Hikvision ColorVu 4MP Turret Camera, Smart Hybrid Light, Strobe, Two-Way Audio, Black DS-2CD2347G2H-LISU/SL(2.8mm)(eF)(Black)

What this black Hikvision camera is for

This Hikvision ColorVu camera aims to keep colour in dim scenes, and can answer back when someone comes too close. The black housing can suit dark fascias and modern frontages.

It can suit a homeowner or small business covering a door, yard or driveway, and an installer wiring a new network system. A turret camera has a rounded body with no dome cover over the lens.

How do ColorVu and Smart Hybrid Light work?

• ColorVu: Hikvision's name for its colour-at-night range. A wide F1.0 aperture lets in more light, so the camera can hold colour in dimmer scenes.
• Smart Hybrid Light: the camera carries two kinds of light. IR, at 850 nm, gives night vision without a bright visible beam, while white light lets the picture stay in colour.
• Deep learning: software trained on examples sorts what it sees into people and vehicles. Perimeter alarms such as line crossing and intrusion can then be limited to those targets.
• Active deterrence: events can trigger an audible warning and the strobe light, as well as recording and an email.
• H.265+: a video compression method that needs less bandwidth and storage than older formats for a similar picture.

Where to use it

The metal body and -30 °C to 60 °C working range suit outdoor walls and soffits, as well as indoor spaces such as warehouses.

The 2.8 mm lens has a wide view, so it suits areas a few metres from the camera. Examples are a front path, a parking bay or a shop floor. Think about neighbours before relying on white light or the strobe, because both are visible.

This model has no specific anti-corrosion protection, so it is not rated for coastal or chemical sites.

What the figures mean in practice

• DORI distances: DORI stands for detect, observe, recognise and identify. Plan on 6 m where you need to identify a stranger, and treat 61 m only as seeing that something moved.
• Close limit: focus holds from 2.5 m outwards at 2.8 mm, so do not expect sharp faces right under the camera.
• WDR and lux: WDR balances the bright and dark parts of a picture, so a bright road and a dark porch can both stay readable. Lux measures light falling on a scene, and AGC is the camera's automatic gain.
• 95 dB speaker: that level is measured at 10 cm from the speaker, so expect far less across a yard.
• 512 GB card: at the top 8 Mbps rate this works out at about six days of constant recording, and far longer at lower rates or on event recording.

Installing it

• Power budget: a PoE switch port needs to supply Class 3, one of the PoE power levels. Allow max. 10.5 W for this camera when adding up the switch's load.
• 12 VDC adapter: the coaxial plug has reverse polarity protection, which guards the camera if the supply is wired the wrong way round.
• Alarm contacts: the alarm output is rated max. 24 VDC/24 VAC, 1 A, so use a relay for anything larger.
• Fixings by code: as well as the wall and pole mounts, the options also include the DS-1276ZJ-SUS corner mount, the DS-1271ZJ-140 pendant mount, the DS-1273ZJ-140B wall mount and the DS-1280ZJ-PT6 junction box. These codes carry no colour, so check each one's finish on its own page.
• Set-up: use plug-in free live view in Chrome 57.0+, Firefox 52.0+ or Edge 89+, or the iVMS-4200 client.

Planning your system

A recorder is optional for small jobs, because the camera can save to a microSD card or to a NAS (network attached storage) drive.

For longer retention, add a network video recorder that shares one of the profiles below, plus hard drives sized for how many days you want to keep. Up to 6 live views can run at once and up to 32 user accounts can be set.

Standards and ratings explained

• IP67: dust tight, and protected against temporary immersion in water.
• Profiles S, G and T: parts of the Open Network Video Interface standard. Profile S covers streaming, G covers on-device recording and T covers advanced video such as H.265.
• EN 50130-4: an immunity standard for alarm equipment, covering electrical interference.
• ISAPI, SDK and ISUP: Hikvision's own routes for connecting software and management platforms to the camera.