When >[n] alerts in [period], switch to permanent recording AND stop alerting?

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p3ter
Posts: 6
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2021 9:44 am

When >[n] alerts in [period], switch to permanent recording AND stop alerting?

Post by p3ter »

I'm a bit of a permanent noob with BlueIris, i.e. I have figured out enough to be happy with my results, but getting that extra 2% improvement is not important enough to me to that I feel like dedicating my life to becoming a Blue Iris expert :-)

One issue that remains for me however is the eternal balance between false positives/too many alerts, vs missing stuff. I have seen many threads about this, but I feel that from my perspective, a simpler approach is needed.

My primary cameras are in a summer house/cabin location where, usually, nothing happens. I'd like to know if cars/people have visited, but I love to watch the nature too, sometimes capturing real gems, like this: https://youtu.be/N6WZQCsEmqQ

I have played with pretty complex Trigger Size/Contrast/Duration settings, and Object Travel/Zones settings in the past, but no matter how advanced the settings, while I can be very confident that on a calm, bright, overcast day, I can be highly targeted and selective about my alerts; during certain weather conditions (Sunny/Patchy Cloud & Windy, Snowstorms) it really becomes too much of a challenge to balance the settings. I don't think there are ANY settings for example which would be able to selectively alert on an out-of-focus grey hog/wild boar on a gray background during a snowstorm, with snowflakes blowing everywhere, lit up by the camera IR...!) https://youtu.be/vYQNWTUpW5U - at least not without also (as in my case) Alerting constantly during the entire snowstorm!

So my current settings are VERY simple and very high sensitivity. I currently have only one profile and schedule, and I have very low object size/contrast setting, disabled retrigger setting etc. Basically, "if it moves, capture it!"
This inevitably leads to massive peaks of weather-dependent alerts, so my workflow for reviewing the video is basically based on the number of alerts:
  • If there are few alerts - watch the alerts
  • If there are many weather-related alerts, scroll through quickly and scan for interesting objects on the thumbnails, but then 'Select All/Delete' - and watch the Clips on 'fast forwards' instead.
I have no problem with processing power or hard disk space, but of course I would prefer to avoid 24x7 recording of 'nothing' - and the continuous need to review hours of 'nothing' just in case I missed 'something'.

So, as per the title, something that would really help me would be a method of reducing (or at least in some way 'grouping') the number of alerts based on alert frequency within a certain time period - switching to permanent recording as long as Motion Detection has been triggered frequently in a specified period.

Alternatively, if this can't be done, I'd love to see something to help me manage excessive Alerts in bulk - for example, the possibility to Right Click on a Clip, and select "Delete all Alerts for this Clip" would save a huge amount of Clicking, Scrolling, Shift-Clicking and Deleting...

Does anyone else have a similar 'high sensitivity/more false alerts' approach, and can share their workflow?

Thanks!
louyo
Posts: 161
Joined: Sat Apr 18, 2020 1:16 am

Re: When >[n] alerts in [period], switch to permanent recording AND stop alerting?

Post by louyo »

I would probably look into GPAI and clone the camera(s) if necessary to look for different things in different areas of interest. We use AI to eliminate false alerts and can look at cancelled alerts if necessary. Some places we only look for persons, others persons and vehicles. Not interested in animals.
MikeBwca
Posts: 1115
Joined: Thu Jun 20, 2019 5:39 am

Re: When >[n] alerts in [period], switch to permanent recording AND stop alerting?

Post by MikeBwca »

First step is to make sure your getting ALL the alerts that are important. You won't be able to get all the alerts you want, as you've already found.

Second step is AI. This will eliminate 98% of false triggers/alerts.
BI has a built-in interface for CodeProject.AI. All you need do is install CP, and activate AI in the BI Settings 'AI' tab AND each camera you want to use AI in. I have CP always start with windows. I don't let BI start/stop it - takes longer to startup/shutdown BI.

As louyo mentioned, cloning a camera is very useful. Use one for people/cars, the another for animals. In this way, you can be alerted when BI finds people vs also being alerted for animals. Or have specific alerts for animals so you know when wolves, bobcats, bears, are around.
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