IVS Wiki:Configuring a Privacy Switch

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Revision as of 15:28, 31 March 2025 by IVSWikiBlue (talk | contribs)
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Prepare all Cameras

On each camera in the room:

  1. Set the I/O Ports
  2. Set the PTZ Presets
  3. Set the Privacy Mask


Set the I/O Ports

The Input/Output (I/O) ports will be wired to the Privacy Switch. These are used to determine which mode the camera should be in and outputs power to the Privacy Switch to light up the LED.


  1. Go to SystemAccessories.
  2. Ensure that Ports 1 & 3 are set as Input and 2 & 4 are set as Output.
  3. Port 1 Input Port 2 Output
    Port 3 Input Port 4 Output

Some cameras will only have ports 1 & 2.


Set the PTZ Presets

If there are any PTZ cameras in the room, you will need to set the preset positions on those cameras. These locations will help drive the camera to its Privacy Position and Home Position.


  1. Pan/Tilt/Zoom your camera to the desired angle.
  2. Go to PTZPreset Positions.

  3. Select Preset PositionsCreate preset position.
    1. Home Position
      • Set a typical angle that would capture the room normally.
      • The Home preset may already exist. If this is the case, hit the Edit button on the existing Home preset instead of creating a new preset.

      • In the Name field enter Home.
    2. Privacy Position
      • Typically, this involves having the PTZ face the wall.
      • The exact position does not matter for functionality, but having the camera visibly face the wall can help to ensure visual privacy even if the mask is off.

      • In the Name field enter Privacy.

Set the Privacy Mask

The Privacy Mask will be used to block the view


While your camera is in the Privacy Position:

  1. VideoPrivacy MasksHit the plus (+) button) to add a Mask.
  2. Have the mask cover the entire view.
  3. Name the mask Privacy.
  4. Make sure this is the first/only mask!


Add Recipients

Add Recipients

  1. Go to SystemEventsRecipients.
  2. Select Add Recipient.
  3. In the Name field, enter the name of the camera.
  4. It is common to use "Self" for the main camera.
  5. In the Type field, select HTTP.
  6. The URL of the recipient will be in the form:
    http://CAMERA_IP/axis-cgi/param.cgi 

Repeat this process on all cameras in the room that the privacy switch would be activating.


Remote PTZ Recipient

For remote PTZ cameras, separate PTZ Control recipients need to be made alongside the standard recipient of the form:

http://CAMERA_IP/axis-cgi/com/ptz.cgi
  1. Enter in the corresponding Username and Password for the recipient camera.
  2. Hit the Test button.
  3. If the camera responds that everything is okay, hit the Save button to save your recipient.
  4. Repeat this process on all PTZ cameras in the room that the privacy switch would be activating.


Add Privacy Event Rules

Privacy Off

  1. Go to SystemEventsRules.
  2. Select Add a rule.
  3. Set Name to Privacy Off.
  4. Set Condition to Digital input is active or I/O → Digital input. (Firmware Dependent)
  5. In the Port section, select the port the privacy switch trigger is connected to (white wire).
  6. Set Action to Send notification through HTTP.
  7. Set the Recipient.
  8. The Query string suffix will be of the form name=value for each parameter name and value, with an ampersand (&) between each name/value pair.

The suffix should be composed of the following pairs:

Name Value
action update
Image.I0.Overlay.MaskWindows.M0.Enabled no
AudioSource.A0.InputGain 0
PTZ.Various.V1.PanEnabled true
PTZ.Various.V1.TiltEnabled true
PTZ.Various.V1.ZoomEnabled true
autofocus on


The completed suffix should be (ignore word wrapping):

action=update&Image.I0.Overlay.MaskWindows.M0.Enabled=no& AudioSource.A0.InputGain=0&PTZ.Various.V1.PanEnabled=true& PTZ.Various.V1.TiltEnabled=true&TZ.Various.V1.ZoomEnabled=true 

Privacy On

LED Toggle

PTZ Rules

PTZ Privacy

PTZ Home