Ideal settings for DS-2CD2386G2-ISU/SL?

[Madgame87]

Hi team,

It's been about 3 months with a pair of DS-2CD2386G2-ISU/SL cameras. Overall they're great, but I'm having trouble getting the best out of them. NVR is an I-series 8ch. I have four cameras running, 2x 2386 & 2x 2346G2.

I'm experiencing the following:

• Stop/start play back — Rewatching recordings via the app on either WiFi or 4G - it's glitchy (DS-2CD2347G2-LU are slightly better in this regard)
• Day time motion — subjects appear to have doubled e.g. two heads, two dogs lol
• Night time motion — lots of ghosting (camera is set to switch to IR based on light, although we have a street lamp right outside the house (it's currently broken)
  • This street light would ideally help with the ghosting.

I guess where i'm getting at is if there are certain settings that need to be tinkered with to mitigate these issues? I understand each environment is different, but I know that these cameras are capable. I'm thinking long-term plan is to replace the 2386 with 2347's.

Current settings:

NVR:

Camera:

Could anyone chime in? Any help is appreciated!

 

[JB1970]

In general there's not much wrong with the settings. I'd start by switching the WDR off completely to see if that helps (you can always decrease the contrast a bit to balance the image) The 1/25 sec exposure will cause motion blur if you pause the recorded footage as it's too slow to freeze motion, but that wouldn't normally be too obvious if watching the stream live.

 

[Madgame87]

Thanks @JB1970.

Turning WDR off has helped significantly!

Only issue i'm finding now is that play back seems to stop after 3 seconds and I have to scribe through to about halfway before I can view the rest of the recording. Any ideas with this one? Should I reduce the bitrate and/or frame rates?

 

[JB1970]

Thanks @JB1970.

Turning WDR off has helped significantly!

Only issue i'm finding now is that play back seems to stop after 3 seconds and I have to scribe through to about halfway before I can view the rest of the recording. Any ideas with this one? Should I reduce the bitrate and/or frame rates?

A few things that could be causing that:

1 - Using the menu on the NVR directly (on the monitor/TV) go to Camera (icon) > Video Parameters. Ensure that for all of your cameras, that the Main Stream (Event) settings are identical to the Main Stream (Continuous) settings.

2 - Using the NVR menu again go to Storage (icon) > Schedule > Record. Click the Advanced button (top right of schedule screen) Make sure Pre Record is set to 0 (not the default of 5 seconds) click OK then Apply. Repeat for all cameras. Pre Record time is only needed if you're recording solely on event/motion etc. If you're recording a 24/7 schedule, having the pre record set to 5 seconds can cause the playback to freeze on motion then skip over the event.

Your frame rate and bit rate should be OK. On my own system (16 channel I series) I have two of the 2386G2's and seven 4 megapixel models (mainly 2346/2347G2s). I have the 2386s set to Variable Bit Rate, Higher Quality, 20FPS (the same as you) but have the bit rate a little higher at 10240. Check the two points above first.

 

[Madgame87]

A few things that could be causing that:

1 - Using the menu on the NVR directly (on the monitor/TV) go to Camera (icon) > Video Parameters. Ensure that for all of your cameras, that the Main Stream (Event) settings are identical to the Main Stream (Continuous) settings.

2 - Using the NVR menu again go to Storage (icon) > Schedule > Record. Click the Advanced button (top right of schedule screen) Make sure Pre Record is set to 0 (not the default of 5 seconds) click OK then Apply. Repeat for all cameras. Pre Record time is only needed if you're recording solely on event/motion etc. If you're recording a 24/7 schedule, having the pre record set to 5 seconds can cause the playback to freeze on motion then skip over the event.

Your frame rate and bit rate should be OK. On my own system (16 channel I series) I have two of the 2386G2's and seven 4 megapixel models (mainly 2346/2347G2s). I have the 2386s set to Variable Bit Rate, Higher Quality, 20FPS (the same as you) but have the bit rate a little higher at 10240. Check the two points above first.

Thanks for the tips. I did notice a lot of discrepancies between Video Parameters on the NVR and Cameras.

I'm only recording for Events at the moment and have the pre-record to 20s to capture details before hand. Is that still relevant? Should I reduce the pre-record duration and bump up the post-record duration?

 

[JB1970]

Thanks for the tips. I did notice a lot of discrepancies between Video Parameters on the NVR and Cameras.

They should be the same. If the cameras are recorded using an NVR, I recommend to always carry out the programming using it. The camera settings are only saved in the camera itself not the NVR. The NVR just reads the settings that are in the camera and displays them in it's menu. If you program the camera directly using its web interface, the information appearing in the NVR may be out of date from what is actually programmed and can cause issues solely because it's inaccurate until the NVR is rebooted.

I'm only recording for Events at the moment and have the pre-record to 20s to capture details before hand. Is that still relevant? Should I reduce the pre-record duration and bump up the post-record duration?

I'd only ever record "Events only" if recording to an in camera SD card where storage is minimal. My preference and the way I set up systems I install:

1 - Keep the default 24/7 schedule for all cameras
2 - Enable motion detection on all cameras, set the area on screen and enable the human and/or vehicle filter, leave the trigger options to only "Trigger Channel"
3 - For more important areas, enable line crossing and/or intrusion detection, set up, set the trigger actions to "Trigger Channel" and "Notify Surveillance Centre"
4 - Set pre record to zero

That setup works best for me. That gives me 24/7 recording, nothing is missed. Selecting Smart Playback and selecting the Human or Vehicle Filter icon will instantly highlight where people or vehicles have been within the defined area non screen, skipping anything unrelated. Important areas are covered by the intrusion detection or line crossing which will additionally alert me via push notification on Apple Watch/iPhone as well.

So if you're wanting events only - ensure the recording schedule is set to events only and use a pre and post record time. If you're recording everything but want to highlight the events ensure the pre record is set to 0 (post record can't be set below 5 seconds)

 

[Madgame87]

Thanks again. I haven't considered or configured these for 24/7 recording. Just Event recording for now — I delete these notifications as well (though i'm unsure if this also deletes the recorded Event from the HDD)

Just weary that the HDD will overwrite itself and I don't have a backup for older footage.

 

[JB1970]

Thanks again. I haven't considered or configured these for 24/7 recording. Just Event recording for now — I delete these notifications as well (though i'm unsure if this also deletes the recorded Event from the HDD)

Just weary that the HDD will overwrite itself and I don't have a backup for older footage.

Deleting notifications in HikConnect only deletes those notifications and clips - it doesn't delete the footage from the NVR hard disk. Once the HDD is full it will begin to overwrite a chunk at a time, so it's always keep full and you'll always have the last x days. Do you need to keep the old footage? If you have something occur and need to keep footage you can either download the data from the NVR using a iVMS-4200 or a web browser to keep. Also you can lock the video to prevent a portion being overwritten if it was important.

 

[Madgame87]

Thank so much for helping me out! Appreciate it so far.

One random question aside — I have ColorVu's to trigger the LED light on a smart event, but now with a parked car in the driveway, I can't get the LED to turn off. Do I need to switch from Intrusion Detection to Line Crossing?

 

[JB1970]

Thank so much for helping me out! Appreciate it so far.

One random question aside — I have ColorVu's to trigger the LED light on a smart event, but now with a parked car in the driveway, I can't get the LED to turn off. Do I need to switch from Intrusion Detection to Line Crossing?

Possibly or have you tried switching off the tick box for the vehicle filter - that may work.