Use PTZ camera controls

Last modified: Thursday July 11, 2024.

You can control a pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) camera directly from the Video view tool.

Task — Control a PTZ camera in Video view

  1. Choose Tools Tools > Video view Video view.
  2. Open a saved view containing a PTZ camera or drag a PTZ camera to a view pane.
  3. Hover over the PTZ camera video pane to see and interact with the virtual joystick and zoom control.
    1. You can only control one PTZ camera at a time.
  4. To use keyboard controls or an external game controller, click ptz control toggle button.
    1. Selecting keyboard controls or an external game controller turns off the virtual controller. To turn the virtual controller back on, click ptz control toggle button.
    2. Switching between virtual or physical controls applies to all PTZ camera feeds in the video view.

Keyboard and game controller controls for PTZ cameras

ControlKeyboardGame controller
Zoom inWLeft joystick
Zoom outSLeft joystick
Tilt upUp arrowRight joystick
Tilt downDown arrowRight joystick
Pan leftLeft arrowRight joystick
Pan rightRight arrowRight joystick

To see a full list of keyboard and game controller controls, open Alta Video settings > Controls.

Calibrate and adjust PTZ camera settings

You can adjust the PTZ settings for each camera to increase or decrease the sensitivity of the camera movement in response to your control movements.

  1. Choose Tools Tools > Devices Devices.

  2. Select the required cameras and click Edit settings in the side panel.

  3. Open the Video tab and click Video adjustments.

  4. Find PTZ calibration.

  5. Manually adjust the pan, tilt, and zoom steps to increase or decrease movement sensitivity as required.

  6. If required, invert the horizontal or vertical panning.