Smart event false alarms

Line crossing triggers when something crosses a line you draw, in the direction you choose. Intrusion detection triggers when something stays inside a zone for a set time. Basic motion detection reacts to any change in the picture, so it gives the most false alerts. For most homes, a line across the path or drive works better than motion detection.

Keep lines and zones away from the road, trees, hedges and anything that moves in the wind. Do not draw a line along the edge of the picture. Set the direction (A to B, B to A or both) so cars passing the end of the drive do not trigger it. For intrusion, set a time threshold of a few seconds so a brief flicker is ignored.

AcuSense cameras can filter alerts to people and/or vehicles, usually with the Detection Target: Human / Vehicle setting. Tick only the targets you care about. The filter needs a clear view of a person’s shape. A camera mounted very high and pointing straight down only sees the tops of heads and will miss people or raise false alerts. Mounting height and angle make a real difference.

Start around the middle and adjust after a few days of alerts. High sensitivity picks up rain, insects and headlights. Check cameras for cobwebs near the lens, which reflect the infrared at night and are a common cause of night-time false alarms.

The arming schedule on each event controls when it can trigger. It is separate from the recording schedule. Under Linkage Method (or Linkage Action), tick Notify Surveillance Center if you want alerts in the Hik-Connect app, and tick the recording channel so the event is recorded. Notify Surveillance Center controls alerts, not recording.

Under Storage > Schedule Settings (on most recorders; the menu name can vary) you can record continuously, record only on events, or both. Many people record continuously and use events to mark the timeline, which makes playback quicker. If you want sound too, turn on audio recording in the camera’s schedule or encoding settings (the exact menu varies by model).

In Hik-Connect tap the device > Settings > Notification and turn on Report Event, and allow notifications for Hik-Connect in your phone’s settings. Also check the recorder and cameras have the correct time (use NTP time sync). Wrong times cause confusing playback and missed events.