PTZ cameras
PTZ (pan, tilt, zoom) cameras are moved from two places:
- the single camera page: open a camera from Live view (Open {camera}), from its NVR's camera list (Watch) or from an alarm. The PTZ panel is on the right of the video;
- the live grid: the PTZ panel under the camera list controls the camera in the selected tile, or in the tile shown alone (PTZ in the grid). Select another tile to move another camera.
Both have the same controls. Moving cameras needs the Operator or Tenant admin role (Roles and permissions); viewers do not see the panels.
Moving
Press and hold a button (or Space/Enter on it) to move; release to stop. The camera moves while the button is held and stops when you release it, move the pointer off it, or leave the page.
| Controls | Buttons |
|---|---|
| Direction pad | Tilt up, Tilt down, Pan left, Pan right and the diagonals (Up and left, Up and right, Down and left, Down and right) |
| Zoom | Zoom out (−), Zoom in (+) |
| Focus | Focus near (−), Focus far (+) |
| Speed | 1 (slow) to 8 (fast); 4 by default. It applies to the next movement. |
A command that reaches the camera more than 5 seconds late is dropped, so a slow connection never moves a camera long after you let go. An error (for example the NVR is offline) appears as a message at the bottom of the page.
Presets
A preset is a camera position stored on the camera, numbered 1 to 255.
- Enter the number under Presets and choose Go to to move the camera there.
- Choose Store here to store the camera's current position under that number (Preset N stored). This overwrites a preset with the same number.
Presets live on the camera (and NVR): they are the same ones SmartPSS or the NVR's own interface use.
Cameras not reported as PTZ
Sphere shows the PTZ controls for cameras whose NVR reports them as PTZ (the PTZ column of the NVR's camera list). Some NVRs do not report it, for example for PTZ cameras on third-party protocols. For those, tick Show PTZ controls (on the single camera page, or in the grid's PTZ panel for the selected tile): the commands are sent anyway. On a camera that really cannot move, they fail with an error.