Download - En.omnicast Archive Player User Guide 4.7

OMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER

USER GUIDE

This document explains how to use the Omnicast Archive Player application

Doc. No. EN.100.004-V4.7.B.(1) - Dec, 2010Copyright © 2001 - 2010 by Genetec Inc. Reproduction and disclosure prohibited.

GENETEC OMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE

© 2010 Genetec Inc. All rights reserved.

Genetec Inc. distributes this document with software that includes an end-user license agreement and is furnished under license and may be used only in accordance with the terms of the license agreement. The contents of this document are protected under copyright law.

The contents of this guide are furnished for informational use only and are subject to change without notice. Genetec Inc. assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or inaccuracies that may appear in the informational content contained in this guide.

This publication may not be copied, modified, or reproduced in any form or for any purpose, nor can any derivative works be created therefrom without Genetec Inc.’s prior written consent.

Genetec Inc. reserves the right to revise and improve its products as it sees fit. This document describes the state of a product at the time of document’s last revision, and may not reflect the product at all times in the future.

In no event shall Genetec Inc. be liable to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage that is incidental to or consequential upon the instructions found in this document or the computer software and hardware products described herein. The use of this document is subject to the disclaimer of liability found in the end–user license agreement.

"Genetec", "Omnicast", "Synergis", "AutoVu", "Federation", the Genetec stylized "G" and the Omnicast, Synergis and AutoVu logos are trademarks of Genetec Inc., either registered or pending registration in several jurisdictions.

"Security Center" and the Security Center logo are trademarks of Genetec Inc.

Other trade names used in this document may be trademarks or registered trademarks of the manufacturers or vendors of the respective products.

All specifications are subject to change without notice.

Document title: Omnicast 4.7 Archive Player User Guide

Document number: EN.100.004-V4.7.B.(1)

Publication date: Dec, 2010

2 COPYRIGHT © 2001 - 2010 BY GENETEC INC. REPRODUCTION AND DISCLOSURE PROHIBITED.DOC. NO. EN.100.004-V4.7.B.(1) - DEC, 2010

GENETEC TABLE OF CONTENTSOMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE

Table of Contents

This document explains how to use the Omnicast Archive Player application

Section 1 Preface

Information about this document and what is new

About this guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Intended audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Purpose and scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Document structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Related publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Plugin manuals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Your comments are welcome . . . . . . . . . . . 15Tell us about your experience using this manual . . . . . . . . . 15Contact our technical assistance for questions . . . . . . . . . 15

What's new in Omnicast 4.7? . . . . . . . . . . . 16New features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Section 2 Archive Player Overview

Instruction on how to start and exit the Archive Player followed by a tour of its workspace and menus

About Archive Player . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Access to Archive Player. . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Getting started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Connecting to Omnicast . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Standard logon procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Using Windows credentials . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Preconfigured logon . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Supervised logon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Application control panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Connection status . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Logon/Logoff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21CPU gauge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Video gauge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Volume control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Popup messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Missed notification log . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Exiting Archive Player . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

COPYRIGHT © 2001 - 2010 BY GENETEC INC. REPRODUCTION AND DISCLOSURE PROHIBITED. 3EN.100.004-V4.7.B.(1)

TABLE OF CONTENTS GENETEC OMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE

Normal exit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Archive player workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Workspace elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Main menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Main toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Query pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Query result pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Playback pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Tool pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Analog monitor pane . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Customizing your workspace . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Archive player menu . . . . . . . . . . . . 26System menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26View menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Playback menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Tools menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Custom menu items . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Help menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

File versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Section 3 Getting Started

Introduction to the concept of workflow and basic archive manipulations to get you started quickly

Basic workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32What is a workflow? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32Archive query tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Construct the query . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Archive Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Select the archive source . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Select a camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Select a day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Execute the query . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Interpret the query result . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Playback sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Preview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

View playback sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Post-processing the result . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Display files on hard drive . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Export selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37



Protect archives from deletion . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Entity search tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Local search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Global search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Controlling the playback . . . . . . . . . . . 41Playback tile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Border highlight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Tile ID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Tile background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Tile contextual menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Toolbar commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Change the tile pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Expand/collapse current tile . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Remove selected sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Synchronous playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44Quick synchronization . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Playback cursor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Background color . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Event markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Time range markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Playback controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Status panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Controlling the playback . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Controlling the playback speed . . . . . . . . . . . 48Bookmark commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48Adding bookmarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48Save, Print, and Export . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Tool pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51Digital zoom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52Metadata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Section 4 Alternate Workflows

Alternate methods for searching and viewing video archives

Event search workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . 56Construct the query . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Event Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56Select the archive source . . . . . . . . . . . . 56Select the cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56



Specify the search time range . . . . . . . . . . . 57Select the search category . . . . . . . . . . . . 57


Interpret the query result . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

View playback sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . 59Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59Instant replay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Post-processing the result . . . . . . . . . . . . 59Display files on hard drive . . . . . . . . . . . . 59Edit the selected bookmark. . . . . . . . . . . . 59Delete the selected bookmark(s) . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Sequence search workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Construct the query . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Sequence Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Select the archive source . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Select the cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Specify the search time range . . . . . . . . . . . 62


Interpret the query result . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Playback sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

View playback sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Instant replay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Post-processing the result . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Display files on hard drive . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Export selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Protect archives from deletion . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Alarm search workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . 64Construct the query . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Alarm Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64Search by alarm instance number . . . . . . . . . . . 64Select the alarm entities . . . . . . . . . . . . 64Filter by alarm creation time . . . . . . . . . . . 65Filter by alarm priority . . . . . . . . . . . . 65Filter by alarm source . . . . . . . . . . . . 65Filter by alarm description . . . . . . . . . . . . 65Filter by alarm status . . . . . . . . . . . . 66


Interpret the query result . . . . . . . . . . . . 67Alarm instances . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67Show alarm details . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68Preview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68Show alarm history . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

View alarm playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70



Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Post-processing the result . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Motion search workflow . . . . . . . . . . . 71Construct the query . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Motion Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Select the archive source . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Select a camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72Preview image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72Specify the search time range . . . . . . . . . . . . 72Motion detection zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72Motion detection criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Execute the query . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Interpret the query result . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73Playback sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73Preview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

View playback sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Post-processing the result . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74Display files on hard drive . . . . . . . . . . . . 74Export selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74Protect archives from deletion . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Metadata search workflow . . . . . . . . . . . 75Construct the query . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Metadata Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Select the metadata source . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Select the plugin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76Select the source entities . . . . . . . . . . . . 76Specify the search time range . . . . . . . . . . . . 76Specific search criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Execute the query . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Interpret the query result . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77Metadata events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

View playback sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Post-processing the result . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

File browsing workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . 80Construct the query . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

File Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80What are video files? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80Where to find video files . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Execute the query . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Interpret the query result . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81



Video files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Get file info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

View playback sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . 82Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Post-processing the result . . . . . . . . . . . . 83Decrypt file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83Validate file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83Convert file(s) to ASF . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Section 5 Advanced Features

Instruction on how to use the advanced features and how to customize the Archive Player

