motion-user — Motion mailing list for users and developers

[Motion-user] many pictures for one event

[<seb...@de...>]

Good evening,

the motion-process should write jpg-files if any event is tracked.

But the process writes every second one pic.

Is there any possibility to get only one pic every 2 seconds - or 3 
seconds ?

Which is here the right customizing in the motion.conf ?


tnx

Sebastian

Re: [Motion-user] Masking issues - RPi 4

[Barry M. <bar...@gm...>]

Hi Roger!

I think I was overthinking your replies.  What worked here was taking a 
screenshot (png), opening that with GIMP and editing -- basically a 
black rectangle overlying the general fan area and white rectangles for 
the rest.  Save that as .xcf  (default for GIMP).   Have GIMP export to 
.pgm.  Copy the file to /etc/motion, edit Camera1.conf.  Restart Motion 
and enjoy not having '3-trillion' Motion files of fan rotations! <g>

Thanks!

Barry




> I never do a "new" image.  I always open and edit the image off the
> camera (from the snapshot motion option) that I collect 1x per hour,
> that way the size is always right.
>
> Then I export/save it from gimp as pgm.
>
> You can also use vlc and/or mplay to play one of the collected vidoe
> files from motion and see what size it tells you.
>
> On Tue, Jun 24, 2025 at 10:20 AM Barry Martin <bar...@gm...> wrote:
>>
>> Hi Roger!
>>
>> I always start with an image pulled from the camera and open that in
>> gimp..  It is kind of a pain to paint it black and/or white for the
>> mask but it also gives me a good idea of what moves a lot and needs
>> masked.
>>
>> Yes, got that far: I have a black and white pgm file with black in the area (and slightly beyond) where the fan rotates.  It's that second part ("Line 2") I need help figuring out  (see quote, below).
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> Hi Roger!
>>
>> You need to make a mask file.  Take an image from the camera, read it
>> into gimp, then paint everything black you want ignored, and white you
>> don't want to ignore and export it as a binary pgm.
>>
>> Created the mask file: 205_Mask.pgm.  Basically first time using GIMP -- heavily relied on an old lesson: save the file when have a correct step!
>>
>>
>> file should look like this:
>>
>> file gs2_mask.pgm
>> gs2_mask.pgm: Netpbm image data, size = 3840 x 2160, rawbits, greymap
>>
>> And have the same size as your camera image.
>>
>> This part I'm getting confused with.  Figuring:
>>
>>      Line 1:    Open the newly-created mask file  (so 205_Mask.pgm)
>>
>>      Line 2:    Ummmmm....  I'm thinking some sort of command line or check the boxes dropdown.  My camera's resolution  is set at 1280x720. so plug that in for size.
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> Barry
>>
>>

Re: [Motion-user] Masking issues - RPi 4

[Barry M. <bar...@gm...>]

Hi Roger!

> I never found smart mask to work reasonably.  Eventually with some
> wind it seems to mask out almost everything.

That would be bad!

> And the area_detect I think only works for events.

I couldn't quite tell:  "Detect motion in predefined areas (1 - 9) and 
when Motion is detected in the area, execute the script." Scanning 
though the section  I wasn't sure what script was being referred to

> You need to make a mask file.  Take an image from the camera, read it
> into gimp, then paint everything black you want ignored, and white you
> don't want to ignore and export it as a binary pgm.
>
> file should look like this:
>
> file gs2_mask.pgm
> gs2_mask.pgm: Netpbm image data, size = 3840 x 2160, rawbits, greymap
>
> And have the same size as your camera image.
>
> Then add to the config file this line:
> mask_file /etc/motion/gs2_mask.pgm
>
> I have to adjust mine and/or prune trees getting into the edges of the
> images every so often.

<chuckle>  That's why smart_mask sounded so good!  ...I'll try creating 
a mask and get back with the results.  Thank you!

Re: [Motion-user] Masking issues - RPi 4

[Roger H. <rog...@gm...>]

I never found smart mask to work reasonably.  Eventually with some
wind it seems to mask out almost everything.

