"Smart Detect" feature of Dahua camera!

[Fastb]

nayr,

I agree with your assessment. Enhancing end-of-life products that are in the field very rarely happens. The financial folks question the payback of that engineering work.

I bought from a recognized Dahua distributor, since I heard better support would be available (useful to this newbie). Thanks for the link - I see the aliexpress unit is "English" language, two year support, and it's genuine Dahua product (unbranded). They say they have a technical team to provide support...

 

[nayr]

ive imported anything dahua I cant find locally through a US Vendor, usually.. I probably could found the 4k locally but I'd of paid closer to that $400.

Ive only contacted support once and that was for my PTZ I bought through US vendor, helped me out greatly and I was very happy I paid a lil bit extra.. but that was a high ticket item no matter how I scratched it.. my limit is around $200 or so, this was just over so I hesitated but I had to do something on the NVR front, I could not scrape by via FTP storage for much longer.

Once I have my product from Ali* I basically consider all ties cut, I dont expect to get anything out of them again once the transaction is complete.. but thats fine, its part of the arrangement of getting it for half the price.. every Dahua Ive bought, regardless from whom, has worked pretty much exactly how I wanted it out of the box.. perhaps a few quirks but nothing that would have ever made me risk a firmware bricking.. and I am savvy enough to unbrick devices, writing to memory chips directly is a regular task for me.

I did kinda purposefully buy this in PAL format, because all the rest of my stuff is NTSC and if you ever do find Dahua firmware avilable to the public its nearly always for the PAL hardware only... just incase, it seems if anything might need firmware updates its a NVR.. the 4K version lost the analouge outputs so it wont make any difference in my environment @ 15fps

 

[Fastb]

JFire,

Very interesting. You're getting Smart Detect support within your non-4K NVR. But with some quirks.
I'm getting some quirks if I enable tripwire, intrusion zone, and standard motion detect at the same time.
My objective: Use "Motion Detect and Alarm in" to create an alarm, turn on relay to activate strobe light.
The alarm in signal would come from the camera's alarm out. I need to test that Smart Detect activate the alarm out on the camera.

Simple motion detect will occur. Many times! (many are false)
But if a real alarm requires both MD and SD, I should have a more dependable system.

 

[Kawboy12R]

They say they have a technical team to provide support...

The secretary, the janitor, and the owner's grandson.

Sorry, was that cynical? Couldn't resist.

The bad shifty sellers tend to tar the professional ones with the same bad reputation. It's hard to tell from here, particularly with the language barrier. I'm sure yours is fine.

 

[Fastb]

@nayr,

My distributor says Dahua isn't selling the NVR4216-4K in the USA, and only "overseas". Dahua USE has no ETA at this time on if and when it will be released here in the States.

If I want to enjoy IVS(Intelligent Video Surveillance) “smart detect” capabilities, I need to buy the NVR4416-8P-4K unit at >$800
Too pricy.

Nayr, let me know how your NVR4216-4K from aliex works out. I may buy one.

Good news: The distributor is willing to take back the NVR. I bought the "Smart Detect" camera from their site, and there was no mention that the "SD" feature required a 4K NVR. Upstanding distributor....

 

[Fastb]

@JFire,

Check the cctvforum.com for a thread on smart detect. Do a search for "Alarm Questions & Challenges w/ Dahua system"
I hear the entire Dahua NVR line has IVS support....

 

[JFire]

@Fastb i read it and it's given me an idea to try out. I got my regular MD snapshots working again. What I'm going to try is to set the ivs in the camera again and keep the offline alarm in the nvr set. I didn't do that before. I'm pretty sure it didn't work before because I was trying to do it solely through the camera but the nvr doesn't allow the camera to send emails. I'm hoping by using a mix of the cameras ivs and the nvr's alarm will do it.