Exporting video archives . . . . . . . . . . . . 86Feature presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86Export formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86Export accessibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Using the export dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87Select the export folder . . . . . . . . . . . . 87Select the export format . . . . . . . . . . . . 87Using G64 format . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88Using ASF format . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88Using AVI format . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89Select the export time range . . . . . . . . . . . 89Start the export . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90Export in progress . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90Complete the export . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Export and watermarking . . . . . . . . . . . . 92Using the Stand-Alone Archive Player . . . . . . . . . . 92Using the Single-Click Archive Player . . . . . . . . . . . 93Network options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94Network card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Keyboard commands . . . . . . . . . . . . 95Feature presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95Controlling the playback pane . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Controlling the tiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95Selecting tiles by IDs. . . . . . . . . . . . . 95Tile control panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96Controlling the selected tile . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Special controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96Switching focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96Digital Zoom commands . . . . . . . . . . . . 97Playback commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97



Video file protection . . . . . . . . . . . . 98Feature presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Storage space management . . . . . . . . . . . . 98Protecting important video sequences . . . . . . . . . . 98

Video file query . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98Searching video files . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99Query results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100Removing file protections . . . . . . . . . . . . 100Changing video protections . . . . . . . . . . . . 101Deleting video files . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Customizing the Archive Player . . . . . . . . . . 102Options dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102General options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103User login dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103On application exit . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Audio options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105Sound bites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105Audio volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Visual options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106Visual elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

User interaction options . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107System messages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107Snapshots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Joystick options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109Active joystick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109Axis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Display options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111Video options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111List of detected display adapters . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Date and time options . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114Device time zone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114Time zone abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . 114



Glossary

Explains the terminology used in this user guide

Index


SECTION 1

PREFACE

Information about this document and what is new

ABOUT THIS GUIDE GENETEC1 PREFACE OMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE

About this guide

Intended audience This document is written for both the administrator who needs to configure the Archive Player application and for the security professional who intends to use the Archive Player application.

The reader must be familiar with the following: • Microsoft Windows operating systems and user interface terms.• Basic security and video surveillance system concepts.• The Omnicast Live Viewer application.

Purpose and scope This document explains everything there is to know for the proper use of Omnicast Archive Player. The topics are organized from the most basic to the most advanced to ensure a progressive learning to new users. Experienced users can go straight to their topics of interest by using the index located at the end of the manual.

NOTE The Archive Player is a highly customizable application. Certain features described in this manual may not be available to you because you do not have the proper privileges or because the feature is not supported by your software license.

Document structure This guide is organized as follows.

In Section You find

1 Preface Information about this document and what is new on page 11.

2 Archive Player Overview

Instruction on how to start and exit the Archive Player followed by a tour of its workspace and menus on page 17.

3 Getting Started Introduction to the concept of workflow and basic archive manipulations to get you started quickly on page 31.

4 Alternate Workflows

Alternate methods for searching and viewing video archives on page 55.

5 Advanced Features

Instruction on how to use the advanced features and how to customize the Archive Player on page 85.

Glossary Explains the terminology used in this user guide on page 115.


GENETEC ABOUT THIS GUIDEOMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE 1 PREFACE

Related publications The documentation set for Omnicast is as follows..

Document number Title

EN.100.001 Omnicast Release Notes

Specific to every Omnicast software release, the Release Notes provide valuable information regarding changes in the new release, installation and upgrade procedures, as well as all supported hardware.

EN.100.002 Omnicast Installation & Upgrade Guide

This manual covers the Omnicast system requirements and describes the software installation and upgrade procedures.

EN.100.003 Omnicast Live Viewer User Guide

The Live Viewer is the control and monitoring center of your entire security system. This manual teaches you how to perform your every day monitoring functions.

EN.100.004 Omnicast Archive Player User Guide

This is the manual you are currently reading. The Archive Player is Omnicast’s investigative tool. This manual explains how to perform intelligent archive database queries based on date, time, camera, event type, motion, complex metadata tags, bookmarks, and past alarms.

EN.100.005 Omnicast Administrator Guide

This manual is the Omnicast administrator’s main reference. It explains system concepts and the initial system setup and configuration of the most sophisticated aspects of the system.

This manual covers the SNMP Traps plugin, and includes information about the Remote Live Viewer plugin relevant for the administrator.

The Administrator Guide is also a reference manual for all administrative client applications such as:• Server Admin• Config Tool• Discovery Tool• Macro Editor• Report Viewer


ABOUT THIS GUIDE GENETEC1 PREFACE OMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE

Plugin manuals Omnicast plugins distributed individually are described in the following manuals:

Terminology See Glossary on page 115 for the terminology used in this guide.

Document number Title

EN.150.100 AutoVu LPR Plugin User Guide

EN.150.101 iOmniscient Plugin User Guide

EN.150.102 ObjectVideo Plugin User Guide

EN.150.200 Point of Sale Plugin User Guide

EN.150.300 GE Picture Perfect Plugin User Guide

EN.150.301 Hirsch Velocity Plugin User Guide

EN.150.302 Lenel OnGuard Plugin User Guide

EN.150.303 MicroPoint Plugin User Guide

EN.150.304 RBH Plugin User Guide

EN.150.305 Verex Plugin User Guide

EN.150.306 Micros Plugin User Guide

EN.150.307 ACS Parking Revenue Control System Plugin User Guide

EN.150.308 Generic Point of Sale Plugin User Guide

EN.150.309 Software House C•Cure Omnicast Plugin User Guide

EN.150.400 Barco Cottus Viewer Plugin User Guide

EN.150.401 Barco Hydra Plugins User Guide

EN.150.402 Barco TransForm A Plugins User Guide


GENETEC YOUR COMMENTS ARE WELCOMEOMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE 1 PREFACE

Your comments are welcome

Tell us about your experience using this

manual

Genetec is continuously seeking to improve the documentation provided to its customers. To this end, we invite you to send us your feedback regarding your experience using this manual to: [email protected]

When reading a printed copy of this manual, please send your feedback to the above E-mail address by following the example shown below.

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When you have specific questions concerning the use of one of our products, please contact Genetec’s Technical Assistance Center.

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WHAT'S NEW IN OMNICAST 4.7? GENETEC1 PREFACE OMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE

What's new in Omnicast 4.7?

New features For the complete list of new features in 4.7, see the Omnicast Release Notes.


SECTION 2

ARCHIVE PLAYER OVERVIEW

Instruction on how to start and exit the Archive Player followed by a tour of its workspace and menus

ABOUT ARCHIVE PLAYER GENETEC2 ARCHIVE PLAYER OVERVIEW OMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE

About Archive Player

Introduction The Archive Player offers quick and effective retrieval and playback of all stored video, audio and data.

Through the Archive Player interface, users can perform intelligent queries based on date, time, camera, event type, motion, complex metadata tags, bookmarks, past alarms and motion in specific areas of the camera field.

With the ability to view up to 16 archived sequences simultaneously, users can choose to run each sequence individually or use the synchronous playback option to compare events across several camera fields. Video sequences can be exported or individual video frames can be saved and printed from the Archive Player application. All these capabilities allow users to pinpoint specific events.

Access to Archive Player

The Omnicast administrator defines the privileges operators have to access certain Omnicast features. A user only has access to the Archive Player when his or her user privileges allow it.

