Dahua Video Intercom VTO2111D-WP

5 Oct 2016

Update - 11 Dec 2018 - DO NOT BUY THIS ... Push Notification has disappeared from the app since the beginning of this year. Dahua has changed the mobile phone app in such a way that it has removed the push notification feature. As a result, there is no way that you can be notified of someone pushing the door bell.

Recently I was looking for a video intercom and one of my requirments is that the doorbell will ring a mobile device and not an indoor station. I just dont like the idea of indoor stations hanging everywhere in the house and you need to get to it to answer a call.

My preferred brand with IP cameras has always been Hikvision so that is where I started. No luck there as I couldnt find a Hikvision intercom with push notification to mobile devices.

So next brand I came across was Dahua. Initially I was looking at their VTO2000 doorbell. Despite the specification saying it supports mobile phone software, an email to Dahua support confirmed that this model doesnt work well with mobile devices. Instead they suggested their VTO2111D-WP model.

So I bought this from a company called pizetech.com. I got in touch with a person called Mike and he was most helpful and their price was the best. I paid USD 64 plus shipping from China.

Installation is very straighforward. This model supports both POE or 12V. As it is a wireless model and I can easily supply 12V to it, I stick with 12V.

For setup, there is an app called gDMSS (Android) or iDMSS (iphone) you need to load onto your phone. In theory you can setup the wifi password through the app but that process didnt work for me. So I had to plug the device into our LAN to set up the wifi password.

Like most IP camera, you can logon to the device and modify most settings by typing in its IP address. Initial id and password is both "admin". Dont forget to change the password! There are zillion of hackers out there, believe me!

Each device or phone that the doorbell link to must first be registered to the doorbell and have "push notification" turn on. Registration is straighforward through the app as all you need to enter is the IP address of the doorbell, user id, user password and then leave anything else default including the port 37777.

I have it linked to 5 devices and it seems to work fine. When someone pressed the doorbell, all the phones will play a tune, admittedly quite a soft tune so it can be hard to hear if you dont have your phones next to you.

So after a couple of weeks with the device, here is the list of pros and cons.

Pros

Push notification to mobile devices either on wifi or mobile network
You have a record of date and time when someone pushed the doorbell
Multiple devices support, both Android and iphone. And even older iphone (iphone 4 on IOS7) is supported. Great if you have a couple of these lying around gathering dust.
Excellent audio quality
RFID integration. It works with the common 13.56Mhz ISO 14443. The RFID control a relay output for door strike to unlock door but you can use it however you like. In addition, the phone app can activate the relay as well.

Cons

SD card not recognised by the unit - so we dont know if the unit is faulty or the SD card needs to be a specific type
Trying to setup storage through FTP is not working for me.
Picture quality is poor compared to IP camera we are used to. But given that it is a doorbell, it is adequate. Dont even think about using those backlight, WDR compensation, it just wont work.
Camera lens has no adjustment. It can not tilt up or down nor pan left or right. So be very careful selecting an installation position.
Lack of a permanent ding dong bell. I have added the ding dong bell by doing this!
Cannot link the doorbell to Hikvision NVR as the moment you do this, it will suppress the incoming audio and you wont be able to hear the caller.

Overall, despite all the cons, given that this is still a relatively new product category, I am happy with my purchase. The ability to store video and record conversation onto our NAS through FTP would have been good and I have followed up with the supplier to see if this is something I can fix.

Watch this space for any new development.

Update - 17 Oct 2016

The SD card is not supported by the current firmware as per Dahua customer manager. Here is the reply - "SD card can not be used , the storage of these devices is now on the FTP, need to set up a server, and is usually large apartment will do this. The card slot is Planning to upgrade for subsequent function in the future. This feature will be added later, just now it is not perfect. Because this is not the focus of publicity of our VDP device promotion . So this function is not fully implemented in. But this can be added by software upgraded in the future."

Although the response mentioned FTP being available, I wasnt able to get this working with my FTP server. So dont buy this device if recording is a deal breaker for you!