quitepossibly
n3wb
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Synology doesn't officially support this model yet. It mostly works fine under the Dahua generic profile though.
Review-OEM 4mp AI Cam IPC-T5442TM-AS Starlight+
- Thread starter looney2ns
- Start date
Thank youI believe the official model is IPC-HDW5442TM-AS the link is below is appears to be EOL as the newer Wizmind is the IPC-HDW5442TM-ASE. Hope that helps.
Thank you and wonder why as having issues on my Synology Video Surveillance app.
DWinters1979
Getting the hang of it
Tried this cam yesterday on my synology. It doesnt stand in the support list but the cam works.
Face detection works, but no special parameters such as age, gender etc
Face detection works, but no special parameters such as age, gender etc
Thanks and yes works fine on my Synology also but having problems viewing events on the TimeLine.
It won't play at all even though the Timeline keeps moving. The only way I can see what an event was is to download it and then view it, which is frustrating.
IAmATeaf
Known around here
I asked before about the aspect view differences between this cam with a 3.6mm lens and a 5231-ze fully zoomed out and somebody was kind enough to post some pics which compared them but I forgot to bookmark the post. Have searched and can’t find it. Wondering if anybody might remember the post/comparison, need to take a look so I can decide which lens variant to order.
Got a t5442tm-as and the low light color is impressive. But the problem is I have to force "Color" or it changes to B&W IR which even when I turn the IR light down it washes out the center.
So I seem to have 2 choices. 1. use the nice color capability but if the porch light goes out its blind or 2. let it switch to B&W so IR works and don't get to use the low light quality. If I use B&W/IR I could have bought a cheaper camera.
So I seem to have 2 choices. 1. use the nice color capability but if the porch light goes out its blind or 2. let it switch to B&W so IR works and don't get to use the low light quality. If I use B&W/IR I could have bought a cheaper camera.
bigredfish
Known around here
Nope.
The low light quality applies to B&W/IR as well as color. It doesn't stop being a good low light camera when the IR comes on.
This is the problem we have with folks seeing a good color night shot and thinking their yard/drive/porch should be "just like that".
it takes a good amount of white light to run ANY camera in color at night and get good clean video without blur or noise. I have 12 cameras around my house and only 3 remain in color at night.
I run forced color at night also. None of us can guarantee against the lights going out
The low light quality applies to B&W/IR as well as color. It doesn't stop being a good low light camera when the IR comes on.
This is the problem we have with folks seeing a good color night shot and thinking their yard/drive/porch should be "just like that".
it takes a good amount of white light to run ANY camera in color at night and get good clean video without blur or noise. I have 12 cameras around my house and only 3 remain in color at night.
I run forced color at night also. None of us can guarantee against the lights going out
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looney2ns
IPCT Contributor
don't leave the camera at factory defaults. it needs fine tuning to have the best picture in both color and night time
Just out of curiosity - for us that are new to setting up cameras... what is the best approach for tuning a new camera?
I would hazard a guess that there isn't a single "best" way - but speaking for myself, I haven't setup one before (mine are on default with only one or two small adjustments for color - nothing for motion blur, etc.) and don't know where to start.
We wouldn't be lucky enough for there to be a guide out there is there?
Based on those who have experience, what process do you do through to dial in the day and night settings?
Thanks!
DeadEnd
I would hazard a guess that there isn't a single "best" way - but speaking for myself, I haven't setup one before (mine are on default with only one or two small adjustments for color - nothing for motion blur, etc.) and don't know where to start.
We wouldn't be lucky enough for there to be a guide out there is there?
Based on those who have experience, what process do you do through to dial in the day and night settings?
Thanks!
DeadEnd
biggen
Known around here
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To tune your new cameras you need to walk in front of your camera at night and then go playback the recording and pause the video when you are on the screen. If you can't make out your face because of motion blur, then you need to make some adjustments. If you are leaving it on the defaults, then I can almost guarantee you that you will need to adjust the exposure/iris setting. See the below:
Common issues with camera image
Here is a quick guide to what might go wrong with the image of your cctv camera, and how to fix this. MOTION BLUR: This is probably the most common issue, new camera owners run into. Many times on this forum I've seen posts like: "I bought a set of cameras recently. The image looks great on...