And the area_detect I think only works for events.

You need to make a mask file.  Take an image from the camera, read it
into gimp, then paint everything black you want ignored, and white you
don't want to ignore and export it as a binary pgm.

file should look like this:

file gs2_mask.pgm
gs2_mask.pgm: Netpbm image data, size = 3840 x 2160, rawbits, greymap

And have the same size as your camera image.

Then add to the config file this line:
mask_file /etc/motion/gs2_mask.pgm

I have to adjust mine and/or prune trees getting into the edges of the
images every so often.



On Mon, Jun 23, 2025 at 3:56 PM Barry Martin <bar...@gm...> wrote:
>
>
> Hi Folks!
>
>
> Having problems figuring out how to use masking options.
>
>
> Hardware: Raspberry Pi 4, Bookworm, Wayland (probably the Labwc option – I don’t know [yet!] how to test for that). ELP USB camera: ELP-USBFHD06MT-KL36IR lsusb: ID 32e4:9230 HD USB Camera.
>
>
> Motion software is Version 4.7.0.
>
>
> There is a ceiling fan along with tree and shadow motions with are giving a constant series of recordings. I can’t reposition the camera to get the fan out of view because of position between window glass and mini-blinds.
>
>
> What I have tried so far:
>
>
> In camera1.conf first added
>
> smart_mask_speed 5
>
> Didn’t seem to make any difference.
>
>
> This afternoon commented smart mask and tried
>
> area_detect 789
>
> so just pays attention to the bottom portion. Still picking up a lot of moving shadows from the trees so probably not my best option but again not seeing any changes in sensitivity so tons of recordings.
>
>
> Thanks for pointing me in the right direction!
>
> Barry
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Motion-user mailing list
> Mot...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/motion-user
> https://motion-project.github.io/
>
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/options/motion-user

[Motion-user] Masking issues - RPi 4

[Barry M. <bar...@gm...>]

Hi Folks!


Having problems figuring out how to use masking options.


Hardware: Raspberry Pi 4, Bookworm, Wayland (probably the Labwc option – 
I don’t know [yet!] how to test for that). ELP USB camera: 
ELP-USBFHD06MT-KL36IR lsusb: ID 32e4:9230 HD USB Camera.


Motion software is Version 4.7.0.


There is a ceiling fan along with tree and shadow motions with are 
giving a constant series of recordings. I can’t reposition the camera to 
get the fan out of view because of position between window glass and 
mini-blinds.


What I have tried so far:


In /camera1.conf/ first added

*smart_mask_speed 5*

Didn’t seem to make any difference.


This afternoon commented smart mask and tried

*area_detect 789*

so just pays attention to the bottom portion. Still picking up a lot of 
moving shadows from the trees so probably not my best option but again 
not seeing any changes in sensitivity so tons of recordings.


Thanks for pointing me in the right direction!

Barry

Re: [Motion-user] Recording Skip

[Barry M. <bar...@gm...>]

Hi Folks!

I think this is the much-awaited conclusion to my inquiry about 
skipping.recording glitches,


Original:    2x Raspberry Pi 4, via built-in 5G, with one USB camera 
each; record to a NAS.  Using Motion Version 4.5.1. Powered by official 
wall warts plugged in to a small UPS.

No problems detected with the WiFi signal, recording media,


Changes, updates.  Raspberry Pi's now using a PoE HAT.  I also 
physically switched the PI's but ":should be' the same as the 
originals.  Also switched the recorded file site from a hard drive on 
the NAS to a Raspberry Pi 5 with NVMe storage.  Switching to solid state 
storage didn't seem to make any difference.  Switching to wired data 
transfer (PoE) maybe made a little difference -- slightly better: 
glitches maybe half as long.

The last change I made was to slightly overclock one of the RPi4's -- 
the one with the definite glitches.

     /boot/firmware/config.txt
     #1.8 GHz to 1.9 GHz
     arm_freq=1900
     over_voltage_delta=25000

The 'over voltage delta' is the new/preferred command over the previous 
overvoltage (with Bookworm, anyway).

