Syncing time

The issue

One of the things suggested to save CPU on Blue Iris is to turn on the in camera overlay instead of having Blue Iris add it while viewing. Note this works most of the time but some instances in camera overlays mess with tools like LPR. But many of the clocks seemed to refuse to keep time. At first I thought it was the local ntp servers having problems and wrote a quick tool to test all my ntp server options. The real issue is I'm finding different models of cameras work with only some ntp servers. In a perfect world this would not be an issue but in the real world they are often off a bit from each other and for syncing of video you want them a close as possible. And it also means you need to know which cam works with which and set them to ones as close in time as possible. Plus I want to avoid uploading packets where possible given my network connection is 900 down with only 40 up and I'm backing up to the cloud contentiously. 

Main options I have to work with are:

• internet time servers (time.windows.com for instance)
• ntpd on OPNsense router box 192.168.0.1 using 0.opnsense.pool.ntp.org as source
• Windows time server on a Blue Iris server 10.10.3.48 using 192.168.0.1 as source
• NetTime on a Blue Iris server 10.10.3.46 using 192.168.0.1 as source
• ntp service running on IoT Unifi network gateway 10.10.0.1 using 192.168.0.1 as source

Note just setting the time server you want to use on a Windows 10 PC gets complicated. Microsoft really wants you to use time.windows.com. Detailed instructions to change the server can be found here.

What worked with what

Hikvision

System->System Settings->Time Settings (ColorVu)

Basic Configuration->System->Time Settings (older cams)

Would not even ping most of these. In the end the only one it would connect to was the Windows time server

Reolink

Network->Advanced->NTP

Only seems to like the OPNsense box. Takes 3 screens to set all the time options.

Amcrest

System->General->Date & Time

Hard to say since there is no test button. You just set it and hope. I'll set them to diff servers and see what keeps time. Though it looks like it might do a sync on save so you can see if something works if the time was off. After a day it appears OPNsense did not seem to work as the time was WAY off.

Used Windows time server 

Dahua

System->General->Date & Time

Like Amcrest (some claim the Dahua makes many of Amcrest cams and the software is very similar) it is hard to say since there is no test button. You just set it and hope. I'll set them to diff servers and see what keeps time. Though it looks like it might do a sync on save so you can see if something works if the time was off. After a day it appears OPNsense did not seem to work as the time was WAY off.

Used Windows time server 

JideTech

System->Time

Not sure if this is working or not. Comes set to time.windows.com which seemed to be working. When I set it to a local one it changed the date to 2036 and stayed there till I "Synced with PC time". Then tried to dup and could not. Set to OPNsense box. After a few days the time seems to be hold so think is OK. Note there is no option to set DST start and stop.  

Foscam

Basic Settings->Camera Time

OPNsense seems to work OK. Note this old enough there is no option to set DST start and stop.

Escam

Again OPNsense seems to work OK. 

Quick outdoor audio compare

Overview

Been seeing posts wanting cams with audio lately. My Ring compares playlist has some examples of the diff between a ColorVu and a Ring doorbell that contain audio but when outside doing a bit of weeding around the bird feeder and hearing coyotes playing near by I thought I'd grab the footage form 3 near by cameras to show the diff between them.

The 3 cameras are:

Dahua IPC-HDW4631C-A mounted under the window AC unit

Reolink RLC-511-5MP mounted on side window frame

Hikvision (ColorVu) DS-2CD2347G1-LU (far one) mounted on the soffit at the corner of the roof

The links to the videos are:

• The Dahua video
• The Reolink video
• The Hikvision/ColorVu video

If you watch the lower timestamp you should hear:

• Various bird calls and till 11:28:40
• @11:28:40 you should hear my footsteps and the hedge trimmer starting up.
• @11:29:37 you should hear me walking through the dried "weeds" crunching them and a jet passing overhead. Then me tossing the branches into a pile off screen.
• @11:29:58 I start using the hedge trimmer again.
• @11:30:07 I stop and you can hear what sounds like coyotes yapping a few hundred yards away.
•  @11:30:23 you should hear me say "listen to that" (meaning the coyotes) in a normal speaking voice.

