*Motion Setup

By Tom Polman
4 min

Configuration Article | CA-20201130-TP-06

VDG Sense | Setup | Profiles | Motion

With Motion detection enabled several functions will become available. It depends on the requirements of the installation which are usefull to use. The following functions are available:

 

  • It can be used to record on motion (Profile->Storage)

  • Pre and Post recording (Profile->Storage)

  • The operator can search for motion in specific areas of the picure (Tools->Sense Search)

  • If there is enough motion in the video, motion events are generated. These are stored in the database, displayed in the event list and can be used in the macro system for automatic procedures. For instance automatically display cameras if a certain amount of motion is detected.

The motion algorithm superimposes a 30 by 40 grid over the image, regardless of the resolution (1200 blocks). The algorithm will compare each block in two consecutive frames to determine if there is enough difference between those blocks to be indicated as motion. The sum of all blocks in which motion is detected is a percentage of motion in the video. See below how the grid is superimposed on the image:


With the motiongrid enabled the yellow blocks indicate where there is motion:

Parameters

To configure motion detection the following parameters are available:

  • Activate Motion Detection
    Activate or deactivate server side motion detection

  • Send Motiongrid
    Display the motion grid, enabling the grid will also display high more accurate motion value in the OSD which is needed to fine tune motion detection.

  • Motion Detection type

    • Server Side motion
      Motion is detected and handled by the Sense server.

    • Device Motion
      Motion is detected and handled by the camera device. Note that device motion must be supported by the selected device. See the list on the bottom of the page for supported drivers.

  • Only send frames with motion
    This setting will only work if the camera is set to JPEG streaming. When enabled frames without motion will not be sent to clients who are viewing this camera. Due to the fact JPEG normally uses much more network bandwidth this setting will reduce the bandwidth usage between server and client. This setting will also lower the system/CPU load of the client.

  • Motion Threshold (percentage)
    Minimum amount of motion to record video if the setting ‘record on motion’ is activated in the ‘Profiles->Storage’ tab. Example: a value of 1% means that if there is more than 1% motion (12 blocks), that image will be recorded. This is indicated by the recording icon in the lower left corner of the videopanel.

    Note: If the “Motion Detection Type” is set to “Device Motion“, the device must support a threshold value. This means that the device must send his motion values in percentage. If the camera itself supports a threshold setting as well, setting a lower value than the device will not do anything.

  • Motion Sensitivity (percentage)
    Difference between two motion blocks in two consecutive frames,  a higher value means more sensitive motion detection. Example: A value of 85% (default) means that if there is a difference of more than 15%  (100-85) in two motion blocks in two processed frames, it is indicated as motion. Changing this value will affect when a motion event is generated thus it will also affect pre and post recording.

Motion mask

If certain areas of the images need be ignored for motion detection, because there is too much movement in that area, a motion mask can be configured. To enable the grid check the radio button ‘Motion Mask’. To start drawing press and hold left-mouse button. More areas can be defined. To remove press and hold right-mouse button. IMPORTANT: If the radio button ‘None’ is selected, it does not mean the motion mask is disabled, it will only not display the mask. The mask will also exclude that part of the image to determine the percentage of movement. This means if half of the image is masked out, only 600 blocks are used.

IMPORTANT: There is a difference on how motion detection is done based on the configured video codec:

  • MJPEG: each frame is processed

  • MPEG4:  only I-Frames are processed

  • H.264: only I-Frames are processed

  • H.265: only I-Frames are processed

Because only I-Frames are processed for streaming video codecs it is important that the I-Frame distance is not too long. It is recommended to keep the I-Frame distance to maximum once a second.

Device Motion supported drivers

The following device drivers support Device Motion detection in Sense. Note that the individual device must of course have a device motion detection feature as well.

  • Grundig

  • DynaColor

  • Sentry360

  • SiquraMegaPixel

  • Hikvision

  • TKHSecuritySolutions

  • SamsungWiseNet3

  • Siqura

  • Arecont

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