Limit alerts to occur only when motion occurs in specific zones

Hi!

I've set up 3 non overlapping zones.

I want recording whenever motion detection is triggered in any of those zones. I'd like to limit alerts to only 2 of these zones (A and B). E.g. I don't want to have an alert when motion has been triggered only in zone C.

Clips are indeed created for all the zones. My problem is that even though I have unticked the check box "Motion Zones C" in the Alerts tab, alerts are generated when motion is detected in zone C.

So, my simple question is if it is possible to to limit alerts to occur only when motion occurs in specific zones but still get recordings for all defined zones?

Buttan Butt said:

Hi!

I've set up 3 non overlapping zones.

I want recording whenever motion detection is triggered in any of those zones. I'd like to limit alerts to only 2 of these zones (A and B). E.g. I don't want to have an alert when motion has been triggered only in zone C.

Clips are indeed created for all the zones. My problem is that even though I have unticked the check box "Motion Zones C" in the Alerts tab, alerts are generated when motion is detected in zone C.

So, my simple question is if it is possible to to limit alerts to occur only when motion occurs in specific zones but still get recordings for all defined zones?

Click to expand...

yes..post a screenshot of your alert settings.

Thanks @fenderman

Below are my settings that I believe are relevant.

My three zones. I don't wish to have alerts for zone C.


The trigger tab and the motion sensor dialogue


The record tab


The alerts tab


The resulting alert clips marked "Motion C".


(It's probably irrelevant but I unchecked the "Create Alert list images when triggered" check box in the Record tab. That caused that no alerts at all were created, for all zones)

Thanks for your kind help. I appreciate it a lot.

Buttan Butt said:

Thanks @fenderman

Below are my settings that I believe are relevant.

My three zones. I don't wish to have alerts for zone C.
View attachment 19560

The trigger tab and the motion sensor dialogue
View attachment 19561

The record tab
View attachment 19562

The alerts tab
View attachment 19563

The resulting alert clips marked "Motion C".
View attachment 19564

(It's probably irrelevant but I unchecked the "Create Alert list images when triggered" check box in the Record tab. That caused that no alerts at all were created, for all zones)

Thanks for your kind help. I appreciate it a lot.

Click to expand...

To clarify, the alert tab controls sending alerts to another device. If you simply want to avoid creating alert images, there is no way to do that....they dont take up much space...you can setup a cloned camera and use that for zone C if you wish, then hide the camera.

fenderman said:

To clarify, the alert tab controls sending alerts to another device. If you simply want to avoid creating alert images, there is no way to do that....they dont take up much space...you can setup a cloned camera and use that for zone C if you wish, then hide the camera.

Click to expand...

Thanks. I'm not concerned about images taking up storage space.

My idea is to set up BI so that alerts are few and should cause me to stop what I'm doing and pay attention to what's going on.

Currently my home automation system switches profile in BI whenever my robotic lawn mower mowes. Instead of completely disable motion detection when the lawn gets mowed, the idea is that the specific profile used when lawn mowing occurs excludes only the zones where the mower is expected to appear (e.g. those with grass on).

I wish there was a way to select "Motion Zones" in the record tab for "Create Alert list images when triggered"

Anyway, BI is new to me. Maybe I can figure out a way how to solve it. I have 4 cameras covering my lawns so cloning would be to much of a burden for my server I believe.

Cheers and thanks for the kind help.

Buttan Butt said:

Thanks. I'm not concerned about images taking up storage space.

My idea is to set up BI so that alerts are few and should cause me to stop what I'm doing and pay attention to what's going on.

Currently my home automation system switches profile in BI whenever my robotic lawn mower mowes. Instead of completely disable motion detection when the lawn gets mowed, the idea is that the specific profile used when lawn mowing occurs excludes only the zones where the mower is expected to appear (e.g. those with grass on).

I wish there was a way to select "Motion Zones" in the record tab for "Create Alert list images when triggered"

Anyway, BI is new to me. Maybe I can figure out a way how to solve it. I have 4 cameras covering my lawns so cloning would be to much of a burden for my server I believe.

Cheers and thanks for the kind help.

Click to expand...

cloning the camera does not take up more resources...only a single stream is processed.
Since you are not getting an actual alert I dont understand the problem...when motion is detected in A or B you will get a phone/email alert.

Thanks @fenderman. I will try to adapt to the way BI works. I might clone the 4 outdoor cameras later as you kindly suggested.

While phone/email alerts are nice and useful features, I prefer to generate "native BI image alerts" for motion triggered events that needs my attention. Using "Native BI image alerts" I get all alerts in one place, using the Blue Iris App. I like it a lot. I can easily get alerted on my phone whenever there is a new "Native BI image alert". It works like a charm and I'm really happy about it.

fenderman said:

Since you are not getting an actual alert I dont understand the problem...when motion is detected in A or B you will get a phone/email alert.

Click to expand...

I've always been a terrible explainer and sometimes it's impossible to follow my reasoning, I'm aware of that

What I would like to set up is to have

• Recordings whenever motion detection triggers. (No continuous recording)
• "Native BI image alerts" only when motion occurs in specific zones while still being able to record all zones that I have set up for recording.

I can think of many scenarios it could be useful to during some time be able to switch to a different profile that will prevent a flood of "Native BI image alerts" but still being able to get recordings.

I haven't achieved my goal but for now I have solved my problem simply by changing one of my outdoor cameras to continuous recording. For the other 3 outdoor cameras I have narrowed down the motion detection zones when the lawn mowing profile is active. It works, that is, I will not get spammed by a flood of "Native BI image alerts" but I will also not have any recordings. So the best time to intrude my property in the burglars perspective is while the lawn is mowed. But that's a secret though.

Cheers!

As the "Create Alert list images when triggered" option doesn't allow you to specify zones, it really does sound like your best bet would be to clone that camera.

On the original camera, remove zone C (so you only have zones A and zones B).
On the clone, setup only zone C.

Then you can use Profiles on the cloned camera to have it always record on motion, but only "Create Alert list images when triggered" depending on which profile is active.

So it sounds like you have the Clips list in Blue Iris set to Alerts, and you're always watching for what pops into there?

Remember that on each camera's General property screen, there's a "Hidden" option. You can check that on the cloned camera to make it hide from the main Blue Iris screen.

aristobrat said:

As the "Create Alert list images when triggered" option doesn't allow you to specify zones, it really does sound like your best bet would be to clone that camera.

On the original camera, remove zone C (so you only have zones A and zones B).
On the clone, setup only zone C.

Then you can use Profiles on the cloned camera to have it always record on motion, but only "Create Alert list images when triggered" depending on which profile is active.

Click to expand...

Thanks

aristobrat said:

So it sounds like you have the Clips list in Blue Iris set to Alerts, and you're always watching for what pops into there?

Click to expand...

Yes, that's how I do it because normally unless something special has happened I have no interest to watch the video footage. BI together with the BI App is a such a great combination.