Review - Dahua SD49225XA-HNR 2MP 25x Starlight + IR PTZ AI Camera with Deep IVS & SMD Plus

[th182]

Mine is longer than 15 seconds(it varies) but it doesn’t track for the full time I set. Using blue Iris.

Video capture from Blue Iris iOS app and uploaded to YouTube so not sure how the quality is.

https://youtu.be/WboCRPYYolY

I have auto track set to either 120 or 300 seconds. I can’t remember which and can’t confirm right now. This is one of the longer tracks I’ve had lately. It usually can follow all the way up the driveway.

I have not changed any settings recently. Just today I redrew the intrusion zone to exclude the flagpole which it seems to think is a person. But this video is before that.

 

[Wildcat_1]

@Leapy @tdwilli1
Are you using BI, if so disconnect completely for this test. Access cam via web GUI In IE, set alarm track to higher (say 30) for this test. Ensure changes are saved then test with target. Reboot camera (still why disconnected from BI) and ensure settings have remained.

Report back

 

[wittaj]

@th182 - it looks like the PTZ is behind a window or is the reflective gear giving off the second image?

If you have an SD card in the PTZ, suggest you watch a playback and turn on the rules info during playback. It appears to me that the PTZ is locking in to something else in the image and that is the reason why it stops tracking. You will be able to see that subject locking during playback in the GUI only, not thru BI. If that is the case, @Wildcat_1 knows all the tricks to fix that for you!

 

[ANTH040]

Always wanted one of these but the size puts me off especially been in the UK living in a semi-detached house,

 

[tdwilli1]

@Leapy @tdwilli1
Are you using BI, if so disconnect completely for this test. Access cam via web GUI In IE, set alarm track to higher (say 30) for this test. Ensure changes are saved then test with target. Reboot camera (still why disconnected from BI) and ensure settings have remained.

Report back

OK, I am using BI. I shut down BI and then made the change to 60 seconds. I also changed gama to 40 for day and masked out my truck in the driveway. Got the tracking going at around 40 seconds and then it quit, but the subject still was moving. Before the gama change it was detecting a bush as a human. Now running BI to see if it works with it running.

 

[wittaj]

@tdwilli1 - same thing for you as I mentioned for someone else above - If you have an SD card in the PTZ, suggest you watch a playback and turn on the rules info during playback. from what you are saying, it sounds like the PTZ is locking in to something else in the image and that is the reason why it stops tracking. You will be able to see that subject locking during playback in the GUI only, not thru BI. At that point, based on what it is locking into, we can figure out how to get around that.

 

[Wildcat_1]

Good. Yes I thought disabling Bi would help with the settings change so am glad that worked for you. On the tracking time as I’ve shared here, across threads and completed on users systems many times, you definitely need to dial in your settings to the FOV if you want consistent and continuous tracks through the alarm time. Remember that Alarm Track is just telling the camera how long you would like it to track a target IF it has the ability to do so and that ability is heavily influenced by FOV and config.

HTH

OK, I am using BI. I shut down BI and then made the change to 60 seconds. I also changed gama to 40 for day and masked out my truck in the driveway. Got the tracking going at around 40 seconds and then it quit, but the subject still was moving. Before the gama change it was detecting a bush as a human. Now running BI to see if it works with it running.

 

[tdwilli1]

Good. Yes I thought disabling Bi would help with the settings change so am glad that worked for you. On the tracking time as I’ve shared here, across threads and completed on users systems many times, you definitely need to dial in your settings to the FOV if you want consistent and continuous tracks through the alarm time. Remember that Alarm Track is just telling the camera how long you would like it to track a target IF it has the ability to do so and that ability is heavily influenced by FOV and config.

HTH

OK, just got a subject with BI running and it only tracked for 5 seconds. So what is causing this?

 

[wittaj]

@tdwilli1 - was the subject moving at same speed as your previous test? Have you tried watching playback thru GUI with rules info on to see what is happening?

 

[tdwilli1]

@tdwilli1 - was the subject moving at same speed as your previous test? Have you tried watching playback thru GUI with rules info on to see what is happening?

Yes they were both walking. The first one had even stopped and was petting his dog and it kept on track. The BI event was a walker going down the street and it quit after 5 seconds. While it was tracking the latest one there were no bushes or any other objects in the FOV. Just blacktop.

By GUI you mean BI? I don't have a SD card in the camera.

 

[wittaj]

@tdwilli1 - no the GUI is not BI, it is logging into the camera where you log in to set up IVS and stuff, there is a playback tab, but it only works if you have an SD card in the camera. I have found that option valuable when trying to figure out why a subject quit tracking. Sometimes you see the camera locked onto a bush, lamp post, cloud, etc. Once you know what/why it is locking into something, then you can adjust parameters to make it avoid it.

Since you do not have an SD card in the PTZ, suggest you watch the liveview from the GUI with the rules info turned on so you can see what it is locking into live.

 

[Wildcat_1]

As I recommend & @wittaj mentions here you should monitor through the web GUI in IE (don’t use other browsers) to see what’s happening live and if you have (or can pickup an SD card) then even better as you then have the luxury of reviewing from card.