I might overclock the other Pi later.


So the good news is the glitching seems to be all but eliminated: only 
getting a few short-duration glitches, approximately a half-second.  
Immensely improved over the two- to sometimes ten second skips previously.

Thanks to all providing hints!

Barry

Re: [Motion-user] Recording Skip

[Barry M. <bar...@gm...>]

Hi Roger!

> Well shielded means that it may only leak 1/1000 of the power the
> microwave has(700w+) , which means it could leak 7x the power (700mw)
> vs 100mw (max wifi power).
>
> The microwave is well shielded in the fact that it won't leak enough
> to cook you, but even leaking a tiny percentage is a massive amount of
> power compared to normal 2.4 ghz signals and is still enough to
> overpower wifi signals.

Thanks for that more-detailed explanation.  I sort of had the overall 
idea: there is some leakage otherwise when the microwave is on I 
wouldn't hear the buzzing when the cordless phone is nearby.

...I did get the two Raspberry Pi units switched over to PoE + wired.  
The PoE part wasn't necessary but gave me a good excuse to clean up the 
equipment layout. ...Did have a ~4 second glitch this morning (darn!) 
but as only one camera was recording not telling me too much.  (One of 
the RPi/Motion  cameras looks at the 'left' half of the front yard and 
the other the 'right'.  Activity was only on the left side so can't 
compare to the non-existent right.)

Updated hardware:  2x RPi 4 + their micro-SD cards (though the new cards 
cloned from originals); USB camera (one each Pi), PoE CAT6 to an 
existing PoE Extender, Ethernet (not seeing any markings), PoE Injector, 
more mystery Ethernet cable, gigabit switch, more mystery cable to a RPi 
5 with NVMe storage (we had tested the old NAS which used HDD).

Barry

Re: [Motion-user] Recording Skip

[Roger H. <rog...@gm...>]

Well shielded means that it may only leak 1/1000 of the power the
microwave has(700w+) , which means it could leak 7x the power (700mw)
vs 100mw (max wifi power).

The microwave is well shielded in the fact that it won't leak enough
to cook you, but even leaking a tiny percentage is a massive amount of
power compared to normal 2.4 ghz signals and is still enough to
overpower wifi signals.

On Fri, May 2, 2025 at 7:31 PM Barry Martin <bar...@gm...> wrote:
>
>
> Hi Richard!
>
> > you can forget leakage from uWave ovens, they are heavily shielded
> >
> Or supposed to be -- if one feels warmth: oh-oh!  ...No problems like
> that here but if on the cordless phone (VoIP telephone) with the base
> next to the microwave will hear a slight buzzing when the microwave is on.
>
>
> > I only have one camera which uses WiFi, and I dont see a skip one that
> > one even when I'm using equipment on 2320MHz,
> >
> > where I have about 80W to a 20dB gain antenna.  WiFi is very resilient.
> >
> > I do however, see the occasional skip on the other 9 cams which are
> > all wired
> >
> Oh great!!! <gg>  Actually the plan here is to disconnect the WiFi
> RPi's, keeping them in place just in case the wired option doesn't go as
> planned.  ...Actually the switch to wired is giving me the nudge to
> 'neaten-up' the physical configuration of those to Pi's -- they're in my
> closet: out of sight... :)  Plus I'm learning a lot on how to troubleshoot!
>
> Barry
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Motion-user mailing list
> Mot...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/motion-user
> https://motion-project.github.io/
>
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/options/motion-user

Re: [Motion-user] Recording Skip

[Barry M. <bar...@gm...>]

Hi Richard!

> you can forget leakage from uWave ovens, they are heavily shielded
>
Or supposed to be -- if one feels warmth: oh-oh!  ...No problems like 
that here but if on the cordless phone (VoIP telephone) with the base 
next to the microwave will hear a slight buzzing when the microwave is on.


