Dahua PTZ Issues: Zoom works fine, won't pan/tilt at all

blinky

n3wb
Joined
Jun 22, 2019
Messages
3
Reaction score
1
Location
SF
Hi everybody! I'm new to this world but needed security cameras for my restaurant after a couple burglaries and finally bit the bullet.

I got the following hardware and am in the process of testing it all before the cameras are mounted tomorrow:
  • 2x Dahua IPC-HDW5231R-ZE 2MP Starlight (via EmpireTech, big thanks to @EMPIRETECANDY andy for the product and @looney2ns for the review)
  • 6x Dahua IPC-HDW2231R-ZS 2MP Starlight (also EmpireTech)
  • 1x BV-Tech POE-SW802G (Unmanaged Switch with 8 PoE+ Ports & 2 Uplink Ports)
  • External 8TB HDD 5400RPM (might regret the speed or external nature of this, but PC had no space and I've read about people using these with continuous recording without issue)
  • Blue Iris Software
I had all kinds of issues just initially connecting to the cameras due to my router (MikroTik) using 192.168.88.x instead of the 192.168.1.x, but finally changed my router's address to the latter and everything started being recognized.

I'm going through all of these cameras and getting them setup with BI on continuous recording to make sure it's all working correctly and that my PC can handle the load. I'm having issues getting the Pan/Tilt to function. Zoom works fine via BI and the Dahua Web Interface and the camera refocuses itself correctly after zooming. However, the pan/tilt function does not respond at all in BI and I don't even see that anywhere as an option via the Dahua Web Interface. I assumed it would be with/near the "Zoom and Focus" settings under Camera -> Conditions, but nothing I see corresponds to pan/tilt. What am I missing here?

Here's the setup steps I've taken for each camera so far:
  1. Plug-In Everything
  2. Open Pale Moon and Navigate to "192.168.1.108"
    1. Set to United States, English, NTSC
    2. Changed password when forced to do so.
    3. Disabled P2P (I left it enabled on 1 camera after having this issue but did not change anything)
    4. Logged in with new credentials
    5. Change IP address from default
    6. Fix Date & Time (always an hour off, probably DST related)
    7. Alter Overlay settings slightly
  3. Open Blue Iris and Add New Camera:
    1. Set name, audio, disable motion detector (not necessary with continuous, right?), enable direct-to-disk recording
    2. Enter camera's new IP and login credentials then click "Find/inspect..." and let it do its thing
    3. Disable overlay under "Video" settings.
    4. Change recording type to continuous.

Pertinent details and things I've tried without success:
  • Under PTZ/Control settings in BI:
    • "Network IP" is set to "ONVIF (OXML)"
    • I tried all the other Dahua options for "Network IP" but neither zoom nor pan/tilt would work with those.
  • In the Dahua Web Interface under System -> Account:
    • Re-Entered the username and password under both "Account" and "Onvif User" tabs.
    • Created new users for both "Account" and "Onvif User" tabs and reconfigured BI with those.
  • I have the exact same issue with all 8 of the cameras, so can't imagine it's a faulty product.

Hope that's enough info to diagnose my issue with the pan/tilt functionality. Happy to provide screenshots or anything else that might be useful. Thank you all very much for all the great advice and help so far!
 

blinky

n3wb
Joined
Jun 22, 2019
Messages
3
Reaction score
1
Location
SF
Maybe I missed something but those 8 cameras are not PTZ. They are vari-focus so you can zoom to set the proper scene, but they wont Pan/Tilt.
Oh! Well that would definitely explain it. Feeling like an idiot now. These cameras sure look like they were designed to tilt.

I was planning on mounting them to the ceiling and being able to pan/tilt them to the correct positions. Is that not an option for me? Can they be manually tilted? I don't know how else I would mount them to the ceiling or even a wall in a way that they're pointing the correct direction. I'd hate to return them all at this point. Any advice for a solution to this obvious oversight of mine?
 

bigredfish

Known around here
Joined
Sep 5, 2016
Messages
17,029
Reaction score
47,501
Location
Floriduh
If you loosen the set screw on the mount with the wrench that came in the box, you’ll find they can be pointed in just about any position you want. When “aimed” where you want them, tighten the screw
 

blinky

n3wb
Joined
Jun 22, 2019
Messages
3
Reaction score
1
Location
SF
If you loosen the set screw on the mount with the wrench that came in the box, you’ll find they can be pointed in just about any position you want. When “aimed” where you want them, tighten the screw
Okay, that was quite the easy fix. Spent so long trying to diagnose that issue via google searches and combing forums and typing this post when all it took was a quick turn of a screw. I was never planning on needing to pan/tilt after they were setup, so not upset about the lack of that functionality.

I'll leave the above post as a testament to my ignorance. Thank you very much @bigredfish !!
 
Top