CamUniversal Manual
Part 5: Adjust Camera

Adjust Camera

General Settings

Used Camera Name - you could select to use the default name for the camera, or insert a user defined camera name. The default name for NetCams is the camera picture URL and for WebCams the camera name which comes from the device driver.

Picture Capturing - opens the picture capture settings dialog
Video Recording - opens the video recording settings dialog

CamUniversal supports 3 different modes in which pictures are captured and videos are recorded.
Mode 1: Normal Mode
This mode is active if you capture a picture or record a video if you press the appropriate button from the video window. Additional you could start the action from the context menu of the camera.
Mode 2: Motion Detector Mode
This mode is active if you run the motion detector and have choosen to capture a picture or record a video at detection of motion.
Mode 3: Scheduler Mode
This mode is active if you have added a scheduler job, which captures a picture or records a video. Each scheduler job could have his own settings!

All 3 modes could be active parallel and all 3 modes could have total different settings for the picture capture and video recording. If you want always the same settings in the 3 modes, you could use the following setting and you have to insert your settings only once. Picture Capturing And Video Recording ... - if selected the settings are the same in all 3 modes (and for all scheduler jobs)
... Are Separate Adjustable For ... - if selected each mode has his own settings

Video Server Settings
Send The Camera Picture To The Connected Video Client - check if the camera should work as RemoteCam. If checked the program sends the camera picture in intervals to the connected video clients.
Sending Interval - interval in which the program sends the camera picture
JPG Picture Quality - internal the camera picture is send in JPG picture format. Select the picture quality to adjust the picture size to find a compromise between a low bandwidth and a good picture visualizing.

NetCam Settings (the following settings are only relevant for NetCams)
The NetCam Picture Address (URL) - insert the direct link to the camera picture. You have to insert the URL which points direct to the camera picture not only to the camera webserver. Insert http://192.168.1.110/picture.jpg instead of only http://192.168.1.110 for your netcam.
Picture Receiving Interval From The URL - interval in which the program tries to receive a picture from the NetCam. Don't select an interval which is smaller than the camera is able to generate a new picture, because in this case you would receive the same picture several times again and needless reduce the network bandwidth.
Deactivate The Preview If X-Times The Picture Could Not Received - if selected the preview is stopped if x-times a picture could not received from the selected URL. This could happen if the camera is temporary offline.

Camera Needs Authentication - select if the camera webserver needs an authentication
Username - username for the authentication
Password - password for the authentication

Motion Detector Settings

Detector Settings
Compare Current Picture With Start Picture - the current camera picture is compared to the camera picture at motion detection start
Compare Current Picture With Previous Picture - the current camera picture is compared to the previous camera picture
Compare Current Picture With Last Picture With No Detection - the current camera picture is compared to the last camera picture where no motion was detected

The first selection is useful if the viewed area doesn't change and is always exact the same. This could be a room which has no windows and daylight. The content of the camera picture doesn't changes through the motion detection phase.
The second selection is used in the most cases. Little changes of the camera picture through a longer period doesn't matter. If the sunlight influence in a room changes through several hours, the program ignores it, because the difference between the current and the previous picture is so little, that it doesn't matter. For big changes between daytime and nighttime, you have to select several different jobs!
The third selection avoids the notification of a motion at the moment when no more motions are available. If you have selected the second test case and a person comes into the camera picture you get a motion detection. If the person leaves the picture and you have the normal situation again you get a motion detection too, because the picture distinguishes from the previous picture. 2 detections for one motion!

Testmode - select the motion detector testing mode
Fast Mode - only every second pixel in the video picture is tested. So the needed CPU capacity is cut in half. The results are in nearly all cases the same as in the Normal Mode!
Normal Mode - each pixel in the video picture is tested

X Times Must A Motion Be Detected To Be Sure... - select how many times a motion must be detected from the program to report a motion. If you are not sure that a motion detection has really a motion as reason and not a low quality video device, select a higher value.

