How to set up P1468-LE with Blue Iris

[tuvow]

I have an existing Blue Iris installation with several Dahua 5442 cams, but I'm completely new to Axis cameras. I bought a P1468-LE because I wanted to play with a 8MP cam with 1/1.2" sensor. Unfortunately Dahua still isn't offering such a camera.

During the initial setup process within Blue Iris I switched "Make" from "Generic/ONVIF" to "Axis" and "Model" to "*M/P/Q series H.264". The video stream works great, but that's also the only thing that is working for me now.

My questions:

• What is the best way to set up motion detections like Dahua's IVS with filter for Human and Vehicle objects?
• How do I need to configure the cam/BI for BI to properly process any motion detections by the cam?
• Any recommendations on video stream settings? I currently still have it on default video settings, but I'm sure there are some best practices for Axis cams on improving video quality, night performance, etc

Thanks!

 

[wittaj]

Dahua has had 8MP on the 1/1.2" sensor for several years on a fixed lens bullet and turret and a PTZ. Unfortunately not on a varifocal.

Best practice in BI is to add camera and then type in IP address, username, password and hit find/inspect and let BI do its thing. It may show up as Axis or may be generic or something else. Rarely does that pull up the wrong protocol.

To bring motion detection from the camera into BI is the same regardless of manufacturer. In BI you tell it to get ONVIF triggers and then tell it to use external triggers.

The same principles to improve video quality would be the same regardless of camera - shutter speed is important as is not adjusting parameters to the extremes. Axis does have additional features other cams don't have that I am sure someone will add, but shutter speed and not having too high gain to minimize blur and ghosting.

 

[tuvow]

Dahua has had 8MP on the 1/1.2" sensor for several years on a fixed lens bullet and turret and a PTZ. Unfortunately not on a varifocal.

Yes, Dahua has 8MP with 1/1.2" sensor, but not with IR capability. I should have clarified that.

Best practice in BI is to add camera and then type in IP address, username, password and hit find/inspect and let BI do its thing. It may show up as Axis or may be generic or something else. Rarely does that pull up the wrong protocol.

This unfortunately isn't working. I also tried setting up an ONVIF user on the cam, but with those credentials it is not working either. This is why I went for the method as described in my original post.

To bring motion detection from the camera into BI is the same regardless of manufacturer. In BI you tell it to get ONVIF triggers and then tell it to use external triggers.

The issue is that I don't know how to get ONVIF working. And it is also not clear what the best way is to set up motion detection with this cam, since apparently you can install different "Apps" for the cam. There are a few apps that seem to be doing the same thing ("Video Motion Detection", "Smart Motion Detection" and "AXIS Object Analytics" for example). Looking for some guidance here.

 

[wittaj]

That is strange. Post screenshot of the pop-up window when you hit find/inspect as that usually gives us insight as to what the issue is.

I think axis object analytics would be their IVS equivalent.

Can't wait to see the infrared capabilities of this camera.

 

[tuvow]

This is the log when I use the "normal" (web UI) credentials for the cam:

Opening 192.168.20.107 port 80...
HTTP Get / request...
OK
ONVIF GetSystemDateAndTime
2024-11-28T21:57:21.000Z
Requesting device information...
GetCapabilities...
Bad response
Checking for common cameras...
Foscam FI86xx/98xx compatible?
Foscam FI89xx compatible?
Foscam FI9821 V2 compatible?
Foscam FI9821 media port compatible?
Cantonk port 34567?
RTSP port open?
No automatic configuration made
Done

And this is the log when I use the "onvif" credentials:

Opening 192.168.20.107 port 80...
HTTP Get / request...
Unauthorized, check user/password
Opening 192.168.20.107 port 8999...
ONVIF GetSystemDateAndTime
HTTP 12029
Checking for common cameras...
Foscam FI86xx/98xx compatible?
Foscam FI89xx compatible?
Foscam FI9821 V2 compatible?
Foscam FI9821 media port compatible?
Cantonk port 34567?
RTSP port open?
No automatic configuration made
Done

 

[tuvow]

OK, I figured it out... when I set ONVIF discovery port to 80 instead of 8999 it works.

So at least it's now properly setup with ONVIF. Unfortunately a "test alarm" triggered by AXIS Object Analytics still doesn't seem to trigger an ONVIF event within Blue Iris.

 

[wittaj]

Yep. I was going to ask what the port was.

 

[smiticans]

I have an existing Blue Iris installation with several Dahua 5442 cams, but I'm completely new to Axis cameras. I bought a P1468-LE because I wanted to play with a 8MP cam with 1/1.2" sensor. Unfortunately Dahua still isn't offering such a camera.

