CamSurveillance Manual
Part 4: Camera Settings
IP-Camera address - input the IP address of the camera including the picture name
( the picture must be in JPG format )
activate preview - activate the preview to show the
video window on the desktop. If the preview is activated the
program receives pictures from the camera address and the
state changes from offline into preview. An offline camera
costs no CPU. If the camera is offline, it will be activated
automatic at motion detection start.
preview interval - select the interval in sec in which
the program receives pictures from the camera address. At
motion detection start, the preview interval becomes the value
from the motion detection interval, if the motion detection
interval is shorter.
if the preview is active ... - select this option to
get at program start the first preview picture, no matter
which interval you have selected
use URL as camera name - displays
the URL within the main window camera list as the camera name
use user defined name as camera name - displays the
usertext as the camera name
deactivate preview if X times no
picture could received - if X times no picture could be
received, the program stops the preview and motion detection
mode for this camera. This is useful to save performance by
not receiving pictures from an offline LAN or Internet camera.
show video window in original picturesize
- uses the original camera
picture resolution for the video window
show video window in usersize - input the width and
height for the video window
never show the video window - hides
the video window all the time, not only if preview is offline
show video in 24 bit color - the
video picture has a 24 bit pixeldepth. If the camera picture
is colored the video picture is colored too.
show video in 8 bit grayscale - the video picture has
a 8 bit pixeldepth. The video picture contains 256 gray scale.
show video in 4 bit grayscale - the video picture has
a 4 bit pixeldepth. The video picture contains 16 gray scale.
show video in 1 bit grayscale - the video picture has
a 1 bit pixeldepth. The video picture contains only the colors
black and white.
Use these settings if you want to see the
video in the format, which you have selected for the intern
motion detection test routine.
Motion Detection
test interval X sec - select the interval in which the motion detector tests for
motion. If this interval is shorter than the preview intervall,
the preview intervall would reduced to this value.
test often as possible - depending on your hardware,
the test for motion happens often as possible
after each detection wait X sec - if selected, after
a motion was detected the programs waits X sec. before it
tests again
at detection start wait - if selected, at start of
the motion detector, X sec. are waited before the first test
test current picture against start picture
- the current picture would be compared to the picture
at motion detection start. This is useful if nothing changes
within the observed scene.
test current picture against previous picture - the
current picture would be compared to the previous picture.
This is useful if something changes the observed scene, but
this should not result in a detection. By example if the sun
is going down or up, the whole scene changes in a room with
windows, but in such a slow way, that this should not result
in a detection. The picture difference is then always a little
value ( maybe 2% ).
test current picture against last picture with no detection
- the current picture would be compared to the last picture
with no detection. This is useful if you only want 1 detection
if there comes something into the scene and then leaves the
scene. If there is nothing in front of your camera and you
step into the picture, you get one detection. If you leave
the picture you get no additional detection, because the program
tests against the last picture without a detection and this
was the picture before you step into the scene. In the mode test current picture against previous picture you get
2 detections in this example.! First for stepping into the
picture and second for leaving the picture.
compare pictures in 24 bit format - after receiving the pictures are in 24 bit format by default,
no matter what format the camera has. So there is no format
change before the testing starts. For each pixel, 3 bytes
must be compared.
compare pictures in 8 bit format - before the testing
starts, the picture is transformed into 8 bit gray scale.
So the influence of lighting could be reduced and the testing
routine runs 3 times faster as in 24 bit format.
compare pictures in 4 bit format - before the testing
starts, the picture is transformed into 4 bit gray scale.
So the influence of lighting could be reduced and the testing
routine runs 3 times faster as in 24 bit format.
compare pictures in 1 bit format - before the testing
starts, the picture is transformed into 1 bit gray scale.
So the influence of lighting could be reduced and the testing
routine runs 3 times faster as in 24 bit format.
Please try the different intern formate and see what works
best for your camera and situation.
For the first 3 intern formate you have
to select a value for the pixel-difference. This pixel
difference value determines if two pixels are different or
not. If the 2 compared pixels have a difference of 12 and
the difference value is 10, then the pixels are different
and counted to the sum of different pixels. If the difference
is 8 the pixels are not counted, they are equal. With this
value you can adjust the difference for two compared pictures.
If your camera creates big differences in captured pictures,
even if there are no changes or only little changes resulting
from sunlight, you have to increase the difference value.
If you increase this value you reduce the % of difference
of the two compared pictures. It's important to filter out
unimportant things from the pictures which influences the
result of the comparsion. Please adjust this value carefully
to have a good initial state for the motion detection.
show the picture differences within the
selected areas in the video window - this is useful to
see all different pixels live in the video window. Select
this mode to adjust the pixel difference value.
don't show the current received picture ... - to avoid
that the current received picture is displayed before the picture
difference is calculated and displayed, select this option
choose the color for the ... - select the color in
which the different pixels are painted within the video window
( works only in 24 bit mode )
X % of the selected area must be different
to report a motion - select how many ( in % ) of the selected
areas must be different between the two compared pictures
to report a motion. You can use this value to get always (
in your motion detection interval ) a motion and the selected
action at detection, if you set this value to 0 %. So you
have a FTP transfer, email sending or picture taking etc.
in intervals, independent if there is a motion in the picture
or not.