Getting started To start the Archive Player choose Start > All Programs > Genetec Omnicast > Archive Player. If the Archive Player is set up to run permanently on your PC, skip to Application control panel on page 21.


GENETEC ABOUT ARCHIVE PLAYEROMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE 2 ARCHIVE PLAYER OVERVIEW

Connecting to Omnicast

Standard logon procedure

All Omnicast client applications require you to provide your username and password, and the name of the Gateway through which you will be connected to the Omnicast Directory as follows.

Ask your Omnicast administrator if you do not have this information.

Using Windows credentials

When the option Use Windows credentials is selected, you only need to specify the Gateway and click OK. Using Windows credentials means that Omnicast lets Windows verify the username and password.

Preconfigured logon A third possible scenario you may encounter is that the application signs you in automatically as soon as you start the application. This may be the case if your Omnicast administrator configured your PC to use Windows credentials by default.



Supervised logon A supervisor may be required to log you on. If so, both you and your supervisor enter your respective Omnicast credentials.

Typically, if your organization requires supervised logons, the connect dialog will display the necessary fields to enter your and your supervisor’s credentials.

The Web Archive Player always displays fields for the supervisor’s credentials.

NOTE If you are using the stand-alone Archive Player to login to Omnicast and require a supervisor, contact your administrator for instructions.

The following other scenarios can occur when supervised logons are used:• If you require a supervisor to log you on and you are confronted with a Connect

dialog that does not display the necessary fields, enter your own credentials then click OK. A message dialog appears indicating the supervisor’s credentials are missing. Subsequent log on attempts will now display the required fields for supervised logons.

• Even if you log on with your Windows credentials, your supervisor still must enter their Omnicast credentials.

NOTE If fields are displayed for a supervisor’s credentials but you have no supervisor, enter your own credentials and leave the supervisor’s blank. You can then log on normally.

Ask your Omnicast administrator if you do not have information about your supervisor.


GENETEC ABOUT ARCHIVE PLAYEROMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE 2 ARCHIVE PLAYER OVERVIEW

Application control panel

Connection status Once logged on, the Archive Player shows your logon status as Username @ Gateway in the Application control panel as follows.

Logon/Logoff Click on the Logon/Logoff button to disconnect/connect to Omnicast. See Connecting to Omnicast on page 19. Use this button to reconnect under a different username or to connect to a different Gateway.

Logging off requires a special privilege. If your Omnicast administrator did not grant you this privilege, you will not be allowed to log off.

CPU gauge This CPU gauge indicates the percentage of CPU currently being used. If your PC seems to have trouble responding and the gauge shows that the CPU is always near 100%, you should consider reducing the number of playback sequences displayed. If this doesn't solve your problem, talk to your Omnicast administrator.

Video gauge The Video gauge indicates the percentage of video memory used. If the memory usage is near 100%, the message Not enough video memory will be displayed in the tile instead of the video when you drag a playback sequence to a tile. To remedy the situation, remove some playback sequences from the Playback pane and try again.

Volume control The volume slider controls the volume of your PC speakers. It corresponds to the volume control found in Windows system tray. Click on the speaker icon to toggle the speaker on or off.

To turn the sound on/off on each individual playback video stream, use the Start/Stop listening button found at the bottom of each tile. See Playback tile on page 41.

Popup messages When popup messages like the one shown below appear on screen and are not acknowledged within 10 seconds, they are automatically moved to the Missed notification log to avoid cluttering the screen.

The remaining time before the message is moved to the log is shown at the bottom of the message box.

Missed notification log

Logon /Logoff



Missed notification log

When there are messages in this log, the button will light up in the application control panel. Click it to open the Notifications dialog.

The icon in front of each entry indicates the type of message.

The number of times a message has been displayed is shown in Occurrences. The Time column shows when the last occurrence of a message was displayed.

Exiting Archive Player

Normal exit To close the Archive Player application, click on System menu and select Exit or click at the upper right corner of the application window.

NOTE You need the Change client views privilege to logoff or to exit the application. Without this privilege, you will be prompted to logon as a user that does.

Icon Description

Message sent by another user or a programmed action.

Warning message.

Error message.

Button Description

Deletes the selected entry.

Clear all entries in the Notifications log.


GENETEC ARCHIVE PLAYER WORKSPACEOMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE 2 ARCHIVE PLAYER OVERVIEW

Archive player workspace

Introduction The Archive Player workspace is divided into seven main areas (see illustration below). All of them can either be resized or hidden from view according to your privileges to create more space for the Playback pane, the only area that cannot be hidden.

Workspace elements

Main menu The Archive Player menu is a standard Windows menu. Menus support keyboard shortcuts. Certain commands, such as changing the application settings, can only be reached through the menu. For a complete reference, read Archive player menu on page 26.

Main toolbar The Archive Player toolbar contains the Application Control Panel, the Tile Control Panel, and other buttons that you can click to call up the most frequently used commands in the Archive Player. You can show or hide the toolbar by pressing <F9>. See Toolbar commands on page 43 for more details.

Main menuMain menuMain toolbarMain toolbar

Playback panePlayback paneTool paneTool pane

Query result paneQuery result pane

Query paneQuery pane

Analog monitor pane

Analog monitor pane

Application control panel Tile Control Panel

Click to logon/logoff Joystick detected

Change tile pattern Synchronous playback

Expand current tile

Remove sequence


ARCHIVE PLAYER WORKSPACE GENETEC2 ARCHIVE PLAYER OVERVIEW OMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE

Query pane The Query pane is a collection of archive query tools. Some of them are only available in the Advanced mode. You can show or hide the Query pane by pressing <F4>. The following table gives a brief description of each query tool.

Query result pane The Query Result pane lists the results returned by the queries issued from the Query pane. The type of results you get depends on the type of query.

You can show or hide the Query Result pane by pressing <F6>. To view the video sequence corresponding to a query result, double-click it or drag-and-drop it to the Playback pane.

Icon Name Description

Archive Browser

The Archive Browser tells you what video archive is currently available online by showing for each selected camera (video encoder), the months and days for which video archives are available.

Event Search The Event Search allows you to query the archive database for events and bookmarks associated to selected cameras for a given time range.

Sequence Search

The Sequence Search allows you to query the archive database for available video sequences within a specific time range for selected cameras. This tool is only available in the Advanced mode.

Alarm Search The Alarm Search allows you to search the alarm database for current and past alarms based on a variety of criteria. Once found, the alarms can be played back in a way that reproduces what the operator originally saw on the Live Viewer when the alarm occurred.

Motion Search The Motion Search allows you to search video sequences having motions in specific areas of the camera's field of view. This tool is only available in the Advanced mode.

Metadata Search

The Metadata Search allows you to search the video archives associated to metadata. This tool is only available in the Advanced mode.

File Browser The File Browser allows you to scan the PC's hard disk for video files created by Omnicast (with a G64 extension). This tool also gives you the opportunity to convert the Omnicast video files into the ASF format for playback with Windows Media Player.

Icon Result type Description

Video sequence

Video sequences are returned by the Archive Browser, the Sequence Search, and the Motion Search.

Event Events are returned by the Event Search.

Alarm Alarms are returned by the Alarm Search.

