Axxon Next VMS Software

[euclidnet]

Hi, I'm running several HikVision 2132 cameras, PoE, and have them installed and set up around my house. I've selected the Axxon Next software based on recommendations I've found around the internet. I have all my cameras configured, and the software looks perfect - exactly what I want, but for some reason I can't figure out how to properly set up motion detection.

I have set up situational analysis on my cameras, added zones, configured an object detection area, and Axxon detects motion and starts recording properly - but ALL THE DAMN TIME.

I've tweaked every variable I can find - object size, motion sensitivity (from 1-80? are you kidding? at least put in the documentation if "1" is most sensitive or if "80" is most sensitive - I can't tell any difference between the two ends of the spectrum!) - Axxon will detect everything from shadows changing to leaves rustling in the breeze as an imminent threat and start recording.

Does anyone have any experience with this software and setting up detection objects? I've searched everywhere on the web and can't find a community of people discussing its use.

Thanks,
Euclidnet.

 

[OldStyle]

I have not used Axxon personally, but that definitely does not sound right.

 

[euclidnet]

Yeah, I'm very technically competent, and pretty patient - it's frustrating to be so close to having an awesome system, but yet so far away. Very impressed with Axxon's functionality, if I could just get it behaving well! Have probably spent 10 hours tweaking detection tools to no avail.

 

[slogik]

Yeah, I'm very technically competent, and pretty patient - it's frustrating to be so close to having an awesome system, but yet so far away. Very impressed with Axxon's functionality, if I could just get it behaving well! Have probably spent 10 hours tweaking detection tools to no avail.

Hello, I've been using Axxon for the last two years at my home, hopefully I can help.

My first thought if you are recording constantly is if you go to Archive | Linked archives; if you select a particular camera, on the upper right you see "set recording parameters" - is your mode set for "initiated recording" or "constant recording"? If constant, change to initiated.

If not that, I'm sure we can figure it out.

 

[euclidnet]

Hello, I've been using Axxon for the last two years at my home, hopefully I can help.

My first thought if you are recording constantly is if you go to Archive | Linked archives; if you select a particular camera, on the upper right you see "set recording parameters" - is your mode set for "initiated recording" or "constant recording"? If constant, change to initiated.

If not that, I'm sure we can figure it out.

It's initiated recording - I am probably exaggerating when I say it's 'constantly' recording. I just mean to say, every 10 minutes or so, an object detection event will go off, so if I look at the archive history for a camera, it will be basically a timeline of complete red during daylight hours.

During the night, it works as intended, and only seems to capture actual events. It's just during the day, rustling tree branches will be detected as objects, etc.

Here's a screencap of an example of my average daily timeline, you can see the brightness on the stairs being detected as an object, and leaves near the top of the detection area triggering at the same time.

http://i.imgur.com/3FyNkYH.png

I included a second screencap of my current detector settings. I can't figure out if using low numbers on the motion sensitivity setting makes it more, or less sensitive. Like I said, I've set it to 1, and 80, and both seem to detect objects I'm not intending.

http://i.imgur.com/xbFKyH9.png

thanks for your reply!

 

[slogik]

Hello Euclidnet,
Thanks for the screen capture, I can see why you are having so many alerts; that's a really challenging area to cover with motion detection with all the sun and shadows. I have a similar problem with shadows from trees over my lawn for at least half the day on all of my cams; the issue is non existent over the winter when the trees have no leaves.

I'm afraid when it comes to the motion detection in almost any software, when trees/branches/grass/shadows etc move, the image is going to detect a change. The only ways to completely eliminate false alarms that I'm aware of involve using the alarm input on a camera to a PIR or hybrid PIR/microwave to trigger the recording. Even then, you may still get a false alarm from a bush or tree. Axxon does support an IP server from AXIS, the P8221, if you wanted to add some type of external trigger to Axxon. I bought one and a few sensors, but have yet to get around to configuring and implementing it. In the meantime, I've just learned the software and to work within the limitations of motion detection to reduce the false alarms as much as possible, understanding that I will always have some. I'm sure this isn't the answer you were hoping for, but I can make a few suggestions on the image you uploaded if you'd like to try them.

