Understanding View Zones vs Camera Positioning

[rdilauro]

I have a number of Ultra cameras that I would like to focus of triggers to be  concentrated in certain areas.

I am not sure what the difference between Camera Positioning (Device Utilities) and Zones (Videos) mean in terms of what the camera sees.

The cameras pick up such a wide area of coverage.  I wanted to limited that scope.  First I played with the Video Full, Super Wide and Wide.  Didnt see that much difference.

What I am trying to do is isolate a specific area that the camera will monitor.  Can  that be done via camera positioning or zones?

[StephenB]

---

@rdilauro wrote:

The cameras pick up such a wide area of coverage.  I wanted to limited that scope.  First I played with the Video Full, Super Wide and Wide.  Didnt see that much difference.

---

This depends on what you are aiming the cameras at.  My cameras are mostly aimed at my home, and I do see a significant difference in the three fields of view on those.  It's not as obvious as the ones aimed at the yard.

---

@rdilauro wrote:

What I am trying to do is isolate a specific area that the camera will monitor.  Can  that be done via camera positioning or zones?

---

If you are thinking about simply limiting the area of motion detection, then activity zones do that.  However, they won't affect battery life. 

Positioning the cameras so they don't include unwanted areas is useful (when you can do it), as that will improve battery life. 

[rdilauro]

I just set activity zones for all of our cameras.  Now, I will wait to see the results.

Just for my complete clarification, the activity zones are used to determine where a trigger should take place.

It does not change what the actual video footage will be.  That will always be the same.

[StephenB]

---

@rdilauro wrote:

Just for my complete clarification, the activity zones are used to determine where a trigger should take place.

It does not change what the actual video footage will be.  That will always be the same.

---

Correct, the footage is the same.  You can zoom the camera (in addition to the field of view setting) from the same screen that you use to set up the zone.  That will change the field of view.  Personally I don't use that feature - under the theory that I can always zoom the video in the app on playback if I want to.

The activity zone is applied in the Arlo cloud - it checks the video streamed when motion is detected, and supresses any recordings that have no motion in the zone(s).  Note this motion might not be the same as the original trigger - any motion in the zone will cause the recording to be kept.

Not sure if you are using cross-triggering or not (telling camera B to record when camera A detects motion).  The zone on camera B is also applied in this scenario (IMO not a good thing, but there are use cases when that is appropriate I guess).

[rdilauro · Accepted solution]

Stephen
Trust me I have not gotten that far into all the features. Personally, the way our cameras are set up, we have no need for cross triggering

[StephenB]

---

@rdilauro wrote:
 Personally, the way our cameras are set up, we have no need for cross triggering

---

It isn't that common.  But it can be useful sometimes - for example if you have two cameras covering the same area from different angles.  If one includes a high-traffic area in the field of view, then you can trigger from the other one.