Blue Iris

I have a new PTZ, my first, and it's installed and working in BI including the PTZ controls. The camera however unfortunately does not have built-in auto humanoid tracking - which would be ideal. It's placed above a sidewalk and next to the driveway so following someone as they walk down would have been best. Anyway, I was wondering how others were using theirs in similar situations? Do you have a preset pattern that it rotates through? Can you give basic pointers in how you actually implement that? I've found Sam's post https://blueirissoftware.com/forum/view ... =11&t=2290 which might be exactly what I'm looking for, I just haven't gone through it yet. I'm still interested in the experiences of others though.

I'm just looking for how best to utilize the camera as a manual only PTZ is not much more than a turret camera that you can adjust more easily (once - set and forget).

An obvious question is if BI can control the PTZ functionality to follow a person but - I don't see that jumping out at me.

My personal view is that ptz's are a nice addition to a fixed camera system that already covers all areas. We've all seen films where the actor waits for the ptz to pan the other way, then runs past it without being seen. Unfortunately I then managed to blag nine Dahua ptz's on Ebay. I have two of them simply sat in the position of a fixed camera, but I do have one up inside the garage. Why ? I'm trying to move house

As for following movement, iSpy could do the following years ago even with an old Motorola Focus 85, so it can be done in software. I don't think BI has ever been able to do it, but I did wonder if "edge vector" detection was a precursor for it.

Don’t have a PTZ as I’m too poor but you could try using it in combination with fixed cams to act like spotter cams?

By this I mean, you have 2 cams up front on the left and right, the left cam triggers so you then get BI to send the required codes to the PTZ to move it to the area that the left cam covers but zoomed in and start recording. Do the same for the right cam.

I’ve seen some really interesting looking vids where this has been done but the PTZ is also capable of tracking so it keeps the main movement within the centre of the image/video.

Oh believe me, I'm too cheap to get a PTZ on my own. I only got it because I got one of those offers to "do an Amazon review and you get the camera free" deals. I know it's generally frowned upon because they're in essence buying reviews but in my situation - I'm leaving an honest review so whatever, if it's free, it's for me.

I did reach out to Sam about the possibility of BI doing it's own tracking. He said it is a feature request they're already aware of and I'm added to the list. Seems like it would be doable since BI can detect the motion already and it can send PTZ commands to the camera. We'll see, sometimes feature requests never really happen.

Me, me , me how do I get a free PTZ

Limerick if you pronounce the Z US style

Tsk tsk. It's called English because it comes from England. It's ZED I tell you

He said it is a feature request they're already aware of and I'm added to the list.

Ooh, email being written...

So How are PTZ Cameras and How Do They Work? PTZ cameras have mechanical components that allow the camera and lens to move. Panning and tilting work together to allow the camera to observe what's going on behind or next to it. Cameras can move anywhere between zero pan/tilt and complete 360 degree pan/180 degree tilt, depending on the model. If you want more details to check out the https://www.zerodefectmanufacturing.com/.

I wanna report this post but.... seems like too much work with the limitations we have.

Matts1984 wrote: ↑Sat Oct 23, 2021 1:42 pm ... An obvious question is if BI can control the PTZ functionality to follow a person but - I don't see that jumping out at me.

Doing this is possible, to an extent. But like others have sadi, it will not follow every motion. And, when it doesn;t work, the camera is pointing somewhere weird.

I believe the best option is to position the camera to cover a wider angle. That is... move if further away so it sees more of the area you want to track.
You can always use the Z in ptZ to zoom in to see better.