Metadata Metadata are returned by the Metadata Search.

Video file Video files are returned by the File Browser.


GENETEC ARCHIVE PLAYER WORKSPACEOMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE 2 ARCHIVE PLAYER OVERVIEW

Playback pane The Playback pane is the main area reserved for viewing video archives. Up to 16 playback sequences can be viewed simultaneously in this area. Unlike the Live Viewer, the Archive Player does not support multi-display configurations. It is the only area that cannot be hidden in the workspace.

Tool pane The Tool pane contains a series of tabs which provide additional information on the selected playback sequence. For this reason, it is embedded in the Playback pane. You can show or hide the Tool pane by pressing <F8>. The following table gives a brief description of each tab.

Analog monitor pane The Analog monitor pane contains a tree showing the analog monitors available to you. It looks exactly the same as the analog monitor pane found in the Live Viewer, except that you cannot control the entities displayed by other people.

To display a playback sequence on an analog monitor , drag the desired sequence from either the Playback pane or the Query result pane to the analog monitor onto which you wish to view the playback. The playback sequence will also be displayed in the Playback pane.

If a camera or a camera sequence was playing on the monitor before this operation, it will be temporarily hidden by the playback sequence you just selected. When the playback sequence is removed, the previous display will be restored.

NOTE Playback on an analog monitor requires a dedicated playback tile. When you remove a playback sequence from a playback tile, the corresponding sequence will also be removed from the analog monitor.

Customizing your workspace

The panes containing a title bar (such as the Tool pane) can be changed into a floating window by clicking on the button or closed by clicking on the button. To make a hidden pane reappear, press the corresponding function key associated to each workspace element. See also View menu on page 27.

To resize any of the panes, click on one of the edge separating two panes and drag towards the direction you want to resize.

Icon Name Description

Properties This tab shows various useful information regarding the selected playback sequence, such as its playback capabilities and attributes. See Properties on page 51.

Digital Zoom This tab allows you to zoom in on a particular area of the playback stream. See Digital zoom on page 52.

Metadata This tab shows the metadata associated to the selected playback sequence. See Metadata on page 53.


ARCHIVE PLAYER MENU GENETEC2 ARCHIVE PLAYER OVERVIEW OMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE

Archive player menu

Introduction The following describes the entire Archive Player menu system.

System menu

Description The System menu is standard for all Omnicast client applications. It lets you connect to a Directory if you have not already done so. Or it lets you disconnect from the current Directory so you can connect to another one.

Submenu Description

System This menu allows you to connect or disconnect from the Directory. See System menu on page 26.

View This menu lets you change the visual settings of your workspace.See View menu on page 27.

Playback This menu lets you apply the commands found in the main toolbar on the currently selected tile. This menu comes in handy when the toolbar is hidden from the workspace. See Playback menu on page 29.

Tools This menu lets you change the Archive Player options and launch other Omnicast applications such as the Live Viewer and the Config Tool. See Tools menu on page 29.

Help This menu lets you access various help functions.See Help menu on page 30.

Command Description (1 of 2)

Connect This command is only available if you are not yet connected to a Directory. See Connecting to Omnicast on page 19.

Disconnect This command disconnects the Archive Player from its current Directory, but does not exit the application. It is equivalent to clicking on the Logon/Logoff button in the Application control panel. Use this command if you wish to connect to another Directory or through another Gateway.

Use the Exit command if you want to exit the Archive Player.


GENETEC ARCHIVE PLAYER MENUOMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE 2 ARCHIVE PLAYER OVERVIEW

View menu

Description The View menu allows you to control the look and feel of the Archive Player workspace. If you do not have the Change client views privilege, most of the commands in this menu would be disabled. See Archive player workspace on page 23.

Change Password

Allows you to change your own password.

To change your password, first enter your old password, then your new password twice, and click OK. For security reasons, you may not copy and paste your new password into the second field.

Detect Joysticks Detects the joystick(s) or game controller(s) connected to your PC. If the Archive Player has been started, use this command to connect.

When a joystick is detected, a joystick icon appears in the tile control panel. See Main toolbar on page 23.

To learn how to configure the joystick for the Archive Player, see Joystick options on page 109.

Notifications Opens the Notifications dialog. See Missed notification log on page 22.

All notification messages displayed by the Archive Player that are not acknowledged by the user within a preset amount of time are moved to this log to avoid cluttering the screen.

The time a notification message stays on screen is by default 10 seconds. You can change this delay through the Options dialog. See User interaction options on page 107.

Exit This command disconnects the Archive Player from its current Directory and exits the application.

Command Description (2 of 2)

Command Description (1 of 2) Shortcut

Query Pane Hides or shows the Query pane. <F4>

Query Result Pane

Hides or shows the Query result pane. <F6>



Analog Monitor Pane

Hides or shows the Analog monitor pane. <F7>

Tool Pane Hides or shows the Tool pane. <F8>

Toolbar Hides or shows the Main toolbar. <F9>

Show Only Selected Tile

Fills the Playback pane with the currently selected playback tile. Same as clicking on the Expand button in the main toolbar.

Tile Pattern Pops a submenu showing all available tile patterns. Same as clicking the button in the main toolbar. See Toolbar commands on page 43.

Timeline Pops the timeline submenu that lets you show or hide the event markers displayed in the timeline:• Motion markers (displayed as red bars ) • Bookmarks (displayed as dark blue bars ) • Metadata (displayed as transparent light

blue overlays ) • Video analytics (displayed as green bars )

It can also be used to enable or disable the timeline display in each individual playback tile.

Full Screen Displays the Archive Player without the Windows application border to maximize the playback area. Note that the Full Screen mode does more than just maximizing your application window. It also hides the title bar and the task bar.

<F11>

Hide Menu in Full Screen

Hides or shows the Main menu in full screen mode.

Advanced Mode Alternates between Simple and Advanced modes.

In Simple mode, only the most common controls are visible, thus simplifying the user interface for novices.

In Advanced mode, all available controls are visible, thus giving complete control to the experienced users.

<Shift>+ <F10>

Command Description (2 of 2) Shortcut


GENETEC ARCHIVE PLAYER MENUOMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE 2 ARCHIVE PLAYER OVERVIEW

Playback menu

Description The Playback menu groups together all commands relative to the control of the Playback pane. It repeats commands found in the main toolbar and the playback controls.

Tools menu

Description The Tools menu allows you to perform the following functions:

Custom menu items All menu items listed after Options... in the Tools menu are customizable.

Command Description

Add a Bookmark Pops the Add a bookmark dialog. Same as clicking on from the playback controls. See Adding bookmarks on page 48.

Digital Zoom Shows the Digital zoom tab in the Tool pane. See Digital zoom on page 52.

Display Overlaid Metadata

Shows or hides the metadata overlays associated to the selected sequence in the Playback pane.

Synchronous Playback

Enables or disables synchronous playback. Equivalent to using the Synchronous button from the main toolbar. See Synchronous playback on page 44.

Remove Removes the entity that is shown in the selected tile from the Playback pane. Same as clicking on from the main toolbar or typing <Backspace>.

Remove All Removes all currently displayed entities from the Playback pane. Same as <Ctrl>+<Backspace>.

