Nighttime Motion Blur - IPC-HDBW4231F-AS

[crw030]

I have setup my first outdoor camera, unfortunately the motivator to get them out of the box and hang them was several cars were broken into in this neighborhood, my wife's car window was broken out so they could rummage through the glovebox and steal an empty "Prada knockoff" purse from Goodwill. Net $6 loss on purse, $100 on window for insurance deductible. Good news is security camera seems "less stupid" to wife now.

However, the image at night with porch light or SmartIR I would consider completely unusable for anything with motion.

I went with this Dahua starlight (IPC-HDBW4231F-AS) as a first camera expecting excellent night time performance, so my guess it is "first camera noob problem" - but I want to eradicate this issue to catch evil-doers in the act the next time around.

Right now I feel like it is only a great overview camera, but I think there is a 0% chance of identifying a perp, especially at night with these settings.

Is this a camera settings issue, a Blue Iris settings issue, a too-wide-camera-angle issue, a lighting issue or something else?

Camera Settings Are:

• Schedule Profile Day/Night according to Time of Day (in camera)
  • Night Profile
    • Picture
      • Bright: 50
      • Contrast: 60
      • Saturation: 60
      • Gamma: 50
      • Sharpness:60
    • Exposure
      • Anti-flicker: Outdoor
      • Mode:Auto (shutter and gain)
      • 3dNR:On
      • 3dNR grade: 70
    • Backlight:
      • Mode: WDR
      • WDR Setting: 60
    • White Balance: Auto
    • Day & Night mode: Black & White
    • IR Light: Smart IR
• Lighting in this case is porch lights and garage lanterns (all LED) + Smart IR.
  • Ideally if more lumens are required I'd want motion activated so they aren't on 12x7x365
  • HOA rules I'll have to get approval on almost anything I hang outside in plain view (IR illumination, PIR sensors, more cameras etc) - so would like to do one Design Request and get this fixed.

Guidance would be appreciated so I can focus my efforts on the right issue. I need to get it sorted before a future incident occurs.

 

[ewc1111]

Hi crw030 try this: set the shutter speed manual to 1/60 - 1/100 / WDR off or max 25-30. 3dnr grade to max 30-40 and play with the gain settings (0-max 50). For me works 0-42 perfekt)
Set the Picture settings to default. Max 50 for sharpness etc.
Although I have a different starlight camera (HDW5231R-Z), but with these settings I have achieved the best results for me.

 

[crw030]

Thank you let me give it a try, I have set in camera settings as per guidance and will recheck tonight.

 

[bigredfish]

Agree with @ewc1111 on cutting off WDR at night and dialing back 3DNR to 50 or less...

 

[looney2ns]

I have setup my first outdoor camera, unfortunately the motivator to get them out of the box and hang them was several cars were broken into in this neighborhood, my wife's car window was broken out so they could rummage through the glovebox and steal an empty "Prada knockoff" purse from Goodwill. Net $6 loss on purse, $100 on window for insurance deductible. Good news is security camera seems "less stupid" to wife now.

However, the image at night with porch light or SmartIR I would consider completely unusable for anything with motion.

I went with this Dahua starlight (IPC-HDBW4231F-AS) as a first camera expecting excellent night time performance, so my guess it is "first camera noob problem" - but I want to eradicate this issue to catch evil-doers in the act the next time around.

Right now I feel like it is only a great overview camera, but I think there is a 0% chance of identifying a perp, especially at night with these settings.

Is this a camera settings issue, a Blue Iris settings issue, a too-wide-camera-angle issue, a lighting issue or something else?