> I only have one camera which uses WiFi, and I dont see a skip one that 
> one even when I'm using equipment on 2320MHz,
>
> where I have about 80W to a 20dB gain antenna.  WiFi is very resilient.
>
> I do however, see the occasional skip on the other 9 cams which are 
> all wired
>
Oh great!!! <gg>  Actually the plan here is to disconnect the WiFi 
RPi's, keeping them in place just in case the wired option doesn't go as 
planned.  ...Actually the switch to wired is giving me the nudge to 
'neaten-up' the physical configuration of those to Pi's -- they're in my 
closet: out of sight... :)  Plus I'm learning a lot on how to troubleshoot!

Barry

Re: [Motion-user] Recording Skip

[Barry M. <bar...@gm...>]

Hi Harlan!

> Only thing I can say about WIFI is whenever my microwave is used the 
> camera connection was bad so I switched to shielded cat 7. If there is 
> outside interference strange things can happen. VHF TV has glitches 
> when LED lights are turned off and on.

The problem occurring with the microwave potentially makes sense: IIRC a 
microwave ovens' magnetron uses a beam to cook (really energize the food 
molecules and so cooks) at 2.4 GHz, essentially the same frequency as do 
the WiFi 2.4 GHz bands.  (The explanation is a bit sloppy, admittedly!)

IoT (Internet of Things) also can use the same radio band -- I'm pretty 
sure the remote-read electric meter wiped out the reception of my 
outdoor thermometer up here.  Works fine in other parts of the house, 
but up here on the same side as the meter there is no connection.

Here at the house I haven't noticed a correlation with microwave usage.  
Also the RPi camera units are (currently) 5G, though that has a shorted 
range than 2G.  Did check signal level and that doesn't seem to be the 
problem.  ...The cameras' RF path doesn't cross / isn't near anything 
(known!) to cause interference.  Plus this little update is giving me 
some education on PoE.

Re: [Motion-user] Recording Skip

[Harlan D. <hda...@gm...>]

Only thing I can say about WIFI is whenever my microwave is used the camera
connection was bad so I switched to shielded cat 7. If there is outside
interference strange things can happen. VHF TV has glitches when LED lights
are turned off and on.

On Fri, May 2, 2025 at 12:17 PM Barry Martin <bar...@gm...> wrote:

>
> Follow-up: to keep the thread alive a little while longer and because I
> dislike when I come across a potentially helpful thread for my problem
> and it dies without conclusion....
>
> Originally checked if something wrong with the NAS and WiFi signal --
> seems to be OK.
>
> New: Did move the Motion storage to a Raspberry Pi 5 with a 1 TB NVMe.
> The Pi NAS is connected to the network via Ethernet but the Pi's
> recording are still on WiFi (5G)  The skips/glitches seem to be lessened
> -- from  ~10 seconds to 5 seconds on average.
>
> Currently switching the Motion Pi's (source devices with one USB camera
> each) to PoE.  With that the network connections will be wired, 1 Gbps.
> Stay tuned!  Barry
>
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Motion-user mailing list
> Mot...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/motion-user
> https://motion-project.github.io/
>
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/options/motion-user

Re: [Motion-user] Recording Skip

[Barry M. <bar...@gm...>]

Follow-up: to keep the thread alive a little while longer and because I 
dislike when I come across a potentially helpful thread for my problem 
and it dies without conclusion....

Originally checked if something wrong with the NAS and WiFi signal -- 
seems to be OK.

New: Did move the Motion storage to a Raspberry Pi 5 with a 1 TB NVMe.  
The Pi NAS is connected to the network via Ethernet but the Pi's 
recording are still on WiFi (5G)  The skips/glitches seem to be lessened 
-- from  ~10 seconds to 5 seconds on average.

Currently switching the Motion Pi's (source devices with one USB camera 
each) to PoE.  With that the network connections will be wired, 1 Gbps.  
Stay tuned!  Barry

Re: [Motion-user] Recording Skip

[Barry M. <bar...@gm...>]

Hi Folks!

