I have 7 2796EB-AI cameras and a NV-4108e a2 nvr. 1st time customer. I bought all of this to film wildlife around my property, mainly deer. Pretty much used default settings out of the box. The first night I had over a 100 videos from each camera due mainly to bugs flying by the lens. I tried turning the sensitivity way down the second night. But still over a hundred videos each. I now have the sensitivity down to 2 or 3 out of a hundred on all the cameras, and I still get 75 to a hundred videos per night, mainly of bugs. Is there a way I can film all night long and only have the infrared lights turn on when there is actual activity. Since the infrared lights are on all night long, it makes every bug shine bright white and it sees this as motion. What settings can i change to avoid this? I feel like with the sensitivity down this low.I'm missing a lot of real motion and activity during the day.
Another issue is I have is the quality of the video. My older cameras were wireless eufy cameras that were 2k Instead of these amcrest cameras that are 4K, the video from the 2K cameras looks as good, if not better than my 4K cameras. Ive played with as many setting's as i could find like max resolution and max bitrates, but the eufy still seems slightly better. I figured the 4k would be much better overall, so i am definitely disappointed. With the settings maxed out, the video seems a little bit jerky, compared to my older cameras. I want to like these cameras and this set us but i'm having a hard time.Could someone please help me out can you steer me in the right direction.
Brian
Too many night videos and other issues
Re: Too many night videos and other issues
Hello and welcome to the Forum
So seeing you are trying to use your system for a use that the cameras are not really built for it could make it hard to setup what you are asking.. Normally when someone is recording wildlife they record full time. So having 8mp cameras for this task will require a large HDD to do this..
About your 2k vs 4k cameras there is not really much difference when you look at a picture unless you want to digital zoom into something on a 8mp camera will have much better detail on a better scale then the 2k camera would. I personally have more 4mp cameras then I do 8mp cameras because of this.
So I don't know how all Amcrest camera function, So I don't even know what i will mention here will work and personally would have been better to use a Amcrest 2496-V2 for this if I was to be honest.. That is you could look to see if your camera can be setup using IVS without the filters turned on. I mention this because some cameras that I own require you to pick 1 of the 2 filters offered human or vehicle, Seeing your camera has that option it might be required to use one. If it will let you setup iVS without using filter option then you could setup Tripwire or Intrusion and have it work off that.. The reason I say the 2496EW-V2 is a better optoin is because it offers IVS Tripwire or Intrusion and don't offer any filters so the system can be setup for your use...
Next something that you could do that would help with your bug issue is use an IR blaster. I have used them in the past and started using them because my older Analog PTZ cameras didn't all come with IR and so I started using https://www.iluminarinc.com/products-page/infrared/ the products they offer. They are kind of costly and there are much cheaper options today. I look at the cheaper option as a consumable and when they die buy a new one and keep going.. The ones I have do have a large Warranty and will admit that they have lowered the time from when i started buying them. Now the Warranty is 5 years so keep in mind that if you buy a budget IR blaster from Amazon or Ebay might dim out or die in less time and if say you were to buy one that was 50 and lasted you a little more then a year and having to buy one every year it might be better to buy on from Iluminar..
When you use a IR Blaster look for a product that has a good Feild of view that will work with your camera. If the IR used is to concentrated then it not give you good enough picture for your needs.. Remember that IR and white light for color at night cameras use the light that reflects off objects to cause the picture..
Now back to your 4k cameras, Keep in mind that the cameras you have are a good quality camera in the day and might suffer some at night because of the sensor that is used. 1/2.8in and the camera says that the Max f of 2.0 however in the IR detail it mentions of 1.4 so I am not sure if that data is what the best is at night if the camera was using a f1.4 or what but the camera has a fixed lens and details says max f2.0 so I am guessing that it has a lens with a f/2.0 and because of this will hinder the night images..
About changing settings I personally wouldn't make any changes to your cameras settings.. Wouldn't change any settings for Motion either.. Doing so can make the camera suffer real motion events in the day time..
So seeing you are trying to use your system for a use that the cameras are not really built for it could make it hard to setup what you are asking.. Normally when someone is recording wildlife they record full time. So having 8mp cameras for this task will require a large HDD to do this..
About your 2k vs 4k cameras there is not really much difference when you look at a picture unless you want to digital zoom into something on a 8mp camera will have much better detail on a better scale then the 2k camera would. I personally have more 4mp cameras then I do 8mp cameras because of this.
