Mike > ipcamtalk.com FAQ system proposal

[Q™]

Mike - ipcamtalk.com FAQ system proposal

On my company website I've created an "FAQ" system using forum-based software. The system is configured where I ask the "frequently asked question" in the OP and then I answer that question in a single "answer" post. In addition, our website visitors are able to "Search The FAQ's" by specifying that they want to search only the "FAQ Forum." Only I have permission to post to this forum.

This simple system has proven highly effective and allowed many of our website visitors to find answers to their frequently asked questions (in addition to becoming a search engine Honeypot).

In addition, this system has proven very effective in saving staff time because, when staff is asked a question, they simply paste a friendly URL for the relevant FAQ into an email reply with a "Please read this for your answer" (rather than typing out the same long answers again and again and again.

It seems to me that the generous members here at ipcamtalk.com spend a heckuva lot of time answering repettative basic FOV, POE, networking, DDNS, remote access, new computer, trouble shooting, camera mounting, etc. type questions...and they answer the same questions again and again and again. And then some more.

If Mike was to crate such an "FAQ System" here on ipcamtalk.com then multiple senior members (and only those senior members) could be granted permission to add FAQ's and FAQ answers to the "ipcamtalk.com FAQ Forum".

Such a system would probably save a boatload of everyone's time and -- eventually -- create an incredibly valuable resource which -- eventually -- might become one of the most valuable education resource in the IP camera industry.

Mike's the boss, but I think this simple idea has merit fellas.

 

[bp2008]

It might work. I think there will be two tricks to this though. First, getting people involved, and second, getting those involved to cooperate and agree on things.

 

[Q™]

Re: Mike > ipcamtalk.com FAQ system proposal

I'll tell you this Brian...it's going to be a simple matter of copying existing forum posts...cleaning them up a bit...and creating a new FAQ. Such as these (I've been saving some of the better ones)...

iFames And How The Effect "Choppy", "Sheared", "Smeared" or "Torn" Video
@MaxIcon

Yes, more i-frames will make smoother video. By the time you get to i-frame=1, you're running in MJPEG mode, essentially, which requires a higher bit rate for good quality, but every frame is good if your bit rate is high enough.

Running fewer i-frames has the benefit of having the glitch happen less often, but if any p-frames get dropped or corrupted, it takes longer before the i-frame comes along to fix the image. With more i-frames, if the quality suffers from low bit rate, the glitch will be even worse, since the p-frame will be more pixellated due to less bandwidth available, and each i-frame will clean it up more until the next i-frame comes along.

With variable bit rate, bandwidth changes will depend on the detail of the image and how much motion there is, as well as the camera's firmware. You'd have to test it to see for sure. My old Vivoteks will go above the baseline bit rate setting on variable if they need to, while Hiks use the bit rate setting as a max and will only drop below it. At least, that's how it worked when I tested, back on 2013 era firmware. I haven't updated for a while, so that may have changed.

Best bet is to test it at whatever settings you end up liking, and record a scene with a lot of motion and detail. If you step through it frame by frame and there's no obvious quality difference between the last p-frame and the next i-frame, your bit rate is good.

@MaxIcon

With 1/12 sec exposure, your frame rates will drop to 12 fps when the light is low enough for the exposure to drop that low. 30 fps can only be sustained at 1/30 sec or above in low light. When it's bright enough, it doesn't matter, but the frame rate can never be higher than the inverse of the exposure.

I prefer higher resolution and lower frame rate, as well as minimal motion blur, since lower resolution and motion blur can prevent you from getting a good ID. Lower frame rate loses some smoothness, but if it enables higher resolution, your ability to ID is better. YMMV, as always!

@MaxIcon

What you need is to set a maximum exposure time of 1/30 sec. The frame rate doesn't matter in this case. 1/30 sec will avoid motion blur for walkers, but runners will still blur. 1/60 sec reduces it even more, but Hiks get pretty noisy at 1/60 in low light, and many people use 1/30 as the best compromise between low motion blur and noise.

Long exposures set a maximum frame rate, but short exposures set a minimum frame rate. At 1/30 sec, you can run 30 fps or lower with no problems, but you couldn't run 60 fps. At 6 fps, you can run 1/6 second or faster, but anything below 1/30 second will cause motion blur.

Here's an example of a runner at 1/30 sec in daylight. 1/60 sec would have frozen the motion much better:
View attachment 6074

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6. Positioning Cameras For Face Recognition
@stevejay

I went to all kinds of trouble when I got my first set of IP cams to mount them way up high, assuming that the comprehensive "aerial" view from overhead looking down onto my porch—and another across my patio— was the best way to see as much as possible. Eventually I realized that I couldn't even identify the mailman's face in the recordings if he was wearing a simple baseball cap. When I got new cams I put them down at eye level so now I'm looking right into people's face. There's sort of a security issue with having them low enough to grab. I have the one monitoring the front porch mounted back behind a hedge of cactus and other sticky, stabbing plants next to the house. But, if someone really wanted to get their hands on it, I guess they could. Hopefully I would have good video recorded by the time they could run away with it.

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8. Purchasing Hikvision Chinese Region Cameras From AliExpress
@misslehead3

I am currently dealing with the worst case scenario. I have 40 cameras up and running and am struggling to get a feature working. There is no support for these cameras by the company because China sends you to US and the US tell you to kick rocks because they are Chinese cameras. Never again will I buy non US cameras, regardless of savings. You also cant ugrade the firmware because it will revert the camera back to its origonal language, which would be Chinese in this case. As for price savings the difference in AliExpress compared to @milkisbad is marginal from what I am seeing. I just wish I knew about him before getting the cameras elsewhere.

@fenderman

China cams were a great buy and 50 percent cheaper two years ago. Regular folks could simply not purchase from ADI or other distributors. So it was the only choice for many. Now that there are several vendors who sell US region cameras and the price has dropped, it makes more sense to just buy locally...with the exception of our members outside the US who are still gouged on these cameras...specialty models like the hikvision pinhole cameras are not carried locally or the price is inflated, so going to china makes sense there as well.

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1. Bit Rate: Constant Bit Rate vs. Variable Bit Rate Explained
@MaxIcon

Variable can save bandwidth and recording space when there's little motion and/or simple scenes. If the scenes are detailed or with a lot of motion, it may not make a big difference. Low light images can cause high bit rates with VBR if there's a lot of noise, or if sharpening is set high so that the noise is highlighted more.

Constant will always use the same bit rate, network bandwidth, and recording space, regardless of the scene.

To check performance at different bit rate settings, it's important to check the scene when there's a lot of activity or motion, especially if there's a lot of complexity in the image. Static scenes with little change can look great at lower bit rates but pixelate when there's a lot of motion.

 

[PSPCommOp]

i've been wondering about this... most forums have this to help out the newbs like myself. I see theres alot of other newbs who joined after myself asking the same questions. I'd say make it a work in progress for only admin's and senior members to update and then unleash it when there is consensus that its good to go.

 

[Del Boy]

Happy to help out when I've got a few hours spare.

 

[Mike]

Thanks @Q2U, I'm always looking to improve IPCT. I have been thinking of incorporating wiki software into the forum, I'm going to send you a PM.

 

[Q™]

PM answered Mike!

 

[tangent]

@Mike I keep thinking of this thread and about a sticky or wiki covering a range of topics. I'm sure this sort of thing is a relatively low priority given things you're probably still working on with the transition to XF. The performance of XF is certainly a big improvement.

As I find myself pondering a n00b's guide to the galaxy type thread, one thing that pops up is how to quickly/easily find some of the best threads / posts. I've never administered xf before, so I don't know what the backend is like, but I imagine the admins have a more powerful search at their disposal (short of manual db queries). Here are some thoughts I've had on ways to find particularly helpful posts:
-An advanced search for threads with a reasonably high number of posts and a minimum number of thanks/likes (something I don't think a typical user can do).
-Sorting by number of replies/posts, useful but also very good at finding flame wars and prolific trolls. Filtering by likes could help id more useful threads.
-Tags have a lot of potential to be useful. Currently, as far as I can tell tags are only created at thread origination. Some coordination and cooperation from a number of users would be required to make them more useful.
-Searching/sorting for the most liked posts by certain particularity helpful and knowledgeable users.

It may be possible to expand the usefulness of the tag system, but as I said I'm not familiar with the xf backend.
-Some forums automatically tag threads that contain certain keywords or that meet certain parameters.
-Some forums allow users (not just the person who created the thread / admins) to assign tags to threads after they've been created. There is some potential for abuse here, but this functionality could be limited to users with over 100 posts and 20 likes for example.

Stickies can be very useful but they do have a tendency to get out dated. It can be helpful to keep discussion about the sticky in a separate thread. I'm not sure if a wiki would be a better choice, but the potential to make better use of the tag system definitely exists.

 

[Q™]

It doesn't need to be complicated. A simple "FAQ Forum" with each "FAQ" assigned it's own topic will suffice....as outlined in the OP

 

[nayr]

We need a community editable portal page; with simple links to threads all organized into categories and stuff..

a minimal wiki would be adaquate; for example have a LPR page that links to important threads, posts, and perhaps a search through tags for LPR.. then we just tag new threads and the'll show up in the static search.. ppl can start tagging stuff in right categories it can be a search for this category option.

and anything else that comes up.. I am thinking keep the articles as discussions in the forums where they belong and just use it as a directory/index to important threads/posts/discussions.. so you can browse through all the good threads that noobies need on the noobie wiki page.

wiki's can be a bitch to maintain and get both political and outdated fast; so i dont think alot of content should be dumped into them and anyone given power to edit them.

the other option is to start stickifying everything but that just pollutes forums and causes confusion as shit goes off topic.

 

[tangent]

Here's a rough outline I put together for some topics that could be part of something like this:
Tagging threads with relevant tags and somthing like 'bestof' could work. A search for posts with soemthing like 10+ likes could also be a good way to find particularly helpful info.

• Deciding where to put your cameras
  • Common placement examples, general guidelines, links to threads with pictures
  • What not to do with examples
  • Software/tools to draw floor plans and experiment with camera locations
  • Cameras worth using require power and wifi is pretty limiting once you go beyond 1 or 2 cams so just do it right and run Ethernet. Evaluate how to run ethernet to a given location.
  • new vs. existing construction.
• Choosing the right camera
  • Pick the camera based on the location, not the other way around
  • Types of Cameras
  • Brands of Cameras
  • FOV, lens selection, PPF calculations
  • IR / Night performance
  • Understating what camera specs matter the most
  • Understanding camera model variants
  • Reviews / Sample Images for popular cameras
• Deciding how you're going to record the cameras
  • Hardware NVRs
  • Software VMS: BlueIris, Milestone, etc.
  • Notes about email and sd cards
• Monitoring your cameras effectively
  • Displaying them on a tv or monitor
  • Mobile apps
  • Effective motion detection and other triggers
  • ALPR
• Where to buy/not to buy / general notes about different suppliers / marketplaces
• How to install
  • network fundamentals
  • running cables in your house / paying someone to do it
  • Getting it all hooked up
  • Securing your devices
• How to maximize camera performance
  • Exposure
  • WDR
  • IR
  • video encoding
• Troubleshooting common problems

 

[randytsuch]

Hi
I also think this is a great idea, being a newbie it would have save me quite a bit of time, and still would.

However, I was wondering if a wiki would be better for this? I was thinking of the wiki at Domoticz, which helped me a lot to implement that.

But anything like this would be a huge benefit to the community.
I know it would take a lot of work but in the long run it would save having to re-answer these types of questions.