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Lost ability to zoom Dahua camera via Blue Iris interface

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ultradianguy

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Hi - I have an EMpire Tech IPC-T5442T-ZE camera set up with BI . It's been in place for quite some time and has been working well. I've had no problem with controlling the zoom via the BI interface.

Today, I had to take it down, move it and reconnect. After doing so, I found that I could no longer control zoom via BI. (Note - I can't be sure the problem started after moving it - I hadn't had any need to zoom it for several weeks so it's possible it started earlier). Camera works fine after reconnecting but no response to the PTZ zoom controls, which worked great in the past.

Important Info:
  1. I have not updated BI at all recently - definitely not since this was working. I'm on 5.6.0.8. So no change in BI.
  2. Zoom works fine from the Dahua interface - so the zoom is working fine in the camera.
  3. I've tried it from the Web UI as well as the BI Console - it does not work in either place.
  4. I run BI as a service on Windows 10 Pro with console logiin as Windows Admin.
  5. I tried restarting the BI service in Windows, that did not help.
To my knowledge, the only change that could have happened is a Windows 10 update. I have not tried updating BI because the last few times I did that, it broke things. Has anyone since this issue recently?

Thanks,
Michael Jasper
 
Coldair

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ultradianguy said:
Hi - I have an EMpire Tech IPC-T5442T-ZE camera set up with BI . It's been in place for quite some time and has been working well. I've had no problem with controlling the zoom via the BI interface.

Today, I had to take it down, move it and reconnect. After doing so, I found that I could no longer control zoom via BI. (Note - I can't be sure the problem started after moving it - I hadn't had any need to zoom it for several weeks so it's possible it started earlier). Camera works fine after reconnecting but no response to the PTZ zoom controls, which worked great in the past.

Important Info:
  1. I have not updated BI at all recently - definitely not since this was working. I'm on 5.6.0.8. So no change in BI.
  2. Zoom works fine from the Dahua interface - so the zoom is working fine in the camera.
  3. I've tried it from the Web UI as well as the BI Console - it does not work in either place.
  4. I run BI as a service on Windows 10 Pro with console logiin as Windows Admin.
  5. I tried restarting the BI service in Windows, that did not help.
To my knowledge, the only change that could have happened is a Windows 10 update. I have not tried updating BI because the last few times I did that, it broke things. Has anyone since this issue recently?

Thanks,
Michael Jasper
Click to expand...
when I had that issue I went into camera settings and scanned for the camera again and it came back
 
sebastiantombs

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Remember that a 5442 is a varifocal and not a PTZ. It is not designed to be zoomed in and out all the time. The zoom mechanism is not robust enough for that. I have a few 5442T-ZEs that have been at the same zoom level for a few years.
 
Last edited:
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ultradianguy

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sebastiantombs said:
Remember that a 5442 is a varifocal and not a PTZ. It is not designed by be zoomed in and out all the time. The zoom mechanism is not robust enough for that. I have a few 5442T-ZEs that have been at the same zoom level for a few years.
Click to expand...
Not sure what the point here is ... there isn't a problem with the camera itself, as it works fine from the Dahua UI. And as I described, this was all working fine before and now, there is zero zoom functionality. I'm not setting up something new - this is something that worked as expected, and now doesn't. Also - I'm not looking to zoom in and out "all the time". There is zero function from BI. Clearly something has changed.
 
wittaj

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ultradianguy said:
Not sure what the point here is ... there isn't a problem with the camera itself, as it works fine from the Dahua UI. And as I described, this was all working fine before and now, there is zero zoom functionality. I'm not setting up something new - this is something that worked as expected, and now doesn't. Also - I'm not looking to zoom in and out "all the time". There is zero function from BI. Clearly something has changed.
Click to expand...
His point is that because a varifocal is supposed to be a set it and forget it camera, the best practice is to set the zoom and focus for a varifocal in the camera GUI itself, not BI.

Some people have seen funny things happen to the camera when adjusting it in BI or they accidentally zoom it and then miss an event.

Many of us simply disable that function in BI so we do not accidentally mess up the focus and zoom by mistake, especially a camera for LPR at night!

This feature in BI is intended to work with PTZ cameras. The fact that it works with some varifocal cameras is a bonus, but not a given.

Are you sure this worked with version 5.6.x.x? There was a change with ONVIF functionality around the time that 5.6.X.X came about and that could be the change. It has even affected people with true PTZ cameras.
 
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ultradianguy

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wittaj said:
His point is that because a varifocal is supposed to be a set it and forget it camera, the best practice is to set the zoom and focus for a varifocal in the camera GUI itself, not BI.

Some people have seen funny things happen to the camera when adjusting it in BI or they accidentally zoom it and then miss an event.

Many of us simply disable that function in BI so we do not accidentally mess up the focus and zoom by mistake, especially a camera for LPR at night!

This feature in BI is intended to work with PTZ cameras. The fact that it works with some varifocal cameras is a bonus, but not a given.

Are you sure this worked with version 5.6.x.x? There was a change with ONVIF functionality around the time that 5.6.X.X came about and that could be the change. It has even affected people with true PTZ cameras.
Click to expand...
As I said, I haven't changed my BI version in some time. It was definitely working perfectly before.
 
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