add test

docs/docs/configuration/motion_detection.md

@@ -92,6 +92,40 @@ motion:
   lightning_threshold: 0.8
 ```
 
+## Skip Motion On Large Scene Changes
+
+```yaml
+# default skip_motion_threshold:
+motion:
+  # Optional: Fraction of the frame that must change in a single update
+  #           before Frigate will completely ignore any motion in that frame.
+  #           Values range between 0.0 and 1.0, where 1.0 (the default) means
+  #           the feature is disabled. Setting this to 0.7 would cause Frigate to
+  #           **skip** reporting motion boxes when more than 70% of the image
+  #           appears to change (e.g. during lightning storms, IR/color mode
+  #           switches, or other sudden lighting events).
+  skip_motion_threshold: 1.0
+```
+
+This option is handy when you want to prevent large transient changes from
+triggering recordings or object detection. It differs from `lightning_threshold`
+because it completely suppresses motion instead of just forcing a recalibration.
+
+> **Note on trade‑offs:** when the skip threshold is exceeded, **no motion is
+> reported** for that frame. That means you can miss something important like
+> a PTZ camera auto‑tracking an object or seeing activity while the camera is
+> moving. If you prefer to guarantee that every frame is saved, leave motion
+> enabled and accept a couple of recordings that may contain mostly scene noise;
+> they typically only take up a few megabytes and are very quick to scan in the
+> timeline UI.
+
+:::note
+
+This setting only affects whether motion boxes are returned; recordings and
+other downstream logic will still use the current warm‑up/calibration state.
+
+:::
+
 :::warning
 
 Some cameras like doorbell cameras may have missed detections when someone walks directly in front of the camera and the lightning_threshold causes motion detection to be re-calibrated. In this case, it may be desirable to increase the `lightning_threshold` to ensure these objects are not missed.
@@ -105,3 +139,5 @@ Lightning threshold does not stop motion based recordings from being saved.
 :::
 
 Large changes in motion like PTZ moves and camera switches between Color and IR mode should result in a pause in object detection. This is done via the `lightning_threshold` configuration. It is defined as the percentage of the image used to detect lightning or other substantial changes where motion detection needs to recalibrate. Increasing this value will make motion detection more likely to consider lightning or IR mode changes as valid motion. Decreasing this value will make motion detection more likely to ignore large amounts of motion such as a person approaching a doorbell camera.
+
+> **Clarification:** the lightning threshold does **not** stop motion from being detected entirely. Instead it prevents the detector from running additional motion analysis after the first frame exceeds the threshold. The goal is to reduce false positive object detections and motion usage during high‑motion periods (e.g. a storm or a PTZ camera sweep) without interfering with recordings; recordings are still saved because users expect their PTZ cameras to record while moving.

docs/docs/configuration/reference.md

@@ -480,12 +480,15 @@ motion:
   # Increasing this value will make motion detection less sensitive and decreasing it will make motion detection more sensitive.
   # The value should be between 1 and 255.
   threshold: 30
-  # Optional: The percentage of the image used to detect lightning or other substantial changes where motion detection
-  #           needs to recalibrate. (default: shown below)
+  # Optional: The percentage of the image used to detect lightning or other substantial changes where motion detection needs
+  # to recalibrate and motion checks stop for that frame. Recordings are unaffected. (default: shown below)
   # Increasing this value will make motion detection more likely to consider lightning or ir mode changes as valid motion.
-  # Decreasing this value will make motion detection more likely to ignore large amounts of motion such as a person approaching
-  # a doorbell camera.
+  # Decreasing this value will make motion detection more likely to ignore large amounts of motion such as a person approaching a doorbell camera.
   lightning_threshold: 0.8
+  # Optional: The percentage of the image used to detect lightning or other substantial changes where motion detection needs to recalibrate
+  # When this threshold is exceeded the frame is entirely skipped for motion processing and **no motion recording** is retained.
+  # Use with care on PTZ cameras or other situations where you require guaranteed frame capture.
