Applying Mask via IP Camera

[SB_Jim 1]

Hello again,

 

The cameras (with the Swann 8CH NVR) can supposedly be configured to apply up to four masks. The owner's manual states the following:

 

"A Privacy Mask can be used if you want to obscure part of your image. You can define up to four areas per channel to mask. Click and drag to select the area you want to select or de-select. Remember: Anything obscured by a privacy mask won’t be shown in Live View and will not be recorded".

 

With that said, would I presume correctly that the end result (other than having created a mask) is that there would be less data being written to the HDD for any camera containing at least one mask? Some of my viewable areas are of no interest to me at all, and it would be nice to be able to do a bit more recording - yet stuffing less data to the HDD.

 

Related to masks, if there were an undesirable light source in view - even including the IR from an opposing facing IP cam, could I essentially remove the "glare" by simply masking an area around the source - which I have no need to look at anyways??

 

Any thoughts and/or actual experience with this?

 

Thank you,

 

Jim

[vector18 1]

I'll be quite honest, I'm not exactly sure if the masking will save hdd space or not, but if it did, I would think it would

be so miniscule. If you really are truly concerned about hdd space, first off have your DVR up and running for a month and

do a search and see how long you can search back to. If the amount of time is not enough in your opinion, than you can

make sure your recording motion only, test the sensitivity of the motion recording and lower if need be. What are your

fps? If your at 30fps, you can drop that safely by at least 1/2 to save some hdd space. And lastly, is your dvr capable of having an additional hdd installed or can you upgrade the existing single slot to a bigger hdd?

[SB_Jim 1]

Thx V-18,

 

There's just one cam that I'd like to record F/T, so if HDD space becomes an issue, I would likely pursue adding another HDD to move to 4TB from 2TB.

 

Have you any idea about the scenario I wrote about in this same post - copied below?

 

"Related to masks, if there were an undesirable light source in view - even including the IR from an opposing facing IP cam, could I essentially remove the "glare" by simply masking an area around the source - which I have no need to look at anyways??"

 

Thank you,

 

Jim

[blakem 0]

"Related to masks, if there were an undesirable light source in view - even including the IR from an opposing facing IP cam, could I essentially remove the "glare" by simply masking an area around the source - which I have no need to look at anyways??"

 

Privacy masks are done in post image processing after the image sensor capture so the exposure would not be affected. I believe what you are seeing is possibly lens flare.

[SB_Jim 1]

Thank you. What I have in a current setup are two cams under the eaves of my home - facing in opposite direction. One looks at the back gate, the other looks out the driveway towards the street. I've adjusted the cams such that they are less directly facing each other - and that helped significantly.

 

Jim

[SB_Jim 1]

[quote name=" What are your

fps? If your at 30fps' date=' you can drop that safely by at least 1/2 to save some hdd space. And lastly, is your dvr capable of having an additional hdd installed or can you upgrade the existing single slot to a bigger hdd?[/quote]

 

Vector18 - thanks for the reply. The fps would be 30, so I like your idea to cut in half since that would still be adequate quality! I'll need to do a test & run the one cam F/T, and the other 3 on motion only. Then check the length of time before overwrite occurs. The NVR comes w/ a 2TB drive, and can accept another 2TB drive - plus an external. Unfortunately, the external is via USB2 (or 3?) and I don't think that connection would be fast enough to record like the internal drives.

 

I appreciate your feedback,

 

Jim