Control PTZ Presets with another Cameras Trigger

eangulus

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Hi,
Was just wondering if there was a way to send a PTZ camera a command to go to a preset, when another camera has a motion trigger or the like? I thought I would be able to do something like that but can't work it out.

If you can't do this, can we make it a feature request?
 

PSPCommOp

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Check with nayr, he has some automated stuff with triggers but it's not thru BI if I remember correctly.


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eangulus

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Thanks for that.

I am new to these forums (actively), so who or what is nayr?

Been thinking about it and I would love to be able to setup zones as the triggers. I have 3 Hikvison 3MP on the front of my house, that gives me a great overall view of my street and front yard. I recently bought a H
uisun PTZ 10x camera. It is fantastic value for money. It would be nice to be able to setup the hiks, with multiple detection zones, and when motion is detected in a particular zone, I could trigger a preset on the Huisun to give me a zoomed in view of that zone. Being a budget camera it doesn't have Auto Tracking, but something like this we could have a semi automatic tracker of sorts.

 

Bill Scruggs

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This can be done in Blue Iris. On the camera that is going to send the PTZ from on record, go to Camera properties and Alerts. Under Ations check "Request from a web service" Configure "When triggered" like this.
127.0.0.1:8021/admin?camera=BK2&preset=5

Replace 8021 with your actual web server port.
Replace BK2 with the camera short name of the camera you want to do the PTZ
Replace 5 with the preset number you want to go to.
127.0.0.1 is a address that points to itself so no need to change it if the camera is local.

Edit: you may need to add "&user=[username]&pw=[password]" to the end of the command.
I'm not near my Blue Iris system right now so I am going by memory..
Replace [username] and [password] with actual username and password.
 
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PSPCommOp

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@PSPCommOp, I have no idea how to do this in BlueIris..
No no, I said I didn't think it was thru BI. From what I've read you seem to have a better handle on the automated stuff then most too, figured maybe u could explain how yours works or he could search for your threads on the topic.


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hltljohn

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Bill Scruggs has the correct method. I just tried it, and it works perfectly. I did have to add the BlueIris pw and User.
 

Bill Scruggs

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There are a couple of problems tho. The Huisun PTZ 10x is not fast enough to track fast moving objects like cars. You can not use multiple zones to make multiple actions. I use cloned cameras for different zones. I also use the zone crossing feature to anticipate the direction of the object I'm tracking. The Vera Controls home automation system also integrates well with BI and I use it with motion sensors to do tracking.
 

eangulus

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Thanks everyone for the input. Still need to wire the camera (on the weekend) then I can try out a few things.

Just to be clear thou, I am not after nor expecting close to tracking.

I have 3x 2mm Hiks at the front of the house. Between all 3 I have a 180-degree total view with one concentrated on the driveway entrance. What I am hoping to do is, for example, if the driveway cam detects motion within the driveway (zoned), then I would like the PTZ to point towards the driveway, zoomed into just the driveway. This way I hope I get an overall view of what's happening with some closeups to get a better chance at License Plates, recognising a face or other items that you just can't quite get on such wide views from the hik cams (without changing lenses and loosing viewing width).

I will let you all know how I go after the weekend.
 

eangulus

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There are a couple of problems tho. The Huisun PTZ 10x is not fast enough to track fast moving objects like cars. You can not use multiple zones to make multiple actions. I use cloned cameras for different zones. I also use the zone crossing feature to anticipate the direction of the object I'm tracking. The Vera Controls home automation system also integrates well with BI and I use it with motion sensors to do tracking.
So just to clarify, I can setup a trigger with preset1 for zone a AND preset2 for zone b etc? I have to make a copy of that camera?

Can you please elaborate on making a clone please? Wouldn't I then end up with duplicate recordings and more CPU usage? Or can I just duplicate, turn off a heap of things on the clone except for the motion zone?
 

eangulus

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OK, tried this out over the weekend, and its working great half the time.

There are 2 issues I have at the moment.