These Settings Are Job Special (only the settings from this group are job special all further motion detector settings are the same for all jobs)
Test Interval - select the motion detection test interval
Pixel Difference Value - this value determines how many pixels of the camera picture are counted to be different. The current camera picture is compared to the previous (or first) camera picture. This is done pixelwise. To decide if two pixels of the two pictures are equal or different they are compared regarding their color values. The color values are seperated into a red, green and blue value. If the red value or the green value or the blue value differs about 18% (sample above), the pixel is counted as different. So you can adjust this value regarding the quality of your video device.
++ - 18% pixel difference value, the motion detector is not very sensitive
+ - 13% pixel difference value, the motion detector is more sensitive
- - 9% pixel difference value, the motion detector is sensitive
-- - 6% pixel difference value, the motion detector is very sensitive

The best way to find a suitable value for the pixel difference is to start the motion detector for the camera and open the "Picture Difference Window" from the main dialog context menu. In this window you see all different pixels colored. So you can adjust the pixel difference value until you get your desired result.

% Of The Selected Area Must Be Different To Report A Motion - the amount (in %) of the selected area which must be different to report a motion. The selected area is the area from the picture which is tested for motion. You have the possibility not to select the whole picture to test for motion, but only an area within the picture. Perhaps you would only to test the area from the picture in which is the door to the room. Adjust this value and the pixel difference value carefully to get the best result. Test the situation in case of a motion, perhaps walk into the camera picture to see how the picture difference changes. So you get a good idea how to adjust the values.

Select The Active Time Range - opens the dialog for selecting the active time range

The time range is the range in which the job is active. You can create several jobs, with different settings (except the action) and different time ranges. Run Always - the job should be always active. This is only useful if you have only one job, because the first job in the list which time is active is executed. There is always only one job active! Run From Start-Time To Stop-Time - select the start and stoptime. Additional select the active days!

These Settings Are The Same For All Jobs
Picture Area Selection - opens the dialog for selecting the relevant picture area

The relevant picture area is the area of the picture which is tested for motion. So you can select to test not the whole picture, but only the area of the entrance door, the window or something else. Select Paint Color - opens the dialog to select the color for painting the area. This color is also used in the "Picture Difference Window" Paint Color Transparency - transparency of the paint color Brush Size - the brush size in pixel Select All - select the whole picture Clear All - unselect the whole picture

Select The Action At Detection - opens the dialog to select the action which should be executed at detection of motion!

After Each Motion Detection Wait - if selected the program waits the amount of seconds after a motion was detected, before the test for motion continues.
At Motion Detection Start Wait - if selected the program waits the amount of seconds at start of the motion detector, before the first test is made. For example this is useful to leave the room or do something else.

Add New Job - adds a job to the joblist. The settings of this job are the current settings you have made and the selected time range.
Remove Selected Job - removes the selected job from the joblist
Take Current Settings On The Selected Job - takes the current settings and the current time range settings on the selected job.

Motion Detection Jobs
The motion detection job list shows all created jobs. You have the possibility to create not only one job, but several jobs. The jobs differs in: - the Test Interval - the Area Difference - the Pixel Value - the Time Range!
The picture area and the action at detection are the same for all jobs (but only for the current adjusting camera)!
You could create for each camera their own jobs!
The joblist is executed from the first to the last entry. The first job, which time range is current valid, is executed. So only one job is executed (the scheduler differs in this behaviour). Because all jobs have the same action it makes no sense to execute more than one.
Why several jobs?
You have the possibility to create several jobs to have for each time depending situation one. So you could test for motion at the night time every 5sec., but at the day time every 2sec.. You could test for motion if the sunlight is available with different settings for the area difference and with different pixel values as in the night. You test on the weekend with different settings as on workdays! There are several cases in which you want different motion detector settings!

Scheduler Settings

Select Job
Select the function of a new job through the radiobuttons. By pressing one of the job function buttons (FTP Settings, Email Settings, etc.) you open the dialog to adjust the function settings. Then you have to select the time at which the job should be active. At last, press the "Add Job" button to add the job to the scheduler job list. If you want to edit the function of an existing job, please select the job from the scheduler list and then press the "Edit Job Settings" button. The program knows the function of the selected job and opens the related settings dialog.