Properties Shows the Properties tab from the Tool pane and applies it to the selected sequence in the Playback pane. See Properties on page 51.

Command Description

Live Viewer Opens the Live Viewer without having to logon.

Config Tool Opens the Config Tool without having to logon.

Video File Query Opens the Video File Query dialog from which you can manage the protected videos.

Entity Search Opens the Entity Search dialog to find specific entities in the system. See Entity search tool on page 38.

Options Opens the Options dialog. See Options dialog on page 102.



All Omnicast client applications are installed with the custom menu item Field Report Generator. This command becomes useful when you need to call Genetec Technical Support. It launches the Field Report Generator, a tool that gathers pertinent information regarding the status of your system that can help the support team diagnose your problem.

Instructions on customizing the Tools menu are given in the Omnicast Administrator Guide.

Help menu

Description The Help menu allows you access various help functions.

File versions Clicking on the File versions... button lists all the components used by this application and their corresponding software versions.

The version number of the application and its DLLs are displayed for troubleshooting purposes. THEY MUST ALL BE THE SAME! If they are not all the same, it may be due to the uninstallation of a previous version that did not complete successfully, followed by an upgrade to a newer version.

Command Description

Contents Opens the CHM version of this user guide. Same as <F1>.

About Displays the following dialog:

The License information comprises:

Company name: Company that purchased the software license.

System ID: Identification number for the current Directory service. A separate license is required for each computer that runs either the Omnicast Directory service or, the Omnicast Archiver service.

Expiration: Expiration date of your software license.


SECTION 3

GETTING STARTED

Introduction to the concept of workflow and basic archive manipulations to get you started quickly

BASIC WORKFLOW GENETEC3 GETTING STARTED OMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE

Basic workflow

What is a workflow?

Definition The Archive Player is a video archive investigation tool. The application is capable of finding very specific information from the video archive and offers several different approaches to get you what you are looking for. The steps you need to go through in order to get what you want is called the workflow.

The basic steps involved in an archive query workflow are:1 Construct the query2 Execute the query3 Interpret the query result4 View playback sequences5 Post-processing the result

Each of these steps are explained in what follows.

Archive query tools The Archive Player offers seven different tools for querying the video archives.1 Archive Browser2 Event Search3 Sequence Search (Advanced mode)4 Alarm Search5 Motion Search (Advanced mode)6 Metadata Search (Advanced mode)7 File Browser

Three of these tools are only available in Advanced mode. To switch to advanced mode, type <Shift>+<F10>.

A brief description of each of the available query tools is given in Query pane on page 24.

For the purpose of illustrating the basic operations involved in an archive query workflow, the Archive Browser is used as an example.

Other archive query types are described under Alternate Workflows on page 55. The basic steps are always the same, but the details within each step differ from one query type to another.


GENETEC BASIC WORKFLOWOMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE 3 GETTING STARTED

Construct the query

Archive Browser The Archive Browser tells you what video archive is currently available online by showing for a selected camera (top section), the dates for which video archives are available (bottom section).

Select the archive source

The first thing you need to specify for an archive query is which archive sources to interrogate.

In Omnicast, video archives can be managed by Archivers, video units (the ones equipped with their own storage), or both.

Select a query tool


Click to pop the Entity search tool

Select a camera to show the days for

which video archives are available in the

lower section of the Query pane.

Select a day

Execute the query

Always show time



The available options are:

Select a camera Select a camera to display the days for which video archives are available for that camera from the selected Source in the lower section of the Query pane.

If Always show time is enabled (green LED on), the time range within which video archives are available is indicated for each date. Disable this feature only if your PC is very slow.

If Always show time is turned off, click on the Show time button to display the video availability time range for the selected day.

TIP If you have trouble finding a particular camera, click on the button at the upper right corner of the Query pane to pop the Entity Search tool to help you find it. See Entity search tool on page 38.

Select a day You must select a day to enable the Start button. With the Archive Browser, you can only query one day at a time.

Execute the query

Procedure Click on the Start button to launch the query. Double-clicking on a date will achieve the same result.

While the system is searching, the animated icon will be shown. The results of the query will be listed right below the Playback pane. See Query result pane on page 24.

Option Meaning

Default archiver Queries only the default Archiver. In a redundant archiving setup, multiple archivers can be recording the same video stream simultaneously but only one Archiver can be in charge of the command and control function of the video unit at any given time. The default Archiver is the Archiver that currently assumes the command and control function of the video unit to which the camera is attached.

Note that the default Archiver is not necessarily responsible for the archiving function since archiving can be entirely handled by the units (edge devices).

All archivers Queries all software archiving services which encompass all Archivers and all Auxiliary Archivers.

All units Queries only video units, excluding the archivers.

All sources Queries all existing archive sources, archivers and video units alike.



Interpret the query result

Playback sequences Queries issued from the Archive Browser return archived video sequences , also called playback sequences. The result is listed in the Query Result pane.

Note When querying a federated camera with the Archive Player, only results from the camera’s default Archiver are returned, results from Standby Archivers and Auxiliary Archivers are not.

Each playback sequence is characterized by:

Always show preview Preview

Display files on hard drive

Export selection

Protect archives from deletion

Field Description

Camera Name of the camera where the video came from.

Archiver Name of the archive source. See Select the archive source on page 33.

If the archive source is an Archiver or an Auxiliary Archiver, it means the video sequence is part of the online archive.

If the archive source is a Restore Archiver, then the video sequence is part of the video restored from backup.

If archive source is a unit, then the video is stored on the video encoding unit itself.

Note that most units that support video storage provide only one playback stream. Requesting a video playback from a unit that is already busy servicing another client will result in the following error message: “The maximum number of playback streams for this unit has been reached”.

Start Start time of the video sequence.

Stop End time of the video sequence.

Preview Content preview of the video sequence. It resembles a static timeline showing the presence of motion, bookmarks and metadata in the video sequence. See Timeline on page 45.



Preview If the Preview is not displayed, click on to show it for the selected video sequence or on to show it for all video sequences in the query result list.

View playback sequences

Procedure To view a playback sequence returned by your archive query, drag and drop it to any tile of your choice in the Playback pane, or double-click it to play the sequence in the first available free tile.

Please read Controlling the playback on page 41 for more details.

Post-processing the result


Clicking on the button pops the File locations dialog.

This dialog shows the actual video files containing the selected video sequences. These files are grouped according to the Archiver that created them.

Each video file is described by its Filename, the Start, Stop and Length of the video sequence it contains, its Size, and its protection status (indicated by an icon).

Icon File protection status

Not protected.

Protected. The protection expiry date is shown in End of protection.

Protection ending. The protection has just been removed manually. The protection expiry date is shown in End of protection.



See also Protect archives from deletion on page 37.

Export selection Clicking on the button pops the Export dialog which allows you to create stand-alone video files that can be played without being connected to an Omnicast Directory.

Please read Exporting video archives on page 86 to learn more about this feature.


Clicking on the button pops the Protect archives dialog.

This dialog allows you to protect the selected video sequence(s) from being deleted by the system during routine archive cleanup tasks or by other users. You may adjust the individual time range of each video sequence before clicking on the Protect all button.

