Exacq and Avigilon H.264 minidome

[cglaeser 0]

I received a couple Avigilon demo units including the H.264 minidome and H.264 box. I was able to connect the Avigilon minidome to Exacq and view the image, but the motion detection dialog was grayed out in setup, and the stream would only record continuous. Michael, when you tried this same setup, were you able to get motion detection to work?

 

Best,

Christopher

[rory 0]

Michael, when you tried this same setup, were you able to get motion detection to work?

 

Who is Michael?

Maybe you should PM him?

[alpine0000 0]

Michael, when you tried this same setup, were you able to get motion detection to work?

 

Who is Michael?

Maybe you should PM him?

 

Michael is thewireguys

 

Id like to know the answer to this question as well

[cglaeser 0]

Id like to know the answer to this question as well

 

Michael says he got it to work. When I tried it, only continuous recording was available. The colors on the timeline would change when there was motion, but the recording was continuous nonetheless. I suppose I could try a few more tests, but I've pretty much decided if I use an Avigilon ONVIF camera, I'll use ACC as well.

 

I've been playing the ACC and the two H.264 cameras all day (plus several Axis cameras, encoders, and a Panasonic 502), and I really like both the NVR and the cameras. The low light on the box at full zoom was far better than I anticipated. In fact, right now I have it aimed under a distant street light, and it is in color mode. I manually changed it to mono, but the color looks much better so I switched it back.

 

Another cool feature is the automatic change in brightness levels when zoomed to a dark region. Not only is this supported in the JPEG2000 cameras, but ACC does this for the H.264 cameras as well.

 

I'm really tempted to switch horses from Exacq to ACC. The features that ACC supports are generally done extremely well, but Exacq has more features that I use such as advanced scheduling. Exacq has good mobile phone support, but Avigilon is scheduled to even that score by the end of the month. Decisions, decisions.

 

Best,

Christopher

[alpine0000 0]

Thanks! I use exacq, and I was set up to buy/test out an Avigilon h.264 dome by August, but I may reconsider if motion won't work. I'd use it on my deck, and would want motion detection.

 

The other camera I was considering is the Panasonic megapixel dome IP cam (I forget the model right now, it's probably the 502?)

 

Which camera do you think has a better night time image -- the Avigilon or the Panasonic? Could you get the Panasonic to correctly use motion detection?

[cglaeser 0]

Thanks! I use exacq, and I was set up to buy/test out an Avigilon h.264 dome by August, but I may reconsider if motion won't work. I'd use it on my deck, and would want motion detection.

 

The other camera I was considering is the Panasonic megapixel dome IP cam (I forget the model right now, it's probably the 502?)

 

Which camera do you think has a better night time image -- the Avigilon or the Panasonic? Could you get the Panasonic to correctly use motion detection?

 

I actually have the Panasonic 502 on Exacq, and it's an excellent camera. I use the 1.3MP H.264 mode. The 3MP mode does not seem to add much forensic detail, H.264 only works at 1.3MP resolution, and the low-light performance is enhanced considerably at 1.3MP. The 502 works well with both Exacq and ACC.

 

As for which has better low light performance, the 502 or the Avigilon H.264 dome, I'm not sure. At first I thought it was the Panasonic. But then I started playing with the Avigilon H.264 box and was very impressed with low light performance, particularly at full zoom (the specs do not indicate the aperture of this lens across the zoom range; I doubt it is a fixed aperture, but it clearly doesn't give up much at the long end). Based on that, I went back and took another look at the Avigilon dome. The noise was particularly high, but the gain was set to maximum on dealer reset. I backed off on the gain, and the noise dropped considerably, and the image did not darken much. So, in answer to your question, I'm not certain. If I play with the Avigilon settings a bit more, I may be able to improve the low light forensic quality.

 

If you already have Exacq, you will likely be happy with the 502. I've been using it for a couple years and am pleased with the performance.

 

As for Avigilon ONVIF motion on Exacq, Michael reports he had it working.

 

Best,

Christopher

[alpine0000 0]

Thanks!

 

Would you be interested in posting comparison night shots of both cameras on the same scene?

 

I'm torn between the two cameras. Also, depending on how Avigilon's iOS app turns out, I may considering switching from exacq to ACC.

[cglaeser 0]

I tried Exacq with the Avigilon dome one more time before returning the demo cameras. I was still unable to get motion recording to work. For an unknown reason, Exacq would force the camera into continuous recording. I set the motion area using a browser, but that did not help. The camera would send motion information to Exacq, and the Exacq window would indicate there was motion being detected by changing the color of the border, and even the timeline would change color during motion, but it would still record when there was no motion, and it was not obvious how to change that. Others have reported success connecting Avigilon cameras to Exacq, so perhaps I was doing something wrong.

 

Best,

Christopher

[alpine0000 0]

Thanks Chris,

 

You didnt happen to get any comparison night shots of the avigilon vs panasonic did you?

 

I have seen some night shots of the avigilon's, and also have seen some of the panasonics, but they were from different people at different scenes with different amounts of lighting. I would be interested in seeing the same night shot side-by-side with each camera so i can judge on a level playing field.

[cglaeser 0]

You didnt happen to get any comparison night shots of the avigilon vs panasonic did you?

 

I do have some recorded video, but there is something wrong with the save snapshot feature because the night images look really bad when stored to jpeg. I tried png and tiff with no improvement. The stills look quite nice on the Avigilon timeline. I set the compression to low on export, but don't see any other settings that would affect the output. I'll see if I can generate better jpeg images for comparison.

 

Best,

Christopher

[cglaeser 0]

OK, I see what is happening with the jpeg images. Avigilon allows display settings for each camera. These display settings include black level, white level, and gamma. The jpeg images are extremely sensitive to the white level. The default is 0.980, and the jpeg images are dramatically improved when set to 1.000. FWIW, the difference in appearance of 0.980 and 1.000 seems far too dramatic. The histogram moves to 1/3 scale at 0.980 and full scale at 1.000. One would guess a white level of 0.333 would be required to move the histogram by that amount.

 

It seems a bit tedious to find a levels adjustment that looks good on both the timeline and jpeg snapshots. I'll keep playing and see if I can find a happy medium before posting images.

 

Best,

Christopher

[alpine0000 0]

Thanks Chris That's nice of you.

 

What about taking a screenshot while you have the video open and paused? Hahaha. Wont be the same high-quality, but itll be just a little peak for me to see both shots compared to to each other.

[alpine0000 0]

I'll keep playing and see if I can find a happy medium before posting images.

 

Best,

Christopher

 

Hey Chris,

 

Did you ever get a chance to do this? I'd love to see some comparison shots of the two cameras in the same scene in low light.

 

I am going to buy one of these two cameras some time between now and the end of August, which is why I'm so interested.

 

I was leaning towards the Avigilon 2.0MP-HD-H264-DO1 because of the *slightly* larger image sensor, slightly cheaper price, and the incredible things I have heard about Aviglon. But, then again, I am also leaning towards the Panasonic WV-NW502S for the WDR, the extra megapixel, the thing you pointed out about not getting the Avigilon to do motion sensing, and the fact that is has a CCD instead of a CMOS sensor (since I am using this for low-light, and I have read a few times on this forum that CCD is considered better for low light. Is that right?).

 

Tough decision I am having...

 

Thanks

[alpine0000 0]

I'll keep playing and see if I can find a happy medium before posting images.

 

Bump.

[cglaeser 0]

Did you ever get a chance to do this?

 

The mother board on my test system developed a problem and I was not able to complete my testing. I hope to revisit this in the future.

 

Best,

Christopher

[alpine0000 0]