Camera Settings Are:

• Schedule Profile Day/Night according to Time of Day (in camera)
  • Night Profile
    • Picture
      • Bright: 50
      • Contrast: 60
      • Saturation: 60
      • Gamma: 50
      • Sharpness:60
    • Exposure
      • Anti-flicker: Outdoor
      • Mode:Auto (shutter and gain)
      • 3dNR:On
      • 3dNR grade: 70
    • Backlight:
      • Mode: WDR
      • WDR Setting: 60
    • White Balance: Auto
    • Day & Night mode: Black & White
    • IR Light: Smart IR
• Lighting in this case is porch lights and garage lanterns (all LED) + Smart IR.
  • Ideally if more lumens are required I'd want motion activated so they aren't on 12x7x365
  • HOA rules I'll have to get approval on almost anything I hang outside in plain view (IR illumination, PIR sensors, more cameras etc) - so would like to do one Design Request and get this fixed.

Guidance would be appreciated so I can focus my efforts on the right issue. I need to get it sorted before a future incident occurs.

Turn off WDR at night.
Set 3d noise reduction to as low as you can stand it.
Set exposure to manual, and set shutter to 1/100 or higher.
Adjust gain to suit.
Motion lights cause other issues, it takes time for the cam to adjust when they come on and go off.

 

[crw030]

Only slight improvement from previous changes, this is after the changes recommended by ewc1111, last night, slowly moving target, Smart-IR + Porch + Garage Torches. This subject is about 4 feet from one of those flourescent replacement lights mounted on the garage. Moving slowly.

Turn off WDR at night.
Set 3d noise reduction to as low as you can stand it.
Set exposure to manual, and set shutter to 1/100 or higher.
Adjust gain to suit.
Motion lights cause other issues, it takes time for the cam to adjust when they come on and go off.

Point taken on motion lights, have LED and 850nm IR coming to test out how they affect the picture (LED does happen to be motion, but supposedly has an always-on option I could use to test).

I know from other reading around these forums that getting more pixels in the face is also a big part of successfully identifying, so I am planning some varifocals soon, but probably will do some Bosch OD850 detectors first as well as overview cameras for rear and side of the house. Thinking PIR to reduce false alarms (currently I have 2000 images of snow/sleet falling, hundreds of pictures of spider bellies and quite a lot of trees waving [in my target area] in the wind).

 

[looney2ns]

Wow, that's pretty bad. I'm not sure why the suggested settings have not helped more.
Maybe set the cam back to default and start from scratch.

 

[TaGosa]

Try NR=5, WDR=15, Gain=Auto. Switch off IR. Illuminate the place. In my experience, IR is not a good substitute for good lighting for cams at night. Get dusk to dawn LED bulbs.

Moreover idea is to keep the bad elements away, its to late to catch them in act. Good lighting will keep them away (better than dark+ir+cams).

For winds, snow, ... dial back motion detection sensitivity. Use IVS.

 

[crw030]

Try NR=5, WDR=15, Gain=Auto. Switch off IR. Illuminate the place. In my experience, IR is not a good substitute for good lighting for cams at night. Get dusk to dawn LED bulbs.

....... Good lighting will keep them away (better than dark+ir+cams).

I was looking at some LED bulbs, something that would be bright enough to illuminate the scene, cheap enough to operate 12x7x365, so as to avoid motion detect lights as per looney2ns guidance. I do still have a white flood and an IR flood coming to test out. I was mostly steering away from always-on visible lighting to avoid aggravating the neighbors.

Is this a trial-by-error situation? I see a LOT of LED options

• 8W up to 120W LED with effective 500 to 14,000 lumens.
• available in range of "temperatures", really colors from white down to much softer yellow hue.
• I actually really only need light in a semi-circle (rest is directed against the wall unless I update the wall sconces to have some type of reflector).

Would something like a 3-way bulb or two-level motion lighting (1W LED dusk-to-dawn with 8W LED motion detect flood) suffer from the same issues as motion detect lights @loony2ns ? For example, if the camera was in forced-color mode would it adapt quickly enough to get some good images?

 

[crw030]

Btw, I am using "Profile Management" in the Dahua camera itself to "schedule" Day & Night for now. Is that the right way, or is that something that would work better via some setting in Blue Iris?