Just as a follow-up, have been logging Roger's ping and yesterday 
received no ping errors and as today mid-afternoon one error:


AT: Sat Apr 26 02:59:30 PM CDT 2025 60 packets 
transmitted,                              time 59256ms
AT: Sat Apr 26 03:00:29 PM CDT 2025 60 packets 
transmitted,                              time 59211ms
AT: Sat Apr 26 03:01:28 PM CDT 2025 60 packets transmitted, 59 received, 
1.66667% packet loss, time 59322ms
AT: Sat Apr 26 03:02:29 PM CDT 2025 60 packets 
transmitted,                              time 59474ms
AT: Sat Apr 26 03:03:28 PM CDT 2025 60 packets 
transmitted,                              time 59219ms
AT: Sat Apr 26 03:04:27 PM CDT 2025 60 packets 
transmitted,                              time 59300ms
AT: Sat Apr 26 03:05:27 PM CDT 2025 60 packets 
transmitted,                              time 59375ms

Norma readout is:
AT: Fri Apr 25 07:03:07 AM CDT 2025 60 packets transmitted, 60 received, 
0% packet loss, time 59229ms

I don't think missing one packet is indicative of a problem.  I had also 
looked at the three cameras' Motion recordings at around 15:01 glitch 
and did not see a problem.

Have PoE HATs and an extender for the two 'main' Motion cameras on order 
-- will switch them over.  Stay tuned for the next not-so-exciting 
episode! <g>

Barry

Re: [Motion-user] Recording Skip

[Barry M. <bar...@gm...>]

>> Now here comes the part I'm uncertain of.  Can I use a PoE
>> (extension) but (temporarily) still power the Pi's with their wall
>> warts?
> I believe you can use either or.  That is, you can have the PoE hat
> connected to only the pi and not ethernet while powering the pi over
> its usb power port.  One power source at a time only.

Makes sense.  The articles I've read indicated the power was sent over 
unused connectors, but if those connections are unused why would the 
manufacturers include them -- they want to save every tenth of a cent!!  
So my project may take a little longer to switch over but at least it 
won't include a fire extinguisher!

>> The key word in my question (though I might be running in to a power
>> limit too) is can I plug the two Motion Pi's in to the PoE extension
>> while still using the wall warts?
> no, from the PoE+ Hat documentation (
> https://datasheets.raspberrypi.com/poe/poe-plus-hat-product-brief.pdf  )
>
> "When the Raspberry Pi PoE+ HAT is connected to your Raspberry Pi, your
> Raspberry Pi should only be powered through the ethernet cable. Do not
> use any additional method to power the Raspberry Pi"

Very clear!    Will download and read the datasheet.

> There are redundant ways of powering the pi's over USB that people have
> come up with, I suggest exploring that route.

I think I'll leave those alone! :)   UPSs power the computers and the 
PoE Injector.  Generator kicks in as necessary.  Enough redundancy for 
me! <g>

Thanks for the precise answer!

Barry

Re: [Motion-user] Recording Skip

[<a.m...@lo...>]

On Thu, 24 Apr 2025 15:21:11 -0500
Barry Martin <bar...@gm...> wrote:

> Now here comes the part I'm uncertain of.  Can I use a PoE
> (extension) but (temporarily) still power the Pi's with their wall
> warts?  

I believe you can use either or.  That is, you can have the PoE hat
connected to only the pi and not ethernet while powering the pi over
its usb power port.  One power source at a time only.


> The key word in my question (though I might be running in to a power 
> limit too) is can I plug the two Motion Pi's in to the PoE extension 
> while still using the wall warts? 
no, from the PoE+ Hat documentation (
https://datasheets.raspberrypi.com/poe/poe-plus-hat-product-brief.pdf )

"When the Raspberry Pi PoE+ HAT is connected to your Raspberry Pi, your
Raspberry Pi should only be powered through the ethernet cable. Do not
use any additional method to power the Raspberry Pi"


There are redundant ways of powering the pi's over USB that people have
come up with, I suggest exploring that route.

