This document is most helpful for the site designer and on-site installation personnel.
Guidelines for initial camera configuration and suggested settings for SpotAI Dashboard
Whenever starting any new IP camera setup, there are several basic configurations that must be performed before adding your cameras to any Network Video Recorder. Please read the following information for our recommended best practices.
A camera IP address can be set to Static or DHCP, but what works best?
It is highly recommended to use a Static IP address for any IP Camera deployment. This way it makes things easier to keep track of cameras deployed and to be able to organize your sites by utilizing IP number groups and to quickly find and access any particular camera of your choice.
Note: A Static IP means a particular unique IP address that has been assigned to a network device to be used on a regular basis in which will stay the same over time.
Versus a DHCP IP address that gets assigned automatically in a network as a temp solution to communicate with your devices. However, this IP is set to change over time, which could confuse you if you are trying to track any of the particular camera devices in the future.
Change camera's default credentials
Most IP camera manufacturers set their default credentials to very easy things to remember: Pass, admin, root, password, 123456, etc..... This is because they want to make sure that all users have a very easy experience during the initial camera installation. But this does not mean you should leave it unchanged as it leaves your camera vulnerable to unauthorized usage and access to all your equipment. Therefore, to protect your cameras please change the default password and create a new unique password of your choice. The password is usually case sensitive and must contain at least eight characters, which can be letters, numbers, and special characters, but no spaces, pound signs/hashes (#), colons (:), or forward slashes (/).
Camera's Video and settings best practices
There are thousands of models of network cameras in use. Therefore, it is impossible to have a set of instructions fitting every single camera model perfectly. However, regardless of the manufacturer, most of the settings and options will be technically the same.
Note: Please always consult the camera manufacture manual for menu navigations.
NTP Syncs
Once you have added the desired IP address to your camera, the next step will be to properly assign the correct time zone, current time, and synchronize the camera with an NTP server. Also known as Network Time Protocol. This is a networking protocol for clock synchronization between computer systems over the internet or local network. This is crucial in order to properly sync camera recording with your Network Video Recordings.
Note: To use the Spot appliance as an NTP server for your cameras, check out this article.
Video Quality configuration
The proper Video Quality configuration for a SpotAI Dashboard is to use H.264, 1920x1080P and 15 FPS- <Frames per second> to deliver a balance between image clarity and network bandwidth consumption. If there is an I-Frame Interval, the best practice is for it to match the FPS.
Image calibration
For image calibration, it is recommended that you find the right camera angle and area that you will like to capture before calibrating the camera lens. This is because the view is could have many variables such as Outdoor/Indoor lighting conditions, high foot traffic areas, highly reflective surfaces, trees, bushes, or moving vehicles. Once the desired field of view has been set, proceed to perform an Autofocus, Automatic Gain Control (AGC), adjusting contrast and lighting if needed.
Note: For a more detailed KB check out this article.
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