Recently purchased and installed a Lorex (Dahua) 4k 8 channel 4 camera NVR system and have image quality questions..

Joined
Oct 30, 2020
Messages
21
Reaction score
1
Location
Michigan
I noticed when I've had it on auto during the day people were kind of blurry far away. What do you think a good shutter speed would be for day time to start off testing?
 

wittaj

IPCT Contributor
Joined
Apr 28, 2019
Messages
25,389
Reaction score
49,453
Location
USA
That is more a function of a 2.8mm camera at a distance.

Look at this chart below - the person would need to be within 13 feet to recognize them. As I tell my neighbors with their 2.8 mm cams on their house saying they can recognize people at the street, I am like that is only possible if you already know the person and be able to recognize them based on their walk, clothing, body type, etc., but put a total stranger in the frame and the picture will be fairly useless. I recognize most of the people I see on my 2.8mm overview cam, but a total stranger goes by and not much you could tell the police, maybe clothing color, but nothing to identify them.

You can detect someone at 144 feet and beyond and maybe be able to "recognize" them if you know them and can tell their body dimension, walk, etc., but will never be able to identify a stranger or have a good enough image to share with the police.

You would need at least a 60mm lens to identify a face at 150 feet, so probably around 32mm for 70 feet. In cameras, a 2.8mm versus a 32mm results in a dramatic improvement over a distance.

1604638118196.png

Try a 1/2000, 1/4,000, and 1/10,000 shutter, but I think it will be blurry at that distance as a 2.8mm is "focused" for probably around 15 feet or so.

And you will see because of that small lens size, that if you digital zoom, it is a pixel blurry mess real fast.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Oct 30, 2020
Messages
21
Reaction score
1
Location
Michigan
I have a Costco n841 8 4K system. If I hadn’t bought the kit, I wouldn’t be on this forum. It’s a great start, now I’m interested in some of the starlight cams. My next cameras won’t be a kit.
My advice is to script day and night modes. I found my night video could be substantially improved by applying night settings. My cams have “auto” exposure but they don’t change modes automatically.
If you log directly into the cameras through their ip you can set up times to have the camera change modes automatically from night and day. I just recently found this out
 

brianegge

Getting comfortable
Joined
Apr 27, 2020
Messages
199
Reaction score
253
Location
Ridgefield, CT
If you log directly into the cameras through their ip you can set up times to have the camera change modes automatically from night and day. I just recently found this out
I did not know the cameras had that option. On the NVR the config doesn't change and the day&night only controls is it tries to do color night vision. My script enables night mode 15 minutes after sunset and 15 minutes before sunrise. I have the previous NVR, which is about 6 months old.
1604670079947.png

My script:
Bash:
# 0=day, 3=night
for cam in $(seq 0 7); do curl --digest --user user:password  "http://192.168.x.x/cgi-bin/configManager.cgi?action=setConfig&VideoInOptions\[${cam}\].NightOptions.SwitchMode=$1"; done
 

wittaj

IPCT Contributor
Joined
Apr 28, 2019
Messages
25,389
Reaction score
49,453
Location
USA
You should always make changes to the camera within the camera GUI itself. It is usually more robust and more features, and will tend to stick more than when changing them in the NVR.
 

sebastiantombs

Known around here
Joined
Dec 28, 2019
Messages
11,511
Reaction score
27,701
Location
New Jersey
You should use either IE, Chrome with the IE plug-in or Pale Moon 32 bit to make adjustments in the camera. Much more likely to "stick" when you hit "save".
 
Joined
Oct 30, 2020
Messages
21
Reaction score
1
Location
Michigan
You should always make changes to the camera within the camera GUI itself. It is usually more robust and more features, and will tend to stick more than when changing them in the NVR.
Is that why when i reboot my dvr my settings are lost?
 
Joined
Oct 30, 2020
Messages
21
Reaction score
1
Location
Michigan
I did not know the cameras had that option. On the NVR the config doesn't change and the day&night only controls is it tries to do color night vision. My script enables night mode 15 minutes after sunset and 15 minutes before sunrise. I have the previous NVR, which is about 6 months old.
View attachment 74306

My script:
Bash:
# 0=day, 3=night
for cam in $(seq 0 7); do curl --digest --user user:password  "http://192.168.x.x/cgi-bin/configManager.cgi?action=setConfig&VideoInOptions\[${cam}\].NightOptions.SwitchMode=$1"; done
I dont like color night vision either and i cant disable it i dont think? Does your script change it to B/W automatically when the sun goes down and back to color when it comes up or do you have to set a time?
 

sebastiantombs

Known around here
Joined
Dec 28, 2019
Messages
11,511
Reaction score
27,701
Location
New Jersey
Lorex cameras are actually stripped down Dahua cameras I believe. That being the case you can use the Dahua Sunrise/Sunset Utility to control when they gointo "night" and "day" modes. Just make sure the cameras are set to "full time" in the schedule. Keep in mind that you can set the IR to auto in the "day" to allow the camera to use IR under poor weather conditions and still "force" IR at night.

 
Joined
Oct 30, 2020
Messages
21
Reaction score
1
Location
Michigan
Lorex cameras are actually stripped down Dahua cameras I believe. That being the case you can use the Dahua Sunrise/Sunset Utility to control when they gointo "night" and "day" modes. Just make sure the cameras are set to "full time" in the schedule. Keep in mind that you can set the IR to auto in the "day" to allow the camera to use IR under poor weather conditions and still "force" IR at night.

Thanks, I'll look into it but that seems way over my head lol
 

sebastiantombs

Known around here
Joined
Dec 28, 2019
Messages
11,511
Reaction score
27,701
Location
New Jersey
Given that your cameras are on an NVR it may be a little tricky getting the utility to run and it does take a PC that's on, basically, 24/7 so it may not wok out for you. You can also set the schedules in the cameras manually, but they would need to be adjusted periodically as the sunrise/sunset times change through the year. The simplicity of an NVR can make getting a system up and running very easy, but it does have the disadvantage of not being as flexible as a VMS like Blue Iris.
 
Joined
Oct 30, 2020
Messages
21
Reaction score
1
Location
Michigan
Given that your cameras are on an NVR it may be a little tricky getting the utility to run and it does take a PC that's on, basically, 24/7 so it may not wok out for you. You can also set the schedules in the cameras manually, but they would need to be adjusted periodically as the sunrise/sunset times change through the year. The simplicity of an NVR can make getting a system up and running very easy, but it does have the disadvantage of not being as flexible as a VMS like Blue Iris.
Thanks for your help again! That's what I'm doing now is setting up the the scheduled times manually. I'll just have to edit the times a couple times a year
 
Top