Re: [Motion-user] Recording Skip

[Barry M. <bar...@gm...>]

Gentlemen (and any ladie):

> No wifi here, all copper, and top shows motion running. 

Here's a question with a probably obvious answer but I'd rather ask and 
avoid 'letting the smoke out'.  Two of the three (current) Motion 
systems are Raspberry Pi 4's,USB cameras, using the 5G WiFi.  The two 
are side-by-side.  What I'm considering is switching them from WiFi to 
Ethernet.

Now here comes the part I'm uncertain of.  Can I use a PoE (extension) 
but (temporarily) still power the Pi's with their wall warts?  I do have 
a PoE Injector rated 802.3af/at and 54v, 30 and 60 W -- if 802.3at = 30W 
how double the output wattage??  Anyway, the injector powers a PoE 
extension with a couple of Pi's on it. I'm thinking of using the 
currently unused port on this extension to power a new PoE extension to 
eventually power the 2 Motion Pi's.

The key word in my question (though I might be running in to a power 
limit too) is can I plug the two Motion Pi's in to the PoE extension 
while still using the wall warts?  I know there are HATs to extract the 
power and data but I'd like to test is wired fixes the glitch problem 
before going to the extra expense.  The price of the PoE extension is 
fine for the test, just the PoE + HATs + new cases is getting up there.

Thanks!

Barry

Re: [Motion-user] Recording Skip

[Barry M. <bar...@gm...>]

Hi Stewart!

> I have seen that exact behavior several times. The pattern of when it 
> occurred, is that a vehicle moved across the field of view, leaving a 
> 10 second trail of disruption until the pixels are unchanging long 
> enough to End the event. Usually motion records the entire 10 seconds 
> as changed pixels, but sometimes does not. Then this behavior is, in 
> that 10 second period if a second vehicle appears, it is not counted 
> as a new change, and gets ignored.
>
Yes, I have seen that here also, I'm talking when a person is walking up 
the front walkway or across the field of view and they are suddenly 
10'/3m from where they were.  The walking motion is continuous and fast 
enough not to have Motion time-out.  The embedded timestamps also 
indicate the skip yet we haven't figured out the cause.  And of course 
it doesn't occur constantly but often enough.


> No wifi here, all copper, and top shows motion running. But it is 
> running 3 cameras, not 1. Watching the cpu load at the exact time 
> would be a challenge.
>
Just capturing the load on the CPU puts a load on the CPU! <g>  Here 
using WiFi admittedly is a convenience over running another Ethernet 
cable.  Most of the computers are hard-wired; the Motion cameras are not 
just because of physical location.  The signal strength seems to be more 
than sufficient -- not anywhere near borderline.  No noted RF 
Interference (QRM/QRN is Ham-talk, though I'm not one)....

Thanks for the suggestions!

Barry

Re: [Motion-user] Recording Skip

[Stewart A. <san...@gm...>]

I have seen that exact behavior several times. The pattern of when it 
occurred, is that a vehicle moved across the field of view, leaving a 10 
second trail of disruption until the pixels are unchanging long enough 
to End the event. Usually motion records the entire 10 seconds as 
changed pixels, but sometimes does not. Then this behavior is, in that 
10 second period if a second vehicle appears, it is not counted as a new 
change, and gets ignored.

That was during the motion v4.5.x time frame, and since I upgraded to 
4.6 in 2023-Nov, I can't say that I have seen it in a while. Since it is 
not repeatable predictably, I ignored it.

No wifi here, all copper, and top shows motion running. But it is 
running 3 cameras, not 1. Watching the cpu load at the exact time would 
be a challenge.

Stewart


On 4/12/25 08:05, Barry Martin wrote:
>
>
> “Slightly” off-topic but involving my Motion cameras. Randomly the 
> recording will skip several seconds. There is motion going on, so 
> should record, but while the motion is occurring (and being recorded) 
> the video will skip several seconds: no grey, no pixelation, just as 
> if someone took scissors to the film (showing my age! <g>). Does not 
> occur constantly/consistently.
>
>

Re: [Motion-user] Text-Information in the video-file

[<seb...@de...>]

I got the answer - my resolution is 4608 x 2592.

