Dahua Starlight Fixed Lens Turret (IPC-HDW4231EM-AS)

[hmjgriffon]

in this thread: IPC-HDB4300C HTTP API - Get current alarm state
https://ipcamtalk.com/attachments/dahua_http_api_for_ipc_v1-56-pdf.16521/
IVS isn't documented pre 1.40

that thread is awesome and exactly what we need, I sent the newest to ken, it seems like something he'd be able to easily add.

 

[tangent]

that thread is awesome and exactly what we need, I sent the newest to ken, it seems like something he'd be able to easily add.

If he doesn't I may cobble something together in node even though I don't use BlueIris, but building it into blueiris would be more functional and I agree shouldn't be that hard.

 

[nayr]

If he doesn't I may cobble something together in node even though I don't use BlueIris.

I'm happy to take pull requests GitHub - nayrnet/node-dahua-api: NodeJS Module for Dahua IPC HTTP API

 

[hmjgriffon]

I'm happy to take pull requests GitHub - nayrnet/node-dahua-api: NodeJS Module for Dahua IPC HTTP API

what are you doing with yours? are you having IVS rules do things in domoticz or something?

 

[nayr]

It dont handle IVS currently, was no docs for IVS back when I coded it.. I use it for integrating the AlarmIO into domoticz via MQTT

 

[slogik]

View attachment 16900 View attachment 16901

yep, the local storage is awesome, I'm prolly gonna turn off the emails that spam me when the cams get triggered with snapshots attached and only have myself get alerted, I will then probably have all outdoor cameras do alerting 24/7, indoor cams only alerting when armed home or armed state is active. I was wondering if you have your camera system send an alert to your phone when it detects motion, I like to get a notification so I know if someone is screwing around when I'm not home. If Ken could make IVS work with blue iris that would be friggin awesome, I do want to incorporate PIR sensors into the system but honestly if IVS works well enough I could save the trouble and money of putting motion sensors outside.

I have it sending an email alert. Axxon would only send an alert and no image, this is sending a single image. They do have an Android app which I'm also running on my tablet, version 3 they are about to release has some type of cloud integration, I'm waiting to see what that is and if I trust it or not. I've only ran this software for two weeks, so I haven't dug into it's event handling capabilities yet but it looks like I can do some things with it, I'll have to play with it a bit. It does support the Axis P8221 I have if I ever decide to deploy external sensors, but it's a separate license.

Regarding nayr's backup idea and my thought about Zoneminder, I looked briefly at this and found Zoneminder in a Docker container. I haven't started it yet, but if I can just get the cameras to record constantly in Zoneminder, I'll have a script running that will check for the presence of my VMS server. If it's missing for more than a minute, start the Zoneminder Docker. If my VMS ever becomes present and the Zoneminder Docker is running, gracefully shut it down. Automatic backup and failover with no additional cost. Thanks for the idea nayr, appreciated!

 

[nayr]

zoneminder and h264 cameras dont mix well last time I looked into it; Milestone XProtect is free up to 8 cameras

 

[hmjgriffon]

View attachment 16900 View attachment 16901

I have it sending an email alert. Axxon would only send an alert and no image, this is sending a single image. They do have an Android app which I'm also running on my tablet, version 3 they are about to release has some type of cloud integration, I'm waiting to see what that is and if I trust it or not. I've only ran this software for two weeks, so I haven't dug into it's event handling capabilities yet but it looks like I can do some things with it, I'll have to play with it a bit. It does support the Axis P8221 I have if I ever decide to deploy external sensors, but it's a separate license.

Regarding nayr's backup idea and my thought about Zoneminder, I looked briefly at this and found Zoneminder in a Docker container. I haven't started it yet, but if I can just get the cameras to record constantly in Zoneminder, I'll have a script running that will check for the presence of my VMS server. If it's missing for more than a minute, start the Zoneminder Docker. If my VMS ever becomes present and the Zoneminder Docker is running, gracefully shut it down. Automatic backup and failover with no additional cost. Thanks for the idea nayr, appreciated!

you will find the resource usage of zoneminder is absolutely ridonculous, if you try to run more than maybe 3 high res cameras on it, god speed lol.

 

[slogik]

zoneminder and h264 cameras dont mix well last time I looked into it; Milestone XProtect is free up to 8 cameras

Good to know. Unfortunately it looks like Milestone requires Windows and I'm not willing to pay for a license. My server is no slouch, perhaps it can handle it.

 

[cb8]

With a Dahua NVR, does it tell you which IVS rules were triggered?

I have been played around with the HTTP API, and while you can differentiate between tripwire and intrusion, etc, if you have multiple tripwires, you can't tell which of them were triggered, i.e. you will get two start events but they both have 'index=0'.

 

[nayr]

when you playback it usually (not always it seems) will show you IVS rules and object tracking too so you can see how it was triggered.. but push notifications and stuff dont tell you which line was crossed unfortunately.

 

[cb8]

Thanks, nayr! That's good to know I wasn't missing something.

 

[aristobrat]

Does the IVS on the new cameras work that well?

I remember just trying the motion detection back on the Hikvision cameras to try to avoid upgrading my server as doing the video analytics on the server can be CPU intensive.

