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[bcruz]

I just purchased this camera and I have been having issues with the motion settings.  I am probably misreading the manual but here is what I have found so far.  I am hoping that I can get confirmation/clarification on the following points:

1. If you enable use PIR for motion detection it essentially ignores the video motion area that you configure.
2.  If you choose 20% - 100% on sensitivity does this mean it is more sensitive to motion or is 90% - 100% a more sensitive setting?

Thank you.

[JavaLawyer]

Selecting a low sensitivity (i.e. lower percentage)) will cause the DCS-942L to ignore subtle movements (i.e. less motion triggers), while higher percentages will cause more motion triggers. I'm not sure, but the sensitivity may only apply to the "Video Motion" option. If you read the manual, the sensitivity setting refers to "difference between two sequential images".

Not sure if enabling PIR and Video Motion causes both to work at the same time. I would think if D-Link intended only one method to work at a time there would be a three choice radio button: No Motion Detection, PIR, or Video Motion.

[bcruz]

Thanks, that helps.  At least now i know what equals "more sensitive".  I'll keep playing around with the settings.

[JavaLawyer]

Please post what you discover about how the settings relate to one another.

Does the "Sensitivity" setting impact Video Motion and PIR or just Video Motion?
Also, please post how well the motion detection works. There were numerous issues reported  by DCS-930L and DCS-932L owners who indicated that the motion detection triggered way too many events despite changing the sensitivity settings. Sounds like PIR will fix that.

[Tom Peterson]

This is what I noticed (if others noticed things different please correct me):

The higher the % the more sensitive.
My cameras work reliable in the 65%-80% range.
If lower then 65% they willl miss some movement
If over 80% they will overreact and flood my inbox with email notifications.

There is significant difference on defiining the "movement area" on 942l vs 932l and 930l
On 932l and 930l the blue shaded squares are for areas NOT to be monitored for movement.
On 942L the red shaded squares are for areas TO BE monitored for movement
The text on both is not very clear since it says "select your movement area" and not being clear if the shaded areas are the ones to be vs. not to be monitored. Thru experimentation I found out the above.

[JavaLawyer]

@Tom Peterson - Thanks for posting your findings. Can you determine whether the sensitivity settings impact Video Motion and PIR or jest Video Motion? Do you find that PIR alone works better/same/worse than Video Motion?

Thanks for your feedback! 

[Doctor Doom]

The best way to test is to create a motion area and use a reasonable percentage 60-80%, save it and then go to the live view. Then simulate motion infront of the camera and check to see if the motion trigger icon flashes. If so then it is setup correctly. If it does not flash it is not sensitive enough or not working correctly. If it continues to flash all the time it is too sensitive.

If you check the PIR then the motion area feature doesn't appear to work. If you use PIR then the whole view of the camera will be the motion area.

Best bet is to try it with and without PIR to see what works better. PIR has the advantage of behaving better in an area where the lighting increases and decreases throughout the day.

[JavaLawyer]

Where is the motion trigger icon?
What is PIR?

What "icon" are you referring to?

PIR stands for "Passive Infrared Sensor". The sensor detects motion through subtle changes in temperature (implied by changes in high wavelength radiation) which is more accurate than the legacy software approach (calculating differences between sequential images captured by the camera).

[JavaLawyer]

I don't know about the 942L, but on my DCS-2230 there is a "Motion Trigger Indicator" in the upper left corner of the Live Video screen. It is a "running person" icon that lights up when there is video motion. It does not trigger from the PIR sensor alone. I imagine that the DCS-42L has something similar.

Are you referring to the LIVE video page on the DCS-XXX web interface?

[JavaLawyer]

Try using only the PIR only and disable the software based motion and see if the results are adequate for your purposes.

[Bijoo]

When I check the PIR sensor, the camera triggers motion all the time without any actual motion, regardless of the sensitivity percentage I specify in the box.  It looks like the PIR sensor is too sensitive or not working properly.  Have anyone run into the same problem?? it is really frustrating...

[gxw]

I am really disgusted with this product.

Cannot tune the motion detect at all on this POS.
Turned on PIR and the 'Running Man' motion detector flashes constantly.
Turned off PIR and the camera is better but only during the day. (59% for sensitivity).
During the day it it triggers when the light level changes but I cannot get the darn thing to trigger when there is motion. When the camera switches to IR mode it turns into a spam sending monster.

Have to wonder if dlink bothered to test this product before sending it out the door.

[acellier]

This is what I noticed (if others noticed things different please correct me):
...
There is significant difference on defining the "movement area" on 942L vs 932L and 930L
On 932L and 930L the blue shaded squares are for areas NOT to be monitored for movement.
...

I beg to differ!! - my experience with the 930L and 932L is, the blue grid blocks are where detection IS enabled.
I agree that the documentation is absymally ambivalent.

[JavaLawyer]

Given the repeat posts, this is something I'll need to add this to the FAQ library.  

[JavaLawyer]

Hopefully the following FAQ post will clarify the motion detection settings: DCS-9XX - Motion Detection Settings. Please let me know if these instructions require clarification or are inaccurate. Thanks.