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biggen
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The camera has excellent low light ability in color, but yes, you need some light. It's not magic. All cameras need some light to operate in color and the more light the better.
You need to tweak your IR/Gain/Exposure compensation settings more if you are still getting IR washout. I use the same camera on my backyard at night where there is ZERO ambient light back there at night so I have to use B/W. I have the IR settings so that I can walk right up to my camera and not wash out my face.
bigredfish
Known around here
I've countless hours tuning cameras as do many here. I wont try and write an authoritative guide as I was up too late and only on coffee #2, and frankly Im a hobbyist not a professional but here's some basics. Its a lot of trial and error as no two scenes are the same and any two different cameras produce different image qualities.
These are just starting points. Many scenes will need hours of tweeking beyond this baseline.
Note: you will almost always need separate Day/Night profiles as the settings can be vastly different.
Daytime is generally easy. Any cheap 2MP+ camera will do reasonably well in daytime with out of the box Auto settings
1- Set bitrate and fps- I like to use 30FPS and max bitrate as shown on the camera specs (usually 6144 or 8192). Also match Iframe to FPS
2-Leave image settings (brightness, sharpness, contrast etc) alone at 50
3- Dont mess with DNR- 50 should be max in any scene otherwise you will induce motion blur. 20-30 will be fine if you have a decent lit scene
4- The 2 most often adjusted settings are backlight and exposure.
1- Decide if you have enough white light and a sensitive enough camera to run color at night. 90% DO NOT HAVE BOTH There's nothing wrong with running good clear crisp B&W with IR vs grainy blurry color when trying to force color at night
2- Test with a moving person in the video. Still shots that may be beautiful dont tell the story. Anyone can get a good night still shot.
3- Leave image settings (brightness, sharpness, contrast etc) alone at 50. Dont try and use brightness or gamma to lighten up an image at night. You just get a washed out image. You can use incresed GAIN to some degree to brighten the image, but at the expense of more noise.
4- DNR usually needs to be reduced at night to minimize blur. This is the number 1 cause of motion blur. 30-40 max is a good place to start
5- Backlight- - Rarely I'll use a small bit of BLC but WDR has NO affect in B&W so dont use it. In color it introduces blur in low light. HLC can be helpful to reduce the flare caused by bright spotlights, headlights, etc. But will reduce the overall image brightness if you go too far.
6- IR- requires some experimenting as mentioned by @biggen above, its a matter of adjusting to have enough while not blowing out the image. This is a process of test/tweek rinse/repeat. Reflective objects like soffit or close in landscaping can reflect the IR light and greatly reduce its effective range
7- Exposure- - with B&W/IR I typically run most cameras at 1/60 or so. In color its a tedious job of experimenting to get enough light while keeping motion blur and noise to a minimum. Again start with 1/60 but i find it takes 1/120 to 1/250 to freeze moving subjects. This means you need a shit ton of white light to run color at night. Again Gain can be helpful but the more Gain the more noise. Its a balancing act.
LPR is another whole topic, there's lots of good information on this in the LPR forum
These are just starting points. Many scenes will need hours of tweeking beyond this baseline.
Note: you will almost always need separate Day/Night profiles as the settings can be vastly different.
Daytime is generally easy. Any cheap 2MP+ camera will do reasonably well in daytime with out of the box Auto settings
1- Set bitrate and fps- I like to use 30FPS and max bitrate as shown on the camera specs (usually 6144 or 8192). Also match Iframe to FPS
2-Leave image settings (brightness, sharpness, contrast etc) alone at 50
3- Dont mess with DNR- 50 should be max in any scene otherwise you will induce motion blur. 20-30 will be fine if you have a decent lit scene
4- The 2 most often adjusted settings are backlight and exposure.
- Backlight- WDR is commonly used in a scene with a mix of shadows and bright areas to even out the image. On Dahua cameras I dont recommend anything greater than 20-25
- Backlight BLC- can be used when the background is much brighter than the foreground making your subject appear dark or backlit
- Exposure- generally with good light Auto will do fine. But to allow for overcast or darker areas you may want to use a faster shutter speed to reduce blur. 1/60 or 1/120 is usually enough and many use a range - say 0-2 to allow the camera to compensate for overcast vs sunny changes. (Faster exposure= smaller number. Auto is usually 1/30 max where 1/60 is double as fast. You'll commonly see 1/1000 or faster for fast moving objects and special applications like LPR a night)
1- Decide if you have enough white light and a sensitive enough camera to run color at night. 90% DO NOT HAVE BOTH There's nothing wrong with running good clear crisp B&W with IR vs grainy blurry color when trying to force color at night
2- Test with a moving person in the video. Still shots that may be beautiful dont tell the story. Anyone can get a good night still shot.