So I don't know how all Amcrest camera function, So I don't even know what i will mention here will work and personally would have been better to use a Amcrest 2496-V2 for this if I was to be honest.. That is you could look to see if your camera can be setup using IVS without the filters turned on. I mention this because some cameras that I own require you to pick 1 of the 2 filters offered human or vehicle, Seeing your camera has that option it might be required to use one. If it will let you setup iVS without using filter option then you could setup Tripwire or Intrusion and have it work off that.. The reason I say the 2496EW-V2 is a better optoin is because it offers IVS Tripwire or Intrusion and don't offer any filters so the system can be setup for your use...
Next something that you could do that would help with your bug issue is use an IR blaster. I have used them in the past and started using them because my older Analog PTZ cameras didn't all come with IR and so I started using https://www.iluminarinc.com/products-page/infrared/ the products they offer. They are kind of costly and there are much cheaper options today. I look at the cheaper option as a consumable and when they die buy a new one and keep going.. The ones I have do have a large Warranty and will admit that they have lowered the time from when i started buying them. Now the Warranty is 5 years so keep in mind that if you buy a budget IR blaster from Amazon or Ebay might dim out or die in less time and if say you were to buy one that was 50 and lasted you a little more then a year and having to buy one every year it might be better to buy on from Iluminar..
When you use a IR Blaster look for a product that has a good Feild of view that will work with your camera. If the IR used is to concentrated then it not give you good enough picture for your needs.. Remember that IR and white light for color at night cameras use the light that reflects off objects to cause the picture..
Now back to your 4k cameras, Keep in mind that the cameras you have are a good quality camera in the day and might suffer some at night because of the sensor that is used. 1/2.8in and the camera says that the Max f of 2.0 however in the IR detail it mentions of 1.4 so I am not sure if that data is what the best is at night if the camera was using a f1.4 or what but the camera has a fixed lens and details says max f2.0 so I am guessing that it has a lens with a f/2.0 and because of this will hinder the night images..
About changing settings I personally wouldn't make any changes to your cameras settings.. Wouldn't change any settings for Motion either.. Doing so can make the camera suffer real motion events in the day time..
Be Safe.
Re: Too many night videos and other issues
I would experiment with anti-dither. Pick a camera and set the motion detection settings to their defaults. Then, set anti-dither to 600 seconds and see how it goes for a night. If there are fewer unwanted videos, set anti-dither to 540 and see how that goes. Repeat until you get anti-dither as low as possible with an acceptable number of unwanted videos. You can speed up the process by setting anti-dither to different values on different cameras. I'd recommend keeping them 60 seconds apart, at first.
The display you view it on is a big factor. I doubt you'd see any difference on anything less than a 2K or quad-hd panel.
Everything else being equal, a 4K camera will use more bandwidth than a 2K camera. These settings can be tuned in your camera's video settings.
Re: Too many night videos and other issues
Please don't set your Anti Dither to 600 or anything High unless you want to miss real event recordings.. Changing it a little bit might help but in no way should anyone ever set there Anti Dither to 10min..
Best to use IR Blaster, set camera to color and use outside lights if there is enough or White Light system and or record full time..
That camera has a 1/2.8in sensor and f2.0 that means it will need more light to make a good scene at night. If you are using your camera in a near dark to dark area then you will want to have a 8mp camera with a 1/1.2 and a f/1.0 for best results. For me and my most important areas of security my cameras are 1/1.8in and f/1.0 on a 4mp camera.
White LED and IR night vision cameras have the same issues if you are going to use the lights off the camera body only way to cure this is to use a IR Blaster. While this will not stop 100% of all bug traffic it will stop it from most of the false alarms as long as the IR is placed in the right place..
Best to use IR Blaster, set camera to color and use outside lights if there is enough or White Light system and or record full time..
That camera has a 1/2.8in sensor and f2.0 that means it will need more light to make a good scene at night. If you are using your camera in a near dark to dark area then you will want to have a 8mp camera with a 1/1.2 and a f/1.0 for best results. For me and my most important areas of security my cameras are 1/1.8in and f/1.0 on a 4mp camera.
White LED and IR night vision cameras have the same issues if you are going to use the lights off the camera body only way to cure this is to use a IR Blaster. While this will not stop 100% of all bug traffic it will stop it from most of the false alarms as long as the IR is placed in the right place..
Be Safe.
Re: Too many night videos and other issues
Any anti-dither setting greater than 0 seconds risks missing events. I suggest setting it to 600 seconds only as part an experiment to find an optimal setting, if there is one. At least it's something @BrianQ could try that doesn't involve additional investment.