During the initial setup process within Blue Iris I switched "Make" from "Generic/ONVIF" to "Axis" and "Model" to "*M/P/Q series H.264". The video stream works great, but that's also the only thing that is working for me now.

My questions:

• What is the best way to set up motion detections like Dahua's IVS with filter for Human and Vehicle objects?
• How do I need to configure the cam/BI for BI to properly process any motion detections by the cam?
• Any recommendations on video stream settings? I currently still have it on default video settings, but I'm sure there are some best practices for Axis cams on improving video quality, night performance, etc

Thanks!

Which Axis OS version does your camera have? Axis OS 11 LTS (Long Term Support) is the latest LTS OS and Axis OS 12 is the latest Active Track OS. LTS only provides security updates where the active track provides security and feature updates. The most recent P1468-LE camera I received still had OS 10 LTS on it (OS 10 LTS is still supported). I would recommend updating to the latest LTS or Active Tack.

Axis Object Analytic (AOA) is similar to Dahua's IVS where it uses AI to detect person/vehicles. Axis Video Motion Detection is just regular motion detection. The Axis Video MD app can be used to trigger events so you can record to a SD card inside the camera or a NAS when motion is detected. Axis's VMS (Axis Camera Station Pro) also uses the Video Motion Detection app for recording. ACS Pro does not do server side motion detection and all of the motion detection is processed on the edge within the Axis camera.

There are other applications that can be installed on the camera such as License Plate Verifier, Axis Perimeter Defender etc. that are provided by Axis and you can also install 3rd party apps such as camstreamer or AiDANT for specific scenarios. These apps are are designed to run on the AXIS Camera Application Platform (ACAP).

For the most part, the camera can stay at its default settings except for a few settings. If you're going to run the camera in IR in complete darkness, I would set the max shutter to 1/60 and go from there. I run mine at 1/120 in full color at night but I have enough white light to do it. Also, if you're going to run IR, make sure the weather shield is fully retracted or you might get IR reflection on it. You may also want to change the scene profile under image- appearance from Forensic to Vivid (That's a personal preference). The only other settings I really change are to enable signed video, create overlays (date, time, location and bitrate) and I change the FPS to 15. I would leave the stream settings at compression set to 30, zipstream set to low, Optimize for storage, Dynamic FPS and Dynamic GOP all set to off. I would leave bitrate control set to variable and WDR on.

Under system- stream profiles you can create a lower resolution stream (sub stream) for BI. After you create the stream, you will have to find/inspect the camera in BI to pull from the sub stream.

This camera is not designed for long range so consider the range to be similar to a Dahua 5442 or Color 4K turret. I have mine zoomed in to 1.44 which is about 30% to 40% zoomed in. I don't recommend fully zooming it in as that will make the aperture smaller and reduce the low light sensitivity. Mounting height and location are just as important for Axis cameras as it is for Dahua cameras to get a good face ID image.

It looks like you already figured out how to create an ONVIF user for BI and import it into the system. Unfortunately, when I got my hands on my first Axis camera I was already in the processing of decommissioning my Blue Iris system. I briefly tested my Axis cameras on BI but I was unable to get the object analytics to work. If you're having a lot of trouble, I can spin up a demo version of BI and see If I can figure it out.

 

[tuvow]

Thanks @wittaj and @smiticans for your help! This morning I updated Blue Iris to the latest version and miraculously BI is now properly processing the OVIF events from the Axis camera. I'm running Axis OS 12.

Now that initial setup is completed, I'll just have to wait for my pole mount to arrive and I can start playing with AOA at the actual scene. I also can't wait to see the night performance with 8MP on a 1/1.2" sensor, I plan to run it with a fairly wide view to keep it light sensitive.

 

[smiticans]

Np! The low light sensitivity is pretty similar to the Color 4K-T but Axis has much better image processing where it can handle challenging lighting conditions (direct sunlight, half the image is in the shade and half has strong sunlight, floodlight is shining on a face etc.).

If you open the AOA app and go to settings, you can enable Metadata overlay and select which resolution you want it displayed on. You can also enable bounding boxes and trajectories so you can see what the camera is detecting in real time.

Here are two night videos of my P1468-LE with a 60w LED light





I know @wittaj wanted a video of the P1468-LE in IR mode at night which I can make when I have more free time later this week or next.

 

[wittaj]

Np! The low light sensitivity is pretty similar to the Color 4K-T but Axis has much better image processing where it can handle challenging lighting conditions (direct sunlight, half the image is in the shade and half has strong sunlight, floodlight is shining on a face etc.).

