Recommendation for horse arena cam to record rides

[redwo1f]

Briefly:
I tried searching, but this is so specific... Asking for camera suggestions to record my wife's daily, daytime rides in a 20m x 60m horse arena. We do not want to set something up every day like a Pivo + iPhone. I've exhausted myself researching the name brand cameras like reolink, eufy (no, only does 15fps) and hoping you experts can help out. Still considering Reolink Trackmix or RLC-823S2, but dubious on the smooth tracking ability.

My wife rides every morning for 20-60 minutes in a fixed dressage arena which is ~67ft wide by 200ft long. Camera would be on a short side recording into the length mounted another 10-20ft off the arena.

musts:

• >= 25 FPS
• >= 0.9MP / 720P - if optical zoom, otherwise it needs to have "enough" to see the horse movements clearly (at the far end of the arena she should be >= ~15% of the frame size)
• SMOOTH, not jerky, tracking via PTZ or fixed cam with variable focal lengths or higher resolution camera with cropping/digital zoom - could even be something like a 4k+ camera that uses a yolo detection box (ideally with +25% padding so its not right at the edges of the horse), and the camera needs to be wide angle enough to capture the entire short side, but not so wide that she's a blurry mess at the far end.
• a relatively simple way for her to access the video (PC or phone), either from network folder or by accessing (downloading or streaming) onboard micro sd card easily, or even from the cloud via phone app
• weather proof
• under ~$1,500 - but could stretch a bit for a perfect fit

nice to have:

• under ~$750
• solar and wifi (lol?)
• ease of installation and use, both hardware and software ecosystem
• clean picture without massive compression artifacts everywhere
• not have to use NVR or PC to record
• microphone

do not care about:

• nighttime performance
• IRs or LED lights
• top level image quality (no license plates will be read)
• cloud/app subscription costs, as long as its not egregious

Final thoughts
User experience > raw camera quality. While the arena is not convenient to run power or ethernet to, it can be done. We have a pretty good mesh wifi setup around the farm. I used to run Blue Iris v4 back in 2015 or so with a foscam, but switched to Wyze (I know, I know) because it is "good enough", cheap to setup a ton of cams, and WAY EASIER to work with than finicky blue iris. I am a technical person, know more than the average about AI vision models, and will figure anything out, but I do not want to constantly hear "honey, the camera isn't working again" and have to constantly fiddle with software, reboot the camera, etc.

Thank you!

 

[redwo1f]

anyone? sorry its so long winded, but there's a lot of specifics. Basically, good ptz for outdoor/daytime only, wife on horse out to 200ft, good UX > cam specs

 

[bigredfish]

I think your specs are the reason no replies.
You're going to need Power and run Ethernet from the cameras back to an NVR >>>and then NVR to a wifi router


PTZ- really only a few reasonable priced ones I trust but there are a bunch of newer models I've never used so...
I'd recommend the 4MP versions with the 1/1.8" sensor as it isnt really the right size for 8MP

Both of these should do ok for you given your distances and lack of obstructions

EmpireTech PTZ5A4M-25X-S2 1/1.8" CMOS 4MP 25x Starlight IR 5.4mm–135mm

Estimated delivery is 2 weeks, and expedited shipping is not available. High-Quality Imaging with 4MP Resolution 25× Optical Zoom Provide Close Up Views Over Expansive Areas Expansive Night View With up to 150m IR Distance for 24/7 Monitoring Enhanced Deep Learning-Based Human and Vehicle...

empiretech01.com

EmpireTech PTZ425DB-AT 1/2.8"CMOS 4MP 25x Starlight IR 5mm–125mm Vari-

4MP, 1/2.8" CMOS 25x optical zoom Max. 25/30fps@4MP IR distance up to 100 m Auto-tracking 1.0 Perimeter protection Face detection Smart Motion Detection 3.0 IP66

empiretech01.com

The cameras dont communicate via wifi themselves so you're going to have to run cable anyway, I'd hard wire it back to an NVR

NVR5208-EI2

NVR5208-EI2

www.dahuasecurity.com

The NVR would need to be hard wire connected to the wifi router then you can control live view/playback/downlaoding from the DMSS iPhone app and SmartPSS Lite desktop/laptop app

The big problem is relying on one camera, a PTZ. Though good quality, they will by default lose targets now and then without movement for a period of time, or get distracted by someone else in the FOV.

You'll need at least 2-4 fixed cameras to help, and act as spotters for the PTZ which will make it all much more reliabvle and accurate, but these by design can't auto zoom so you'll obviously get better detail when she's closer to the camera. "Wide view" and detail at say 100ft don't go together.
Stay with the trusted 54IR series (Dahua 5442 series)

Smart IR Series Camera | EmpireTech

EmpireTech's Smart IR Series network camera uses advanced deep learning algorithms for enhanced accuracy in audio & video analysis with features like video metadata, smart sound detection, facial recognition, perimeter security, & people counting. Rated IP67 & IK10, it's dustproof, waterproof, &...

empiretech01.com

The 4KT and 4K-X are also great cameras with big sensors, but they do have a 0-8ft soft focus issue

Smart Warm Light Series Camera

Building security systems for home and business offices. Protecting customers' personal safety and property security. All the security cameras and NVRs we sell are of great quality and at affordable prices.

empiretech01.com

Camera quality will be far above anything you mentioned, and likely beyond your expectations, but it comes with a price
Easily $2000 for the above

 

[bp2008]

I don't know if you're going to have a good time relying solely on PTZ auto-tracking for this. It'll work great sometimes, and in my experience they move smoothly enough, but sometimes it'll just be looking the wrong way. I'd recommend at least one fixed camera that sees the entire arena. A dual lens panoramic cam mounted on or near the long side of the fence should do a good enough job.