NOTE The video protection is applied to video files, not to the specified time range. This means that if the specified time range overlaps several video files, all affected video files will be protected.In the example below, protecting the video sequence from 08:11 to 08:18 ends up protecting the two files, Video file 2 and Video file 3, which cover a sequence from 08:10 to 08:20.

You can specify the duration of the protection. If you choose Indefinitely, the affected video files will never be deleted unless you remove their protection manually.

See also Video file protection on page 98.

Video file 1 Video file 2 Video file 3

Time range to protect

08:05 08:10 08:15 08:20

08:11 08:18



Entity search tool

Introduction To find a particular camera when there are thousands of cameras defined in the system can be difficult. The Entity Search tool offers two methods to quickly find any entity in the system.

Local search The first method is called Local search. It is used to find an entity within the context of the current entity tree. Perform a search as follows.1 Specify your context by clicking on an entity tree.2 Click on the button or <Ctrl>+<F>. The Search controls appear at the bottom of

the tree.

3 Enter a particular text that you wish to find in the entity’s name and click to find the first match. The search is not case sensitive. If an entity's name matches the text you entered, it will be selected in the tree.

4 Continue to click on either or to find all the matches.5 Click the Close button to hide the search controls.

If you wish to search the entire Directory or to find a match in the entity description, use the Global search instead (see next).

Find the previous match Find the next match

Close

Global search



Global search To use the Global search, click the Global search button, or select Tools > Entity search from the main menu. The Entity Search dialog appears.

To perform a search from the Entity Search dialog box:1 Type in the field Search for, the name (or partial name) of the entity you are looking

for. The search is not case sensitive.2 Select from the Search in drop-down list, where you want the match to be found:

in Entity name only, or in Entity name and description.3 Select from the Restrict search to drop-down list, the type of entities you are looking

for. Select All types if you want to search them all.4 Click on Search under drop-down list to reveal the site hierarchy.

5 Select the site under which you wish to perform the search, or All to search the entire system.

Click to reveal the site hierarchy



6 Click on Search to start the search. The matches appear in the table. The Path indicates where the entity is found in the entity tree.

7 Click on an item in the result list to select it in the entity tree.– This works only if the Entity Search was invoked from the Local search.– If an entity is not found in the current context, it is shown in gray.


GENETEC CONTROLLING THE PLAYBACKOMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE 3 GETTING STARTED

Controlling the playback

Playback tile

Definition The playback tile is a section in the Playback pane used to view a single playback sequence. Up to 16 playback tiles can be viewed simultaneously with the Archive Player. See Playback pane on page 25. If audio was recorded, the sound is always on by default. Click on the button to turn the sound on or off.

Border highlight When you click inside a tile, it will be highlighted with a yellow border to indicate that it has been selected. In Omnicast documentation, we call it the current tile. The timeline and the playback controls found at the bottom of the Playback pane correspond to it.

Tile background

Border highlight

Start/stop listening

Playback sequence

Tile ID

Camera name

The tile highlighted with a yellow border

is the one you are currently controlling.

Timeline

Playback controls


CONTROLLING THE PLAYBACK GENETEC3 GETTING STARTED OMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE

Tile ID The tile ID is the number that uniquely identifies each tile in the Playback pane. It is used to reference a tile with the PC keyboard. See Keyboard commands on page 95.

Tile background The background color of the tile indicates the playback mode.

To start or cancel the synchronous playback, click on the Synchronous button found in the main toolbar. See Synchronous playback on page 44 for more details.

Tile contextual menu Right-clicking on a tile that is currently showing a playback sequence will pop the tile contextual menu, also called the pop-up menu.

The featured commands are:

Color Meaning

Dark gray – Asynchronous playback.

Dark blue – Synchronous playback.

Command Description

Quick synchronization

Synchronizes playback of all sequences in a tile with the currently selected tile. This option is useful when you want to synchronize the playback of exported .g64 video files. For more details, see Quick synchronization on page 45.

Quick play/pause all Plays or pauses all sequences in a tile simultaneously.

Show only this tile Fills the display area with the current tile.

Display overlaid metadata

Shows or hides the metadata overlays associated to the current playback sequence. See also Metadata on page 53.

Digital zoom Shows the Digital zoom tab in the Tool pane. See Digital zoom on page 52.

Export Pops the Export dialog. Same as clicking on from the playback controls. See Using the export dialog on page 87.

Protect video Pops the Protect archives dialog, ready to protect the current playback sequence. See Protect archives from deletion on page 37.



Toolbar commands

Introduction The command buttons found in the main toolbar are described below.

Change the tile pattern

Click the Pattern button to change the tile pattern used for the Playback pane. It pops the Change pattern dialog.

There are a total of 22 different patterns to choose from. If you do not see the pattern you want, click on More to see the rest of the available patterns. Selecting a pattern in the Change pattern dialog switches to it.

NOTE When switching from a pattern with a high number of tiles to a pattern with fewer number of tiles, playback sequences displayed in the high numbered tiles that do not exist in the new pattern will be moved to the first free tile in the new pattern. If there is no free tile available, those sequences will simply be removed from the Playback pane. When a new pattern with a higher number of tiles is again selected, all new tiles will stay empty. Those that have been moved to the free tiles will remain at their new positions.

Expand/collapse current tile

Click on the Expand button to let the current tile fill the entire Playback pane. The green LED in the button will light up when the current tile is expanded.

Remove selected sequence

Click on the Remove button to remove the playback sequence from the current tile.

Remove tile Removes the current playback sequence. Same as clicking on from the main toolbar or typing <Backspace>.

Properties Shows the properties of the current playback sequence in the Tool pane. See Properties on page 51.

Command Description

Change the tile pattern

Synchronous playback

Expand/collapse current tile

Remove selected sequence



Synchronous playback Click on the Synchronous button to start or stop the synchronous playback mode. When the Archive Player operates in synchronous mode, the tile background in the Playback pane changes to dark blue.

Note The Synchronous playback option is only for video sequences that are part of the online archive managed by the archiver. If you would like synchronized playback of exported video sequences, see “Quick synchronization” on page 45.

If there were already video sequences in the Playback pane when synchronous mode is started, then the current tile (highlighted in yellow) will be used to set the time reference for all other tiles.

If there were no video sequences playing when the synchronous mode was started, then the first sequence being dragged to the Playback pane will become the time reference for all subsequent ones.

If there is no recorded video for a camera at the requested time, the message "No playback sequence" will be displayed in its playback tile.



If none of the displayed cameras have recorded video for a period of time, the playback will automatically fast forward to the point where at least one of the displayed cameras has recorded video, and resume the playback from there.

NOTE While in synchronous mode, be aware of the following exceptions.• The Save a snapshot and Print a snapshot buttons will apply to all displayed

tiles. See Save, Print, and Export on page 50.• The Seek when the end of recording is reached option is ignored. See Customizing the

Archive Player – General options on page 103.

Quick synchronization This option is available from the pop-up menu when you right-click on a tile. It allows you to synchronize the playback of exported .g64 video sequences. The synchronization is based on the timeframe of the currently selected tile. Unlike the Synchronous playback option, Quick synchronization does not require that the archiver be online to synchronize the playback of the sequences.

Note If a video sequence contains frames that are missing video, the sequence will jump to the next available frame that contains video and be out-of-sync with the other sequences. You can choose the Quick synchronization option again to re-sync the sequences.