I need to use the text_scale-option.

My fault - sorry



Am 24.04.2025 um 08:10 schrieb tosiara:
> Are you using pass-through option?
> 
> On Wed, Apr 23, 2025 at 9:44 PM seb...@de...
> <seb...@de...> wrote:
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> i know i could put some information in the picture by using for example
>> "text_left %Y-%m"
>>
>> but how do i get the same text into the video files?
>>
>> The Video ist very clear and had a very good quality, but there is no
>> text inside.
>>
>> Tnx
>>
>> Sebastian
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Motion-user mailing list
>> Mot...@li...
>> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/motion-user
>> https://motion-project.github.io/
>>
>> Unsubscribe: https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/options/motion-user

Re: [Motion-user] Text-Information in the video-file

[tosiara <to...@gm...>]

Are you using pass-through option?

On Wed, Apr 23, 2025 at 9:44 PM seb...@de...
<seb...@de...> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> i know i could put some information in the picture by using for example
> "text_left %Y-%m"
>
> but how do i get the same text into the video files?
>
> The Video ist very clear and had a very good quality, but there is no
> text inside.
>
> Tnx
>
> Sebastian
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Motion-user mailing list
> Mot...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/motion-user
> https://motion-project.github.io/
>
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/options/motion-user

[Motion-user] Text-Information in the video-file

[<seb...@de...>]

Hi,

i know i could put some information in the picture by using for example 
"text_left %Y-%m"

but how do i get the same text into the video files?

The Video ist very clear and had a very good quality, but there is no 
text inside.

Tnx

Sebastian

Re: [Motion-user] Recording Skip

[Barry M. <bar...@gm...>]

Hi Jack!
>
> Sounds similar to an issue I had. Motion was waiting for the 
> on_movie_end script to end. Fixed by commit 035b1af.
>
> See https://github.com/Motion-Project/motion/issues/1856
>
Initially looks to be part of Roger's suggestion  to save to SSD.    
...Generally /tmp is on a drive, not RAM. but easy enough to tell where 
to (temporarily) store the files.

In my case it seems the final storage location (the NAS's HDD) is the 
issue based on Roger's message.  If the glitches were independent (at 
different times) I'd think your suggestion was more correct but with the 
glitch at almost exactly the same time the HDD issue seems more correct.

I'm definitely not excluding your suggestion -- will be keeping it for 
reference -- so thank you!

Barry

Re: [Motion-user] Recording Skip

[Jack C. <chr...@gm...>]

Sounds similar to an issue I had. Motion was waiting for the 
on_movie_end script to end. Fixed by commit 035b1af.

See https://github.com/Motion-Project/motion/issues/1856

On 4/12/25 11:05, Barry Martin wrote:
>
>
> Hi!
>
> “Slightly” off-topic but involving my Motion cameras. Randomly the 
> recording will skip several seconds. There is motion going on, so 
> should record, but while the motion is occurring (and being recorded) 
> the video will skip several seconds: no grey, no pixelation, just as 
> if someone took scissors to the film (showing my age! <g>). Does not 
> occur constantly/consistently.
>
>
> Appears has something to do with either the WiFi (5G) between the 
> Motion units (so RF transmission/reception) and/or the actual 
> recording to the hard drive on the NAS. Looking for a clue how to 
> figure out and hopefully correct the problem. Yesterday checked and 
> the glitch occurred on two cameras with overlapping fields of view and 
> recording simultaneously:
>
> Unit #201 14:15:41 <skip> 14:16:25
>
> Unit #202 14:15:43 <skip> 14:16:25
>
>
> Nothing significant about the time; nobody near the Motion units nor 
> WiFi router, so not like someone walked in the RF path. LIS, the 
> glitch occurs randomly; just listed the times should the ~45 seconds 
> of missing recording have a potential troubleshooting meaning. (I 
> don’t know the times of previous glitches.)
>
>
>
> Both units:
>
>  *
>
>     Motion Version 4.5.1
>
>  *
>
>     Raspberry Pi 4B, with one USB camera each
>
>  *
>
>     Individual power supply on UPS
>
>  *
>
>     Uptime: (several days ago)
>
>
> The WiFi and NAS are also on their own UPSs, and no power issues.
>
>
> Thanks for the help!
>
> Barry
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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> Mot...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/motion-user
> https://motion-project.github.io/
>
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Re: [Motion-user] Recording Skip

