Video defect detection runs AI checks on your cameras at times you schedule. Each check takes a new snapshot and compares it with a reference snapshot of how the camera should look. It reports four kinds of problem that a connection status can’t show:
Camera position: the camera was bumped, rotated or re-aimed away from its reference view.
Visibility: darkness or something on the lens, like water droplets, a spider web, dirt or an object blocking the view.
Sensor status: black frames, color casts, banding or stripes.
Camera time: the date and time shown on the image are off.
It doesn’t tell you when a camera goes offline. Status camera checks cover that: see Camera status monitoring.
Start with the reference snapshot. It is the source of truth.
Every check compares the camera’s current image with one saved picture: the reference snapshot. Whatever it shows is what “normal” means for this camera. MyAngelcam takes it when you first save the settings, and no checks run until it exists.
If the reference shows a dirty lens or the wrong angle, every check is measured against that mistake. Get the camera right before you save: see step 4.
Before you start
You need permission to manage the camera.
The camera must be online when you set it up, because that’s when the reference snapshot is taken.
For the time check, the camera has to show the date and time on the image (on-screen display). Without it, the time result is “Not determined”.
Checks are paid from AI credits. Your plan adds enough AI credits every month for its included checks, so those checks cost you nothing extra. See Included checks and credits.
1. Open the camera’s Checks page
In MyAngelcam, open the camera and choose Checks in the camera menu, below Settings. Setup is per camera: repeat these steps for each camera you want checked.
The page has two parts. Status camera checks at the top is the online/offline check that pings the camera roughly every 10 minutes. Video defect detection below it is what this guide covers.
The camera’s Checks page, with Detection on. The reference snapshot is taken when you save.
2. Turn on detection
Switch the toggle to Detection on. This opens the settings; nothing is saved yet.
3. Choose a schedule
In Check schedule:
Camera timezone. All check times, the day and night windows and the time comparison use this zone. It starts with your browser’s timezone; change it if the camera is somewhere else.
How often should we run a full set of checks? Monthly, Weekly or Daily.
Daytime checks and Night-time checks: how many checks to run in each period. You can run at most one check per hour in each window, and at least one check per period.
Day / night boundaries: “Daytime is 07:00 to 21:00” by default. Everything outside the window counts as night.
Checks run at random times within each window, reshuffled every period. That way they see the camera in different light and at different moments, not always at 9:00. The card shows the total number of checks and an estimated monthly cost.
For example, Monthly with 3 daytime and 5 night-time checks is 8 checks a month for this camera.
Check schedule set to monthly, 3 daytime and 5 night-time checks. Nothing is saved until you click Enable & save.
4. Take the reference snapshot and save
The reference snapshot is the picture every check is compared with. Whatever it shows is what “normal” means for this camera, so take a moment before you save:
Point the camera exactly where you want it, at the zoom you want.
Clean the lens and remove anything blocking the view.
Check that the camera’s clock is correct.
Then click Enable & save. MyAngelcam takes a live snapshot from the camera and saves it as the reference, together with your schedule. You don’t upload anything. After the first save the button reads Save schedule.
If the camera is offline you’ll see “The camera looks offline — we could not capture a reference snapshot. Try again when it is online.” Nothing is enabled until the snapshot is taken.
Update the reference snapshot
Retake the reference whenever the camera’s normal view changes on purpose: you moved or re-aimed it, changed the zoom, or the scene changed for good (a new wall, a new shelf). Otherwise every check will report a moved camera.
New reference: on the camera’s Checks page, click Retake reference. The camera must be online.
Go back to an earlier one: under Previous references, click one of the last four snapshots to make it the reference again.
Don’t retake the reference to make a warning go away. If the camera was knocked or the lens is dirty, fix the camera first, then check that the next result is OK.
5. Get alerts
When a check finds a problem, MyAngelcam sends a Camera check failed notification with the reference and current images and the reason. To choose where it goes, open Notification rules → Camera notifications (the Notification settings link on the Checks page takes you to your contact methods). Under Camera check failed, click Add rule and pick your email, IFTTT or HTTP contact method and the cameras it applies to.
Camera check failed in Camera notifications rules. Here only the mobile app is set up, so alerts don’t go to email yet.
The Angelcam mobile app gets these push notifications automatically. Email alerts are not on by default, so add your email if you want them.
Read your results
Every check across all your cameras is in Check history in the account menu (account admins). Filter by camera, by result (All, Defect found, All OK, Needs review) or by defect type.
Check history: every check across your cameras, with filters.
A check ends as All OK, Defect found, or Failed if no snapshot could be taken (for example, the camera was offline). Open a check to see the Reference and This check images side by side and a result for each of the four detections: OK, Failed or Not determined, each with a one-sentence reason.
Confirm or correct a result
Under each detection, answer Was this correct? with Correct or Wrong. If you choose Wrong, you can add a note about what the AI got wrong. Confirm all correct confirms every detection at once. Answered checks drop out of Needs review.
In results collected so far, checks have reached 95% measured accuracy. We’ll update that figure as more results come in.
Included checks and credits
One check covers one camera and all four detections. Every Angelcam plan includes checks each month. They come as AI credits: on every plan, Angelcam adds AI credits to your account each month that cover the included number of checks, and each check is paid from your AI credits. AI credits are currently used only for video defect detection, so nothing else draws from them. You don’t need to buy anything for the included checks.
Plan | Checks included per month |
Essentials | 10 |
Professional | 50 |
Business | 200 |
Flex | 200 |
Checks beyond your plan’s number are paid from AI credits you buy. One check uses 0.02 AI credits, so 1 AI credit covers 50 checks. At the standard price, 1 AI credit costs $1, which makes a check $0.02.
To buy credits, open the Credits page and click Add credit. Bigger packs are cheaper per credit:
AI credits | Price | Checks it covers |
10 | Standard price ($10) | 500 |
50 | 10% off ($45) | 2,500 |
250 | 20% off ($200) | 12,500 |
1,000 | 30% off ($700) | 50,000 |
You can also choose Custom amount, from 10 to 1,000 credits. Turn on Auto top-up on the Credits page (“When below X, add Y”) so checks don’t pause.
If your credits run out, checks pause and you get an email: “Your AI credit balance is used up”. They start again automatically after you top up. A check that fails because the camera was offline isn’t charged.
When a result looks wrong
“Camera moved”, but you moved it on purpose: retake the reference snapshot.
Time “Not determined”: the camera doesn’t show the date and time on the image. Turn on the on-screen time in the camera’s own settings, or ignore this result.
Time wrong: the on-screen clock is off. Check the camera’s time and NTP settings and its timezone, and the Camera timezone in the check schedule.
Visibility: darkness counts as a visibility problem, and a view too dark or blocked to judge can come back “Not determined”. If the camera is fine, mark the result Wrong.
Check “Failed”: no snapshot could be taken, usually because the camera was offline at that moment. You aren’t charged and no alert is sent.
Turn it off
On the camera’s Checks page, switch to Detection off and save. No more checks run for that camera.
Related
Need a hand? Just say hello@angelcam.com or check out the Angelcam Community.