Need help adjusting Acti TCM-7811

[ando 0]

I am assuming these are the settings page I need to focus on to get the night shot better.....

 

Dear Kifaru,

The recommended settings for your night scene would be:

NIGHT PROFILE:

AE Reference Target: 25 -> 15

Maximum Auto Shutter Speed: 1/30 -> 1/15

 

The other settings, keep them as they are.

Day profile settings are all OK, too.

[kifaru 0]

Adjusted settings to

AE Reference Target: 15

Maximum Auto Shutter Speed: 1/15

[ando 0]

Adjusted settings to

AE Reference Target: 15

Maximum Auto Shutter Speed: 1/15

 

When I look at the image and the direction of shadows on the ground, there seems to be no IR LED illumination from camera at all. Is IR LED really working? Or is it blocked by something or turned off? Are you able to see the IR LEDs working at night by visual observation? Maybe you try "Save & Reboot" after all these changes?

 

The image that you are having now is definitely not the right performance of the camera.

Reference by ACTi http://www.acti.com/VideoClips/Video.aspx?vId=55

Reference from buellwinkle's youtube:

 

If for some reason you cannot achieve similar video quality then it is either installation issue, settings issue, or some sort of camera failure. Either way, our online technical support should help you achieve the video quality as shown in reference video clips.

[kifaru 0]

That video from the Acti website is what convinced me to get the 7811, in addition to reading buellwinkle's review. Tonight, I will give it a visual inspection

[buellwinkle 0]

That camera has the best IR illuminator effective range in the ACTi' lineup, 40m, you should see it light up the car pretty well so something could be physicaly wrong with the camera. Setup remote access and call ACTi and have them connect to your camera at night and look at it, may be an RMA.

[MaxIcon 0]

Yeah, the IR, if on at all, is pretty dim. Looks like there may be a vague illuminated spot to the left of the car, but it's not very bright.

 

Maybe the IR filter's not moving out of the way, so it switches to B&W but only has visible light to work with. My fixed-filter cams will show slight brightness from another cam's IR, but not much. You could tell by using a remote control like a flashlight - my experience is that remotes show the IR LED as a glowing dot if the IR filter is in, and show a clear flashlight-like spot projected if the IR filter is out.

 

The graininess and the speckle of the night shots looks like over-sharpening to me. Try turning down the sharpness and see if it softens up and gets clearer. That can sometimes help the frame rate as well, if you're seeing any issues there.

[kifaru 0]

Acti support adjusted my camera settings.....

[SEANHAWG 1]

Good picture, but Still looks like no IR. Go out and see if you can see a red glow coming from the LED's. It has to be pretty dark before you can see them. I imagine the noise would clear up once the IR comes on.

[ando 0]

You may try to open the browser and type the following URL command to address bar:

http://ip:port/cgi-bin/cmd/encoder?VIDEO_DN_IRLED=1

using camera's ip and http port number.

 

The value "1" means:

IR LED will be controlled by camera upon D/N switch.

 

The value "0" means:

IR LED status will not be changed upon D/N switch.

 

If for some reason, the value was set to 0 (by accident?) in the camera, that would explain why the IR LED is not on at night.

 

Upon successful URL command, you will get the report on browser's screen: OK: VIDEO_DN_IRLED='1'

[mike_va 0]

That video from the Acti website is what convinced me to get the 7811, in addition to reading buellwinkle's review. Tonight, I will give it a visual inspection

The Acti "night" video actually has a lot of light if you look at the shadows being cast by the people...

[shockwave199 0]

Doesn't look like the IR is on at all. Get that on and I'd bet you'll be stylin man. You're almost there!

[kifaru 0]

I put in the command/url & got ...OK: VIDEO_DN_IRLED='1' ... but the picture looks pretty much the same.. no change

 

I also noticed that the Acti stopped sending video to the NVR (Dahua NVR-16), so nothing has been recorded for the last few days . I have had to reboot the NVR &\or the camera whenever I needed to kick-start the recording. Since both support ONVIF I dont think rebooting either device to engage recording is a viable option for me. The other cameras Dahua ESIP-MP2-DM1 & ESIP-MP1.3BT1 work fine.

