Which new Intel NUC?

[Corvus85]

You set up the shutter ms properly for night time and the range accounts for the available light - more light, faster shutter, less light, slower shutter.

I get how shutters work, however I had to bump up the shutter so high that footage in B&W was blurry, and when it actually DID switch to color when the lights turned on, it was a flickery mess.

Again, if I'm keeping it in the night profile, how is it supposed to actually switch to the day profile when the sun is out?

 

[Corvus85]

This is my image the moment the Floodlights kick on. All in the night profile settings.

That's probably great for that FOV, but mines in a corner of an outdoor entertaining area that is MUCH more lit up than that. It is - for all intents and purposes - like daylight.
Can I see your settings please?

 

[wittaj]

I get how shutters work, however I had to bump up the shutter so high that footage in B&W was blurry, and when it actually DID switch to color when the lights turned on, it was a flickery mess.

Again, if I'm keeping it in the night profile, how is it supposed to actually switch to the day profile when the sun is out?

It switches to Day profile when you set up the schedule profile or use the utility....as I have said, using the Day/Night profile does not do what one thinks...

 

[Corvus85]

It switches to Day profile when you set up the schedule profile or use the utility....

So again, since this product apparently has no design issues or anything - what is the significance of the 'day/night' setting in the profile management tab and what is it supposed to do?

 

[Corvus85]

You set up the shutter ms properly for night time and the range accounts for the available light - more light, faster shutter, less light, slower shutter.

I actually think I've been misunderstanding a crucial point that you may have revealed in this reply.

You mentioned 'range'. Now since I'm not used to CCTV parameters, up until now, I thought the lower end of that range had to be zero. It didn't occur to me that I could (obviously) change that bottom range.

So I just tried changing the shutter range to 10ms - 20ms. I turned on the backyard lights and... Well, it's much better than before, and the camera reliably switches to color. I apologize for my half of the misunderstanding. Please bare with me. I am learning.
Slowly.

I still have no idea why bother having a 'day/night' setting in the profile management tab though. Can you explain?

 

[wittaj]

Glad you finally wrapped your head around LOL. Like I said, with you coming in with a DSLR camera background, you have to "rethink" settings as it relates to these types of cameras.

As I mentioned earlier, the day/night profile works in situations where the parameter settings are the same whether it is color or B/W, so it uses the general profile and then simply switches color or B/W based on available light. Works very well in commercial/retail buildings. Not so well outside in a home setting. Which is why the creator of UI3 if you use Blue Iris created that sunrise/sunset utility so that we can get the camera to do what we need in our situations. Or you use the schedule profile in the camera.

Dahua day/night settings - the basics

Dahua cameras have settings for Normal, Day, and Night. - Are these settings triggered by the camera's IR sensor? Will they still be triggered if the camera is set to Colorful? Dahua NVRs have settings for Profile 1, Profile 2, and Profile 3. - Do these correspond, in order, with Normal...

ipcamtalk.com

 

[Corvus85]

Which is why the creator of UI3 if you use Blue Iris created that sunrise/sunset utility so that we can get the camera to do what we need in our situations. Or you use the schedule profile in the camera.

Are you saying if I use BlueIris, I won't need that utility because it's built-in?

I haven't built the NVR yet (just trying to get my head around how these cameras work first).

 

[wittaj]

Are you saying if I use BlueIris, I won't need that utility because it's built-in?

I haven't built the NVR yet (just trying to get my head around how these cameras work first).

No, I was simply pointing out that the person that created UI3 that is within BI is the same person that created the utility. You would still need the utility.

I didn't know what you were doing recording-wise, so just mentioning who it was that created it as it is someone that knows what they are doing!

 

[Corvus85]

So I think I've got it set up optimally, thanks to everyone's (patient) advice, especially @wittaj .

• Separate day and night profiles tuned for varying brightness/darkness conditions.
• Scheduler changes from one profile to the other
• Shutter speed for night profile carefully avoids flickering of artificial light
• Night profile successfully switches to color when floodlights turn on, then B&W when they turn off

However there's one niggling issue.
Does anyone know how to get rid of these annoying white 'pixels' in low light/B&W images? The picture looks pretty damn good as it is otherwise. I can't find any setting which affects them.



Also, do people find 'SSA' helpful? I turned it on and it does result in a much better picture, but I can't seem to find any downsides. There's no blurry motion or added noise or anything. Is there a downside?

 

[biggen]

I don't see any white pixels. Can you circle or highlight them?

More than likely they are dead or "hot" pixels.

 

[Corvus85]

I don't see any white pixels. Can you circle or highlight them?

More than likely they are dead or "hot" pixels.

If you click the image to make it full-sized, you can see them.

You mean dead/hot pixels within the camera sensor? They're definitely not on my screen.

Also, they go away during the day.

 

[The Automation Guy]

However there's one niggling issue.
Does anyone know how to get rid of these annoying white 'pixels' in low light/B&W images? The picture looks pretty damn good as it is otherwise. I can't find any setting which affects them.

Are those white spots actually IR being reflected off something back into the camera lens? That's what it appears to be to me, but honestly it is really hard just from looking at the image.

 

[biggen]

Yeah I agree, could be IR/light reflections hitting the lens. Hard to tell because I still really can't be sure which white pixels you are speaking of.

 

[wittaj]

It could be anything from a dead or hot pixel (although it looks like too many that would have been caught in QA/QC), to dust on the lens inside that is giving that effect, to IR reflection from something else, to NR algorithm misinterpreting what it sees and leaves the pixel on instead of "dancing" off and on.

You could try adjusting sharpness and NR to see if you are right on the threshold of a value that is keeping those on if that were the case or to minimize you seeing them.

In any event, it isn't something that would negatively impact the performance of the camera and you could still make a good ID if someone came through.

Usually IR reflection is more pronounced, so I do not think it is that unless you are in a climate with moisture/dew that is reflecting back these tiny dots or location with lots of little reflective bugs that could mimic this, or even metallic in the fence, paint, or dirt. I am leaning towards your settings are just on the threshold that it is sending mixed signals to those pixels. I just don't think that many would have made it past QA/QC.

Something I have done in the past when I had "stuck" pixels was take a white sheet of paper and take it all the way up to the camera so that the entire screen turns white due to the IR and hold it there for a few seconds. Sometimes "flooding" the sensor with an all on pixel command can get them going.

 

[Corvus85]

Does anyone have SSA enabled? Is it helpful? I turned it on and it does result in a much better picture, but I can't seem to find any downsides. There's no blurry motion or added noise or anything. Is there a downside?

The only thing I've noticed is that the setting doesn't 'hold'. I'll turn on SSA and the picture looks great during the day, then come back to it the next day and it looks like garbage (shadows are way too dark when highlights are correctly exposed). And it won't go back to how it was unless I turn off SSA and reapply it.

This is really damn annoying. Does anyone have a 'fix' for this? It seems to be the only backlight mode that gives the best picture and also gives enables shadowed areas to be clearly seen without overexposing the highlights/sunlit areas.

 

[Corvus85]

Anyone?