If you open the AOA app and go to settings, you can enable Metadata overlay and select which resolution you want it displayed on. You can also enable bounding boxes and trajectories so you can see what the camera is detecting in real time.

Here are two night videos of my P1468-LE with a 60w LED light





I know @wittaj wanted a video of the P1468-LE in IR mode at night which I can make when I have more free time later this week or next.

That's nice.

How much light do you have there?

 

[smiticans]

That's nice.

How much light do you have there?

I have one 60 watt rectangle LED dusk to dawn light for the driveway. The light is mounted a few feet behind the camera and a foot or two above it. I got it on Amazon a few years ago so I don't remember the specific specs of it. The front door has a single A21 style LED light bulb. It consumes about 20ish watts but is equivalent to a 120w incandescent bulb. The front door light doesn't project that much light onto the driveway but it does provide a little. In real life, the mailbox at the end of the driveway is pretty dark and you need a flashlight to see anything.

 

[tuvow]

Quick update: the camera is now operational and mounted outdoors. It's working well, but I still need to play with the video settings to get the best video quality. @smiticans I have a few questions you can maybe help me with:

1. Is it correct that Axis doesn't have support for a day and night profile like Dahua? I'm not sure if it's really possible to find a combination settings that works well for both day and night..?

2. I'm having issues with live viewing the camera in UI3. It just keeps loading... However, the "group" live view works fine. Playback of clips/alerts works fine. Live viewing also works fine with the desktop app and it also works fine with the Blue Iris iPhone app. Any idea why live viewing of the camera in UI3 might not work? I'm not seeing any spike in CPU usage or something (it's 0-5% total cpu usage).

3. What is a recommended setting for P-frames?

4. Is there an easy way to switch IR at sunset and sunrise? The camera is mounted next to a gate and at night the camera switches to color mode because of the car lights. I don't want that.

 

[smiticans]

Quick update: the camera is now operational and mounted outdoors. It's working well, but I still need to play with the video settings to get the best video quality. @smiticans I have a few questions you can maybe help me with:

1. Is it correct that Axis doesn't have support for a day and night profile like Dahua? I'm not sure if it's really possible to find a combination settings that works well for both day and night..?

2. I'm having issues with live viewing the camera in UI3. It just keeps loading... However, the "group" live view works fine. Playback of clips/alerts works fine. Live viewing also works fine with the desktop app and it also works fine with the Blue Iris iPhone app. Any idea why live viewing of the camera in UI3 might not work? I'm not seeing any spike in CPU usage or something (it's 0-5% total cpu usage).

3. What is a recommended setting for P-frames?

4. Is there an easy way to switch IR at sunset and sunrise? The camera is mounted next to a gate and at night the camera switches to color mode because of the car lights. I don't want that.

1. Yes, Axis does not support a day/night profile like Dahua. However, there are some settings that can be adjusted on a schedule or with event rules. I'm using the same settings for both day/night in different locations and it's working really well for me. I don't have a need for different settings. Which specific settings do you need/want different at night vs during the day?

2. What streaming settings do you have in UI3 (gear icon) and does it work for any of them? Do you have BI pulling a sub stream from the camera? If so, post a screenshot of the streaming profile from the Axis camera.

3. I leave my P-frames at the default of 61. I'm not using BI tho so you may need to adjust. I'll start up BI on one of my computers and test.

4. In the Axis camera, go to Video- Image- Day-night Mode and adjust the threshold from dark to bright. Moving the slider to bright means it'll switch to IR mode when its brighter outside. Slider towards dark means the camera will stay in color longer when there is less light. I suggest moving the threshold to "30" and see how that works. If moving the threshold slider does not work, you can go to System-Events click add a rule and create a rule based on a schedule to activate day/night mode. Axis VAPIX commands can also be used to adjust settings, however I haven't had enough time to learn how to implement them- Imaging API | Axis Developer Documentation

Where do you have this camera mounted and what is the intended purpose of it?

 

[tuvow]

Which specific settings do you need/want different at night vs during the day?

Well I'm used to the best practices for Dahua cameras as laid out by @wittaj. So for example, different settings for shutter time and gain during the day and night. During the day I can easily run a max shutter of 1/250 with a max gain of 30 but during the night it gets too dark with these settings.

I'm also not too sure about running WDR at night, but again this is per @wittaj's recommendations for Dahua cameras.

What streaming settings do you have in UI3 (gear icon) and does it work for any of them? Do you have BI pulling a sub stream from the camera?