It is totally calm so there is no wind noise to deal with. I should probably do another sample with speaking when there is wind and when the house main AC unit (around the far side of the house) is running. I'm amazed how loud that AC unit sounds on footage compared to when I'm in the yard.

ColorVu supplemental light off/on axis tests

As I mentioned in my review HikVision ColorVu cameras the supplemental light is really too bright to use in most cases but it is also lights up pretty much 180 by 180 degrees, which is also an issue if anything is close, so enabling it on a sky cam might be helpful to other near by cams.

Off axis test. 

It is raining with heavy clouds taking the moon out of the picture. The supplemental light settings at times (bottom time stamp) are:

• 8:47 change from 10 to 50
• 8:48 change from 50 to 100
• 8:49 change from 100 to 10

The ColurVu is mounted on the edge of the roof above the bird feeder.
The trees seen to light up on the edge of the view are about 50 feet from the cam on the left to about 33 feet center. The rain helps show some of the limitations of illumination from a camera instead of off axis. Camera is 2.8mm OEM of the Hikvision DS-2CD2347G1-LU I bought off Amazon. (video)

The Amcrest is mounted on the barn 43 feet from the ColorVu. Camera is a IP4M-1026 pushed to the max 1/3 second exposure and max gain. (video)

Dahua mounted about 4 feet behind the ColorVu on the soffit.  Camera is a IPC-HDW4631C-A also pushed to the max 1/3 second exposure and max gain. (video)

No light test.

Cameras are all in the same places as off axis test but ColorVu is angled down to roughly match the view form the Dahua. Also since there is more light I also tested motion with my black dog and me moving about. Moon would have been down to about last quarter but as the lack of any shadows shows it was pretty much obscured by clouds.

The test starts with the back door light on and a ladder in view of the Dahaua cam. The following happens at these times (the lower timestamp):

• at 8:43 the back door light is turned off and after a few seconds the ColorVu light comes on auto. Note black dog near far corner of house and the kind of purple tint the IR floods give the ColorVu video before the supplemental light kicks in.
• at 8:44 I turn the ColorVu light off. A few seconds after that I come out to get the ladder with a hat light on so I can see what I'm doing. Note the blur and low frame rate.
• at 8:46 I go back inside then come back out to walk carefully past with the hat light off
• at 8:47 I come back, ( I forgot my keys) with the hat light on cause it really is too dark to be walking safely with it off, then go off to feed.
• at 8:48 my white dog appears at the far corner of the house and wanders about for around 5 minutes. 
• at 8:53 I come back from feeding, turn my hat light off and wander carefully into the yard a bit to test for motion blur. Note I have to turn my hat light back on to see where I'm stepping part of the time.
• at 8:55 go back in triggering the back door light to come on.
• at 8:56 I come back out to do another motion test with the back door light on. Then plug a hole something dug next to the bird feeder.
• at 8:57 I go back in. Not the cats lurking on the walk way.

ColorVu video
Amcrest video
Dahua video

On axis test

Cameras are all in the same places as off axis test but ColorVu is angled down to roughly match the view form the Dahua. ColorVu camera has the supplemental light set to a fixed value of 10. For this view 10 seemed to be the max I could run the supplemental light at without causing glare that would diminish the view of the stars and distance trees.

22:21 to 22:25 White dog starts by the back door and then wanders the yard.

ColorVu video
Amcrest video
Dahua video

HikVision ColorVu cameras

Quick starts

Videos in the Hikvision and Color night vision playlists

For a compare against the Darkfighter models look at this review video from dvs.

The first one I bought was the OEM version of the DS-2CD2347G1-LU from Nelly's Security. Note there is a DS-2CD2347G1-L that appears to be the same thing without audio for about the same price from most sellers. Later I ordered a 2.8 mm version that had just listed on Amazon.

First thing you should not is the cams come with a static IP set of 192.168.1.64. This means you either need to have a 192.168.1.X network or a Windows PC you can run their tool on.

Next these are huge.

Here is the HikVision turret model (left) next the the Amcrest (right).

If you look close you will notice UP is marked on the case. A nice feature. I usually end up drawing an line on these so I know which way is up out in the field.