This is a possibility:

https://amazon.com/dp/B0CM39K7CB

Very high resolution, beyond pretty much anything you can get from Dahua or Hikvision. But with a 20 FPS frame rate it won't be the smoothest thing ever. This would need to go on the long side of the arena, not the short side. 200ft distance is no joke. If mounted at the middle of the fence on a long side, you'll have something much closer to 125ft max distance (to the furthest corners of the arena) and most of it will be much closer than that.

Otherwise I would suggest trying this: EmpireTech PTZ3E10X-T180 1/2.8" CMOS 8MP+4MP 10x Starlight Three-in-On

It is a PTZ with a dual lens fixed 180° panorama camera also built in. Put it on a long side of the arena if you can, close to the arena wall/fence if possible, because that'll give you substantially better results than putting it at the short side. Anyway, based on the specs of that cam, they did not mess up the aspect ratio of the panoramic view (unlike certain other Dahua dual-lens panorama cameras). I don't know how well its auto tracking will do, but if/when it isn't on-target, the panorama view will still see everything.

I don't know how far you'll get with just the camera's built-in recording capabilities instead of an NVR, but both I linked do support a micro SD card for recording.

If you want it to be wifi & battery/solar powered, you'll need to provide that yourself via something like an ecoflow power station in a weatherproof enclosure (maybe a truck-bed toolbox - you'll figure something out), plus sufficient solar panels, and an outdoor rated wifi client. Cameras with all this stuff built in are going to be limited in their other capabilities and it is just not a good tradeoff in my opinion.

 

[redwo1f]

Thank you, I appreciate the reply! I'll look into those PTZ cams a bit more. I am also looking into the Unity G6 PTZ.

I could stretch the budget a bit if there's a silver bullet camera that would perfectly, especially since I'm about to set up the barn with poe cameras and need an NVR / ecosystem for that. It sounds like its getting more complicated than it needs to be, I don't understand the spotter cameras? It's just my wife riding by herself in a clear patch of dirt, for a lack of better term. only other things would be tree shadows.

 

[SpacemanSpiff]

Spotter cam is a static mounted camera covering a given area of the arena. Rules are defined so if a spotter cam see's activity/movement, it calls the PTZ to look in the area where the spotter detected movement.

As @bigredfish mentioned, having spotters set-up will make the PTZ more reliable & responsive to activity.

 

[redwo1f]

I don't know if you're going to have a good time relying solely on PTZ auto-tracking for this. It'll work great sometimes, and in my experience they move smoothly enough, but sometimes it'll just be looking the wrong way. I'd recommend at least one fixed camera that sees the entire arena. A dual lens panoramic cam mounted on or near the long side of the fence should do a good enough job.

This is a possibility:

https://amazon.com/dp/B0CM39K7CB

Very high resolution, beyond pretty much anything you can get from Dahua or Hikvision. But with a 20 FPS frame rate it won't be the smoothest thing ever. This would need to go on the long side of the arena, not the short side. 200ft distance is no joke. If mounted at the middle of the fence on a long side, you'll have something much closer to 125ft max distance (to the furthest corners of the arena) and most of it will be much closer than that.

Otherwise I would suggest trying this: EmpireTech PTZ3E10X-T180 1/2.8" CMOS 8MP+4MP 10x Starlight Three-in-On

interesting ideas, worth exploring more. Honestly, if I could get the video on my PC easily, at a nice high res, I could just run an automatic yolo detection crop on her and it would "zoom" that way. Too bad the luxonis Oak-1 doesn't have a larger resolution, it has ai vision model on-board processing.

 

[bigredfish]

Thank you, I appreciate the reply! I'll look into those PTZ cams a bit more. I am also looking into the Unity G6 PTZ.

I could stretch the budget a bit if there's a silver bullet camera that would perfectly, especially since I'm about to set up the barn with poe cameras and need an NVR / ecosystem for that. It sounds like its getting more complicated than it needs to be, I don't understand the spotter cameras? It's just my wife riding by herself in a clear patch of dirt, for a lack of better term. only other things would be tree shadows.

Very doubtful the PTZ "Home" FOV where it parks waiting will cover the entire area, so the spotter cams serve 2 purposes

1- When the PTZ is looking the other way because someone else came into the FOV, the spotter tells it to move to a specifc area where it can pick up and track your subject.
2- Provides better constant coverage within its FOV and ID distance when the PTZ hasnt quite made it there yet. For fast moving targets they would be helpful at either end