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Increase record time after motion trigger

Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 12:28 pm
by SneakyPete
I have an excessive number of events. The reason is Zoneminder is taking one fluid event and cutting it into 3 or 4 separate events. I hope that isn't confusing anyone. I guess the correct word for this is "splitting", unecessarily.

How do you force Zoneminder to record, or remain in alert status, within "X" number of seconds after motion has been detected in order to prevent loss of recorded actions and reduce number of events?

I will schedule recording to reduce this number later, but for now I'm tweaking settings.

Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 7:57 pm
by kingofkya
in the cameras setting look for post and the pre buffer

Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 12:20 pm
by SneakyPete
Looks like the post and pre buffer will help me achieve my goal. At least that is the hope. Anyway, I tried increasing the pre and post buffer from their default setting of 10 to around 60. One of the buffers complained about size limitation not to exceed another value on that page.

So the answer has generated another question. What requirements do the pre and post buffer need. For example: Does the shared memory need to be increased?

Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 5:25 pm
by kingofkya
oh sry the number at the top Image Buffer Size (frames) needs to be increases proportionally so if you add 10 to pre then add it to Image Buffer Size (frames) also

Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 12:26 am
by SneakyPete
My default settings for buffer tab were these:
Image Buffer Size (frames): 40
Warmup Frames: 25
Pre Event Image Count : 10
Post Event Image Count : 10
Stream Replay Image Buffer: 1000
Alarm Frame Count: 1

If I go any higher than the below settings for Image Buffer Size I get no image from the camera anymore:
Image Buffer Size (frames): 40
Warmup Frames: 25
Pre Event Image Count : 25
Post Event Image Count : 25
Stream Replay Image Buffer: 1000
Alarm Frame Count: 1
Image Buffer Size (frames) needs to be increases proportionally so if you add 10 to pre then add it to Image Buffer Size (frames) also
kingofkya, are you absolutely sure about this? I can't increase it without crossing the epic fail horizon!

Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 4:06 am
by kingofkya
try

Image Buffer Size (frames): 75
Warmup Frames: 25
Pre Event Image Count : 25
Post Event Image Count : 25
Stream Replay Image Buffer: 5
Alarm Frame Count: 1

Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 12:43 pm
by SneakyPete
Is there an official location in the documentation that explains what the settings are for the Buffer items:
Image Buffer Size (frames)
Warmup Frames
Pre Event Image Count
Post Event Image Count
Stream Replay Image Buffer
Alarm Frame Count

I would like to know what their purpose is as well as limits. This will help me custom tailor to make it work for my environment. That is my hopes anyway.

I'm just worried that dropping Stream Replay Image Buffer from 1000 to 5 will have unknown, at this time, impact on performance.

Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 2:24 pm
by mitch
Post event image count is the biggest thing you want to change it changes how many frames after an event it will record (assuming another alarm isn't triggered) you can set this as high as you like, pre-event however is stored in cache and should be kept fairly small.

Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 9:29 pm
by bb99
Buffer settings will not override this setting:
"Section Length
This specifies the length (in seconds) of any fixed length events produced when the monitor function is ‘Record’ or ‘Mocord’. Otherwise it is ignored. This should not be so long that events are difficult to navigate nor so short that too many events are generated. A length of between 300 and 900 seconds I recommended."
Could be the issue if the value is set to low.

Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 6:40 pm
by SneakyPete
"bb99", I don't have my equipment hooked up at my new apartment, but I don't recall seeing a setting for "Section Length". Also, are you sure the settings are set for seconds and not milliseconds. If this setting is there it might be the solution for my problem. All I want to do is stitch all fragmented motion events into one solid event without breaks.

I think 900 seconds is way too extreme. My problem is that my motion recorded events are choppy. I don't mean choppy as in lost frames. For example, a 10 second event could be composed of 7 different recordings with a few milliseconds between each lost even though it was one continuous motion event. I hope that clarifies what is going on. If I can manipulate "Section Length" then maybe the video will be one recording instead of 7 fragments.

Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 1:41 pm
by twister84
Hi!

I had exactly the same issue.

For me this configuration work:

Image Buffer Size (frames): 65
Warmup Frames: 25
Pre Event Image Count : 15
Post Event Image Count : 25
Stream Replay Image Buffer: 1000
Alarm Frame Count: 5


cheers