I have tried several streaming profiles from 1080p to 2160p with both CBR and VBR. None of them are properly working for live viewing the Axis camera, while it works fine for all the Dahua cameras that I have (although they're 1440p). And it also works fine for playing back alerts from the Axis camera, so it only doesn't work (keeps loading) when I try to live view the camera through UI3.

As I'm writing this, the live streaming suddenly is working now. Maybe it's because the camera's bitrate is now much lower (~ 4 mbit/s) compared to the day.

I don't use sub streams, because I have plenty of storage space and I don't do any live decoding (all AI is done on cameras) so also virtually no CPU usage.

I suggest moving the threshold to "30" and see how that works.

I'll test and see if this fixes the problem, thanks!

Where do you have this camera mounted and what is the intended purpose of it?

It's mounted next to a gate (basically no external light at night). It's just an overview camera to see what's coming in and going out. I plan to install a dedicated LPR at a later time (and different position/angle). See attachment (max shutter of 1/120 and max gain of 51 db).

 

[smiticans]

Well I'm used to the best practices for Dahua cameras as laid out by @wittaj. So for example, different settings for shutter time and gain during the day and night. During the day I can easily run a max shutter of 1/250 with a max gain of 30 but during the night it gets too dark with these settings.

I'm also not too sure about running WDR at night, but again this is per @wittaj's recommendations for Dahua cameras.



I have tried several streaming profiles from 1080p to 2160p with both CBR and VBR. None of them are properly working for live viewing the Axis camera, while it works fine for all the Dahua cameras that I have (although they're 1440p). And it also works fine for playing back alerts from the Axis camera, so it only doesn't work (keeps loading) when I try to live view the camera through UI3.

As I'm writing this, the live streaming suddenly is working now. Maybe it's because the camera's bitrate is now much lower (~ 4 mbit/s) compared to the day.

I don't use sub streams, because I have plenty of storage space and I don't do any live decoding (all AI is done on cameras) so also virtually no CPU usage.



I'll test and see if this fixes the problem, thanks!



It's mounted next to a gate (basically no external light at night). It's just an overview camera to see what's coming in and going out. I plan to install a dedicated LPR at a later time (and different position/angle). See attachment (max shutter of 1/120 and max gain of 51 db)

When I first started using Axis cameras it was a little bit of a learning curve. Most of the settings you need to change in Dahua cameras to optimize them do not need to be changed in Axis cameras. Axis cameras usually handle the scene well at their default settings except for a few settings like the exposure or IR threshold.

In your scene, I would recommend setting the max shutter to 1/60. I tested my 1468-LE in IR mode without any lights and I had good results with 1/60. I did not have any motion blur and had a good face ID image. You shouldn't have any issues running 1/60 during the day as the camera can handle the changing lighting conditions pretty well. It also worked well at 1/120 in IR mode but I liked the image better at 1/60.

I would keep all of the image settings at the default but change the shutter to 1/60 and IR threshold and go from there. I don't have any issues running WDR at night, but if you find your image is better at night without it, you can create an event rule to turn off the WDR when the camera switches to night mode (Haven't tried this yet so don't know how well it works).

I'll get back to you on the UI3 issue when I get my demo up and running. BI support might need to get involved in this one.

Also, what height is the camera mounted at?

Here is the latest capture from my P1468-LE with an Amazon driver jogging across the scene. I also attached screenshots of the settings in my P1468-LE used during this capture.



I could probably reduce a little bit of the noise but I'm happy with the image at its current settings.

 

[tuvow]

Thanks, I'll try your recommended settings. What do you have the WDR tone mapping set to?

Your capture of the Amazon driver looks very good, but the white light helps a lot of course

The camera is mounted at about 3.50 meters, not exactly sure.

 

[smiticans]

Thanks, I'll try your recommended settings. What do you have the WDR tone mapping set to?

Your capture of the Amazon driver looks very good, but the white light helps a lot of course

The camera is mounted at about 3.50 meters, not exactly sure.

Sorry I thought I captured that. Tone mapping is also set to 50.

3.50 meters is is about 11.5 feet which is much higher than I would mount to get a good face capture but as an overview camera it will probably be good.

 

[tuvow]

What would be a better height if I would want to do face captures as well?

 

[smiticans]

What would be a better height if I would want to do face captures as well?

For Face ID you really don't want to go anything higher than 6 or 7 feet depending on the location. My driveway camera is mounted around 7 feet and my front door is mounted around 5.5 feet (If I were to do it again I might go slighter higher but stay under 6 feet).

It's important to stay under that height especially if the person is wearing a hood or hat. See attached screenshots from my front door camera (Axis Q3538-LVE) for an example.