3- Leave image settings (brightness, sharpness, contrast etc) alone at 50. Dont try and use brightness or gamma to lighten up an image at night. You just get a washed out image. You can use incresed GAIN to some degree to brighten the image, but at the expense of more noise.
4- DNR usually needs to be reduced at night to minimize blur. This is the number 1 cause of motion blur. 30-40 max is a good place to start
5- Backlight- - Rarely I'll use a small bit of BLC but WDR has NO affect in B&W so dont use it. In color it introduces blur in low light. HLC can be helpful to reduce the flare caused by bright spotlights, headlights, etc. But will reduce the overall image brightness if you go too far.
6- IR- requires some experimenting as mentioned by @biggen above, its a matter of adjusting to have enough while not blowing out the image. This is a process of test/tweek rinse/repeat. Reflective objects like soffit or close in landscaping can reflect the IR light and greatly reduce its effective range
7- Exposure- - with B&W/IR I typically run most cameras at 1/60 or so. In color its a tedious job of experimenting to get enough light while keeping motion blur and noise to a minimum. Again start with 1/60 but i find it takes 1/120 to 1/250 to freeze moving subjects. This means you need a shit ton of white light to run color at night. Again Gain can be helpful but the more Gain the more noise. Its a balancing act.
LPR is another whole topic, there's lots of good information on this in the LPR forum
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Thank you very much @bigredfish and @biggen for sharing this information (and @wopi82 for the write up biggen linked)!
This is exactly what I was hoping for! Great beginning information to get us noobs started!
I have bookmarked both - and agree that if it hasn't already, some of this would be wonderful to add to cliff notes or something similar.
Cheers!
DeadEnd
This is exactly what I was hoping for! Great beginning information to get us noobs started!
I have bookmarked both - and agree that if it hasn't already, some of this would be wonderful to add to cliff notes or something similar.
Cheers!
DeadEnd
When you say 0-2, is that minimum and maximum time, in milliseconds? For example, my two generic 20x ptz can be set to auto exposure and then show two boxes to set min and max time.
bigredfish
Known around here
Not familiar with that interface but yeah essentially.
So I spent another hour tuning the new camera tonight. (Spent hours on the older ones in the past so I'm used to that, I've got 6 or so and running Blue Iris)
It's better now and I've given up on color at night. Not enough light to keep it crisp and ID a face. I'm trying to cover 3 cars parked at the front of my driveway with the camera on the soffit/eve and 1 light bulb in between the 2 garage doors.
Still can't not wash out my face with IR about 20 feet from the camera standing beside a car, even on manual with it turned all the way down.
Good news is B&W even without IR is really sharp and will probably work.
@biggen not sure how you did that, maybe I'm closer to the camera/IR source.
@bigredfish Thank you for the writeup, I worked through those tonight and got it working much better.
I guess the only thing I'd change is more adjustment on the auto day/night so with a good sensor it could stay color longer. (instead of L/M/H it could be a wider range and 0-100)
It's better now and I've given up on color at night. Not enough light to keep it crisp and ID a face. I'm trying to cover 3 cars parked at the front of my driveway with the camera on the soffit/eve and 1 light bulb in between the 2 garage doors.
Still can't not wash out my face with IR about 20 feet from the camera standing beside a car, even on manual with it turned all the way down.
Good news is B&W even without IR is really sharp and will probably work.
@biggen not sure how you did that, maybe I'm closer to the camera/IR source.
@bigredfish Thank you for the writeup, I worked through those tonight and got it working much better.
I guess the only thing I'd change is more adjustment on the auto day/night so with a good sensor it could stay color longer. (instead of L/M/H it could be a wider range and 0-100)
bigredfish
Known around here
On toning down the IR washout, try backing off on Gain.
bigredfish
Known around here
Use Manual instead of Shutter Priority and you will have access to Gain