Re: Too many night videos and other issues
Thank you for the replies. This setup is at my retirement home I am renovating in Arkansas, but I currently live in Texas. I have not been able to get the remote login working properly, so I can only get to the settings on the Amcrest View Pro2 app instead of logging into the NVR, so some of my changes I want to do are limited. I did not realize I could not login to the NVR until I got back home, oh well. Won't get back to the property for another 2 weeks or so. While I was there I did try playing with the anti dithering settings as suggested. The first night I used 4 cameras and went with 25, 50, 75, and 100. Not really any change. Next night I went with 150, 200, 250, and 300. Still not much change, around 100 videos per camera, mainly bugs flying by. Decided not to go any higher at that point by what someone suggested. Didn't want to miss any real activity, but still need to find a way not to be so sensitive to the bugs.
I do have a couple of IR blasters to play with that I have been using on my wireless Eufy cameras and they work incredibly well. You can hardly tell it is night when I look through the cameras. Some of my Amcrest cameras FOV overlap with the Eufy cameras, so I am already getting some benefit of them being in the area. When I get back I can reposition the IR blasters and see what it does. The video quality of the Amcrest cameras is acceptable to me at night, but I'm sure the IR blasters give much better video at a distance from the camera because of the extra light. I do not want to set the camera to color, as I do not want the white lights to come on when there is motion and scare the wildlife. The property is pretty much pitch black at night and I would like to keep it that way if possible. I guess I am a bit confused on how to make the camera less sensitive to bugs but still pick up real activity.
And Revo2Maxx, if I am happy with my current video quality at night and during the day, would changing to 1/1.2 and f/1.0 help me out? If so I would love to send my cameras back and get a better model, but that probably won't happen.
BrianQ
I do have a couple of IR blasters to play with that I have been using on my wireless Eufy cameras and they work incredibly well. You can hardly tell it is night when I look through the cameras. Some of my Amcrest cameras FOV overlap with the Eufy cameras, so I am already getting some benefit of them being in the area. When I get back I can reposition the IR blasters and see what it does. The video quality of the Amcrest cameras is acceptable to me at night, but I'm sure the IR blasters give much better video at a distance from the camera because of the extra light. I do not want to set the camera to color, as I do not want the white lights to come on when there is motion and scare the wildlife. The property is pretty much pitch black at night and I would like to keep it that way if possible. I guess I am a bit confused on how to make the camera less sensitive to bugs but still pick up real activity.
And Revo2Maxx, if I am happy with my current video quality at night and during the day, would changing to 1/1.2 and f/1.0 help me out? If so I would love to send my cameras back and get a better model, but that probably won't happen.
BrianQ
Re: Too many night videos and other issues
If you have a desktop or laptop at home, you can use Amcrest Surveillance Pro (ASP) to access your NVR. ASP allows you to connect to your NVR and set up a connection with your cameras.
Living in a bug-prone area, I've noticed that the number of events recorded is often related to weather conditions. For instance, yesterday's events showed fewer instances, while in August, most activity captured was due to wildlife, especially on rainy or active days.
It seems like the model 2796 camera may be overkill for your needs. AI cameras primarily help reduce false alerts compared to regular cameras, which might be all you need. Additionally, be cautious about over-customizing settings. For example, I’ve positioned my camera’s motion grid only around specific areas of interest, such as a bird box and the ground, to avoid unnecessary alerts from wind or unrelated motion. My camera has PTZ capabilities, but that isn’t its primary use.
If you’re experiencing issues, try resetting one camera back to factory settings. This can often be done remotely. When you factory reset a camera connected to the NVR, you'll need to refresh the camera page a few times to ensure it's recognized.
I recommend downloading ASP from https://support.amcrest.com/hc/en-us/ca ... -Downloads. ASP allows you to access your NVR and make changes using the NVR's WebUI. Note, however, that a direct reset may not work if the camera is connected to the NVR itself. If the camera connects to a regular network via POE switch or 12V Ethernet, ASP can perform a reset remotely. If not wait until you are back at location to reset camera
After resetting, log back into the camera, especially if you use IR from an external blaster or other cameras. To access the WebUI, log into the NVR, preferably using Edge in IE mode. Navigate to Management, then Camera, and select the camera by clicking the ‘e’ icon beside it. If using Chrome or standard Edge, you might see a security warning—Edge in IE mode is recommended for smooth access.
Once logged in, go to Setup, then Camera Configuration. Under Illumination, you can turn off IR to keep the camera in B/W mode at night. If you prefer black and white at night, leave the day/night setting on Auto, with IR off, to allow IR blasters to assist with night visibility. Apart from these tweaks, keep most settings at default and make incremental adjustments if needed over time. For best results, configure the motion grid and ensure recording on the NVR is enabled, then leave other settings as they are.
