To anonymize a video stream, you must configure privacy protection on each camera.
Before you begin
What you should know
- The precision of the masking blocks (block size) is the same for the whole field of view. In distorted scenes, such as with fisheye cameras, this can result in coarse anonymization towards the edges of the scene.
- Privacy protection only supports PTZ cameras that are used as fixed cameras. If a camera is moved after privacy protection is enabled, the entire stream is anonymized for the duration of the Startup learning period (default = 60 seconds).
- Privacy protection is resource-intensive:
- Privacy protection adds one extra stream per camera: the privacy-protected public stream.
- Anonymization is computed and applied to the decoded image.
Procedure
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From the Area view task, select the camera to configure, and click
the Privacy protection tab.
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Configure the basic privacy protection settings.
- Streaming source
- Standard stream (default = Low resolution) is used to generate the anonymized stream. Although the Archiver role always archives the Recording stream as the original (private) stream, you can select a different stream to archive as the anonymized (public) stream.
- Method
- Appearance of the masking blocks. Choose the option that suits your privacy protection needs:
- Pixelation
- (Default) Sets the color of the masking blocks to the average color of the masked area.
- Colorize
- Fills the masking blocks with a solid color of your choice. Use this option to ensure that no person is recognizable in any scene.
- Transparency
- Fills the masking blocks with the color of the background, mixed with a semi-transparent color of your choice. Use this option to obscure people while leaving some of the background visible.
- Color
- (Colorize and Transparency methods only) The color to use for colorization. Select a
color from the Basic color picker, or click
Custom for additional options.
- Tolerance
- The illumination change tolerance as a percentage. Values range from 1 - 100% and the default is 25%.
- Block precision
- The block size in the protected video image. Specifying a high number results in
smaller blocks. Values range from 60 - 100 and the default is 80. Best Practice: Choose a block precision that anonymizes people even when they are close to the camera.
- Preset
- The optimized default set of settings for the selected use. Choose one of the following:
- Indoor
- The optimized default settings for indoor situations.
In this mode, Privacy Protector™ learns the color of image pixels and illumination states. The Illumination change tolerance setting specifies how much the color intensity of the current image must differ from the learned model to result in pixelation.
- Outdoor
- The optimized default settings for outdoor situations.
In this mode, Privacy Protector™ learns color intensity and edges in the image. Outdoor mode facilitates good detections in outdoor scenarios where lighting changes throughout the day.
This preset needs more CPU power. When using the outdoor preset, large regions with low contrast might not be anonymized, such as a person wearing a black coat that moves very close to the camera.
IMPORTANT: Only use the Outdoor preset if you can ensure that no one will move within 1-2m of the camera, or more if a zoom lens is used.
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(Optional) Designate one or more exclusion zones.
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Select one of the following:
- Add static privacy zone (
) - Privacy protection is always applied to these zones. Everything in a static privacy zone, including the background, is protected.
- Add exclusion zone (
) - Privacy protection is never applied to these zones. Everything in an exclusion zone, including motion, is not protected.
- Add static privacy zone (
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Select one of the following: