Night Tracking not working

IAmATeaf

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I always leave space at the edges of the picture so that there is an area before the detection zone and I always only cover areas that can be walked/travelled on and I’ve had no problems with detections with my 5231/5442 cams.
 

ponyrider127

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Thanks I will try that tonight. Do you know why it starst to track but if I stop for 2 seconds it will go back to preset and not stay on target?.
 

wittaj

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That is just the nature of the tracking. We cannot adjust the time when so eone stops, although I think it learns because mine will stay for about 10 seconds if someone stops.

You can also try making track target size smaller so it can see more of your body.
 

bigredfish

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Couple of suggestions
  • Set target size to 35
  • target track time is low at 15- try 60
  • what does your nighttime image look like? Settings? What model ptz?

As @wittaj mentioned, we can’t set a value for how long it dwells on non-motion unfortunately.

Also, depending On model, they don’t do near as well at night. The 1/2.8 sensor sucks in 4MP cams at night for tracking imho
 

ponyrider127

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I have set target from 25 to 51 no difference.
I have set track time from 15 to 300 no difference.
Night Pic. attached
Model- DH-SD59432XA-HNR
All I can figure out is the light is not enough.
Day time it tracks.

I did notice the darker it got my intrusions disappeared.
 

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wittaj

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It would help to show some video of what you are experiencing, and if you have an SD card in the camera it will allow you to show the object tracking box on the screen so we can see what it locked onto instead would be very helpful.

As you are seeing, these are not plug and play. You have to dial them in. But once you do, they are incredible. Mine hits the mark over 95% of the time.

Are you running default/auto settings?

It is a matter of getting the brightness/contrast and target ratio settings correct. That image looks too bright and I think the objects are blending in.

I always knew that you shouldn't chase a bright picture - it looks nice and people migrate towards a brighter TV for example, but upon closer examination, most images need to be toned down in order to get all the details. You will be surprised how much changing a parameter like gamma could impact tracking. For example, if you have a pesky tree or something in the middle of the view during an autotrack, just by changing some image parameters you can get autotrack to pass it.

Making the image a little darker at night actually helped with tracking someone across the street, which was opposite of what I thought you would think to do. So add some contrast to your image above and see if it improves.

I have a yard lamp post that more times than not autotrack would get stuck on it as someone was walking and the autotrack would only go so far. Because my image has soo much contrast (bright white concrete a third, blacktop road a third, grass a third), knocking down the gamma made the lamp post not be so "trackable" lol, and along with that I turned of PFA and that gave it just enough time to retrack the person walking past the lamp post. The camera may still autotrack the lamp post when a small kid goes by, but an adult it was autotracking past the lamp post.

Ideally for an intrusion box or tripwires, you should have the initial field of view be such that the camera doesn't have to initially pan too much up/down or left/right to get the object in the center of the screen to start tracking. The closer the object is to the center of the image, the better the chance that it will track correctly.

The reason it starts looking upward or left or right is usually because the intrusion box is too big so the camera identifies the object before it is in the center of the field of view and then sometimes something else matches the "algorithm signature" of the initial object and then starts trying to track something that isn't there. Adjusting the field of view and the locations of the IVS rules to be closer to the center can fix that.

Autotracking PTZs are great, but they have limitations like everything else. Installed in a wrong location or with fields of view that do not give it a chance will be problematic.

A camera losing track is usually changing something as simple as adjusting the field of view to get more of the object in the center can make all the difference whether it tracks correctly or not. Or changing brightness/contrast.
 

wittaj

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I think it is starting to get there now. Test it with that and see.

Possibly. But PTZs are a different breed because they move, so it can be more difficult to dial it in once you start adding external IR.
 

EMPIRETECANDY

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The white wall obsorb lots of the IR, don't cast too much light on it , or else will make the left part bit dark .
So need adjust the angle.
 

sebastiantombs

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If you do put up an auxiliary IR put it on the rear corner angled at 45 degrees or so toward the street. That way you'll get frontal illumination on targets approaching from the street.
 
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ponyrider127

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I thought PTZ are to be higher so they can see 360 degrees.
I will try tripwire to see what happens.
 

sebastiantombs

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The mounting height is dictated by what you are trying to achieve. If you want full 360 capability, yeas higher is better. If you want to monitor specific areas, lower is better. It becomes a trade off of angles, higher making targets smaller due to the more acute view angle. In your case, lower would help and getting that bright floodlight out of the frame would help as well.
 

wittaj

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You can get away with a PTZ higher as long as the distance is enough to "flatten" the angle, which I think you mostly have.

But you might be trying too much with that FoV as well. I would zoom a little and get that floodlight out of the image as well.

It is now just a matter of dialing in for your field of view.

What are your settings for shutter, gain, etc. All of those parameters, including gain, brightness, etc. will impact the ability to track at night.

Regarding IVS, that is a trial and error as well. Many here have better success with tripwires drawn in a Z pattern, and others have success with intrusion boxes. Try them both and figure out which works best for your situation.
 
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