Living in a bug-prone area, I've noticed that the number of events recorded is often related to weather conditions. For instance, yesterday's events showed fewer instances, while in August, most activity captured was due to wildlife, especially on rainy or active days.
It seems like the model 2796 camera may be overkill for your needs. AI cameras primarily help reduce false alerts compared to regular cameras, which might be all you need. Additionally, be cautious about over-customizing settings. For example, I’ve positioned my camera’s motion grid only around specific areas of interest, such as a bird box and the ground, to avoid unnecessary alerts from wind or unrelated motion. My camera has PTZ capabilities, but that isn’t its primary use.
If you’re experiencing issues, try resetting one camera back to factory settings. This can often be done remotely. When you factory reset a camera connected to the NVR, you'll need to refresh the camera page a few times to ensure it's recognized.
I recommend downloading ASP from https://support.amcrest.com/hc/en-us/ca ... -Downloads. ASP allows you to access your NVR and make changes using the NVR's WebUI. Note, however, that a direct reset may not work if the camera is connected to the NVR itself. If the camera connects to a regular network via POE switch or 12V Ethernet, ASP can perform a reset remotely. If not wait until you are back at location to reset camera
After resetting, log back into the camera, especially if you use IR from an external blaster or other cameras. To access the WebUI, log into the NVR, preferably using Edge in IE mode. Navigate to Management, then Camera, and select the camera by clicking the ‘e’ icon beside it. If using Chrome or standard Edge, you might see a security warning—Edge in IE mode is recommended for smooth access.
Once logged in, go to Setup, then Camera Configuration. Under Illumination, you can turn off IR to keep the camera in B/W mode at night. If you prefer black and white at night, leave the day/night setting on Auto, with IR off, to allow IR blasters to assist with night visibility. Apart from these tweaks, keep most settings at default and make incremental adjustments if needed over time. For best results, configure the motion grid and ensure recording on the NVR is enabled, then leave other settings as they are.
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- Screenshot (3549).png (2.42 MiB) Viewed 2116 times
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Re: Too many night videos and other issues
Oh yeah sorry forgot to mention about resetting back to factory, When you are on your NVR you click the e to reset the camera via the Cameras WebUI, you will need to then go to your NVRs camera page for that camera and change that camera back to admin for the password. Doing this will let you access the camera again because once you reset it back to factory you won't have access to it after it comes back up until you do so, Then again click on the e to bring up the cameras web UI then click change the password as it will prompt you to do so. Then you will again need to go to the NVR once again camera and click on the pencil to change that password again to the one you just changed it to.. This will ensure that your camera stays online..
Another way is if you happen to have a POE switch or a 12v power and you could connect your camera to a normal switch/hub or router port and use 12v to gain access to the camera over the WebUI that way. Setup the camera with password that you use for your NVR and then add it back to your NVR..
Fastest way is to just do it from the NVRs WebUI.. again this would need to be done local to the NVR using the NVRs WebUI not using ASP because you won't get acecss to the cameras like you can in local connection..
Another way is if you happen to have a POE switch or a 12v power and you could connect your camera to a normal switch/hub or router port and use 12v to gain access to the camera over the WebUI that way. Setup the camera with password that you use for your NVR and then add it back to your NVR..
Fastest way is to just do it from the NVRs WebUI.. again this would need to be done local to the NVR using the NVRs WebUI not using ASP because you won't get acecss to the cameras like you can in local connection..
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Re: Too many night videos and other issues
So I made a Video of what one would need to do to reset a POE camera connected to POE NVR.. In my case the Dahua camera that I used auto setup the password after reset, In Amcrest cameras I can't say that they will do this. Some might I know most of my cameras don't.. SO I go through the steps anyway to show how to add the camera back and get it back up and running.. Then I also show turning off the Lights at night and keeping the Day/Night in Auto will keep the camera in B/W at night however in my case the camera was on my desk and there was to much light so I do show the camera in B/W mode with IR on just for all steps but again to be clear, Keep the camera in Day/Night Auto and just turn the IR to OFF.. This will let the camera pick up the other IR and not use the built in IR. One step people forget when adding an external IR blaster or using other camera to be the IR host.. Always need to make sure the IR on the camera is off because if it is on the camera will still pick up the bugs rain and all the things we don't want..
https://youtu.be/LfID4muvj4M
https://youtu.be/LfID4muvj4M
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Re: Too many night videos and other issues
Also here is a picture of one of my 841s that I have on my sheds back deck. While I do have IR on in this camera. There is enough light from other cameras in the area that the 841 IR don't turn on.. So if you happen to have enough IR the camera might elect to not even turn on your IR. However just to be safe it is best to turn it off when using IR Blaster or other cameras IR..
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