DialUp - select if the job should dialup. The best is to select a point in time for this job and not an interval. Perhaps "Work Once At Scheduler Start" or "Work Once Excact At 10:00". So you could dialup before you send an email or upload to the FTP server.
HangUp - select if the job should hangup and therefore disconnect the connection.

Disconnect From FTP Server - select if the job should disconnect from the FTP server (only executed if there is a connection existing)
Connect If Necessary, FTP upload - select if the job should connect to the FTP server and do an upload. The connection is only created if there is no connection already existing. After this, the FTP upload is done!
Connect, FTP Upload, Disconnect - select if the job should connect to the FTP server, do an upload to the FTP server and then disconnect from the FTP server.

The difference of the above selections is, that you only want to have a connection to the FTP server in this moment when the program uploads the files, or you want to establish a connection for a longer period. In the Connect If Necessary, FTP upload case you could faster upload (in shorter intervals) because the connection already exists and don't need to be established each time new. The connection is established at the first upload and then existing until you execute the Disconnect From FTP Server job. If you want to upload only now and then you could select Connect, FTP Upload, Disconnect, but if you want to upload in short intervals (your camera picture to your homepage) select Connect If Necessary, FTP upload and disconnect the connection by selecting Disconnect From FTP Server at "Work Once At Scheduler End".

FTP Settings - opens the FTP settings dialog

Send Email - select if the job should send an email
Email Settings - opens the Email settings dialog

Picture Capture - select if the job should capture a picture
Picture Settings - opens the picture settings dialog

Video Record - select if the job should record a video
Record Settings - opens the record settings dialog
Lengh (Sec.) - insert the length of the video in seconds

Execute Program - select if the job should execute an external program
Execute Settings - opens the settings dialog

Delete/Move Files - select if the job should move or delete files
Delete/Move Settings - opens the settings dialog


Select Active Job Time
You have to select the time range/time interval, time point and if the job should be active at scheduler start or/and scheduler stop. So there are 4 different possible selections which should be selected as a single one or as a combination of all.

Work Within A Time Range In A Selected Interval - the job should be executed within a time range and in this time range in the selected interval. You could select to be executed from 8:00 until 10:00 every 10sec, or alway every 3600sec. (each hour), or from 10:00 until 11:00 every 30sec. on Mondays, etc. etc.
Work Interval, Every ... - select the interval in seconds
Select The Active Time Range - opens the time range dialog

The time range is the range in which the job is active. You can create several jobs, with different settings and different time ranges. You can also create one job twice and give him different time ranges and intervals! Run Always - the job should be always executed Run From Start-Time To Stop-Time - select the start and stoptime. Additional select the active days!

Work Once Exact At - the job should be executed exact at one point in time
Select The Active Time - opens the time dialog

Choose the point in time at which the job should be executed. You have to select a point in time and the associated day or several days.

Work Within A Time Range At Certain Minutes - the job should be executed at certain minutes within the selected time range ( by example from 8:00 to 11:00 at minutes 5,10,22. So it runs at 8:05, 8:10, 8:22, 9:05, 9:10, 9:22, 10:05, 10:10, 10:22 )
Select The Active Minutes - opens the time dialog

Choose the the time range ( always or a range ) an the minutes!

Work Once At Scheduler Start - the job should be executed at the start of the scheduler
Work Once At Scheduler End - the job should be executed at the end of the scheduler

Add New Job - adds the current selected job-function with the current selected time settings to the joblist as a new job
Remove Selected Job - removes the selected job from the joblist
Take Current Settings On The Selected Job - takes the current settings from the job-functions and the current time settings on the selected job


Job List
The scheduler job list shows all created jobs. The jobs are shown with their function name and time range/interval. Left of the job there is a checkbox with which you could decide if the job should be executed or not. So you could decide from time to time which jobs should be executed and which not. In general you have checked all of them!