1. Is there a way to disable the triggers easily and quickly? While using the camera and manually moving it, it sometimes gets a trigger and starts moving back to one of the presets. I am not expecting this one to be able to be achieved but would be nice to know if I can do something here.

2. This is the big one. It gets stuck moving between 2 presets at night. I have worked out that at night, if it moves to another preset, then the moving IR lighting causes the original preset to trigger and it instantly moves back. What settings can I play with the try to mitigate sensing the IR light moving as motion trigger? I don't think I can completely remove it but I may be able to make it less sensitive to IR light changes.
 

Bill Scruggs

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The way I handled the problems that you are having, was to control it with a Veraplus controller and PIR motion sensors. The PIR sensors do not seem to react as bad to the camera IRs. This may not work in your case though.
You can play with the Min. duration (Make time) on the camera motion trigger. Make this time longer than the time it takes for the camera to move. That way the camera waits long enough for the ir beam to move out of the motion sensing zone and will not call it back.
 

eangulus

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Correct me if I'm wrong, but the only place I could find the Make Time setting is in the Motion Settings. To me, the make time implies how long motion has to occur for to be triggered.

If I up that, then yes it may solve the IR light issue I have, but at the same time, it will mean that it will make it harder to detect legit movement. One of the areas I have setup is the driveway, and I don't think a possible thief is going to do laps around the car to trigger the motion.

Is there any other way I can delay the trigger to give it enough time to move areas?

PS: would be nice to have the trigger system rewritten to allow different triggers for different zones or other conditions. Would save having to do the clones.
 

Bill Scruggs

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The delays do cause a problem. You might be able to use Zone Crossing in the Motion Setting and Object Detection to keep the camera from moving back, but that would end up getting complicated and involve more cloned cameras. Under Alerts menu there is a Disarm time delay but I'm not sure if that would help. Yes, you are correct that having different triggers for different zones would be a major improvement.

On my system I use my Vera controller to analyze where the camera is pointed and where the motion is and do the proper delays.
 

eangulus

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I have playing around for a while now, and there is no way I can make this work at night. Works great in the day, but with the IR I can't get it sensitive enough to work and can't get it desensitize enough to stop the IR from triggering.

Personally I think 2 changes are needed to make my issue work, and as a result, allow much more flexible setups to happen.

1. Be able to select Camera + Zone for trigger.
2. Able to set alert based on how it was triggered.

This would allow (in my case) for me to open the PTZ camera, setup triggers for different zones on different cameras, then apply different alerts for each trigger.
 

nayr

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this is why I offloaded all my PTZ controls to Domoticz and can do lua scripting based on sensor input and outputs, from there you can do just about anything with any logic you want.. but its not easy to setup and requires some coding, or at least scripting ability.

for example my PTZ has different idle presets depending on day or night, in the day I get a nice wide view of the sidewalk/road/yard.. at night I zoom in on the front doors on my car.
 

eangulus

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I don't understand how that will help.

By using Domoticz or any other 3rd party system, I would still be relying on the camera feeds to cause the trigger, then in turn cause the appropriate PTZ Preset.

At this stage, nothing I do makes the feeds not trigger on changes in IR lighting at night. System works perfectly in the daytime, but night is iffy at best as whenever the PTZ moves the IR lighting changes and causes another false Positive trigger. I have tried all sorts of settings from one extreme to the other and it either works with the IR issue or not at all.

PS: I do see how a 3rd party system can help with the complexity of the setup, but complex or simple, I am still relying on the same inputs for triggering and that is what is causing the issues with getting it to work properly.
 

nayr

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I use anti-dithering set to about 30's, so a motion trigger sets the alarm high for 30s after the event has ended.. the camera by then has fully adjusted to its new environment.

its needed to keep high frequency events from causing a cascading effect that puts a bunch of stress on the mechanics.
 

eangulus

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So there is a 30sec delay between triggers? So what happens of someone moved from one area to another within the 30sec? Do you miss the event?
 

nayr

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the same sensor wont trigger again for 30's, if another one goes off it may over-ride it depending on priority.. they are far enough apart and the ptz is fast enough there is no way to trigger them too quickly.
 
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