You mentioned it only tracked for 5 seconds, did your settings (Alarm Track) remain at the number you set or once you connected back to BI did the 15 second default return ? If the 15 second setting returned then your BI config is adjusting the cam settings.

Now separately onto the 5 sec track. 5 seconds is not a definable (in cam) track time therefore assuming that BI did not adjust back to the default of 15 (yes it’s longer than 5 but my point is whether BI is adjusting settings in this example) then it points to your config not being set correctly to track consistently and continuously through the track time (or majority of it) which in turn means it then loses target. This potentially then points back to what I mentioned above which is ensuring you have the config dialed in for your FOV and target.

This config critically includes setting IVS rules, tracking target size, the actual chosen FOV itself (zoom level, what’s on scene, adjusting for foreground / background objects present etc), type of target(s) you are wanting to capture, adjustments to cater for speed and distance to target which include exposure and picture adjustments etc, PTZ speed setting etc

Either way more fault isolation is needed first. Start by:
1) checking to see if settings have changed (if you connected back to BI)
2) view live tracking through the web GUI in IE and
3) if possible throw an SD card in so you can review over time rather than having to watch and wait.

Just remember that PTZs take time to dial in and have more requirements on location and config that fixed but if you do it right you should be very pleased with the results.

Let us know here after you isolate further and then if you need further help dialing in and want me to jump on your system this week then feel free to send me a DM.

HTH

OK, just got a subject with BI running and it only tracked for 5 seconds. So what is causing this?

 

[tdwilli1]

As I recommend & @wittaj mentions here you should monitor through the web GUI in IE (don’t use other browsers) to see what’s happening live and if you have (or can pickup an SD card) then even better as you then have the luxury of reviewing from card.

You mentioned it only tracked for 5 seconds, did your settings (Alarm Track) remain at the number you set or once you connected back to BI did the 15 second default return ? If the 15 second setting returned then your BI config is adjusting the cam settings.

Now separately onto the 5 sec track. 5 seconds is not a definable (in cam) track time therefore assuming that BI did not adjust back to the default of 15 (yes it’s longer than 5 but my point is whether BI is adjusting settings in this example) then it points to your config not being set correctly to track consistently and continuously through the track time (or majority of it) which in turn means it then loses target. This potentially then points back to what I mentioned above which is ensuring you have the config dialed in for your FOV and target.

This config critically includes setting IVS rules, tracking target size, the actual chosen FOV itself (zoom level, what’s on scene, adjusting for foreground / background objects present etc), type of target(s) you are wanting to capture, adjustments to cater for speed and distance to target which include exposure and picture adjustments etc, PTZ speed setting etc

Either way more fault isolation is needed first. Start by:
1) checking to see if settings have changed (if you connected back to BI)
2) view live tracking through the web GUI in IE and
3) if possible throw an SD card in so you can review over time rather than having to watch and wait.

Just remember that PTZs take time to dial in and have more requirements on location and config that fixed but if you do it right you should be very pleased with the results.

Let us know here after you isolate further and then if you need further help dialing in and want me to jump on your system this week then feel free to send me a DM.

HTH
[/QUOTE]

Checked that the track time stayed and it did. I then went in and disabled any external triggers and alerts for the camera in BI. Now it will go longer than 5 seconds. So it looks like BI is somehow resetting the camera while tracking.

I'm in the process of changing the camera settings in the WebUI to get it tracking better and then I will go back and try to see why an external alert would be making the camera stop tracking.

 

[looney2ns]

The only way BI can affect a PTZ is if you have a PTZ schedule enabled in BI. BI can't change actual settings in the camera.
I'm betting part of your issue is that you have changed some settings in BI that is calling the camera back to its home preset.

 

[tdwilli1]

The only way BI can affect a PTZ is if you have a PTZ schedule enabled in BI. BI can't change actual settings in the camera.
I'm betting part of your issue is that you have changed some settings in BI that is calling the camera back to its home preset.

That's what I was thinking but I went through all the settings and disabled the only schedule that I had and that didn't fix it. What did stop it was disabling the external alerts. I had the camera to trigger an alert from the cameras ONVIF alarm. Once I disabled that the tracking was working as in the WebUI.

 

[wittaj]

@tdwilli1 - do you have an "On alert" trigger buried in BI somewhere?

What if you don't do ONVIF alarm for the PTZ and instead let BI motion trigger the alert?

 

[tdwilli1]

@tdwilli1 - do you have an "On alert" trigger buried in BI somewhere?

What if you don't do ONVIF alarm for the PTZ and instead let BI motion trigger the alert?

Yes I did and I disabled it. I was wanting to only get a trigger if a human or car passed by to eliminate the false triggers from shadows in BI.

 

[Wildcat_1]

and disabling that in BI has returned the ability to track to the time set in the webGUI ?

Yes I did and I disabled it. I was wanting to only get a trigger if a human or car passed by to eliminate the false triggers from shadows in BI.

 

[tdwilli1]

and disabling that in BI has returned the ability to track to the time set in the webGUI ?

Yep.

 

[tdwilli1]

So after further investigation I had External checked under alerts and had unchecked everything for testing. So after checking both ONVIF and External on alerts the tracking stopped working. Unchecked External and it's working as it should.