Camera Controls

Overview

Each camera has groups of settings to control various parts of the camera:

exploreHD Series
stellarHD Series

System Controls

Setting	Description
Bitrate	Determines the amount of data processed per second of video. Higher values yield better video quality but consume more network bandwidth.
Group of Pictures	Sets the interval between key-frames (I-frames) in the video stream. A higher value improves compression efficiency, while a lower value can reduce latency and improve stream stability over weak connections.
Variable Bitrate	When enabled, the stream’s bitrate will dynamically adjust based on the visual complexity of the scene (VBR), saving bandwidth during static shots rather than pushing a constant bitrate (CBR).

Exposure Controls
Image Processing Controls

An example of our exploreHD camera controls.

Advanced Controls

Setting	Description
Strobe Width	Sets the brightness of a connected strobe light configuration.
ISO	Sets the sensor gain. Keep your ISO as low as possible to reduce noise.
Exposure Time	Keep your exposure time low to prevent motion blur.
Auto Exposure	If auto exposure is enabled, you cannot modify the ISO or exposure time. Strobe lights will not work when auto exposure is enabled.

Legacy Exposure Controls - These are the controls shared with the exploreHD series. They provide less precise control over the image sensor compared to Advanced Controls.
Image Processing Controls

An example of our stellarHD camera controls.

Reset Controls

Click the (Reset Controls) button at the bottom of the camera control panel. This will factory reset all camera image settings you adjusted. This does not affect stream endpoints.

Exposure Controls

Setting	Description
Gain	Artificially amplifies the video signal to increase brightness in low-light scenarios.
Backlight Compensation	Adjusts the exposure to properly illuminate darker subjects that are positioned against a bright background, preventing them from appearing as silhouettes.

Increasing Gain too much can introduce digital noise or “grain” into your video feed.

Auto Exposure

Mode	Description
Aperture Priority Mode	The camera automatically adjusts the exposure time (shutter speed) while keeping the iris/aperture under manual or fixed control.
Manual Mode	This allows manual control of the exposure time (shutter speed) setting.

All DWE cameras are fixed aperture, therefore only aperture priority mode is available.

Exposure Time, Absolute

When in Manual Mode, this setting allows you to manually dictate the specific duration the sensor is exposed to light per frame.

Exposure, Dynamic Framerate

When toggled on, this allows the camera to automatically lower its framerate in dark environments. This increases the exposure time per frame, resulting in a brighter image at the cost of video smoothness.

Image Processing Controls

Setting	Description
Brightness	Adjusts the overall lightness or darkness of the video feed.
Contrast	Modifies the difference between the lightest and darkest areas of the image.
Saturation	Controls the intensity and vividness of the colors.
Hue	Shifts the overall color phase (tint) of the video.
White-Balance, Automatic	Toggles our custom auto white-balance algorithm designed to optimize color and clarity for underwater.
Gamma	Adjusts the brightness of the mid-tones in the video without severely affecting the extreme shadows or bright highlights.
Sharpness	Enhances edge detail to make the image appear crisper and more defined.
Power Line Frequency	Prevents video flickering caused by artificial lights. You should set this to match your local region’s electrical grid frequency (e.g., `60 Hz` for North America, `50 Hz` for Europe/Asia).
White Balance Temperature	Adjusts the color temperature of the camera. Lower values produce cooler (more blue) tones, while higher values produce warmer (more orange) tones.

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Camera Controls