Recommending newest Dahua PTZ?

[Michael James]

Currently have a SD49425XB-HNR. Issues with consistent tracking.
Looking to add a 2nd PTZ to the front of the house.
Tracking humans and cars mostly. Dont need license plate recognition altough it would be nice. I want it to zoom in on people to the point I can see the entire person (head to toe) in the frame and track them until they are out of frame

Doesnt have to be a Dahua.
Attaching a picture of where the PTZ will be mounted

have there been any more recent releases that have improved the tracking?
Budget is around $500

 

[Mark_M]

This Mini PTZ's review and video of auto tracking looks promissing:

Review-SD4A425DB-HNY 1/2.8" CMOS 4MP 25x Starlight Auto-tracking MiniPTZ

Courtesy of @EMPIRETECANDY with have a new Mini PTZ to check out. You can currently purchase here: link Amazon link coming soon. Price as of this writing is approximately $370 shipped. **Please keep this thread on topic I've spent a LOT of time working with Andy and an Engineer at Dahua...

ipcamtalk.com

 

[Michael James]

I'd rather not use a dome like that one due to distortion. More of the traditional PTZ look like the sd49425xb-hnr

 

[wittaj]

As I mentioned in your other thread, I would consider a factory reset and look at perhaps a new power supply.

I have two of these and do not have the problems you have. I suspect the firmware got wonky with use and a factory reset will get it going.

And perhaps your power supply is failing or is on the low end of the tolerance and once it starts tracking it can't get enough power.

SD49425XB-HNR Firmware?

Can someone verify what the latest firmware is for this camera that supports human and car tracking? Has anyone created a custom firmware? Has anyone tried a firmware from a different Dahua camera and have it work better and not brick it? I like the camera in general but its tracking needs...

ipcamtalk.com

 

[Michael James]

New video by Michael James

photos.app.goo.gl

here is an example of the behavior where it wont stay locked. This is a link from google photos
Once it hits the stop sign, it looses lock.

 

[wittaj]

OK so that is common when an object gets in the way, but there are ways to mitigate it.

Are you on default auto/settings for the camera?

You would be shocked how much the settings of exposure speed, brightness, contrast, gain, sharpness, gamma, etc. have in the ability to track.

I always knew that you shouldn't chase a bright picture - it looks nice and people migrate towards a brighter TV for example, but upon closer examination, most images need to be toned down in order to get all the details. It is even more important for a tracking camera.

You will be surprised how much changing a parameter like gamma could impact tracking. For example, if you have a pesky tree or something in the middle of the view during an autotrack like that stop sign, just by changing some image parameters you can get autotrack to pass it. Making the image a little darker at night actually helped with tracking someone across the street, which was opposite of what I thought you would think to do. So add some contrast to your image and see if it improves.

I have a yard lamp post that more times than not autotrack would get stuck on it as someone was walking and the autotrack would only go so far. Because my image has soo much contrast during the day (bright white concrete a third, blacktop road a third, grass a third), knocking down the gamma made the lamp post not be so "trackable" lol, and along with that I turned of PFA and that gave it just enough time to retrack the person walking past the lamp post.

Or put a privacy mask on the stop sign to get past it, but I prefer to not do that unless nothing else works.

Keep in mind auto-tracking is great, but it isn't perfect. Lot's of factors can influence the ability to track. They certainly are not plug and play.

It is a matter of getting the brightness/contrast and target ratio settings correct. It took me weeks and then some tweaks along the way on occasion to get mine to perform its best. Something as simple as my neighbor changing his fence from a wood fence to metal slat fence effed up my tracking and I had to adjust it to deal with it.

 

[Michael James]

Thx, I had already knocked the gamma down and turned contrast up and I have PFA off. See attachments
Any suggestions?

 

[wittaj]

OK now try the other combinations.

Semi-auto focus
PFA on
Focus limit
sensitivity

And also track size can come into play, maybe dialing it back a step or two will get you past that stop sign.

I suspect if you drop focus sensitivity down it may help as well. It probably zeros in on that stop sign and stops tracking then.

Unfortunately every field of view is different and what settings work on one may not work on another. My two PTZs are on opposite corners and for a lot of time essentially see roughly the same field of view and even they have different settings to get past the lamp post (one it gets in the way tracking left and the other tracking to the right).