Timeline

Description The ruler like indicator is called the timeline. The timeline is a graphical representation of the selected playback sequence. The duration of the sequence is shown in brackets. Once the sequence is loaded, the user can shorten or expand the timeline by clicking on the Zoom in and Zoom out buttons.

The main timeline displayed right on top of the playback controls always corresponds to the current tile.

To show an individual timeline for each tile, select View > Timeline > Show Timeline for Each Tile.

Playback cursor The position of the current video frame in the timeline is indicated by the playback cursor . You can easily change the position of the playback frame by dragging the playback cursor to the desired position or by clicking the desired position in the timeline.

Playback cursor Bookmark text Motion indicator Zoom in

Currently displayed bookmark Other bookmarks Zoom out



Background color The background color of the timeline should be interpreted as follows:

Event markers The following table shows the different event markers found in the timeline.

Time range markers The time range markers are the two triangular orange markers that appear at the top right corner on the timeline when the mouse cursor hovers over the timeline.

You can use those markers to delimit a specific range in the timeline, either to zoom in to it or to setup a playback loop. To set up a time range, drag the markers to the desired start and end positions.

To clear the time range, click on the Reset markers button.

Color Meaning

White – Section of the timeline that is in the past where video is available.

Dark gray – Section of the timeline where no video is available.

Light purple – Section of the timeline that was in the future at the time the playback was requested, but now is in the past. This is the reason why there is no motion indicators in this section.

Dark purple – Section of the timeline that is still in the future.

Marker Meaning

The red blocks in the timeline are motion indicators. The higher the red bar, the more pronounced the motion.

The dark blue vertical bars in the timeline are bookmark indicators. The time and text associated to the bookmark are shown above the timeline when the playback cursor is within plus or minus 5 seconds of the bookmark position.

When playback cursor is within 5 seconds of the bookmark position, the bookmark indicator is shown in red.

The areas colored in light blue indicate the presence of metadata. If metadata are available, you can view them by showing the Metadata tab in the Tool Pane (F8). See Metadata on page 53.

Playback cursor Time range markers

Reset markersTime range markers



Playback controls

Description The playback controls are found just below the timeline, at the bottom of the Playback pane.

Status panel The playback status panel indicates the time and date of the current frame on the first row, and the playback status and speed on the second row.

Controlling the playback

The following commands pertain to playback control.

Go to next bookmarkStatus panel

Speed selector

Play/Pause

Go to previous bookmark

Add a bookmark

Go to next frame

Go to previous key frame

Enable/disable loop playback

Save a snapshot

Export current sequence

Slow/normal playback speed

Lock/unlock playback speed

Print a snapshot

Command Function

Play/Pause Alternate between play and pause. The current status is indicated in the Status panel.

Go to next frame Pause the sequence and advance frame by frame.

Go to previous key frame

A key frame is a frame that contains a complete image by itself as opposed to a usual frame that only holds information that changed compared to the previous frame.

If the playback sequence contains key frames at short intervals, clicking continuously on this button will produce the effect of reverse playback.

Enable/disable loop playback

You can set the playback to loop continuously within a specific time range (green LED on).

To setup a playback loop, mark the loop sequence with the time range markers, position the playback cursor between the two markers and click on Enable loop playback.



Controlling the playback speed

The playback speed is indicated in the Status panel. The speed of (1x) corresponds to normal play. When the system is rewinding, the speed is shown as negative.

Bookmark commands The following group of commands pertain to the use of bookmarks.

NOTE When a bookmark is found, the playback will start 5 seconds before the position of the bookmark.

Adding bookmarks Clicking on the button pops the Add a bookmark dialog.

Command Function

Speed selector Drag the speed selector to the right to fast forward (1x, 2x, 4x, 6x, 8x, 10x, 20x, 40x and 100x) or to the left for rewind (-1x, -4x, 10x, -20x, -40x or -100x). You must hold the left mouse button down to keep the desired speed. The moment you let go the mouse button, the slider will return to normal speed (1x).

Lock/unlock playback speed

Enable the speed lock (green LED on) to avoid holding the speed selector with the left mouse button.

Slow/normal playback speed

You can play the video in slow motion by enabling slow playback speed (green LED on). The color of the speed control slider will change. The available slow motion speeds are 1/8x, 1/4x, 1/3x, 1/2x and 1x.

While in slow motion mode, the default playback speed is 1/8x if the speed is not locked. Note that slow motion rewind is not supported.

Command Function

Go to previous bookmark

Find the previous bookmark and resume the playback from there. If no bookmark is found, nothing will happen.

Add a bookmark Add a new bookmark at the current position.See Adding bookmarks on page 48.

Go to next bookmark Find the next bookmark and resume the playback from there. If no bookmark is found, nothing will happen.



Type a description in the Bookmark text and click OK to add a bookmark to the selected playback sequence at the specified Time.

It is not necessary to hurry when you type the Bookmark text because the timestamp of the bookmark is fixed at the Time indicated in the dialog box.

NOTE Leaving the Bookmark text blank does not cancel this action. The bookmark will still be created and associated to the User who added it. To cancel the action, click on Cancel.

To protect the video file containing the bookmark from being deleted during routine archive cleanups, select the Protect video from deletion option.

You can choose how long you wish to protect the video: indefinitely, for a specific number of days, or until a specific date.

The protected video sequence starts 60 seconds before the bookmark time and ends 4 minutes after the bookmark time.

Related topics:• Edit the selected bookmark on page 59.• Delete the selected bookmark(s) on page 60.• Video file protection on page 98.



Save, Print, and Export The following group of commands allow you to create external copies of the archived video in terms of snapshots or video sequences.

Command Function

Save a snapshot Save a snapshot of the current frame to disk. The application will prompt you to enter the name, the location and the format of the saved image file.

You have the option to save the current frame as a bitmap or a JPEG image. Use the Save as type: pull-down control to select the desired type of image. Note that JPEG images take significantly less space on disk.

The saved image is overlaid by default with the date and time when the frame is recorded, followed by the camera name. See sample image below.

TIP You may change the default settings so that snapshots are always saved in the same folder with the same format, with or without the overlaid information. Please refer to User interaction options on page 107.

Print a snapshot Print a snapshot of the current frame. Just like the saved images, the printed image is stamped with the recording date and time and followed by the camera name.



Tool pane

Properties The Properties tab provides various useful information regarding the selected playback sequence.

The Capabilities section shows the playback capabilities of the selected sequence. Unsupported capabilities cause certain commands to be disabled in the playback controls. See Playback controls on page 47.

The Playback statistics section monitors the current bit rate, frame rate and video dimensions.

Clicking on the button pops a dialog showing the video files corresponding to the selected playback sequence. See Display files on hard drive on page 36.

Export current sequence

Export the current playback sequence. See Exporting video archives on page 86.

TIP The time range markers can also be used to delimit the video sequence to export. See Time range markers on page 46.

Command Function

Select Properties




Digital zoom The Digital zoom tab allows you to zoom in on a particular section of the video during playback.