 

I rebooted the Acti & now I can not ping or web into it. I think it may be time for an RMA

[wxthomson 0]

kifaru

 

How was this resolved for you?

 

I am having the same issue with my TCM-7811.

I also can see that the LED's are on at night and I am using the settings recommended by ando.

My night performance isn't nearly as good as yours.

My old Foscam is clearly outperforming the ACTi at this point.

 

I also bought this camera based on the good night performance as shown on the ACTi website.

I have opened a ticket with ACTi but haven't received a response as yet. (only been a day)

Until this is resolved my trusty old Foscam is standing guard

[buellwinkle 0]

If you want to take it up a notch in night performance and you don't mind a box camera, the ACTi KCM-5611 is awesome at night. I like the TCM-7811, but the KCM-5611 is much better and it's 1080P. Not sure of price difference, maybe $50-100 more.

[kifaru 0]

I shipped back my camera to ACTi & is waiting for the RMA unit to arrive.

 

@wxthomson which firmware version is your camera on? Are you recording the video to a PC?

[wxthomson 0]

^^

I am on the current firmware update and am using a PC for monitoring.

 

I would love to see a night time photo with your replacement if you could post one.

[wxthomson 0]

Well, ACTi has adjusted my camera and they tell me everything should be okay now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I must say I'm very disappointed. My $199 Foscam easily out performs this camera.

This was my first ACTi purchase and I guess I expected much better performance.

[kifaru 0]

I just got my RMA camera from ACTi. It came with firmware A1D-310-V4.12.02-AC. I got home late & simply mounted the camera. Unfortunately I see the all too familiar snowy picture. . I have also replaced the Netgear GS110TP switch with a Cisco Catalyst WS-C3560-8PC. A couple IR illuminators are also on order & should be arriving in a few days

 

I still need to aim & focus the camera correctly. Will do this tomorrow

[buellwinkle 0]

Thats a huge improvement, you can see the LED's lighting up the concrete where before didn't get that. If you don't want any noise, then you need to get a camera with noise reduction. The KCM-5611, albeit a box camera has no noise because of noise reduction but frankly, I still think the detail is better on the TCM-7811.

[wxthomson 0]

I could live with a little noise if I could actually see something. The TCM-7811 has an IR working distance of 40 meters. The distance to the center of the light on the driveway in my image above is less than 10 meters.

 

ACTi touts the CCD sensor and minimum illumination of 0 lux in B/W. They also post a beautiful nighttime video on their website. Yes there is other illumination in the video but I feel I should be getting a better image than what you see in my post above.

 

It looks like kifaru is getting close but there has to be a problem with mine.

[kifaru 0]

I spent some time refocusing the camera & will look at tonights nighttime shots. I also had to upgrade the firmware before the camera started dumping video to the Dahua ESDV-NVR-16 NVR.

 

I have to admit the KCM-5611 has a really good night shot. But I have been avoiding box cameras, & would have really liked a dome camera with the same/similar specs like the KCM-5611.

 

@buellwinkle on the KCM-5611, focusing the camera is done via GUI & not physically on the camera unit. Is that correct?

 

@wxthomson - I understand where you are coming from, I too was expecting a lot from this camera. I will see how it goes while I fine tune it for the next couple of days

[buellwinkle 0]

@buellwinkle on the KCM-5611, focusing the camera is done via GUI & not physically on the camera unit. Is that correct?

 

The camera can not be manually focused in any way shape or form at the camera or at the GUI. It's true autofocus and very accurate. What I found is if you physically move the camera, it won't re-focus unless you tap on one of the zoom buttons. I spent a good hour of my time yesterday going up and down a ladder, adjusting focal length and focus on my TCM-1231 and I can say that it's wonderfull not having to focus.

[kifaru 0]

I have refocused the camera & here is a nighttime shot. Still need to adjust night settings

[shockwave199 0]

Sorry to say, but it looks like you've gone a long way full circle, back to square one!

 

[buellwinkle 0]

I don't know about that, it looks a lot better and a dark car at night is going to look dark. Have you tried with a person in the image? Also kick up the AE for night time, 15 is very low.