Can I zoom a Dahua IPC-HFW5341E-Z12e in blue iris?

[GaryCAa]

I just switched from a NVR 5216 to BlueIris 5. iIt is running on a Dell Optiplex 7050 with an I7-7700 processor, with 40Gb ram. It has a 250Gb SSD and 4Tb Purple hard drive. Long term storage is to a NAS with 5ea 8Tb WD Reds.

When I add cameras I specify they are Dahuas, and the model 5341 is not an option. which model should I choose? Does it matter?

Once added, the PTZ control in BlueIris does not seem to work. Do I have to go to the camera interface to set the zoom? I would like to use these cameras for LPR and the amount of zoom makes a real difference. Switching back and forth between BlueIris and the camera interface is quite time consuming.

Am I missing something here?

 

[sebastiantombs]

Use "find/inspect" to set the camera type. In that screen you should see if the zoom function is discovered. If not, you can play with the type of Dahua camera to see if one of them will work for zoom.

 

[GaryCAa]

Thanks sebastiantombs. it was there under find/inspect and when I put the PTZ controls on, the + and minus signs zoomed the camera perfectly! It seems obvious now, I wonder how long it will take to master BlueIris? Can it ever be expected, with all the updates?

 

[sebastiantombs]

Glad that worked for you. BI is a never ending learning experience. I've been running it since version 3.x.x.x something and have only scratched the surface. Thankfully, this forum has some true experts that can help with just about any problem you ight encounter.

 

[wittaj]

Keep in mind that this camera is not a PTZ, so you shouldn't move the zoom a lot. This cam is more of a set it and forget it. I would recommend that you set zoom/focus within the camera gui even if you can adjust it within BI so that funny things don't happen on camera reboots, etc.

LPR is an art more than a science and you will need to run fast shutters to get plates at night. You will want to set the focus in the camera gui and use one of the various methods to get the focus for nighttime. Going in and adjusting it in BI means that tomorrow night it will not be in focus and then you will have to manually fix the focus. Probably not what you want to do every night.

If you are new to LPR and for nighttime captures, I encourage you to review the LPR subforum on how to go about setting up a camera for LPR duties.

Also keep in mind, this camera should be used for LPR or overview duties, but not both. Sometimes you may get a little overview during the day depending on your angle, but it should be two different cameras to get the best captures - one for LPR and one for overview purposes. At night, your image will be black except for head/tail lights and the plates.

LPR

Licence Plate Reader cameras

ipcamtalk.com

 

[sebastiantombs]

I just "saw" the zoom part and missed the "LPR" part. @wittaj is on the money for LPR. It's an art form and takes a dedicated camera to do that well enough to get reliable plate captures. Even then some will be missed.

As far as switching between BI and the camera GUI, I just bring up a browser with either UI3 open, if I'm on my laptop, or the console open and toggle between the camera GUI and the bI view to make sure what I see in one matches what I see in the other. Heck, I've had two or three camera GUIs open and switch between them and the BI view. No time at all, other than logging into the camera initially. You need the GUI to be able to set brightness, contrast, shutter, day/night and so on. BI can't do that and leaving a camera in auto, especially at night, results in bad, blurry, motion video.