I stumbled with a few aspects of Dahua's IVS at first, but with some comments from @nayr and others, it's current running circles around the "Smart Events" I have setup on my Hik (running their latest firmware).

My biggest struggle with Hik has been not being able to tune out light changes that hit 100% of a monitored area. For example, I have an Intrusion Detection zone setup on my front porch. At night, when the porch light comes on/goes off, the Hik triggers. My Dahua camera with the same type of setup don't trigger. I love that. To the point I'm about to replace a perfectly fine Hik just to reduce the number of false email alerts I get...

Haha, funny, I'm actually considering just buying a dahua NVR box and going dahua only so I can just use IVS easily and be done with it, dunno yet

That's what I did, and I kind of regret it. The way the Dahua NVR I have (5216-4KS2) handles IVS is when it receives a trigger, it creates a separate recording for the IVS event. Conceptually, I love this -- makes downloading the IVS event super simple. How it's currently implemented, I get lost frames during playback .. no matter where I'm watching (directly on NVR, SmartPSS, *DMSS, etc). Even if I export the file, it's missing frames during playback. This has me concerned that if I ever have something happen, I may miss something in that 1-2 seconds of missing frames. Hoping a firmware update with fix this, but who knows...

 

[nayr]

@aristobat, lower the iframe interval to your FPS and the worst you miss is 1s

 

[aristobrat]

@aristobat, lower the iframe interval to your FPS and the worst you miss is 1s

Thanks, I've done that as a workaround to minimize the issue, I just wish the root cause was acknowledged and fixed!

This isn't their entry-level NVR, but between this and the random reboots some of us are having, it seems to act like an entry-level NVR sometimes. Ergh.

 

[hmjgriffon]

Thanks, I've done that as a workaround to minimize the issue, I just wish the root cause was acknowledged and fixed!

This isn't their entry-level NVR, but between this and the random reboots some of us are having, it seems to act like an entry-level NVR sometimes. Ergh.

I'm assuming you're gonna have a spot of 1s or less of black no matter what because it has to start recording to a new file, happens with blue iris every 8 hours when it cuts the file and starts a new 8 hour file, I get a tiny blip of black on all the cameras for a second or less, that's just the technology. I suppose they could do some sort of buffering to fill in the gap but the chances of missing anything important during 1 second every however many hours you set the file to be is astronomical. making a new file for every event is pretty shitty though lol. hopefully ken will just make BI see the dahua events from the cameras.

 

[bug99]

it seems pretty easy to have the files overlap by one second vs a gap of one second like modern DVRs (think direct TV where it is like 3 min of overlap), but agree very improbably, but as nayr is known to say, Murphy is a bitch. Looking forward to BI event improvements to take better advantage of the distributed pre-processing in the cameras.

 

[hmjgriffon]

it seems pretty easy to have the files overlap by one second vs a gap of one second like modern DVRs (think direct TV where it is like 3 min of overlap), but agree very improbably, but as nayr is known to say, Murphy is a bitch. Looking forward to BI event improvements to take better advantage of the distributed pre-processing in the cameras.

yeah I hope it happens and isn't just a pipe dream because it would be really really nice and it seems to work with hikvision cams which was the darling of home security cams until these starlights came out so, may as well support the current super star.

 

[aristobrat]

I'm assuming you're gonna have a spot of 1s or less of black no matter what because it has to start recording to a new file, happens with blue iris every 8 hours when it cuts the file and starts a new 8 hour file, I get a tiny blip of black on all the cameras for a second or less, that's just the technology.

I'm not sure it's "just the technology", as my Synology NAS I used to record when I had one camera didn't have this problem. And the Synology NAS is a multi-function box -- it doesn't exist solely to record cameras. It can do 100 different server/network related things, only one of which is record cameras. And mine never dropped frames during events. So I don't see the point of giving Dahua a pass when a box they built for doing just one thing (recording cameras) does it with issues.

So with BI, you get a one-second glitch every eight hours, during a period you don't go back and monitor? I get it every single time there's an IVS event, and I like to look at my IVS events. So I see the glitch 10-15 times a day, and it irritates me, regardless of whether that blip is something critical or not.

 

[hmjgriffon]

I'm not sure it's "just the technology", as my Synology NAS I used to record when I had one camera didn't have this problem. And the Synology NAS is a multi-function box -- it doesn't exist solely to record cameras. It can do 100 different server/network related things, only one of which is record cameras. And mine never dropped frames during events. So I don't see the point of giving Dahua a pass when a box they built for doing just one thing (recording cameras) does it with issues.

So with BI, you get a one-second glitch every eight hours, during a period you don't go back and monitor? I get it every single time there's an IVS event, and I like to look at my IVS events. So I see the glitch 10-15 times a day, and it irritates me, regardless of whether that blip is something critical or not.

I don't know that it is a glitch but yes only when the video file is closed out and a new one started, and I am not even sure if its something that has always been that way or not because in the years i've been using BI I never noticed it before lol. I agree, the dahua issue doesn't deserve a pass, I am sure there is a way to fix it, how quickly that will happen, who knows, given that we know a few dahua employees in here it might happen sooner than later.