Scheduler Jobs
All jobs in the joblist which are checked are executed. The execution order goes from the first entry to the last. This is important if you want to have an execution order. This could be the case if you want to capture a picture and then upload the picture to a FTP server. You could select for both the same time point or time range/interval and position the capture job above of the upload job within the joblist. So you get always sure, that the picture is first captured.
In difference to the motion detector joblist, not only the first job which time is just active is executed, but all of them. With this you have the possibility of thousands of job combinations with different settings and time ranges. You could create several picture capture jobs, which are all running parallel, where each job captures the pictures with different settings and in different time ranges. The first could capture in JPG format at a specific size, the second captures in TIFF format with an overly picture every hour, the third captures a picture which should later be uploaded or sended by email and so on.
The time selection of a job is a combination of the 4 selectable settings. So a job could be active at the start of the scheduler and at the end, or at the start and from 8:00 until 10:00 every 10sec. plus at 10:30 on Monday, etc. etc.

Startup Settings

Start The Motion Detector At Startup - select if the motion detector should be automatically started at program startup
Start The Scheduler At Startup - select if the scheduler should be automatically started at program startup

Device Settings

Video Settings
Video Record Codec - all in the system available video record codecs are listed. The current used codec is shown. If you want to have more codecs available, you have to install them into your Windows OS!
If you change the selection, the program tests, if the codec could be used for recording. This depends on the video device, audio device and further codecs. Not all codecs works together which each other!
Video Codec - if the selected codec supports a dialog for adjusting settings, the button becomes available. There are some codecs available, which notifys that they support a dialog, but that is not the case. If this is the case, nothing happens at button press.

Video Device Settings - opens the appropriate device driver dialog if available
Video Preview Settings - opens the appropriate device driver dialog if available
Video Record Settings - opens the appropriate device driver dialog if available

Video Source (only TV Tuner) - all available video input sources are listed and selectable. In general these are Tuner, Composite, S-Video.

Audio Settings
Audio Record Device - all in the system available audio record devices are listed. The current used device is shown.
In case of receiving a MPEG4 stream, this option is disabled. If the MPEG4 stream contains audio you get the audio automatically.

Audio Record Codec - all in the system available audio record codecs are listed. The current used codec is shown. If you want to have more codecs available, you have to install them into your Windows OS!
If you change the selection, the program tests, if the codec could be used for recording. This depends on the video device, audio device and further codecs. Not all codecs works together which each other!
Audio Codec - if the selected codec supports a dialog for adjusting settings, the button becomes available. There are some codecs available, which notifys that they support a dialog, but that is not the case. If this is the case, nothing happens at button press.

Audio Device Settings - opens the appropriate device driver dialog if available
Audio Preview Settings - opens the appropriate device driver dialog if available
Audio Record Settings - opens the appropriate device driver dialog if available

Channels - the audio channels (mono, stereo)
SampleSize - the audio sample sizes (8bit, 16bit)
SampleRate - the audio samplerates (11025Hz, 22050Hz, 44100Hz)

TV Tuner Settings (only TV Tuner)
TV Tuner Settings - opens the TV tuner dialog to adjust the tuner settings
It's important to run this function, otherwise there would be no programs available which are selectable from the video window buttons. The found programs are saved in the file PROGRAMS.DAT!

Show Device Infos - shows infos about the selected devices and codecs

Devices and Codecs
Changes in the property pages of the devices are often not saved by the video device driver. The exceptions are the properties of the video and audio record codecs. In most cases the settings are saved by the driver.
Changes made in the property pages will be reflected immediately in CamUniversal. But the reverse is not always true, so internal changes may not be reflected in the associated property page! After loading of the saved settings the video framesize is internal set and reflected in the property page, the frames per second (fps) value is internal set, but not reflected in the property page, there is a default value of the driver shown and the compression type (RGB24,RGB32,YVU9,etc.) could not be restored!
Furthermore some combinations of video record codecs and video compression types are not working together! So, if you select a video record codec (everything different to "none") then let the video compression value to be the driver default (in most cases RGB24)!

Part 6 >>