Camera controls

As an Administrator, open Cameras, select a camera, and use its overview and control panels to inspect capabilities and operate supported devices. A live picture, a manufacturer name, or a capability badge alone does not prove that a camera command will succeed. KeepPeek reports command failures separately from camera and stream health.

The Cameras navigation and configuration editors are Administrator workflows. The API also allows authorized Users to read motion-detection status and issue supported PTZ commands for their granted cameras. Changing detector configuration requires Administrator access. Camera grants and advertised capabilities still apply to each operation. See Authentication and access for the trusted-local policy and camera grants.

Move a PTZ camera

On a supported camera, the PTZ panel provides directional movement, optical zoom, Stop PTZ, and existing presets.

1. Check the live image and select the intended camera.
2. Press and hold a direction or optical zoom control. Release it to request a stop. Keyboard users can focus a movement button and hold Space or Enter.
3. Use Stop PTZ to stop movement explicitly.
4. Select an existing preset to recall that device position. Preset creation and deletion are not available through the shared KeepPeek controls; manage them in the camera’s own interface.

Continuous movement belongs to the controlling WebRTC connection. KeepPeek requests a stop on disconnect and after an uncertain movement acknowledgement. If a stop cannot be confirmed, it reports the failure and retains ownership instead of treating the camera as safely idle. Check the camera directly before another operation. Keep the device’s own movement timeout enabled.

Hikvision/Annke controls use ISAPI HTTP. The current Reolink control adapter uses Reolink HTTP even when the recording backend is reo-proto. Their movement speed scales differ. Reolink HTTP controls currently address channel 0; do not assume arbitrary NVR channel control is supported. A missing PTZ axis or unavailable preset is not supplied by software emulation.

For magnifying a picture without moving the device, use Digital zoom and pan. Digital zoom also works on recordings and event images.

Enable or disable motion detection

The camera detail page’s Motion detection > Enabled switch changes the camera’s detector configuration. It is independent of whether motion is occurring at this instant.

KeepPeek reads the current alarm configuration, changes the enabled field, and reads it back. Unrelated settings such as masks and sensitivity remain intact. Wait for the result before making another change. An error or mismatched read-back is a failed operation, and KeepPeek does not automatically reboot the camera to apply it.

Three settings have different purposes:

Turning off generic motion retention does not turn off the detector or native subscriptions. Smart person or vehicle classifications may still depend on those subscriptions. Configure detector regions, schedules and vendor-specific target filters in the camera interface. See Native camera events and Recording and evidence.

Audio and unsupported controls

Listening to an available camera audio stream is separate from sending microphone audio back to its speaker. Talk is not implemented in the browser application, including on devices that advertise a speaker or two-way-audio capability. KeepPeek’s reusable vendor libraries contain audio transport support, but this does not provide an application talk session.

Relative PTZ movement, preset save/delete and vendor-specific focus, guard, sensitivity or smart rule editing are not shared browser controls. Disabled controls describe unavailable application operations; they are not a reason to grant broader access or enable an unsupported protocol.

Troubleshooting

The camera control reference details vendor differences and synthetic test coverage. Physical support still depends on the camera model, firmware, account permissions and channel mapping.