Adjust motion detection: Motion Detection

Available functionality depends on the system you are using. See the Product comparison chart for more information.

Motion detection is a key element in most surveillance systems. Depending on your configuration, motion detection settings may determine when video is recorded (saved on the surveillance system server), when notifications are sent, when output (a light or siren) is triggered and more.

It is important that you find the best possible motion detection settings for each camera to avoid unnecessary recordings, notifications and more. Depending on the physical location of your cameras, it is a good idea to test settings under different physical conditions (day/night, windy/calm weather and similar conditions).

Cameras that do not support multiple simultaneous video streams cannot connect to the surveillance server and the Management Application at the same time. Milestone recommends that you stop the Recording Server service when you configure such devices for motion detection and PTZ. See also View video from cameras in Management Application.

You can configure motion detection settings for each camera, or for several cameras at once. Use the list in the left pane of the wizard window to select cameras. To select several cameras at a time, press CTRL or SHIFT while you select. When you select a camera, you see a preview from that camera. If you select several cameras, you see a preview from the last camera you select. A green area in the preview indicates motion.

Name	Description
Sensitivity	Adjust the Sensitivity slider so that irrelevant background noise is filtered out, and only real motion is shown in green. Alternatively, specify a value between 0 and 256 in the field next to the slider to control the sensitivity setting. The slider determines how much each pixel must change before it is regarded as motion. With a high sensitivity, very little change in a pixel is required before it is regarded as motion. The more you drag the slider to the left, the more of the preview becomes green. This is because with high sensitivity, even the slightest pixel change is regarded as motion.
Motion	Adjust the Motion slider so that motion detection is only triggered by the required level of motion. The selected motion level is indicated by the black vertical line in the Level bar above the sliders. The black vertical line serves as a threshold. When motion is above (to the right of) the selected level, the bar changes color from green to red, indicating a positive motion detection. Alternatively, specify a value between 0 and 10000 in the field on the left to control the motion setting. The more you drag the slider to the left, the more positive motion detections you see because less change will be needed to trigger a positive motion detection. The number of positive motion detections may also affect the amount of video you record, the amount of notifications you receive and more.
Detection interval	Specify how often motion detection analysis is carried out on video from the camera. The default is every 240 milliseconds (close to once a quarter of a second). The interval is applied regardless of your cameras' frame rate settings. Adjusting this setting can help lower the amount of system resources used on motion detection.
Detection resolution	Specify whether the full image or a selected percentage of the image should be analyzed. For example, by specifying 25%, every fourth pixel is analyzed instead of all pixels, reducing the system resources used but also offering less accurate motion detection.
Keyframe Only	Select Keyframe only if you want motion detection to take place only on keyframes of the video stream to reduce the system resources used on motion detection.