Blue Iris

Empire Tech Camera IPC-T5xIR-ZE-S3 cameras, and trying to get them fine tuned with BI and CPAI. I am running V3.100.15OG000.0.R, Build Date: 2023-11-27 which I think is the latest.

I found the Smart Motion Detection for Human and Vehicle, and figured I could reduce the CPAI workload by just looking for the people and cars, which are my main concern. I set up the camera as in the first screen shot. In the events I checked the two indicated with red arrows (not as shown in the screen shot).

The camera would log the event in its log, but never fired. I dug a bit deeper with ONVIF manager and its events display, and the camera was sending motion events but never sent the rule detector event for people and vehicle. But it's clearly in the camera event log, so it is detecting.

Does anyone have this working, feeding in these specific events? If so, any magic?

I do not think this is a BI problem because ONVIF manager also doesn't see it (that presumes I am using it correctly, however, and I only use it once every 2 or 3 years for debugging). I haven't figured out how to isolate events in wireshark (anyone know?).

I also tried the IVS option under AI. It looks easy to set up, but I stood directly in front of the camera and it never detected me as a "human trait" so I must be missing something, and fell back to Smart Motion Detection.

Motion detection is working fine (well, sort of fine, having trouble fine tuning it so every bug doesn't trigger) and CPAI is mostly filtering well. But seems like the camera is a better place to do it if it would work, it just doesn't seem to communicate (SMD) or trigger (IVS).

Advice welcomed.

Check in the cameras own menu if you have to enable Onvif with a user/pw combo. I'm thinking it's an authorisation issue.

TimG wrote: ↑Sun Aug 11, 2024 5:24 pm Check in the cameras own menu if you have to enable Onvif with a user/pw combo. I'm thinking it's an authorisation issue.

I don't think so, since it does send the onvif motion event (all the time). It's just these events.

And I have authentication turned off for onvif (since it's on a dedicated, hardwired LAN). But BI has the user/password anyway.

I suspect it is something on the camera -- either a setting, or it just doesn't work (in this firmware).

The IVS functionality I suspect is me, I've seen postings (elsewhere I think) that IVS works well, but I couldn't get it to even alert inside the camera. I may return to that and try again.

But I'm mystified why Smart Motion is working in the camera, recording an event, and it's not making it out into the network stream (or appears not to). If I could figure out how to confirm in wireshark I'd open a support ticket with empire tech. but there is enough of a language issue there that I really want something completely nailed down with data before I do.

You mention you are unsure if you are using ODM properly. You generally seem to have a good grasp of these things, but did you fully log in to the camera with ODM ? With my Reolink doorbell, that was the part that showed me exactly what the Onvif commands from the doorbell looked like.

TimG wrote: ↑Sun Aug 11, 2024 5:48 pm You mention you are unsure if you are using ODM properly. You generally seem to have a good grasp of these things, but did you fully log in to the camera with ODM ? With my Reolink doorbell, that was the part that showed me exactly what the Onvif commands from the doorbell looked like.

Of course the problem with saying I understand is that it's hard to know what I do not know, but I think so. Here's what the manager program shows for events when i talked out the front door. It shows the motion events, but not a human.
Here's the events inside the camera at the same time (well, +/- a second or so, as windows is not a great time keeper):
I found the ONVIF specification and trying to look with wireshark to see that the human notification is not present, and I think it's not - I can see the motion notification, but the word "Human" does not appear in the stream from the camera to blue iris.

Hmmm... I may not have the latest firmware. Though I am confused. Tech support gave me what I have now a month or so ago, but on their web site there's a 5/16/2024 version. What's interesting is that its release notes jump from one before the one I have now, to one after. I'm going to download what's there now and try it. Though the release notes show no indication of a fix to onvif events.

Wow... I hate downloading from Mega.nz, just seems so dodgy that they don't have a real website. But it is what it is...

Hmmm... two versions of the firmware, with this note:

Please update the 2 files one by one, and make a default after you finish the updating.

Clear enough what the first part means, but I wonder what "make a default" means?

I would imagine it means "do a factory reset".

TimG wrote: ↑Sun Aug 11, 2024 6:31 pm I would imagine it means "do a factory reset".

Hmmm... that would be a pain. I did both updates, it looks normal. No change to onvif event from smart motion (or lack thereof). Going to try IVS again, that seems where their development effort is going.

I've made some progress.

I could not get Smart Motion Detection to work (as in to send an ONVIF event other than isMotion).

I did get IVS to work. I was originally using it in tripwire and missing most events, but if I used the intrusion with both appears and crosses, I am getting decent human recognition now, and those events are showing in BI.
This appeared after I set it up in the camera (as expected).

The actual rule fire (per ONVIF manager) includes an Object ID, but I don't see any indication to distinguish human from vehicle (or from animal if enabled).
CPAI determined it was a person, but the IVS rule doesn't seem to indicate that, at least not as BI sees it. I have isMotion enabled and presume when I disable that in BI that I'll only get motion the IVS determines is human, animal or vehicle (i'll remove animal, maybe, or maybe leave CPAI to make that determination and cancel animals but leave them as cancelled alerts).

IVS at least has the potential for being more thorough as you calibrate scale. I need to play with that more to see if it helps (e.g. CPAI this morning picked up a mocking bird as a human, which I presume an awareness of scale/size would have fixed).

I am surprised that the IVS rules don't convey to BI what type of object was detected though. But that's not a huge problem.

Anyone who has IVS working well, advice welcomed!