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

 

[nayr]

was looking all over for more info on IVS and found this link: http://www.viewtech.co.nz/cctv-and-surveillance-systems/dahua-16ch-4k-nvr

it has screenshots which would seem to confirm IVS Support, as well as something I didnt know.. fisheye dewarping, niiiice. a fisheye in the kids room celling would be better than the mini pan/tilt

NVR gets delivered tomorrow, ah this is gonna be good.. might start putting IVS cams all over now.

 

[marid2apterbilt]

@nayr,

My distributor says Dahua isn't selling the NVR4216-4K in the USA, and only "overseas". Dahua USE has no ETA at this time on if and when it will be released here in the States.

If I want to enjoy IVS(Intelligent Video Surveillance) “smart detect” capabilities, I need to buy the NVR4416-8P-4K unit at >$800
Too pricy.

Nayr, let me know how your NVR4216-4K from aliex works out. I may buy one.

Good news: The distributor is willing to take back the NVR. I bought the "Smart Detect" camera from their site, and there was no mention that the "SD" feature required a 4K NVR. Upstanding distributor....

Check this site, USA seller and support. where I bought my 4k.

8ch non poet, 4208 other models also available

http://www.securitycameraking.com/NVR-ELE8M-4K-60721-prd1.html

 

[nayr]

oh and look, a quad core version of the 4416-4k: http://www.dahuasecurity.com/products/nvr520852165232-8p-4ks2-1322.html

and now the NVR4416-4k seems to be hard to find on dahua's site.. sigh, guess I knew why they were blow out prices.

 

[Fastb]

Progress

I received great help from the CCTV forum. I learned my seller's support answer was wrong. IVS (aka "Smart Detect") doesn't require a 4K NVR. Further, that there was a newer f/w versison for the NVR and cameras. I even provided the f/w vers info. The seller then provided links to download.

I updated the NVR. Then enabled IVS in the General screen. Moments later, a camera dropped out. Non-IVS cams aren't forward compatible with IVS in the NVR - unless the have the latest f/w. I updated the cam, and it's back on line. Naturally, it's still a non-IVS camera, but it now works with an IVS capable NVR.

When the IVS box is checked, updated screens are presented. Under Setting/Event, the choices on far left grew from 4 to 7, due to the new choices of IVS, Face Detect, and Audio detect. Selecting the IVS screen, you now have tabs for Tripwire, Intrusion, Abandoned, and Scene change. See pic.



Conclusion: Basic NVR4xxx models can indeed support IVS and "Smart Detect"

 

[nayr]

just found the face/tripwire/abandoned/etc settings on my 4k, so looks like we both got it.. awesome!

 

[JFire]

@Fastb @nayr

Look what I found!

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

 

[JFire]

Ok everything works. But this just started cropping up the other day. I'm getting greyed out area in snaps. Any idea how to fix?

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

 

[nayr]

I dont seem to have it on the WebUI, my heart sank when it did not match the screenshot I posted earlier.. but then digging in I quickly found screens that look just like yours where it was able to access the Audio detection on my front door ptz.. so I expect the facial/linecross/etc to all work when I get the rest of the cameras in.

Oddly enough in the WebUI I do have audio detect, wonder if it only shows what i have support for? ie, mebe once I get a line-cross/facial camera they will appear in the UI.

SmartPSS on Mac is out of date from windows versions, I cant do much with the IVS features through it.. so it looks like I'll just have to set it up onscreen for now.

really like the NVR, PTZ controls and video latency just went way down.. dramatically... I can click around in smartpss as fast as I can and my speed dome keeps right up with me, whoah... viewing recordings in smartPSS instantly instead of waiting for a file to finish writing was worth it alone, hated having to wait to see what just happned.

 

[Fastb]

@JFire,
snaps greyed out: Not sure I saw that....
For snaps to work, you need to enable in;
- Setting/Storage/Record
- Setting/Storage/Schedule
- Setting/Event/Video detect/Motion Detect (snaps checkbox)
- Setting/Event/IVS/Tripwire (enable checkbox, snaps checkbox)
- Setting/Event/IVS/Tripwire (enable checkbox, snaps checkbox)

That worked for me. I'm recording 24/7. You may need other config items.
@nayr,
You said "wonder if it only shows what i have support for?"
My conclusion: yes and no.

