Profiles and Schedules?

[Roman]

Hey all, new member here at IP Cam Talk but been a "lurker" for quite some time. I recently installed BI and like the software from what I can tell. It is very intuitive and there seems to be a lot you can do with the software. I have been attempting to create "profiles" and then schedule those profiles accordingly but am having some difficulty getting everything to work the way I would like. I have two profiles set up called Day and Night. What I am trying to do is limit or get rid of all together the false alarms from when the camera goes from day to night mode (color to black and white). I can't figure out how I am supposed to tell what time to adjust my settings to and how that would change throughout the year. I took the advise of the manual and set up my latitude and longitude but I am not really sure how that works. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated! Thanks....

 

[fenderman]

Welcome to the forum!
Here is what you can do to limit those false alarms. The alarm is triggered because when the camera goes changes from color to b/w all the pixels change at once and BI detects "motion". There are a couple of ways to attack this issue.
1) Increase your "make time" overall to say 1 second, so that the quick change over is not detected....this can cause you to miss true motion at other times.
2) You can create a profile with the increased make time and have that profile linked to sunrise and sunset, (you can look at your footage to determine when relative to sunrise and sunset your cameras generally change over) and only during those times have the profile with the increased make time active....(you still risk missing some footage)
3) Same idea as number 2, except you keep your usual make time, but just disable alerts during those periods, this way everything is recorded.

For some info on setting the profiles relative to sunrise sunset, see here http://www.ipcamtalk.com/showthread.php?818-confused-on-schedule-profile&highlight=sunset

 

[anijet]

I set up a profile called Dawn/Dusk (like fenderman suggested above). It has extended make time and is scheduled ~30 min prior and ~30 min after the average "trip time" both morning and evening and adjusted to sunrise and sunset. Works very well.

The reason for being active for an hour is cameras are located to the east, south and west and all "trip" a few minutes apart.

 

[Roman]

fenderman and anijet- First let me say, thank you so much for your response. I am literally going crazy trying to figure this stuff out. I am so confused..I have watched youtube videos, read the help guide 6 times just today, read forum posts on both here and cam-it but just can't seem to make sense out of it.

Ok, I understand kind of...let me see if I get this straight...I will have three total profiles 1) Day 2) Night 3) Dawn/Dusk or Sunrise/Sunset? For example I would use profile #1 (Day) when I definitely know it is daylight out...let's say from 0800 to 1700. I will use profile #2 when I definitely know it is nighttime out...let's say from 2000 to 0500. Then I will use profile #3 for a few minutes before sunrise and a few minutes before sunset to stop the camera from giving an alert?

I was going to ask how the heck I am supposed to know when BI "trips" for that magic time of sunrise / sunset but I am guessing I just let it go and watch what clips it records then I know the time? I apologize for all the stupid questions...I am just trying to get this stuff figured out. Maybe I need to hire a consultant to assist!

Thanks....

 

[anijet]

Roman, You have it mostly figured out. If you use the global schedule, when one profile stops the next one starts and so on.....

Your times aren't quite right. Too much time between 1700 and 2000.

Let's say sunset is at 1800 and sunrise is at 0600.

Profile1 would end at around 1730 and Profile3 would start.
Then at 1830 Profile3 would stop and Profile2 would start.
At 0530 Profile2 would stop and Profile3 would start.
Last, at 0630 Profile3 would stop and Profile1 starts.

Set this schedule for all days of the week and you're good to go.

Don't use the Camera Properties schedule but rather the Global schedule. Much simpler. After you get the hang of it you might find a need for the Camera Properties schedules.

 

[Roman]

anijet-

I believe I have my 3 profiles set up: I did Day, Night, and Sunrise / Sunset profiles. I have a few more questions about the Schedule tab if you don't mind:

-What is the blue bubble for on the schedule tab (in the Night Profile Blue area)
-Whenever I click "Civil Twilight" my schedule changes for some reason? What exactly does that mean?
-What exactly does "Relative to sunrise/sunset" mean?

I would like to get started on adjusting my motion sensitivity for each profile. Is there a way to "test" the sensitivity of your adjustments or do you just set the parameters and then go walk in front of the cam and see if it picks up? What are the differences between the two adjustments under the motion area?

Any other advise about fine tuning motion for the cams....?

Thanks....

 

[anijet]

Hi Roman,

anijet-

I believe I have my 3 profiles set up: I did Day, Night, and Sunrise / Sunset profiles. I have a few more questions about the Schedule tab if you don't mind:

-What is the blue bubble for on the schedule tab (in the Night Profile Blue area)
When selected you can use as a slider or change the time using the time set box.

-Whenever I click "Civil Twilight" my schedule changes for some reason? What exactly does that mean?
It adjusts the sunrise earlier and the sunset later to more closely match real light changes.

-What exactly does "Relative to sunrise/sunset" mean?
If checked the selected times will adjust as daylight changes with seasonal changes.

I would like to get started on adjusting my motion sensitivity for each profile. Is there a way to "test" the sensitivity of your adjustments or do you just set the parameters and then go walk in front of the cam and see if it picks up? What are the differences between the two adjustments under the motion area?
One changes the size of the motion detection area and the other changes the amount of change required.

Any other advise about fine tuning motion for the cams....?
Trial and error / fine tuning. Make sure the "Object detect/reject" is not checked. Also, the "Make Time" has a big effect on triggering.
Take a look at using the Mask page to eliminate false triggers.


Thanks....View attachment 1216

 

[Roman]

Anijet-

Just to clarify, would you use civil twilight and relative sunrise/sunset options? Also, what is a good or reasonable make time for the different profiles?

And what did you mean when you said look at the Mask page to eliminate false triggers?

Thanks....sorry for all the questions....feeling overwhelmed with implementing this software. (Do you do individual BI consulting)

 

[anijet]

Roman,

Anijet-

Just to clarify, would you use civil twilight and relative sunrise/sunset options?
I use both (and suspect in you should since you want to follow day/night changes). But for example, if you were monitoring a business and wanted profiles related to business hours then I wouldn't use either as I would not want the times to change.

Also, what is a good or reasonable make time for the different profiles?
It depends on what you want to cause a trigger. I have on outside cam that I don't want to trigger on clouds moving in and out causing a change in overall lighting. I use a 2.0 second make time so these light changes won't cause a trigger. If I wanted these to trigger I would us a shorter make time. I also had one where birds would cause triggers so I increased the make time and it eliminated the "bird triggers" But.... too long and you will eliminated wanted triggers.

And what did you mean when you said look at the Mask page to eliminate false triggers?
On the motion/trigger page half way down you will see mask and hotspot. If you check the box you can mask out areas that cause false triggers. Like a tree blowing in the wind etc........ Example: I have one cam with a street view in part of the view. I mask out the street to eliminate triggers from the cars but still trigger anything from the sidewalk or my driveway.

Thanks....sorry for all the questions....feeling overwhelmed with implementing this software. (Do you do individual BI consulting)

 

[CDAPete]

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