Light changes are causing too many triggers

[jrich523]

So, I've screwed with it a bit, but i might only be making it worse.
What is the best way to handle things like headlights or even my outside lights, which dont really shine directly in view of the camera... what i mean is, the whole area lights up and that triggers it, rather than the camera trigging because the bulb went on or a beam of light in a direct area. I guess what im trying to say is i've screwed with the trigger size without much luck.

any advice on how to tweak the motion capture settings?

 

[fenderman]

So, I've screwed with it a bit, but i might only be making it worse.
What is the best way to handle things like headlights or even my outside lights, which dont really shine directly in view of the camera... what i mean is, the whole area lights up and that triggers it, rather than the camera trigging because the bulb went on or a beam of light in a direct area. I guess what im trying to say is i've screwed with the trigger size without much luck.

any advice on how to tweak the motion capture settings?

First, read the help file and understand what the settings do.

 

[jrich523]

Thats a sweet tip, and I should have specified that I've done that, and the help file is one of the best, however it doesnt really tell you how the settings interact, and to some extent it assumes I know what some of that stuff means. Also as I mentioned I seem to be making it worse rather than better. Im not apposed to reading things, but maybe something more like a blog that talks about all the related settings (another issue with the manual, if you dont know where the setting is, you cant really look it up), how the interact with each other, maybe some suggestions of what the normal ranges are. By normal I mean for example, the Min. Contrast (which is mostly what I've been screwing with) something like "ideally it should be between 40-60, anything out of that is typically too extreme and should only be used to handle X or Y"

And speaking of that one, the manual only says

"The Contrast will alter the brightness of the gray rectangle. When the Contrast slider is toward the left, the grey rectangle is dark, representing low-contrast, and when the slider is toward the right, the grey rectangle is brighter, representing a higher contrast."

which, is nicely specific, but its fairly obvious information, it tells me nothing about how to use it, what the min and max values actually mean. Hell Im not even sure which means "it takes a lot of change" or "it takes very little"... I dont work with this sort of stuff normally so "low contrast" vs "high contrast" doesnt click in my mind so that i can go "oh i need to do this"

so again.... i appreciate your quick response, and I can see how you'd jump to RTFM, I've told many folks to do that as well... and its much easier when you have some base knowledge around the topic area..

so all that being said... have I shown you enough evidence that im not just asking you to configure it for me, but to perhaps provide some links that actually talk about the settings rather than just tell me what they are.

Actually I kinda feel like this would fall under some FAQ

"it triggers too often because of light"

"wind is causing it to trigger too much"

Its complex enough that there should probably be a book on "how to minimize false positives with BI"


Also, perhaps this is a whole separate topic, but when I purchased the cameras some of the things I read made it seem like BI could take advantage of some of the cameras advanced features (the Dahua facial recognition) which again, is obviously not talked about in the manual.

 

[Dodutils]

"it triggers too often because of light"
"wind is causing it to trigger too much"

Unfortunately this is a common situation with "basic" motion detection but some software have advanced algorithm (did you check them all in BI ?) can analyze picture and detect forms that are moving, including path analysis and trigger alerts if an objet (that size can also be specified to try avoid cats/dogs) is moving and enter forbidden zone or move the wrong way ... and some software can manage plugins to expand their capabilities.

If you stay with basic detection the only advice could be, if you can select squares in the viewfiled, to remove all suqres with leaves or any possible objets that could move with wind, also try to avoid zones that can show a lot of contrast/color change when clouds (with wind) can produce quick shadow movements.

Some software can also trigger only if movement is detected for more than x seconds, that may also help a bit for exemple do not trigger if movement is less than 2 seconds but this also depend of your viewfield.

Some may also tell you to get rid of movement detection based alerts and go for 24/24 record and review video time to time or only if something bad happened.

 

[jrich523]

What would be "advanced" in regards to BI? Is there something I can do (plugin or what not) to enhance the motion detection features?

Also I do have it record 24/7, I only have two alerts setups. The more important of the two, is the front door. I have a camera that will catch anyone coming up the walk way and will notify me, which is what im trying to tweak. The problem is that, even though there isnt a direct view of the road, peoples headlights tend to trigger it. I guess I can try and restrict the trigger area to a small section that doesnt see major light changes. For example there are low bushes behind the walk way so I guess i could just trigger if there is motion in that small area, rather than trying to handle contrast changes etc...

thanks!

 

[Dodutils]

Sorry I can't help about BI never tried it. Reducing trigger zone is what I often do too, but you may add also a bit of electronic like IR or lazer barrier, UltraSound distance detection, PIR that will interact with BI as external HTTP call (I suppose BI have such external "virtual" I/O support).

 

[fenderman]

What would be "advanced" in regards to BI? Is there something I can do (plugin or what not) to enhance the motion detection features?

A

thanks!

Read the help file..lots of options..like zone crossing, make time, etc..

 

[fenderman]

Thats a sweet tip, and I should have specified that I've done that, and the help file is one of the best, however it doesnt really tell you how the settings interact, and to some extent it assumes I know what some of that stuff means. Also as I mentioned I seem to be making it worse rather than better. Im not apposed to reading things, but maybe something more like a blog that talks about all the related settings (another issue with the manual, if you dont know where the setting is, you cant really look it up), how the interact with each other, maybe some suggestions of what the normal ranges are. By normal I mean for example, the Min. Contrast (which is mostly what I've been screwing with) something like "ideally it should be between 40-60, anything out of that is typically too extreme and should only be used to handle X or Y"

And speaking of that one, the manual only says

"The Contrast will alter the brightness of the gray rectangle. When the Contrast slider is toward the left, the grey rectangle is dark, representing low-contrast, and when the slider is toward the right, the grey rectangle is brighter, representing a higher contrast."

which, is nicely specific, but its fairly obvious information, it tells me nothing about how to use it, what the min and max values actually mean. Hell Im not even sure which means "it takes a lot of change" or "it takes very little"... I dont work with this sort of stuff normally so "low contrast" vs "high contrast" doesnt click in my mind so that i can go "oh i need to do this"

so again.... i appreciate your quick response, and I can see how you'd jump to RTFM, I've told many folks to do that as well... and its much easier when you have some base knowledge around the topic area..

so all that being said... have I shown you enough evidence that im not just asking you to configure it for me, but to perhaps provide some links that actually talk about the settings rather than just tell me what they are.

Actually I kinda feel like this would fall under some FAQ

"it triggers too often because of light"

"wind is causing it to trigger too much"

Its complex enough that there should probably be a book on "how to minimize false positives with BI"


Also, perhaps this is a whole separate topic, but when I purchased the cameras some of the things I read made it seem like BI could take advantage of some of the cameras advanced features (the Dahua facial recognition) which again, is obviously not talked about in the manual.

Once again the help file explains it all...there are NEVER normal ranges..because EACH application is different, each camera has a completely different field of view...you are asking for the impossible. Read the help file, and then you will have to test the results. Blue iris can accept onvif triggers from the camera....though facial recognition is probably a useless gimmick on the dahua.'
There are many many threads on this topic, but it will require you to read, apply and test.