I have 1 IVS cam, and 2 non-IVS cams. When I try to use a screen for a non-IVS cam, eg: Face Detect, I get an error that "Channel x Failed to gget the configuration" No-Duh - there isn't Facial Recog info to retrieve from a non-IVS cam.

I think you're right - once you "get a line-cross/facial camera they will appear in the UI."

Latency way down:
You're making an observation of one unit relative to another. This being my first Dahua NVR, I can't weigh in.
I'm not happy with the WiFi cam latency. It's 4 seconds or so. This is seen w/ the web UI, and gDMSS lite (the methods my General Contractor customer will view video). POE cam is near real-time.
Only the WiFi cam has the latency problem.
I'll look into that soon.....

Latency way down: credit is due to dual core processor in NVR?

 

[nayr]

before I was pulling a few feeds directly from the cameras for smartPSS and displays, while saving to ftp.. i had no nvr.

now all the feeds are pulling from NVR and not off camera, the NVR is more capable of handling this as given by the concurrent user spec, 20 users max camera, 100 for the NVR (iirc).

with all the load taken off the cameras, the latency went down from direct access... kinda counter intuitive at first.. but everything runs alot quicker now.. smartPSS on a NVR is much faster than SmartPSS directly on a camera.. the NVR is acting like a proxy and is able to handle my environment much better than without it.

connecting to a feed directly on a camera took considerably longer if it was HD, but connecting to the feed directly on the NVR takes the same time as the substream.. meaning my monitors all have much less latency regardless of the stream being displayed.

wifi latency is due to the wifi, not the nvr or camera.. run a wire.

 

[Fastb]

@nayr,

I hear ya! "wifi latency is due to the wifi, not the nvr or camera.. run a wire."

If I was doing a permanent install in a home, I'd agree 100%.

My customer, the General Contractor, really wants to avoid wires on the construction job site. Understandable. Headache, dangerous, exposed. As the job progresses, walls go up, sheetrock installed, plumbing, etc, the camera system must be reconfigured. Then all broken down and moved to the next residential remodel project. All to be re-installed.

He hears "wireless", and thinks that means no wires. I explain wireless cam (WiFi) still needs a wire (for power). He says that's not wireless. I'm making headway by educating him on the drawback of battery powered cameras. I'm framing up the conversation as "wanna run a Cat6 cable, or a 12V power cable?"

Me: Cat6 is easier, mod jacks allow quick & easy moving wires when re configuring, no need to share AC outlets with tools/saws, and lastly, it's less obvious to disable a camera. (unplugging the AC line to disable a camera is understood by kids in elementary school)

I might add latency to the conversation, now that there's a visible difference.

Nayr, thanks for the details, it firms up my tentative conclusions. I'm still gonna look at fps and bps to reduce latency.

And the WiFi itself. I bought a 802.11ac AP, 300mbps just for this Job Site system. I'm gonna check I have it configured & set up properly. http://www.engeniustech.com/products/outdoor-access-points-client-bridges/ap-bridges-outdoor/ens1200.html

Have fun with your new toy! Keep those observations coming!

 

[JFire]

Re: "Smart Detect" feature of Dahua camera!

@Fastb it's taking snaps just not processing the bottom 3rd of pic.

Line crossing is so much better than motion. I think I'll play with face detection because I had a trip from car headlights

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

 

[nayr]

here is what I have under events, only the features my cameras currently have are listed.. got 2 cams in the air with the features so I guess I'll find out soon enough.. if they work well then I'll replace another camera with one of these 4MP smart dahuas.

also have not seen anything for dewarping, i suppose that will show up if needed too.. sigh.