To install an SD card (128GB max) or adjust the rotation of the camera takes an Torx-10 screwdriver. Though realistically if you are going to be doing this kind of stuff you should just break down and get driver and set of bits that include straight, Phillips, hex and Torx bits of various sizes. Maybe even an all in set.
Update I found the L shaped Torx it comes with under the packing so you don't need to get one though having a set with screwdriver like grips might make you life easier.

For a quick test I just swapped in place of the west Amcrest skycam. The difference was amazing. For this compare shot I set them all to an exposure of 1/12 and gain of 0-100.

The original Amcrest is lower left, the Dahua upper left and the HikVision on the right.

Now this how sensitive the HikVision is. Here I set the Amcrest and Dahua exposure to 1/3 which causes ghosting see this video,  but the HikVision is at 1/30 (double the frame rate).

You can also compare the above Amcrest 1/3 exposure video to this 1/12 exposure video from the HikVision and this Dahua one.

Here is the odd thing. It actually looks darker during the day which is why I did the above video with exposure 1/12. For example here is the next day.

The Amcrest and Dahua are using profile scheduling to switch to automatic exposure for the daytime. The HikVision is still set to exposure 1/30 (it does not have an automatic setting).  It does have profile scheduling but it would appear to be unneeded so far. I checked to make sure it was not switching the exposure based on profile.

Though if you are looking to grab hummingbird stills from the video it appears switching to 1/100000 is doable even on an overcast day like today.

Three days later and an even tougher test. While the moon is technically up you can not tell where the clouds are so thick. Not just dark but but air so heavy with moisture it is almost fog.

Here the old cams are set on auto but and the HikVision is still has exposure set to 1/12

The original Amcrest is lower left, the Dahua upper left and the HikVision on the right.

Cranking the old cams down to an exposure of 1/3 it looks better.

The original Amcrest is lower left, the Dahua upper left and the HikVision on the right.

Turning on the back door light ~45 feet from the barn in the picture with the old cams still at 1/3.

Smart features:

While not applicable to what I'm currently using these cams for they do have extensive motion and other alerts built right into the camera.

Alerts:

Motion detection, video tampering detection, network disconnected, IP address conflict, illegal login, HDD full, HDD error

Behavior Analysis

Line crossing detection, intrusion detection, object removal detection, unattended baggage detection

Sample of the line crossing setup screen,

Region Of Interest

1 fixed region for main stream and sub-stream separately

Exception Detection

Scene change detection

Note the Smart Supplement Light setting in Display setting is for the IR LEDs and so does nothing here.

Day/Night Switch  is what tells to be in color or B&W mode at "night"

The Smart Supplement Light white LEDs are controlled on this page under System Settings.

Note the light is unfortunately almost useless in most cases as the the ideal setting to avoid blacking out background detail seems to be 4-5 and it will not reliably switch on below 5. Even at 5, it lights up well beyond the view of the cams to what looks real close to 180 degrees which has both good and bad features. For instance, properly placed it not only assists its view when ambient light falls below what is needed but also can assist other low light cams that need just a bit more help that then ColorVus. Check out ColorVu supplemental light off/on axis tests.

2.8 mm version

The HS-VUT04G1-IA 2.8 mm version is virtual identical to the one form Nelly's.
Firmware on the Nelly's cams was V5.6.2 build 191111
Firmware on the 2.8mm was V5.6.2 build 190701
Nelly's has firmware downloads and support on their site. The vendor looked a bit sketchy so I stuck the cam on my test network for a couple days to see if it was going to do anything odd but it seems clean with no out bound traffic.  I also upgraded the monitoring on my main network which did highlight an issue with my one GW Security camera. Fortunately already being blocked. But now I'll be more likely to alerts if anything else tries something.

Anyway before I swapped the 2.8 mm in as the SE sky cam I set it up for a few minutes just below the 4 mm to get some shots of the the diff the view angle makes.

Just 109 degrees versus 94 degrees but if you are looking to stitch them together and or get a bit more vertical coverage like me that diff can be a deal breaker.

One last thing about these that is nice. The POE connection seal which seems to be getting to be standard now. (The Dahuas and the latest Amcrests came with matching ones.) It allows a RJ45 through yet seals air tight which makes swapping them out easy.

