Foscam FI8903W IR camera: can't stop recording

Forum for questions and support relating to the 1.25.x releases only.
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tkalfaoglu
Posts: 65
Joined: Wed Nov 22, 2006 6:19 am

Foscam FI8903W IR camera: can't stop recording

Post by tkalfaoglu »

Today I installed a wireless Foscam and installed zonealarm. This is the only camera..
Only 1 zone, and in fact, everything left as default (I had deleted the monitor and recreated it; this time I did not define any fancy zones)

It seems no matter what I do, it records.
I had to set the FPS and Alarm FPS way low, 2 and 3, otherwise the camera seems to lock up. (I get a dark image).

I tried both streaming and snapshot modes. It made no difference.

Since it's an IR camera, I can see its image at night right now. There are some changes from frame to frame,
such as bugs flying sometime, but I can't seem to convince the ZM to consider the two images otherwise same..

Then I tried the "best, low sensitive" mode too.. still records all the time.. Its set for morecord btw.

Here is the event it's recording right and the one before it:
Mode: Live Zoom: 1.0x
Id Name Time Secs Frames Score
64 New Event 2013-09-12 19:50:00 0.00 null/null 0/0 X
63 Event-63 2013-09-12 19:45:01 299.35 598/0 0/0 X


Finally -- one last question.. With laptop in hand, I had the zm monitor on screen, walked in front of the camera,
and it took at least 10 seconds for my image to appear on the screen. is this delay normal?

Help..
mikb
Posts: 586
Joined: Mon Mar 25, 2013 12:34 pm

Re: Foscam FI8903W IR camera: can't stop recording

Post by mikb »

tkalfaoglu wrote:still records all the time.. Its set for morecord btw.
I think you've got what you asked for! But not what you wanted?

Record: Just records all the time. Split up into chunks if they get too big.
Modetect: Only records when there is movement.
Morecord: Does both. Records ALL THE TIME, but splits off the bits with movement into separate pieces.

So you'll get long-boring-event, short-movement-event, long-boring-event ....

Maybe you want Modetect instead, if you are expecting ONLY motion to be recorded?
tkalfaoglu
Posts: 65
Joined: Wed Nov 22, 2006 6:19 am

Re: Foscam FI8903W IR camera: can't stop recording

Post by tkalfaoglu »

ARGHH! Thank you so much :)
I'll go fix it now..
mikb
Posts: 586
Joined: Mon Mar 25, 2013 12:34 pm

Re: Foscam FI8903W IR camera: can't stop recording

Post by mikb »

tkalfaoglu wrote:ARGHH!
It's only obvious if you've already been down that alley, and then read the documentation again, and again ... ZoneMinder has some twisty bits in it that can trip you up, it might not be 100% intuitive, but it's pretty darn powerful!
tkalfaoglu
Posts: 65
Joined: Wed Nov 22, 2006 6:19 am

Re: Foscam FI8903W IR camera: can't stop recording

Post by tkalfaoglu »

I know, the sad part is that some years back I had ZM running, and I already must have flushed those memory cells with alcohol. sad. sad..

Many thanks for your assistance, -t
tkalfaoglu
Posts: 65
Joined: Wed Nov 22, 2006 6:19 am

Re: Foscam FI8903W IR camera: can't stop recording

Post by tkalfaoglu »

With a different camera (Foscam FI9805W) I have the opposite issue now -- it won't record :)
I'm in modect mode, it's enabled, and it has two zones that cover almost the entire image in Best - High Sensitivity mode. I can preview the image and even see trees swaying in the wind..
I can force the alarm from the preview screen and it records fine..
But never by itself.. No events are recorded.

This camera's image is larger: 1280x720.. I can only get it to do 0.75 fps unfortunately.

-t
mikb
Posts: 586
Joined: Mon Mar 25, 2013 12:34 pm

Re: Foscam FI8903W IR camera: can't stop recording

Post by mikb »

tkalfaoglu wrote:But never by itself.. No events are recorded.
This camera's image is larger: 1280x720.. I can only get it to do 0.75 fps unfortunately.
Sounds rather low rate: You may find that the default settings for modetect are hopelessly wrong in this situation. I'm sure they are more for 20-30fps operation.

First, can you get a better frame rate from the camera? Or reduce resolution to check if it's any better.

Second: You are going to need to play with all the settings on the Modetect zone tab, until it starts detecting stuff!

Min-Max pixel threshold, turn minimum down lower
Min-max alarmed-filtered-blob areas, turn minimum down lower

Also, the "blend percentage" figure may not be set right for building up the reference frame.

I think it's fairly common to have a camera set up that either won't stop recording a leaf vibrating, or won't start record an elephant passing by. Settings tweaking!
tkalfaoglu
Posts: 65
Joined: Wed Nov 22, 2006 6:19 am

Re: Foscam FI8903W IR camera: can't stop recording

Post by tkalfaoglu »

great! many thanks.. Yes; unfortunately I spent a lot of time yesterday trying to speed up the camera..
even disabled encryption on the Access point.

It seems the only thing that works is the "snapshot" command with these cameras.. I'll keep digging to see if I can get streaming going.. that might improve things..

Many thanks for the detection parameters..
-t
mikb
Posts: 586
Joined: Mon Mar 25, 2013 12:34 pm

Re: Foscam FI8903W IR camera: can't stop recording

Post by mikb »

tkalfaoglu wrote:even disabled encryption on the Access point.
Oh yes, wireless ...

I hate to say this, but Hi-Def wireless IP cameras suck up bandwidth quite horridly. If you've got a busy wireless notwork, and a few IP cameras about, and neighbours with wifi gear, you might find reliability and speed are poor.

Wireless is great for stuff that moves around. IP Cameras are usually fixed, so wiring them is really worth the effort. You still have to get power out to them, wireless or not, so wire it.

For testing, have you tried plugging it into a real network? See if that puts a rocket up the frame rate!
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