Can A HDCVI Camera Have A Scheduled Day/Night Mode?

IPVMU Certified

I've been very impressed by a set of 8 HDCVI cameras I've installed. However there is one camera which I'd like to force in to night mode earlier than it is doing at the moment. The camera does not have WDR and in the evening, it looks across a dark room and a light room in a house. Only the light room can be seen clearly. I'd like to switch to night mode and rely upon IR so the dark room can be seen clearly as well as the light room.

Is there a way to force a HDCVI camera in to night mode, perhaps based upon a schedule? I know this can be done with IP cameras but maybe it's not an option with HDCVI. Maybe I've just overlooked where to tweak this setting. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[IPVM Update: See Testing Dahua HDCVI]

John Honovich

IPVM

Luke, which model do you have? In general, I suspect this is model specific.

Luke Maslen

IPVMU Certified

Hi John, the DVR is model HCVR7208A. I installed 3 models of cameras but the one I want to adjust is the HAC-HDW2200S. Thank you!

Carl Lindgren

Luke,

Analog day/night cameras often have sensitivity settings that can control the switch. Perhaps your HDCVI camera has similar settings? For instance, Vitek has this in the Instruction Manual for their VTC-C960WS analog camera:

• DAY -> NIGHT (default: 80)

DAY→NIGHT is a threshold level which determines to switch from DAY to NIGHT.
Lower(Higher) value makes the camera switch from Day to Night at lower(higher)
illumination. If it stays in Day(Color) mode at night time, increase DAY→NIGHT
threshold value until it just switches to Night.
* Examine and verify Day/Night operation according to IMPORTANT ACTIVITY

NIGHT -> DAY (default: 120)

NIGHT→DAY is a threshold level which determines to switch from NIGHT to DAY.
Lower(Higher) value makes the camera switched from Night to Day at lower
(higher) illumination. If it stays in Night(B/W) mode at day time, decrease NIGHT->
DAY threshold value until it just switches to Day
* Examine and verify Day/Night operation according to IMPORTANT ACTIVITY

Carl Lindgren

In reply to Carl Lindgren

By the way, I would recommend leaving some "gap" between the two settings or the camera will likely "hunt" between day and night modes as the light level approaches the switch point.

Luke Maslen

In reply to Carl Lindgren

IPVMU Certified

Hi Carl, thank you for your helpful guidance. I still cannot find any similar settings in the Dahua HDCVI DVR despite checking the manual. However I appreciate you letting me know that some traditional analog systems have day/night switch settings. That makes me think the HDCVI DVR must include the setting but I haven't found it yet.

Carl Lindgren

Luke,

Those settings are in the camera's menu, not the DVR's.

Luke Maslen

In reply to Carl Lindgren

IPVMU Certified

Hi Carl, I don't believe the cameras have user-adjustable settings as they are not IP cameras. I believe the only place to change settings is on the DVR itself. If there is a way to directly configure the cameras, I haven't found it.

John Honovich

IPVM

In reply to Luke Maslen

Here's how to configure the cameras directly:

Carl Lindgren

Interesting. So HDCVI has many of the features of IP for camera setup. I will be watching for any manufacturer to release ONVIF-compliant encoders. The main shortcoming of IP for our property is its infrastructure, which consists of 50% coax and 50% single pair UTP. Although we did have network switches installed in four IDF closets, we still have to run separate 4-pair from cameras to switches to add IP cameras and we don't have unlimited ports in the closets.

And IDF closets are mostly located to accomodate the walker duct installed in our floor, not the overhead runs our camera cables follow. That often makes cable runs from camera to IDF challenging.

HDCVI could be used to send camera signals on our existing home runs, which would obviate the need to run new cables and could also accomodate the 10-20% of locations not within reach of our remote switches.

Luke Maslen

IPVMU Certified

Thank you very much John. The video certainly shows how to reach those controls with a PTZ camera. The cameras I installed were not PTZ. I hope to gain remote access to them within a couple of days to see if I can find similar settings. Failing that, I'll get hold of another system and dive into the settings. Thank you very much for this specific gem of information which definitely is not in the manual for the camera or the DVR.

John Honovich

IPVM

In reply to Luke Maslen

It works with fixed cameras as well as PTZs.

Watch the video again, pay attention to :35 to :50 second time frame. Excerpt image:

Luke Maslen

•Jul 24, 2014

IPVMU Certified

Hi John, ahhh, that's where it is! Thank you so much. I missed the quick but essential reference to "Configure cameras as PTZ even if they are not" even after watching the video several times. I guess I mentally filtered out the PTZ info as being irrelevant to my problem. I'll know better next time. Thank you for all your help. Now I just have to see if I can access all the same settings via the web interface over the internet given I am no longer able to access the DVR directly.

Ethan Ace