X times must a motion be detected to be sure and report
a motion - you can use this setting to get a motion report
only if there are some motions direct consecutively.
Text Output
output into video window - select if the text output should be printed into the video
window
output into capture picture - select if the text output
should be printed into the captured picture. This option influences
the capture picture selection from the action at detection
and the picture capture form the main window by button press.
user text - input a text which should
be printed
output text - select if and where
you want the user text be printed
output time - select if and where and in which format
you want the current time be printed
output date - select if and where and in which format
you want the current date be printed
Choose the text color and the backfground color for all text outputs.
transparent text - select if
you want the text without a background color or not
Picture Capture
Select the output format for the captured
pictures. This option influences the capture picture selection
from the action at detection and the picture capture from
the main window by button press.
You can choose JPG or BMP as the output format.
For the JPG pictures you have to select the quality.
10% quality results in small filesizes and bad picture qualities.
The following settings are only for the
picture capture from the main window by buttton press.!
select directory - choose the directory in which the pictures
should be stored
use the camera-name as filename - the name of the camera
( URL or a real name from the General seetings ) is
used for the picturefilename
use this usertext as filename - input a picturefilename
use the name of the camera picture as filename - the
picture name from the netcam is used for the picturefilename
add the current time to the filename - adds the current
time to the picturefilename
add the current date to the filename - adds the current
date to the picturefilename
With take a picture you can
create a picture ( only if preview is running and a picture
is received ) on your harddisk to verify the settings
Video Record
Select the output format for the recorded
videos.
The following settings are only for the video recording from
the main window by buttton press.!
select directory - choose the directory in which the videos
should be stored
use the camera-name as filename - the name of the camera
( URL or a real name from the General seetings ) is
used for the videofilename
use this usertext as filename - input a videofilename
use the name of the camera picture as filename - the
picture name from the netcam is used for the videofilename
add the current time to the filename - adds the current
time to the videofilename
add the current date to the filename - adds the current
date to the videofilename
if the video already exists append the new video ...-
select if you want to append the new recorded video to an
already existing video. So you get only one video for several
recordings. You can let several NetCams to record into the
same video file, but only one NetCam has the focus at one
time. If one camera starts recording, the next camera could
only record into the same video file, if the first camera
has finished recording. So you can select if you want several
videos for each NetCam, one video for each NetCam, or one
video for all NetCams.
Please try the append functionality first.
We have tested with several codecs, where some doesn't worked
well.
If you use the append option, there are two different ways
the program works. 1. You select no codec, just record the
uncompressed video. This has the advantage, that the video
record starts immediately, the frames could be append directly
and you get the best quality. The disadvantage is a huge video
file. 2. You select a codec. Appending frames to an existing
compressed video is not possible. To append additional frames
to an existing compressed video, the whole video is read and
write again to append the new frames. The existing frames
are compressed again. The advantage is a small video file.
The disadvantages are, that the record starts not immediately,
because all frames must be read and write before and that
the quality is reduced. Please try some different codecs to
see where you get the best quality after recompressing. Some
codecs like DIVX reduces the quality very much after recompression.
The following options influences the videos
which are recorded while motion detection works and the videos
which are recorded from the main window by button press.
select the AVI CODEC - before you
record the first video you should select the used codec.
The selectable codecs are the ones which you have installed
into your Windows system. The selected codec is used for all
recorded videos for ALL cameras.!
fps - frames per second - select of how many frames
per second your AVI should exists.
times should every frame be duplicated - select how
often a recorded picture should be shown while watching the
video
Remarks:
In general you can't receive 15 or more picture per second
from your netcam. Let us assume you could receive 15 pictures
per second, you could select 15 for the fps setting and 1
for the duplicated setting. Then you have an AVI with 15 frames
per second where each frame is a different picture. The AVI
runs as fast as it was recorded. It runs in realtime. But
if you can't receive so many pictures you have to select a
duplicated value, that the AVI is not running very very fast.
Let's assume that you receive every second a picture. 1 picture
per second and you select 15 for the fps setting and 1 for
the duplicated setting.Then you have an AVI with 15 frames
per second where every picture is different. The AVI plays
with 15 frames per second, so it shows in 1 second, what you
have received within 15 seconds.! It's runs 15 times faster
as realtime. So you have to select a duplicated value of 15
to show every frame for a longer time ( or you can say, every
picture is shown several times). Play a bit around with these
two values to find the best for your netcam and AVI.
Part
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