[Roger H. <rog...@gm...>]

I use an SSD to initially save my images and then daily I move those
images to spinning disks.

Without doing that any slight issue with the disk will cause dropouts.
  An error on the disk will cause a 3-30second blip depending on the
what the disks default timeout is.

this is a sample of smartctl output:
smartctl --xall /dev/sda | grep -iE 'sector|UNC'
Sector Sizes:     512 bytes logical, 4096 bytes physical
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   PO--CK   200   200   140    -    0
197 Current_Pending_Sector  -O--CK   200   200   000    -    0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   ----CK   200   200   000    -    0
SMART           Log Directory Version 1 [multi-sector log support]
SMART Extended Comprehensive Error Log Version: 1 (6 sectors)
    COUNT  = Count (was: Sector Count) Register
    LL     = LBA Low (was: Sector Number) Register     ]
  40 -- 51 00 00 00 00 bc 9c 57 f8 40 00  Error: UNC at LBA =
0xbc9c57f8 = 3164362744
  40 -- 51 00 00 00 00 55 57 f0 88 40 00  Error: UNC at LBA =
0x5557f088 = 1431826568
  40 -- 51 00 00 00 01 36 58 20 70 40 00  Error: UNC at LBA =
0x136582070 = 5206712432
  40 -- 51 00 00 00 00 47 86 ce 78 40 00  Error: UNC at LBA =
0x4786ce78 = 1200017016
  40 -- 51 00 00 00 01 2b e1 e0 00 40 00  Error: UNC at LBA =
0x12be1e000 = 5031190528
  40 -- 51 00 00 00 00 87 62 10 48 40 00  Error: UNC at LBA =
0x87621048 = 2271350856
SMART Extended Self-test Log Version: 1 (1 sectors)

The realllocated/pending counts rising will cause a several second
blip, and the UNC errors will cause blips.

I have a cron job that saves a log for each disk daily so I can rule
out a disk issue causing a blip.

On Sat, Apr 12, 2025 at 11:05 AM Barry Martin <bar...@gm...> wrote:
>
>
> Hi JMB!
> >
> > Try using 'top' to monitor the system load.  Maybe 'disk' writes (to
> > the NAS) are piling up.  Maybe some background process is consuming
> > excessive CPU?  Did it start after a recent 'sudo aptitude safe-update'?
>
> Will try your suggestions -- right now not sure how to correlate (right
> word?) the time of the skip with top's activity reporting but will
> experiment and learn!  Most Motion recordings are fine (no skip/glitch)
> -- I did forget to mention that originally. Skip/glitch problem has been
> occurred for some time, so can't blame a specific upgrade.
>
> Will report back!
>
> Barry
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Motion-user mailing list
> Mot...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/motion-user
> https://motion-project.github.io/
>
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/options/motion-user

Re: [Motion-user] Recording Skip

[Barry M. <bar...@gm...>]

Hi JMB!
>
> Try using 'top' to monitor the system load.  Maybe 'disk' writes (to 
> the NAS) are piling up.  Maybe some background process is consuming 
> excessive CPU?  Did it start after a recent 'sudo aptitude safe-update'?

Will try your suggestions -- right now not sure how to correlate (right 
word?) the time of the skip with top's activity reporting but will 
experiment and learn!  Most Motion recordings are fine (no skip/glitch) 
-- I did forget to mention that originally. Skip/glitch problem has been 
occurred for some time, so can't blame a specific upgrade.

Will report back!

Barry