+  skip_motion_threshold: 1.0
   # Optional: Minimum size in pixels in the resized motion image that counts as motion (default: shown below)
   # Increasing this value will prevent smaller areas of motion from being detected. Decreasing will
   # make motion detection more sensitive to smaller moving objects.

frigate/config/camera/motion.py

@@ -24,10 +24,17 @@ class MotionConfig(FrigateBaseModel):
     lightning_threshold: float = Field(
         default=0.8,
         title="Lightning threshold",
-        description="Threshold to detect and ignore brief lighting spikes (lower is more sensitive, values between 0.3 and 1.0).",
+        description="Threshold to detect and ignore brief lighting spikes (lower is more sensitive, values between 0.3 and 1.0). This does not prevent motion detection entirely; it merely causes the detector to stop analyzing additional frames once the threshold is exceeded. Motion-based recordings are still created during these events.",
         ge=0.3,
         le=1.0,
     )
+    skip_motion_threshold: float = Field(
+        default=1.0,
+        title="Skip motion threshold",
+        description="If more than this fraction of the image changes in a single frame, the detector will return no motion boxes and immediately recalibrate. This can save CPU and reduce false positives during lightning, storms, etc., but may miss real events such as a PTZ camera auto‑tracking an object. The trade‑off is between dropping a few megabytes of recordings versus reviewing a couple short clips. Range 0.0 to 1.0.",
+        ge=0.0,
+        le=1.0,
+    )
     improve_contrast: bool = Field(
         default=True,
         title="Improve contrast",

frigate/motion/improved_motion.py

@@ -176,11 +176,29 @@ class ImprovedMotionDetector(MotionDetector):
             motion_boxes = []
             pct_motion = 0
 
+        # skip motion entirely if the scene change percentage exceeds configured
+        # threshold. this is useful to ignore lighting storms, IR mode switches,
+        # etc. rather than registering them as brief motion and then recalibrating.
+        # note: skipping means the frame is dropped and **no recording will be
+        # created**, which could hide a legitimate object if the camera is actively
+        # auto‑tracking. the alternative is to allow motion and accept a small
+        # recording that can be reviewed in the timeline.
+        if pct_motion > self.config.skip_motion_threshold:
+            # force a recalibration so we transition to the new background
+            self.calibrating = True
+            return []
+
         # once the motion is less than 5% and the number of contours is < 4, assume its calibrated
         if pct_motion < 0.05 and len(motion_boxes) <= 4:
             self.calibrating = False
 
-        # if calibrating or the motion contours are > 80% of the image area (lightning, ir, ptz) recalibrate
+        # if calibrating or the motion contours are > 80% of the image area
+        # (lightning, ir, ptz) recalibrate. the lightning threshold does **not**
+        # stop motion detection entirely; it simply halts additional processing for
+        # the current frame once the percentage crosses the threshold. this helps
+        # reduce false positive object detections and CPU usage during high‑motion
+        # events. recordings continue to be generated because users expect data
+        # while a PTZ camera is moving.
         if self.calibrating or pct_motion > self.config.lightning_threshold:
             self.calibrating = True
 

frigate/test/test_motion_detector.py

@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+import unittest
+
+import numpy as np
+
+from frigate.config.camera.motion import MotionConfig
+from frigate.motion.improved_motion import ImprovedMotionDetector
+
+
+class TestImprovedMotionDetector(unittest.TestCase):
+    def setUp(self):
+        # small frame for testing; actual frames are grayscale
+        self.frame_shape = (100, 100)  # height, width
+        self.config = MotionConfig()
+        # motion detector assumes a rasterized_mask attribute exists on config
+        # when update_mask() is called; add one manually by bypassing pydantic.
+        object.__setattr__(
+            self.config,
+            "rasterized_mask",
+            np.ones((self.frame_shape[0], self.frame_shape[1]), dtype=np.uint8),
+        )
+
+        # create minimal PTZ metrics stub to satisfy detector checks
+        class _Stub:
+            def __init__(self, value=False):
+                self.value = value
+
+            def is_set(self):
+                return bool(self.value)
+
+        class DummyPTZ:
+            def __init__(self):
+                self.autotracker_enabled = _Stub(False)
+                self.motor_stopped = _Stub(False)
+                self.stop_time = _Stub(0)
+
+        self.detector = ImprovedMotionDetector(
+            self.frame_shape, self.config, fps=30, ptz_metrics=DummyPTZ()
+        )
+
+        # establish a baseline frame (all zeros)
+        base_frame = np.zeros(
+            (self.frame_shape[0], self.frame_shape[1]), dtype=np.uint8
+        )
+        self.detector.detect(base_frame)
+
+    def _half_change_frame(self) -> np.ndarray:
+        """Produce a frame where roughly half of the pixels are different."""
+        frame = np.zeros((self.frame_shape[0], self.frame_shape[1]), dtype=np.uint8)
+        # flip the top half to white
+        frame[: self.frame_shape[0] // 2, :] = 255
+        return frame
+
+    def test_skip_motion_threshold_default(self):
+        """With the default (1.0) setting, motion should still be reported."""
+        frame = self._half_change_frame()
+        boxes = self.detector.detect(frame)
+        self.assertTrue(
+            boxes, "Expected motion boxes when skip threshold is at default"
+        )
+
+    def test_skip_motion_threshold_applied(self):
+        """Setting a low skip threshold should prevent any boxes from being returned."""
