IR to illuminate the scene. If I had those two areas constantly illuminated with porch/outdoor lights, I would probably choose the T54IR-ZE and T54PRO-ZE over them, but for the dark locations where I don't want to leave the lights on, these are better.

 

[bigredfish]

Recall I have the 4M-T covering my front door also.
In tight closed spaces they work pretty good.

But the 5442 still has better image quality

 

[biggen]

Thanks @bigredfish for these tests. I'm going to try one of these 4M-Ts. I like the fact it can switch from IR to color even if the light isn't super bright.

Is there another camera that can do this (switch from IR to color with light upon motion/IVS trigger)?

 

[pol]

Hello all! I have 6 of these cameras that are working great so far. I also have the 8ch-poe-2hdd-ai NVR.

Question:

• I've set the main stream to 4mpx, 15fps, 15 iframe, cbr and 6144kbit/s.
• I've set the substream 1 to D1, 10fps, 10 iframe, CBR and 512kbit/s
• I've set the substream 2 to 720p, 10fps, 10 iframe, CBR and 1280kbit/s

About substream 2, I've also tried higher fps and bitrate but the issue is still the same: the video quality is very poor, like less than substream 1 poor. Why is that? What am I missing here?

Thanks

 

[wittaj]

Hello all! I have 6 of these cameras that are working great so far. I also have the 8ch-poe-2hdd-ai NVR.

Question:

• I've set the main stream to 4mpx, 15fps, 15 iframe, cbr and 6144kbit/s.
• I've set the substream 1 to D1, 10fps, 10 iframe, CBR and 512kbit/s
• I've set the substream 2 to 720p, 10fps, 10 iframe, CBR and 1280kbit/s

About substream 2, I've also tried higher fps and bitrate but the issue is still the same: the video quality is very poor, like less than substream 1 poor. Why is that? What am I missing here?

Thanks

Post video examples and screenshots of your settings. Probably need higher bitrate. But some scenes that have a lot to process can be problematic and look like crap.

 

[bigredfish]

Thanks @bigredfish for these tests. I'm going to try one of these 4M-Ts. I like the fact it can switch from IR to color even if the light isn't super bright.

Is there another camera that can do this (switch from IR to color with light upon motion/IVS trigger)?

Just the new 54PRO and I wouldn’t advise it until/unless they get it sorted out.

The light on these seems to peter out at between 20-30ft usable.

*Also note that like the 54PRO the white LEDs will NOT come on using simple Day/Night setting set to AUTO like the 5442s or most other cameras we’ve become used to when light conditions change.
They will only come on when activated by the Smart Illumination sensor on motion. Smart Illumination must be chosen OR you can run them full time color with LEDs on by choosing the Warm color setting

So when my floods kick in, the 5442 and most cameras, will switch to color using the AUTO Day/Night setting.
These ignore Day/Night Auto setting

Also note there is No critter filter for IVS, and no VMD

 

[bigredfish]

Hello all! I have 6 of these cameras that are working great so far. I also have the 8ch-poe-2hdd-ai NVR.

Question:

• I've set the main stream to 4mpx, 15fps, 15 iframe, cbr and 6144kbit/s.
• I've set the substream 1 to D1, 10fps, 10 iframe, CBR and 512kbit/s
• I've set the substream 2 to 720p, 10fps, 10 iframe, CBR and 1280kbit/s

About substream 2, I've also tried higher fps and bitrate but the issue is still the same: the video quality is very poor, like less than substream 1 poor. Why is that? What am I missing here?

Thanks

Bitrates are way too low

 

[bigredfish]

I guess I am just lucky. In the two locations where I have the Color4M-T cameras located (front entry and backyard dog play area) these cameras work better than expected with no added lights. Yesterday I swapped T54PRO-ZE and T54IR-ZE cams in their place, and it wasn't even a fair comparison. The Color4M-T's just work a lot better. These cameras are great in total darkness using their IR to illuminate the scene. If I had those two areas constantly illuminated with porch/outdoor lights, I would probably choose the T54IR-ZE and T54PRO-ZE over them, but for the dark locations where I don't want to leave the lights on, these are better.

I did all that on a bum right knee so no jogging

 

[pol]

Post video examples and screenshots of your settings. Probably need higher bitrate. But some scenes that have a lot to process can be problematic and look like crap.

I think there is something weird going on with substream 2 itself.

This is the mainstream, nice and crispy:



This one is the sub1 with D1:



while this one is sub2 at 720p:



and this one is sub1 using the same settings as the above sub2:



while these the settings:




IMHO, it seems like the firmware is doing something to the sub2 regardless of the settings.

About firmwares: I'm using the latest available on Andy's website for both the cameras and the NVR.