Lets go over some basics.
Also check out this post to become familiar with NVR/XVR basic setup and function and PoE connected IP cameras.
***PSA for those with a New DAHUA NVR with Built-in PoE switch
Once you leave Analog camera land, it gets more complicated.
(By the way, are you aware each analog camera has its own settings and things that can only be set on the camera OSD menu? (NOT the NVR) Do you know how to access the analog camera settings?
There are 3 "interfaces"
1- The NVR itself and its "machine interface". This is accessed by a monitor and mouse hooked directly to the NVR/XVR. This UI is necessary for setup, but should then be abandoned.
2- The Web UI of the NVR. You access the Web UI with a web browser on your home network on a PC. The NVR address will be 192.168.1.108 unless you've changed it. This should be your primary access to the NVR/XVR. You accessed it when you showed the picture of the AI tab earlier
3- The Camera Web UI- this is a direct interface for the individual IP camera itself. There are lots of settings on it that you wont even see or know exist by going through the NVR interface
To access the camera UI use the IP address of the camera (likely 192.168.1.X OR it may show in your camera tab on the NVR Web UI, if so, use the IE icon to open
the camera interface.
more:
- SmartPSS- should only be used to view live, playback, and download clips - full stop. It is much better at these things than the NVR itself. It should not be used to make ANY setting change, not "AI settings, not schedule/record settings, not image settings,. Nada.
- AI - its a term that applies to lots of things, so we need to be more specific. SMD, IVS, and the tab that you see on the NVR Web UI to view AI search and parameters are all "AI" functions
- AI in the case of these cameras and NVRs is simply the ability to identify Humans, cars, and other predetermined functions. (Missing object, Face Detection, etc). Again when talking about AI we need to be specific as to what function you're inquiring about.
- AI "Human Detection" can be enabled two different ways. Via SMD which is an AI overlay to old fashioned Motion Detection (which is NOT AI capable, it simply sees ALL motion as an alert) , and IVS, which is by most all account much better than SMD. IVS consists of various rules such as Tripwire, Intrusion, and others. Again we have to be specific to answer your questions.
- IVS and SMD - are AI rules you set on the camera (which can also be seen on SmartPSS) to allow for Human/Vehicle specific detection and other alerts. These alerts can be seen on the timeline on SmartPSS as red, orange and sometimes blue hash marks allowing you to quickly go to that alert. The IVS rule lines can be displayed on the live and playback view of SmartPSS. Here you see a bunch of different IVS rules on one camera
- NVR AI tab. This shows AI Search and Parameters for each camera that is AI capable. Dont make settings here. As mentioned above, make setting changes on the camera itself. This is semi useful to see AI generated alerts with visual snapshots but you can see them and more using SmartPSS and the timeline. Its cool and interesting at first, but not all that useful for the average homeowner. If the camera isnt AI capable and compatible with the Dahua NVR it wont work.
I'll try and answer your questions
1- Thanks for the summary. Can you remind me where to go to enable AI Human detection per camera? SmartPSS or Web interface and which Topic/tab?
Go to the camera web interface itself.
2- Something annoying tho, when I click the Scissor Icon to activate the Make-clip duration.. it auto sets the End time (red marker) 2 hours away. So I have to zoom out to pull it close, then zoom in to seek to the exact seconds I want. It's really dumb that they didnt make the default to 1 minute or something small so that we dont have to constantly zoom out to pull it closer. Know any fix for that?)
If you go to the far right edge of the timeline AFTER you set the first scissor mark, and click/hold/drag, you'll pull the endpoint scissor tag to where you want it regardless of how zoomed you are on the timeline
3- use the direct Camera UI for ALL image settings
This works best for my IP cams. But the XVR ignores the AI settings (set at camera level). So thats my current problem to solve.
This is because the NVR doesnt know how to manage the AI alerts from these non-Dahua cameras. Buy Dahua Cameras that HAVE AI features
4- How do I Web-interface another XVR that I manage, that is on another network? Isn't there a call home IP or serial # that I can tell the browser to connect to?
There are a couple of methods, This will take far more space than we have here and is really a networking question. You can lookup and read about A) OpenVPN and/or B) P2P
5- (Because I cant view AI Events on SmartPSS. Even a Dahua video said this, which is dumb that their official program left out an access option. How are we supposed to access the settings (AI playback/search) for other XVRs we own that are at another home?)
I think you're way too wrapped up in the "AI Events" search thing. SmartPSS does not have the AI visual Search built into it. BUT look at the timeline, the red hashmarks ARE AI events. If you mean the graphical image based search (AI search) on the NVR, IF you get AI enabled Dahua cameras, you'll be able to use that. It will look something like this. I never use it, its cool for about a week or two. There's a difference between not seeing the graphical picture-based AI search, and "not working" or recording AI events.