I did my own testing with people and objects adjusting the sensitivity level under identical conditions, as Axxon doesn't say what type of scale they are using, just 1-80. 1 was more sensitive, 80 less so. Regardless, there is not a huge difference between the two extremes, but it is there.

Do your Cams physically move or shake where they are mounted? If not, I would turn off the antishaker. You have nice coverage of the porch, unless you are also trying to protect the porch in the background, I would bump up the minimum object height to 10 and width to 8 and test to see if you fail to capture any human activity around the porch. To make reviewing the video easier, as you can have more than one motion detector, I would have one that specifically is just drawn on/around the porch and not on the stairs or ground where most of the false detections are taking place. On the "Record to archive" under that detector, set it to always alarm. Make a 2nd detector and define it's shape anywhere off the porch you want covered. Set the "Record to archive" alarm to Do No Initiate. This way, when you look at your timeline and want to review, if you see anything in red you know it was on the porch, anything off will still record but be in yellow. This way if you are still getting false alarms you can focus in on what you probably care about most (if someone came on your porch as that will be in red), but still have the off porch activity recorded in yellow in case you need to review it. You could also schedule the off porch detector to only be active during the day, and make a duplicate (3rd) off porch detector set to be active at night and to alarm, as you stated you have no false alarms at night; then you know your yard is fully covered after dark when the sun and shade is no longer a factor.

Lastly, back on the Situation Analysis page, you could change your analysis to be on the low quality video stream, but when there is motion the high quality stream is what is recorded. I've found this helps quite a bit with preventing tall grass and smaller objects causing false motion, yet hasn't had any effect on the software identifying objects like people that I'm concerned about. It reduces your CPU usage as well.

Does this help?

 

[euclidnet]

Thanks, that's all really helpful. Maybe not the answer I was hoping for, but at least some good solutions for ways to get my detectors working reliably, which is what I really care about.

Good to know 80 is less sensitive, I'll try setting my detectors to that. I had played around with the low res stream for detection, but hadn't noticed a profound difference. I'll give that another try too. And, if I still have far too many detections, I'll play around with setting up smaller or different zones like you suggest.

I'm going to be an Axxon expert by the time I finish this project, maybe I should start up a consultancy. nthego:

 

[euclidnet]

Also, re: the antishaker, I'm curious why you suggest disabling that. All my cameras are fixed and solidly mounted, so there shouldn't be any shaking. I would think an 'antishaker' filter would decrease my chances of false detection though, given that leaves tend to shake back and forth, like the image might if my mounting was unstable?

 

[slogik]

Hello,
a few individual items swaying on the screen isn't the same as the entire image moving, antishaker most likely isn't doing you any good in this scenario. I also forgot to mention, as it's one of those items that works differently in Axxon than say Blue Iris; not including areas you don't want detection. When I used Blue Iris, you would exclude areas you didn't want coverage on by selecting the blocks in the grid. In Axxon, you need to include the areas you want covered, otherwise they will include everything on the screen and continue alarms even though motion is taking place outside the motion detection zones you defined.

For example, when I mentioned creating the two zones for your porch, one on and one off in the yard and your stairs. If an alarm goes off on your porch, and there is motion outside either of those zones after the motion has stopped, the alarm will continue and you won't know why. So, with "Situation Analysis" selected and the image on the right hand side, make a shape that would include the zone or zones you have created for motion, and make sure anything you don't want detection on is outside the shape. When you select the different motion detections you have defined, you will see this area overlay in the background. This is an important one I forgot to mention before for reducing nuisance and continuing alarms. Good luck and please post back so we know if you were able to get this working better for you.