Added a second 2.8 mm to replace the 4 mm so they match. Just ordered a 3rd so I can get a panorama from almost due east to about due north. Unfortunately I do not have a good spot for the north west quarter.

Update 4/6/2020

I'm up to 6 of these now. The one on the driveway is the 4 mm version. The rest are the 2.8 mm versions.

Might be hard to tell but the above is from 9:24 PM with little bit of moon light you can see on the top center. For compare here are all the cams on that server. Note the 2 other color cams are Amcrests (top row) and a Dahua (bird feeder) with the exposure set to 1/3 and the gain to 100.

GW Security GW5747MIC

 I did a test with a GW5747MIC 5MP Optional TWO-Way Audio PoE IP Camera 1.9mm 160° Wide Angle Night Vision Sony Starvis HD 1920P Security Mini Dome 5 Megapixel Built-In Microphone and Micro SD slot, Audio in/out Recording but the view was not only no wider but not as good in low light as the Amcrest IP4M-1026 despite it having the lowest lux spec so I stuck it looking at the bird feeder. It is also does not have the 160 view angle. Here are some compare shots at the point the cams pointed at the bird feeders flipped from day to night mode.
The supposed 0.01Lux (F1.8, Color) GW Security GW5747MIC flips to night mode first

Flipped at 17:43:42.

A Hikvision DS-2CD2142FWD-I speced at 0.07 lux @ (F1.2, AGC ON)

Flipped at 17:45:38

An Escam QD900 rated Color: 0.1 Lux/F1.2, B/W: 0.01 Lux/F1.2 Note you can see the Microseven on the barn has already flipped to night mode.

Flipped to B/W at 17:51:23

Lastly an Amcrest IP3M-956 rated at 0.1Lux /F2.0 (Color)

Flipped last at 17:54:25

After dark things were not much better. Though part of the problem here is the GW cam is smaller so sees the wall and AC unit that the Amcrest, right next to it, does not.

GW5747MIC at midnight

IP3M-956 at midnight. Note the dome is already dirty again so there is glare.

In the daytime it looks about as good as the Amcrest despite being a lower rez. Note it is only speced as 100 degree view angle. You can see here the GW cam is about the same view angle so not way it is 160 degree.

IP3M-956 about noon

GW5747MIC about noon

I've decided to move all the dome cams inside since they get dirty and pick up reflections real quick (see pic above) so I moved the GW5747MIC to the garage to replace the Foscam FI9828P. The GW5747MIC does have better night vision than the Foscam on top of better rez and view angle. The GW5747MIC can monitor almost the whole garage at the same level of detail without the need for pan and tilt. Though the Foscam can still zoom into get a bit better shot if you are watching and can center and zoom quick enough to get the shot. All in all it seems like a pretty good fit for the garage though realistically I doubt I'd buy another one if this one went out or I need a cam for a similar area.

First though I noticed the diff between the top two rez settings seems to be that is stretches the picture vertically. You will notice here that both show the same amount of the garage. Yes I know it is a mess. Note is a two car garage though it looks more like a 1 1/2 in the pics.

shot in 2592x1944 mode

shot in 2592x1520 mode

Similar shot from the FI9828P

FI9828P zoomed all the way into the corner

Similar post zoomed image from the GW5747MIC

When I turn off the over head light and just have the opener light on the Foscam has to go into night mode though the GW5747MIC does not even in the default Auto switching mode.

GW5747MIC with just the door light.

FI9828P with just the door light

Lastly compare shots with all lights off.

GW5747MIC in the dark

FI9828P in the dark.

Note you can stretch the flip to night mode some more by switching from Auto to Auto(inter sync) though you will some more graininess during the extended color period. adjust the sliders for the right compromise between seeing color and grain.

This is about the max you can push the flip. With THR. of day much lower it will flip back and forth.

Update: Notice something else today. After upgrading my router to one I could turn IPS on without cooking it I discovered this camera is making DNS requests to several sites around the world. Not that I let DNS requests go anywhere from my IoT networks except to my local DNS servers. A quick google shows this is not a new thing with them.