Setting up Profiles

bigbadw

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I am trying to figure out how to solve a particular recording situation and think that Profiles may be the answer.

I have two cameras in one group. When either of them are triggered, they both start recording. This lets me cover a larger field of view, left to right, and capture movement completely. One camera is only good for day use, and is completely black at night.

Is there a way that I can have them act as a group together during the day and then not record any video from the second (dark) camera?

If I read correctly, I can go directly into the one camera (dark) and select the night time hours, then say to be inactive during those hours. Is it really that simple?
 
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fenderman

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Here is how i would do it. Create two profiles. The first will be set the way it is now. In the second profile you will disable trigger camera group on the camera that can see in the dark. Set the second profile during dark hours...
This will allow you to still capture recording and or trigger on the dark camera if someone were to introduce light with a flashlight or something..
 

bigbadw

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Here is how i would do it. Create two profiles. The first will be set the way it is now. In the second profile you will disable trigger camera group on the camera that can see in the dark. Set the second profile during dark hours...
This will allow you to still capture recording and or trigger on the dark camera if someone were to introduce light with a flashlight or something..
I am having a tough time getting my mind wrapped around this one. Here is what I have:
Profile 1 - Normal (Profile that runs all cameras, 24x7
Profile 2 - LPR Night time (Profile I was hoping to turn off the camera that cannot see in the dark)

I just read that I can use the "Inactive Profile" to set a time slot when a camera is turned off, and thought I may be able to simply aim the LPR camera at that Profile.

If I understand what you are saying, I should be able to set up three profiles:
Profile 1 - Normal (Profile that runs all cameras, 24x7 minus the LPR group of two cameras)
Profile 2 - LPR Group (Profile to use during the day and both cameras will trigger recording if they sense motion)
Profile 3 - LPR Night time (Profile that will only record from the camera that has night vision enabled)

I cant figure out how to set that up...
 

fenderman

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You dont need to set up three...just two...
in the global schedule set profile two to be active during the hours you dont want the second camera to record.
Now in the camera properties for the camera that is always recording, from the dropdown menu in the motion tab select profile 2 and then uncheck group..
To understand profiles you need to understand this: The dropdown menu in the motion tab that lets you select profiles (and for that matter in the record tab and alert tabs etc) is not a selection you are making (you are not choosing profile 1 or 2 for that cam) but rather you are choosing what settings in that tab should apply when profile 1 or two is active...So you can set for example that during profile 1 (which is set in the global schedule) the group trigger is checked but in profile 2 its not.
 

bigbadw

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Thanks again for the help fenderman. I will do this and see how it works! (don't know why my brain is making this so tough to understand! Age I guess....)
 

fenderman

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nah, its just takes a bit...once it clicks you will wonder why it took so long..
 

bigbadw

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You dont need to set up three...just two...
in the global schedule set profile to to be active during the hours you dont want the second camera to record.
Now in the camera properties for the camera that is always recording, from the dropdown menu in the motion tab select profile 2 and then uncheck group..
To understand profiles you need to understand this: The dropdown menu in the motion tab that lets you select profiles (and for that matter in the record tab and alert tabs etc) is not a selection you are making (you are not choosing profile 1 or 2 for that cam) but rather you are choosing what settings in that tab should apply when profile 1 or two is active...So you can set for example that during profile 1 (which is set in the global schedule) the group trigger is checked but in profile 2 its not.
Well I'll be.. This worked just like you instructed. I was cautious about experimenting with this solution because we were leaving on a short vacation, but once we returned I put this in place. I'm still not 100% understanding how the cameras "group together" and record during the day, but are "ungrouped" so that only "camera one" is recording in the evening. I am going to state what I think is happening, in hopes you will correct my understanding.

Problem: I had two cameras set in a group covering a large area. One camera faces forward and is set up for night images as well, the second camera is closer to the road and is tuned to capture license plates (only during the day and is not set up for night IR capture). This works fine during the day, but once night time comes, there was no need to capture images from the second camera (LPR - license plate reader) because the image is completely black (night time IR is turned off).

Solution: Use profiles to stop the recording of the second camera (LPR) at night, but still continue capturing video/images from camera one.

Approach: Set the global profile to have both cameras in a group. This allows one camera's motion detection to trigger both cameras and therefore record as much of the event as possible, even fast moving cars.
Create a second profile (called GATE) and have it active only during the night hours. Go into "camera one" settings and select the "motion" tab, pull down profiles and select the newly created (GATE) profile. Make sure that the "trigger camera groups" is not checked on this profile.

Result: The recording will capture the "group" video during the day per the global profile setting. At night, the camera's are no longer reacting to the "group" setting because "camera one" is now following the (GATE) profile, so the recording is only camera one.
 

fenderman

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You got it. Basically at night, we are using a different profile that does not have the cameras record as a group...
 

bigbadw

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You got it. Basically at night, we are using a different profile that does not have the cameras record as a group...
So the night time profile (GATE profile I built in Profile #2), is actually being used by all cameras, but since it removes the "grouping of camera one and camera two(LPR)" it isn't triggering both cameras?

(again, I apologize for dragging this on for you, but I really do want to understand)
 

fenderman

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Exactly, it is being used by both cams but you removed the group trigger so the dark camera does not record when the other detects motion...
 

bigbadw

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Exactly, it is being used by both cams but you removed the group trigger so the dark camera does not record when the other detects motion...
I am almost there... So, does that mean I need to go into each camera and make sure that they are configured the way I want in "Profile 2"?

Global Profile: Configured with a group as well as individual camera settings.
Profile 2: Configured for night time and removed the group, but is used by all cameras during this time frame.
 

fenderman

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exactly..you need to setup your preferences in the other cameras and adjust the settings to your liking for profile 2...it may be the same as you have for profile 1, that is your choice..
 

bigbadw

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I FINALLY (almost) get profiles now! Again, thanks for all your patience on this one and for sticking with me!
 
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