Or simply decide that a black privacy mask on the stop sign won't negatively impact the image, but will help with the tracking.

I also have the new mini-PTZ recommended above and it does do a much better job of anticipating where the object is moving and can get past trees and obstructions better, but it is on the only PTZ sub $500 that has this newest tracking version. You would have to jump to $750 or more to get a traditional looking PTZ with that tracking version.

But I still think with some more tweaking you can make it happen with the 49225.

 

[Michael James]

Here are my current settings. Please advise

 

[wittaj]

I would try a track size of 44 and 50 and see if going larger or smaller gets you past that stop sign.

On your other screenshot of focus and zoom, try zoom speed at 90 instead of 100. Maybe it zooms in too fast and that is also causing it to lock on the stop sign.

 

[Michael James]

OK now try the other combinations.

Semi-auto focus
PFA on
Focus limit
sensitivity

And also track size can come into play, maybe dialing it back a step or two will get you past that stop sign.

I suspect if you drop focus sensitivity down it may help as well. It probably zeros in on that stop sign and stops tracking then.

Unfortunately every field of view is different and what settings work on one may not work on another. My two PTZs are on opposite corners and for a lot of time essentially see roughly the same field of view and even they have different settings to get past the lamp post (one it gets in the way tracking left and the other tracking to the right).

Or simply decide that a black privacy mask on the stop sign won't negatively impact the image, but will help with the tracking.

I also have the new mini-PTZ recommended above and it does do a much better job of anticipating where the object is moving and can get past trees and obstructions better, but it is on the only PTZ sub $500 that has this newest tracking version. You would have to jump to $750 or more to get a traditional looking PTZ with that tracking version.

But I still think with some more tweaking you can make it happen with the 49225.

Where in settings of the camera can you put a black privacy mask over an objec tlike the stop sign. I dont see masking options. I need specific instructions, step by step if possible.

 

[Sybertiger]

New video by Michael James

photos.app.goo.gl

here is an example of the behavior where it wont stay locked. This is a link from google photos
Once it hits the stop sign, it looses lock.

Yeah, this is typical for this PTZ with factory settings. You see it all the time when a bush or trunk of the tree is in front of the object getting tracked. The other caveat is if your target stops for too long their is no loiter setting to tell the PTZ to stick around a little longer to wait to see if the tracked object starts moving again. For $390 it still does a nice job of tracking/zooming but I should probably take @wittaj advice and play with the setting more to overcome some of the lost tracking issues.

 

[wittaj]

Where in settings of the camera can you put a black privacy mask over an objec tlike the stop sign. I dont see masking options. I need specific instructions, step by step if possible.

In the settings tab under video then Privacy Masking. This black mask will stay with the object, so when your stop sign is out of view, the black box will be gone too (or whatever color you make it).

 

[Tinman]

Have you tried to make a new tripwire area on both sides of the stop sign. I have successfully done this on my SD5A425GA-HNR to get around a tree. I know this cam is over your budget, but I highly recommend it !

 

[Michael James]

Thx everyone. I want to make sure what "Target Tracking Size" actually means.. So the lower the number, objects that are farther away and smaller will be picked up. I'm trying to get the camera to pick up objects at the top of the screen faster (start zooming faster). So that it picks up the person walking from the top of the screeen coming to my camera faster. is this correct?

 

[wittaj]

No, the tracking size is how large do you want the object to be in the field of view once it starts tracking. It has nothing to do with objects further or closer away.

So if you have tracking at 25, it tries to keep the object at 25% of the field of view size.

But it is a balance - too small and you might not get identify, and too large and you may get torso and not face, plus the larger the track number, the easier it is to loose tracking. A person sized at 75% of the field of view can take a quick step or mini jog and be out of the field of view as an example.

 

[Michael James]

Thank you. What setting controls the point at which the camera starts to focus on a person walking down the street towards me?

 

[wittaj]

That would be your IVS rules and where the lines are drawn.

 

[Michael James]

Attaching screen shot. Are these correct for what I am trying? I assume this is the menu you are talking about

 

[CanCuba]

In the settings tab under video then Privacy Masking. This black mask will stay with the object, so when your stop sign is out of view, the black box will be gone too (or whatever color you make it).

View attachment 165472

I was not aware that privacy masking worked like this. Always assumed that it was simply for privacy concerns and nothing more.