Horrible Sensitivty on Motion - almost unusable - NiteOwl

[QC444 1]

Hello,

 

I purchased a NiteOwl Poseidon DVR 8 channel system from Best Buy

 

I use the motion detection feature to monitor my yard for intruders.

 

It seems to work "ok" except that even on the lowest setting it is too sensitive to motion.

 

Every time a cloud passes overhead or even the tiniest shadow moves, it sends an alert.

 

On a day when noone has been in my yard, I typically get 20 - 25 alerts.

Ideally, it would only send an alert when a human being walks across the field of vision.

 

Is there anything that can be done? I called their tech support and I have the latest firmware and they

*claim* they dont get that complaint very often which I find impossible to believe.

 

I wouldn't mind spending a little more to get a better unit but I am not aware that buying a more expensive unit will solve THIS particular problem.

 

Would you be able to suggest any things I could try? It's driving me nuts.

 

Thx

[yakky 0]

I had the same DVR, I thought the motion detection was fantastic. Honestly, shadows from clouds, shrubbery moving because of wind is going to cause the motion detection to go off, it is motion after all. I have a Dahua DVR now and it has the same "issues." You'd probably need to move up to the intelligent motion detection that some PC software packages have or consider a DVR with true motion sensor inputs. but even those get triggered with bugs.

 

The way to make the NightOwl work for you is to really narrow down your zones or get cameras to point to places that wont be impacted by non human things that move.

[QC444 1]

Is there other (better) software I can buy that will work with this unit?

 

I actually had a Q-See QC444 before this and only changed to get 8 channels.

 

The MOTION detection on the QC-444 using the VASTLY better software that came with it (PSS?) was perfect.

 

I almost never got false alarms. It also had a feature that would allow you to set a time to wait before another MD event

could be sent from that camera.

 

All in all, the PSS software allowed far superior and infinitely more granular control over everything.

The NiteOwl software was so featureless I was shocked at the difference.

Had I been aware of the NiteOwl vs PSS software, I would never have purchased the NiteOwl.

 

At some point it'll become a paper weight. For now it hobbles along and gets the job done ...barely

[QC444 1]

Too bad these things can't detect INFRARED for Motion ....that would solve a LOT of problems

[yakky 0]

If you have a QSEE that worked with PSS, it was a Dahua based unit. Like I said, I haven't noticed any difference between the two, but maybe return the box and grab a dahua? There isn't really any software to put on the unit, but something like this is the ideal solution:

 

http://www.vitamindinc.com/features_smart.html

[QC444 1]

If you have a QSEE that worked with PSS, it was a Dahua based unit. Like I said, I haven't noticed any difference between the two, but maybe return the box and grab a dahua? There isn't really any software to put on the unit, but something like this is the ideal solution:

 

http://www.vitamindinc.com/features_smart.html

 

VitaminD is interesting.

 

I'll search to see if there is a thread on it.

 

thx

[qsomers 0]

so the software is onboard the camera? I had an instance where a dvr was going off like this sending me txt messages every 5 minutes, I thought it was clouds or something too, turns out it was signal distortion so slight I couldnt see it was setting it off even at the least sensitive level. I pulled a ferrite choke off a wall adapter, put it closer to the dvr end and have had no problems since