Need help deciding between Pro-series ColorVu (Smart Hybrid) and AcuSense?

[LoinKing]

Need cameras for side alleys of our house. Both alleys have lighting at night and I currently have DS-2CD2043G0-I. They do an ok job at night, by lowering frame-rate and enabling WDR (but stay in color mode because of alley lights) but I've been thinking about upping the resolution to increase clarity at night AND get the AI Human detection events - this is very important as I'm tired of intrusion detection events because of cats etc.

1. Plain AcuSense camera, even 4MP (DS-2CD2046G2-I) would do the job. As per specs 2046G2 has 0.003 Lux rating vs current camera's 0.01 Lux. Does anyone know if 2046G2 actually has better low light performance, or its just a marketing gimmick because sensor size is same?

2. New ColorVu with Smart Hybrid Light seems really nice as, hopefully, it would eliminate the slight noise I get in night image (reminder, I already get color image due to alley lighting). On the downside, its more expensive AND I've come across various people complaining about too saturated (candy) colors and ghosting during motion. Is ghosting really an issue with latest ColorVu cameras?

PS. I'm not a fan of regular non-hybrid light ColorVu as I don't want bright-white light coming from cameras at night.

 

[Kyle]

Hi @LoinKing - in answer to your questions...

1. Plain AcuSense camera, even 4MP (DS-2CD2046G2-I) would do the job. As per specs 2046G2 has 0.003 Lux rating vs current camera's 0.01 Lux. Does anyone know if 2046G2 actually has better low light performance, or its just a marketing gimmick because sensor size is same?

Yes, the low-light performance will be an improvement on your current bullets, the 2xx6G2 Acusense cameras are also "Powered By Darkfighter" models, which will give a colour picture at night provided there is some lighting in the scene. However, it isn't as good at this as ColorVu for it.
This video is a good comparison of Powered By Darkfighter vs. ColorVu:

2. New ColorVu with Smart Hybrid Light seems really nice as, hopefully, it would eliminate the slight noise I get in night image (reminder, I already get color image due to alley lighting). On the downside, its more expensive AND I've come across various people complaining about too saturated (candy) colors and ghosting during motion. Is ghosting really an issue with latest ColorVu cameras?

It can be, but this only happens when the exposure time set on the cameras is far too short, which people are tempted to do with the ColorVu cameras as it makes the image brighter.
The shorter the exposure = the more vivid the picture, but the greater the chance of motion blur.
There may have also been some issues with old firmware on the ColorVu cameras, but any problems have been rectified in the updates.
So, it's a case of finding the right balance between the two for your scene - generally, we recommend at least 1/25 for the exposure (or shutter speed) on the ColorVu cameras to avoid any blur.

PS. I'm not a fan of regular non-hybrid light ColorVu as I don't want bright-white light coming from cameras at night.

The white light may not be needed if the lighting already in place in the alleys is sufficient for the camera, the built-in light is only used if the camera thinks the scene is too dark for the ColorVu feature to work well.
The hybrid cameras will also use their built-in light in the same situation as they switch from IR to ColorVu mode when movement is detected.
There's a bit more info on the hybrid cameras in these threads which may help:

Hikvision Announces New ColorVu Cameras with Smart Hybrid Light Technology

Over the last couple of weeks, you may have seen a couple of threads here at the forum discussing new Hybrid Light cameras from Hikvision. The information we had on these cameras initially was quite vague but with the help of Hikvision Support we now have a bit of a better understanding of this...

www.use-ip.co.uk

Pro Series with Smart Hybrid Light - Review and First impressions

The new ColorVu with Smart Hybrid light cameras are now available. As previous posts have detailed these are a hardware enhancement to the existing second generation ColorVu with AcuSense cameras, using the same G5 firmware. First generation ColorVu and AcuSense cameras...

www.use-ip.co.uk

 

[LoinKing]

the built-in light is only used if the camera thinks the scene is too dark for the ColorVu feature to work well.

Is it possible to set sensitivity when built-in LED light turns on, I'd prefer it to come on if its really dark - as per my own testing & environment.

Also, Do ColorVu support AcuSense as well? The specs don't say AcuSense explicitly but say AI based Human and Vehicle Detection based on deep-learning. I'm wondering if there is something else in AcuSense that is missing in ColorVu?

Yes, the low-light performance will be an improvement on your current bullets,

Current ones are 2CD2043G0-I (0.018 LUX @ F1.6), do you know if newer G2 regular models (non-Darkfighter) are better than G0 in low light as well e.g. 2CD2043G2-I (0.005 LUX @ F1.6)...or is it a negligible difference in real-life?

Another issue I have with my current mini-bullet cameras is that I just can't tighten them enough (after 5 years of use). Now even when I try to clean them, they move a little bit. Is there a fix for it or does the mechanical grip just loosens up overtime?

 

[Dan]

Hi @LoinKing

Yes, the ColorVu cameras do have a sensitivity setting to adjust how much or how little light is needed to trigger the day/night switch.

The other part of this question about ColorVu supporting AcuSense is answered in the other thread you commented on.

In regards to the difference in low-light performance, I think the difference will be negligible. LUX is really not something we usually use to compare camera performance because it is not a universal standard, each manufacturer tests LUX performance differently and some brands like Hikvision don't really offer any breakdown of this testing. This means there is no way to know what kind of image is being achieved at 0.018 or 0.005 LUX, it could literally be just the outline of something with no detail or just a detectable change in the pixels and not actually an image you would ever want to use.