Timelapse problems/questions

erkme73

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For several years I've been using a PTZ camera (SUNBA) mounted on my chimney to capture a frame every 10 seconds during daytime hours from sunrise to sunset. It has resulted in some pretty spectacular timelapsed clips of morning clouds/fog:


Over the last few days, I tried to duplicate the same type of timelapse recording on another camera (Dahua). I've carefully compared all the settings under general, video, triggering, recording, etc so that they are identical in every way.

On the original SUNBA recordings, playback on the console or via UI3 results in smooth, 30FPS playback as one would expect (much in the same way the YouTube video above plays). However, on the new setup, the console and UI3 both play back in real time. That is, I get to watch the video play back with 1 frame advancing every 10 seconds. I can roughly simulate the same level of playback as the other camera by accelerating playback to 64x (or there abouts), but it's not nearly as smooth or practical.

Does anyone know why one camera would record in a way that replays at full 30FPS rate, but the other is playing back real-time? Am I missing a switch/setting?

FWIW, the original camera that works as it should is recording daytime video. The Dahua is capturing nighttime, at a much reduced shutter speed (1/3 shutter). The FPS reported by BI (using the %F variable on the overlay) on the Dahua is 3FPS, even though the FPS under the video tab under camera settings in BI is showing 30FPS (set automatically based on the camera's configured frame rate).

Also, I am using "continuous" recording with "alternate frame rate" set to every 10 seconds. I am not using the "periodic" recording feature.

1599360594496.png

Both cameras are using the same BVR file, re-encoding (not direct-to-disk) to the same profile 0 settings.
 
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aesterling

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I don’t have an answer for you but just wanted to say great timelapses and awesome view!
 

erkme73

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Thanks. I figured this question probably won't get much of a response given what a niche thing my application is. I just finished sending an email to Ken to see if he can explain the difference in how the recordings are played back. I suppose I could simply clone the original camera profile and tweak it for the Dahua video configuration - but I'd rather understand why the difference exists.
 

erkme73

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Well, I gave up and simply cloned the older "working" camera, and reconfigured it to work with the Dahua. Works perfectly now. I'm leaving the email with Ken as I'd really like to know which parameter/setting I missed.

Incidentally, in this video, there is NO external lighting (other than the red glow of the cell towers 2 miles over the horizon). This is entirely moon/star light. Bright enough to see color and shadows.

 
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Old Timer

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You might check and make sure you have all profiles set the same way.
 

jack7

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Your great videos have inspired me to try this since I have a PTZ view similar to yours. I may try it with timed snapshots or get BI since it looks good for timelapses.
Thanks.
 

erkme73

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Just as an interim follow up, I think I have figured out what prevents the camera alternate frame rate from playing back at an accelerated rate (vs. real-time)... It's enabling the audio under the BI camera settings audio tab. With it enabled, the playback is real-time. With it disabled, it appears to play at the time-lapse rate. Kinda makes sense since when exporting in UI3, having the audio track enabled, disables the ability to generate a time-lapse. DOH!
 
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Just as an interim follow up, I think I have figured out what prevents the camera alternate frame rate from playing back at an accelerated rate (vs. real-time)... It's enabling the audio under the BI camera settings audio tab. With it enabled, the playback is real-time. With it disabled, it appears to play at the time-lapse rate. Kinda makes sense since when exporting in UI3, having the audio track enabled, disables the ability to generate a time-lapse. DOH!
Thanks for this. I could not figure out why "timelapse" was greyed out and unavailable. This answered my question! :clap:
 
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