It turned into a hobby

[Sammyf]

I had a kit system from Reolink (thanks to youtube reviews before finding this site). One year ago I needed to review material from some days. It turned out to be hard to find the correct event (no human/vehicle detection) and after finding it, the material was basically useless for even recognition, not to even think about identification.

Found my way here. Read the wiki and many many useful topics (e.g.importance of focal length and multiple angles, typical consumer grade captures etc.). Got enlightened about what kind of captures it was possible to get from moving targets - understood for the first time that nice bright static image is just eye-candy. Got a varifocal to find out camera placements. Got some cameras installed and found out that the IVS wasn’t completely reliable in tough fields of view. Got some more cameras (for overview) to tigger the cameras at face capturing height. Built the system with BlueIris and I‘m very happy with it. The face captures are good enough to hold in court.

But as it seems to happen, cams turned into a hobby And of course I keep finding need for more angles that would be useful to record, though only one camera is in a place where there’s no other camera covering it.
Now I’m thinking about replacing that camera + adding other camera to watch it. Probably going with the 5241E-Z12E for identification in the distance of about 70-87 feet (or the 5442E-Z4E). Also thinking about getting a PTZ (the new mini one with auto-tracking), it is not really necessary, but would be cool to have. And of course it would give the ID shot a bit further away than fixed cams (a good excuse for getting one, isn’t it ).

I would still have to figure out how to set up the 2 way talk with BI and active deterrence cam at the front door.
And perhaps find local anonymous cameraholics group - so other noobs, you have been warned about the addictiveness

 

[wittaj]

Another member burned by the reolink YT videos....

Here is how to get two way talk to work with the active deterrence:

main:

/cam/realmonitor?channel={CAMNO}&subtype=0&authbasic={AUTH64}&proto=Onvif

sub:
/cam/realmonitor?channel={CAMNO}&subtype=1&authbasic={AUTH64}&proto=Onvif



And then of course don't forget when you get the PTZ to use your fixed cams as spotter cams to tell the PTZ where to be looking and then let autotracking take over from there...

Using Spotter Cameras to direct a PTZ where to look in an NVR or Blue Iris and setting a spotter cam as a priority in Blue Iris

We get this question from time to time, so I thought with the recent addition to BI, it made sense to have a thread we can point to. Previously in BI, if you had more than one spotter cam, you could not make one a priority, so if spotter cam #1 triggered the PTZ and it starts tracking and...

ipcamtalk.com

 

[Rob2020]

I have several unmounted cams that were purchased with no final destination in mind just to test them and play with them, so I fall into the hobbyist camp too.

 

[Sammyf]

Another member burned by the reolink YT videos....

Here is how to get two way talk to work with the active deterrence:

main:

/cam/realmonitor?channel={CAMNO}&subtype=0&authbasic={AUTH64}&proto=Onvif

sub:
/cam/realmonitor?channel={CAMNO}&subtype=1&authbasic={AUTH64}&proto=Onvif



And then of course don't forget when you get the PTZ to use your fixed cams as spotter cams to tell the PTZ where to be looking and then let autotracking take over from there...

Using Spotter Cameras to direct a PTZ where to look in an NVR or Blue Iris and setting a spotter cam as a priority in Blue Iris

We get this question from time to time, so I thought with the recent addition to BI, it made sense to have a thread we can point to. Previously in BI, if you had more than one spotter cam, you could not make one a priority, so if spotter cam #1 triggered the PTZ and it starts tracking and...

ipcamtalk.com

Thanks, got the two way talk to work

I’m in the process of figuring out which cameras to add as spotters for the PTZ. There is already cameras to identify anyone by the windows and entrances + normal entrances to the yard. But they still leave the yard partly uncovered, and ofc a PTZ can’t cover it all (mounted to corner of the house, looking at 270 degrees). So having debate with myself whether to go with something cheap, 5442-ZE or dual lens model (color+ir), as the camera(s) would only need to observe the yard and trigger the PTZ with IVS. IVS maybe still needs to have human filtering to prevent them from keeping the PTZ turning for false triggers (just to avoid unnecessary movements).

Also still making some measurements to see how much I could cover with the PTZ and how much privacy masking would have to be applied, as watching other private properties would be illegal).

 

[wittaj]

Glad you got it working!

Lot's of thoughts on spotter cams.

• Go with cheap cameras fully understanding that they are only overview and spotter cams. I have a few for this and I do not even show those cameras on my multi-view console.
• Go with something like the 5442 that has AI to help knock out the false triggers.
• Clone your existing cameras if they can see other areas of the yard and then use BI motion and AI to knock out the false triggers to send PTZ commands. It may require a slight alignment adjustment of your existing field of view to make that happen.

 

[Sammyf]

Yep, thought for the cheap option something like SD2A500-GN-A-PV (built in AI) or 2431-T AS S2 (has IVS but no filtering for humans as far as I know). At night time the street lights are turned off, but could run the spotter cam with slower shutter etc. just to get the detection. The cam could be easily installed up to 6,8 meters (22 feet) high, so it could cover pretty large area. Of course the PTZ could cover some area while not triggered to move somewhere else. Looking to wrong direction wouldn’t matter much, as the priority areas are anyway covered by current cameras.

Maybe I’ll first try how my BI PC can handle the AI on the computer with one of my current cameras. Now all AI is done on cameras and the processor runs at 29-33 % typically (6th generation i5, if I remember correctly)

 

[wittaj]

The 2431-T AS S2 is the lite version, so no AI.

How many cameras are you running and are you using substreams?

Folks here run 50 cameras on a 4th gen at 30%, so your 6th gen should be a lot lower CPU%

 

[Sammyf]

9 cameras currently and using substreams, but haven’t removed bloatware or really optimized windows (didn’t have time, as it anyway runs smoothly). Otherwise just running BI, zerotier and a virus scanner.

 

[wittaj]

Yeah that is way too high for that computer and 9 cameras. You must be running like 30FPS lol. Is BI excluded from the virus scanner?

 

[Sammyf]

15 FPS, edit: and it’s excluded.

 

[ipmania]

But as it seems to happen, cams turned into a hobby
... - so other noobs, you have been warned about the addictiveness

I find this concept...disturbing...

I can get caught up quite badly in hobbies. Before I realized it, a foray into photography turned into a mountain of cameras and lenses and other camera toys... Before that, an automotive interest resulted in a series of sports cars.

I'm deeply worried that I'll get caught up in security cameras and other security technology.

It's already begun actually. I purchased a used i5 PC the other day for Blue Iris tinkering. And a roll of ethernet cable, a small POE hub, and a varifocal 5442 are on their way.

The downside for this forum is that I am a noob and so mistakes will be made--with the inevitable calls for help... (thank you all in advance...)