+        # change the config and update the detector reference
+        self.config.skip_motion_threshold = 0.4
+        self.detector.config = self.config
+        self.detector.update_mask()
+
+        frame = self._half_change_frame()
+        boxes = self.detector.detect(frame)
+        self.assertEqual(
+            boxes,
+            [],
+            "Motion boxes should be empty when scene change exceeds skip threshold",
+        )
+
+    def test_skip_motion_threshold_does_not_affect_calibration(self):
+        """Even when skipping, the detector should go into calibrating state."""
+        self.config.skip_motion_threshold = 0.4
+        self.detector.config = self.config
+        self.detector.update_mask()
+
+        frame = self._half_change_frame()
+        _ = self.detector.detect(frame)
+        self.assertTrue(
+            self.detector.calibrating,
+            "Detector should be in calibrating state after skip event",
+        )
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    unittest.main()

web/public/locales/en/config/cameras.json

@@ -264,7 +264,11 @@
     },
     "lightning_threshold": {
       "label": "Lightning threshold",
-      "description": "Threshold to detect and ignore brief lighting spikes (lower is more sensitive, values between 0.3 and 1.0)."
+      "description": "Threshold to detect and ignore brief lighting spikes (lower is more sensitive, values between 0.3 and 1.0). This does not prevent motion detection entirely; it merely causes the detector to stop analyzing additional frames once the threshold is exceeded. Motion-based recordings are still created during these events."
+    },
+    "skip_motion_threshold": {
+      "label": "Skip motion threshold",
+      "description": "If more than this fraction of the image changes in a single frame, the detector will return no motion boxes and immediately recalibrate. This can save CPU and reduce false positives during lightning, storms, etc., but may miss real events such as a PTZ camera auto‑tracking an object. The trade‑off is between dropping a few megabytes of recordings versus reviewing a couple short clips. Range 0.0 to 1.0."
     },
     "improve_contrast": {
       "label": "Improve contrast",
@@ -864,7 +868,8 @@
       "description": "A user-friendly name for the zone, displayed in the Frigate UI. If not set, a formatted version of the zone name will be used."
     },
     "enabled": {
-      "label": "Whether this zone is active. Disabled zones are ignored at runtime."
+      "label": "Enabled",
+      "description": "Enable or disable this zone. Disabled zones are ignored at runtime."
     },
     "enabled_in_config": {
       "label": "Keep track of original state of zone."

web/public/locales/en/config/global.json

@@ -1391,7 +1391,11 @@
     },
     "lightning_threshold": {
       "label": "Lightning threshold",
-      "description": "Threshold to detect and ignore brief lighting spikes (lower is more sensitive, values between 0.3 and 1.0)."
+      "description": "Threshold to detect and ignore brief lighting spikes (lower is more sensitive, values between 0.3 and 1.0). This does not prevent motion detection entirely; it merely causes the detector to stop analyzing additional frames once the threshold is exceeded. Motion-based recordings are still created during these events."
+    },
+    "skip_motion_threshold": {
+      "label": "Skip motion threshold",
+      "description": "If more than this fraction of the image changes in a single frame, the detector will return no motion boxes and immediately recalibrate. This can save CPU and reduce false positives during lightning, storms, etc., but may miss real events such as a PTZ camera auto‑tracking an object. The trade‑off is between dropping a few megabytes of recordings versus reviewing a couple short clips. Range 0.0 to 1.0."
     },
     "improve_contrast": {
       "label": "Improve contrast",

web/src/components/config-form/section-configs/motion.ts

@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ const motion: SectionConfigOverrides = {
       "enabled",
       "threshold",
       "lightning_threshold",
+      "skip_motion_threshold",
       "improve_contrast",
       "contour_area",
       "delta_alpha",
@@ -22,6 +23,7 @@ const motion: SectionConfigOverrides = {
     hiddenFields: ["enabled_in_config", "mask", "raw_mask"],
     advancedFields: [
       "lightning_threshold",
+      "skip_motion_threshold",
       "delta_alpha",
       "frame_alpha",
       "frame_height",
@@ -33,6 +35,7 @@ const motion: SectionConfigOverrides = {
       "enabled",
       "threshold",
       "lightning_threshold",
+      "skip_motion_threshold",
       "improve_contrast",
       "contour_area",
       "delta_alpha",

web/src/types/frigateConfig.ts

@@ -106,6 +106,7 @@ export interface CameraConfig {
     frame_height: number;
     improve_contrast: boolean;
     lightning_threshold: number;
+    skip_motion_threshold: number;
     mask: {
       [maskId: string]: {
         friendly_name?: string;