Blue Iris

Is this legit or a gray-market camera?

https://www.ebay.com/p/15031751807
Dahua IPC-HDW4631C-A 6MP

The model number (if it's to be believed) is IPC-HDW4631C-A which comes up as a Dahua camera, but...it's inexpensive ($29.95) compared to most of the Dahua cams I see. Is this a "3-rd shift" camera, an "almost-but-not-quite" Dahua?

Dahua IPC-HDW4631C-A 6MP PoE Dome Camera with 2.8mm Lens and Built-in Mic
Here's what it claims for specs...if true, it might be worth trying one or two at $30 apiece. They're supposed to have a wide-angle lens

Product Identifiers
Brand Dahua
MPN IPC-HDW4631C-A
Ean 0611536285801
GTIN 0611536285801, 0637045840737, 0657008879659
UPC 0611536285801
Model IPC-HDW4631C-A
eBay Product ID (ePID) 15031751807

Product Key Features
Surveillance Technology IP/Network
Custom Bundle No
Smart Home Protocol Infrared
Type Dome
Connectivity Wired
Color Mode Color Day, B&W Night
Location Indoor/Outdoor

Additional Product Features
Features Infrared/Night Vision, Audio Recording
Maximum Resolution 6 Megapixels

Well it does state "Onvif", so you should be able to get it working with BI5.

It also states "even tho I can't upgrade firmware" in the comments, which tends to mean it has hacked Chinese firmware and cannot be updated in the normal manner = gray market. Checking model number on UK www gives me "Not Support Firmware Upgrade." and shows it can use POE.

Now if you use it on your second NIC isolated from the outside world, it may be worth a shot. Caveat emptor

But do let us know if they work, I do like Dahua cams, and that is cheap

Thixotropic wrote: ↑Sun Jul 19, 2020 2:17 am Is this legit or a gray-market camera?

https://www.ebay.com/p/15031751807
Dahua IPC-HDW4631C-A 6MP
q
The model number (if it's to be believed) is IPC-HDW4631C-A which comes up as a Dahua camera, but...it's inexpensive ($29.95) compared to most of the Dahua cams I see. Is this a "3-rd shift" camera, an "almost-but-not-quite" Dahua?

Dahua IPC-HDW4631C-A 6MP PoE Dome Camera with 2.8mm Lens and Built-in Mic
Here's what it claims for specs...if true, it might be worth trying one or two at $30 apiece. They're supposed to have a wide-angle lens

Product Identifiers
Brand Dahua
MPN IPC-HDW4631C-A
Ean 0611536285801
GTIN 0611536285801, 0637045840737, 0657008879659
UPC 0611536285801
Model IPC-HDW4631C-A
eBay Product ID (ePID) 15031751807

Product Key Features
Surveillance Technology IP/Network
Custom Bundle No
Smart Home Protocol Infrared
Type Dome
Connectivity Wired
Color Mode Color Day, B&W Night
Location Indoor/Outdoor

Additional Product Features
Features Infrared/Night Vision, Audio Recording
Maximum Resolution 6 Megapixels

camera1.jpg

I don't think it's worth the risk. That's just my opinion.

I would be very careful as well. Several years ago, I bought a cheap camera from Amazon and within a couple of minutes (according to the log in the firewall), it contacted an IP in Elbonia. By IP address, not through DNS. I trashed it. Not to say this one would do it, but I would consider it guilty until proven innocent. Well, it wasn't Elbonia but I don't remember the real country.

Unfortunately a ton of cameras do that, or something similar (not too sure on Elbonia though ). My SV3C cameras would try to communicate all over south-east Asia - and not just web protocols. They were trying all different mail protocols too, like SMTP, POP3, IMAP, etc. and this was with P2P and whatever nonsense turned off. Subsequent firmware updates have actually taken care of that and they are behaving quite well now. My Amcrest cameras however continue to try and reach AWS to communicate to the Amcrest cloud thingy - regardless of setting in the GUI. I've opened a case with support who generically said it needed to communicate to the cloud to tell it that it didn't want to use the cloud (?????) and that if unable, it should cease after a couple hours (don't remember how many - maybe 3?) but that this would reoccur after every power cycle. Well it's been >3 months and they still haven't stopped trying and Amcrest hasn't put out new firmware since 2018 for this still current model.

This just reinforces the continuing theme all over this forum.... cameras should be allowed to communicate with the BI server - NOTHING ELSE. They are IoT video devices, don't expect them to be secure. They need to be quarantined off as much as possible and bottom line, they don't have to talk to anything. The only essential communication is BI Server -> Camera(s).

Yes, I recommend keeping them off the internet. I'm surprised that camera connected to Elbonia though with all that mud.

I went for a second NIC and a separate LAN, but then I'm a hardware guy