Viewers

Owned by Isabelle Avery (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Jan 04, 2023 by Charlotte Dakin-Norris
7 min read

Introduction

This page covers adding and using a Camera Viewer.

Contents

Overview

Video viewers allow video inputs from cameras to be displayed for the operator when required. Most usually, video viewers are used in conjunction with optical or thermal imaging cameras that can be called upon when an incident occurs in the areas that they cover.

Camera viewers require VLC Media Player (64-bit).

Adding a Viewer

  1. Enable the Config Function. In the Configuration Tree, click on the Camera Group you wish your new Viewer to be in.

  2. In the Configuration Panel, select New, then choose New Video Viewer.

  3. The Create New Video Viewer window will appear. Name the new Viewer, then select Finish.

OR

  1. Select the Camera you wish to stream from in the Configuration Tree.

  2. In the Configuration Panel, select Add Viewer.

     

  3. In the Configuration Tree, a blank Video Viewer will appear.

     

  4. Use the new Viewer's settings in the Configuration Panel (see below) to Edit the Viewer; create a name and add a Stream URL etc.

  5. Select Save, then test your new Viewer by toggling Preview Viewer on.

If the selected camera is an ONVIF compliant device then using the Add Viewer option from the camera will try and automatically populate the viewer URL and it will adopt the same username and password that was used to connect to the camera. This creates a fully operational viewer without having to configure the viewer settings. For this to work, the Camera Controller must be connected to the camera, therefore it must have been allocated to the Camera Controller in the Topology Manager.

Viewer Settings

User ID: A user friendly ID that can be used for external control, associated with whomever created the Viewer.

Name: The text entered here will be used to label the video viewer within the system.

Stream URL: The URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of the video feed from the camera.

User Name: The user’s name.

Password: The user’s password.

Network Caching (ms): This shows the access time of the cache in milliseconds.

Keep Aspect Ratio: Select this to maintain the same shape and proportions of the view when zooming in and out.

Preview Viewer: Slide to toggle on and off a Viewer preview window embedded in the Configuration Panel beneath these settings.

Using a Viewer

Video viewers allow video inputs from cameras to be displayed when required. Most usually, video viewers are used in conjunction with optical or thermal imaging cameras that can be called upon when an incident occurs in the areas that they cover.

There are two ways to open a viewer:

  1. By selecting it from the Configuration Tree.

  2. By selecting a viewer from the Viewers list.

Camera Viewer Screen: This is the camera viewer display screen.

Viewer & Camera Name: This labels the viewer and the camera the viewer is streaming from.

Direction & Magnification Controls: The direction keys are used to direct the view of the camera up-down and left-right, whilst the + and - icons are used to zoom in and out.

Magnification Level: This is the current magnification level of the camera display.

Close Viewer: This will close the Viewer screen.

Commands: Commands will vary for each camera model, but many use a wiper, for example.

Track ID: This is the track ID which is only displayed if the camera is following a track.

In the example below, the camera has been automatically tasked by the system to follow the Track. The operator has selected the a viewer from the list of Viewers (highlighted in orange) from the Camera Mini Control which has opened the viewer on the top left of the PPI Map, and also the Viewer Mini Control, highlighted on the top right. The track and camera have been highlighted in the middle of the PPI Map:

Mouse Control

In addition to the Direction & Magnification Controls, you can also use your mouse to move the camera within the Viewer.

Absolute Zoom

Moving the mouse wheel when hovering over a viewer will change the magnification. Moving it upwards will increase magnification. So, for example, from x0.74…

…to x1.00:

Conversely, moving the wheel downwards will decrease the magnification.

Point to Move

  1. You can also utilize the mouse to move to an area, by Left Click+Hold the mouse curser in the spot you wish to move the camera to.

  2. When you begin to Left Click the mouse a green ring will appear:

     

  3. This will be turn into a solid green circle once you have held the mouse for long enough:

     

  4. Then the viewer will be centred to where the mouse was pointing to:

     

There is a limitation with Point to Move immediately after a relative move, as we don't know where a camera is. So you have to wait for an absolute move before you can use Point to Move feature again. The system will warn you as you will see a red ring on the screen, as in the image below, and the command will not be actioned.

Drag to Move

You can use the mouse to Left Click+Drag which displays a white pointer, moving the camera in the direction of the arrow. It can be moved in any direction away from the centre of the viewer. This allows you to move the camera in a diagonal direction, which the Direction & Magnification Controller can’t perform in one operation. The movement is proportional; manoeuvring it a little will move the camera a short distance, the further out you drag the arrow, will make the camera travel much further.

In the example below, the white pointer is highlighted in pink, and is moving diagonally away from the centre:

As soon as you release the mouse it stops:

Docking/Undocking Viewers

If your system has multiple cameras you can dock the viewers together by using your mouse to Drag+Drop them into position. When you align one viewer with another, you can select if you wish to put the viewer, the right, left, above or below the other by using your mouse and hovering over the selector below:

For example, if you wish to place your second viewer below the first then you will need to select the bottom option by dragging and dropping the viewer into it:

This gives you the ability to create a rich user interface with a mixture of video views:

Using Pin to Map Viewers

Pin to Map Viewers are a quick way to view the camera’s output, when you don’t have your viewers open.

These viewers are accessed in two ways:

  1. Moving your mouse over a camera and leaving it on the camera will cause the viewer to show. Keeping the mouse over the viewer will keep it visible otherwise it will automatically close after a few seconds. Whilst the viewer is open you can pin it to the PPI Map using the pin icon to ensure it remains open.

  2. Select the camera, and then from the camera mini control select the viewer button from the title bar. Note that this approach automatically pins the viewer to the PPI Map.

There are three sizes of viewer to choose from, small, medium and large. In the example below the smallest size viewer has been selected:

You can CTRL+Drag to move the popup viewer around, change it’s size and pin it to the PPI map. When it is pinned to the PPI, then the Pin icon is removed as in the example below:

This example has the larger viewer screen selected. There is also another option to minimise the Viewer when it is pinned.

Clicking this will minimise the screen to show just the Viewer bar:

It will appear in translucent form, turning solid when your mouse hovers over it. Clicking the down arrow again will maximise the viewer as it was before.

Videos

This video shows the Drag to Move video viewer controls:

This video demonstrates the Point to Move feature:

This video illustrates the Direction and Magnification Controls on the video overlay:

 

Safety is everything.