To use the digital zoom:1 Select the tile you wish to zoom in on in the Playback pane.2 Select Digital zoom in the Tool pane. Type <F8> if the Tool pane is not shown.3 With the mouse, draw a rectangle around the area of interest over the preview

window. The application will zoom in to the surrounded area in the tile.4 Click the button to clear the zoom box.5 The digital zoom is automatically cancelled when the Tool pane is closed.

To move the zoomed area, click on the arrow buttons or click inside the blue rectangle (the mouse cursor will change into a hand) and drag it to the desired position.

To zoom in and zoom out, click on the <+> and <-> buttons.

Select Digital zoom

Zoomed area shown in the tile. Use the mouse to move it

around.

Return to 100% view

Preview window



Metadata The Metadata tab is used to show the metadata associated to the selected playback sequence.

The Tool pane can only display one type of metadata at a time. If several types of metadata are associated to the selected playback sequence, use the Plugin drop-down list to select the one you wish to view.

The information displayed depends on the type of plugin linked to the camera. For a more information on plugin types see Config Tool > Plugins in the Omnicast Administrator Guide, or see Plugin manuals on page 14 to refer to an individual plugin guide.

Select Metadata

Select a plugin to display the

corresponding metadata


SECTION 4

ALTERNATE WORKFLOWS

Alternate methods for searching and viewing video archives

EVENT SEARCH WORKFLOW GENETEC4 ALTERNATE WORKFLOWS OMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE

Event search workflow

Construct the query

Event Search The Event Search allows you to query the archive database for events and bookmarks associated to selected cameras for a given time range.


Specify here which archive sources you wish to interrogate. In Omnicast, video archives can be managed by Archivers, video units (the ones equipped with their own storage), or both.

For a complete description of the available options, please read Select the archive source on page 33.

Select the cameras You may investigate multiple cameras with a single query. Select a site to select all the cameras under it.

Use the Entity Search tool if you have trouble finding the cameras you want.

Select a query tool



Select the cameras

Select the search category and subcategory

Execute the query

Specify the search time range


GENETEC EVENT SEARCH WORKFLOWOMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE 4 ALTERNATE WORKFLOWS


The search time range is optional but it is always better to limit the query to a specific time range as it speeds up the search. You may leave the time range open ended by clearing one or both date-time options.

Select the search category

The categories you can choose from are:

Execute the query

Procedure Click on the Start button to launch the query. Double-clicking on a date will achieve the same result.

Category Meaning

All events/actions

Search for all types of events and actions.This is the broadest kind of search.

All events Search only for events, excluding the actions.Note that All events does not include the custom events.

Motion Search for video sequences that contains motion. The level of motion is measured by the percentage of difference between two consecutive frames.

When searching for motion, also indicate the minimum motion level (%) you are looking for in the field below Category.

File deleted Search only for File deleted events. This event is issued when a video file is deleted prematurely by the Archiver when it runs out of disk space.

You may narrow down the search by searching for a substring in the video file name. Video file names are formed using the camera name (stripped of the spaces), followed by the date (yyyy_mm_dd), followed by the start time of the video sequence (24h00min00s000ms). These three sections are separated by underscores "_".

Recording Search only for recording events. The subcategories you can choose from are listed in the field below Category.

Camera tampering

Search only for camera tampering events. This event is only available on cameras equipped with the tampering detection feature.

All actions Search for all manual actions performed by users.

Bookmark Search for all bookmarks. You may narrow down the search by specifying the substring you wish to find in the bookmark description below Category.

Video Analytics events

You can search for all video analytics events, or search on individual video analytics events. For a description of each analytic event, see Appendix A Omnicast events in your Omnicast Administrator Guide.



While the system is searching, the animated icon will be shown. The results of the query will be listed right below the Playback pane. You may interrupt the query by clicking Cancel.

If the search yields more than 1000 items, the Archive Player will ask you to refine the search criteria.


Events Queries issued from the Event Search return events . The result is listed in the Query Result pane.

Each listed event is characterized by:


Edit the selected bookmark

Delete the selected bookmark(s)

Field Description

Camera Name of the camera to which the event is associated.

Archiver Name of the archive source. See Select the archive source on page 56.

If the archive source is an Archiver or an Auxiliary Archiver, it means the video sequence is part of the online archive.

If the archive source is a Restore Archiver, then the video sequence is part of the video restored from backup.

If archive source is a unit, then the video is stored on the video encoding unit itself.

Note that most units that support video storage provide only one playback stream. Requesting a video playback from a unit that is already busy servicing another client will result in the following error message: “The maximum number of playback streams for this unit has been reached”.

Type Type of event or action.


GENETEC EVENT SEARCH WORKFLOWOMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE 4 ALTERNATE WORKFLOWS


Procedure To view the playback sequence corresponding to the occurrence time of an event, you can drag and drop the event to any tile in the Playback pane, or double-click on the event to play the associated video in the first available free tile in the Playback pane.

NOTE When viewing a File deleted event, the playback sequence that is loaded corresponds to the time the file deletion event occurred, not to the deleted video file.

Please read Controlling the playback on page 41 for more details.

Instant replay To view the last two minutes of recorded video for any camera, drag and drop the camera to any tile in the Playback pane or double-click on the camera to play the last two minutes of recorded video in the first available free tile in the Playback pane.

This feature is also available from the Sequence Search.



Clicking on the button pops the File locations dialog that shows the video files associated to the selected events. Please refer to Display files on hard drive on page 36.

Edit the selected bookmark

Clicking on the button allows you to change the Bookmark text. You need the Edit bookmarks privilege to perform this operation.

Time Event timestamp.

Description Additional information describing the event or action.

For Motion, the description indicates the percentage of motion.

For File deleted events, the name of the deleted file is indicated. If the file was deleted by a user, the username is also indicated.

For Bookmark, the user who added or modified the bookmark is shown, followed by the bookmark description.

Field Description



Type a new description and click OK. The bookmark Time will not change but the User will be replaced with your username.

Delete the selected bookmark(s)

Click on the button to delete the selected bookmarks. You need the Delete bookmarks privilege to perform this operation.


GENETEC SEQUENCE SEARCH WORKFLOWOMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE 4 ALTERNATE WORKFLOWS

Sequence search workflow

Construct the query

Sequence Search The Sequence Search allows you to query the archive database for available video sequences within a specific time range for selected cameras. This query type is only available in Advanced mode. It is primarily used to prepare for synchronous playbacks or archive exports.


Specify here which archive sources you wish to interrogate. In Omnicast, video archives can be managed by the Archiver, the video unit (the ones equipped with their own storage), or both. For a complete description of the available options, please read Select the archive source on page 33.

Select the cameras You may investigate multiple cameras with a single query. Select a site to select all the cameras under it. Use the Entity Search tool if you have trouble finding the cameras you want (see Entity search tool on page 38).

Select a query tool



Select the cameras

Execute the query



SEQUENCE SEARCH WORKFLOW GENETEC4 ALTERNATE WORKFLOWS OMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE


You must always specify a time range for a sequence search. Be aware that if the time range covers multiple days, the query will take longer to execute.

Execute the query

Procedure Click on the Start button to launch the query. While the system is searching, the animated icon will be shown. You may interrupt the query by clicking Cancel.



Playback sequences The Sequence Search returns playback sequences , just like the Archive Browser.

For the description of playback sequences and post-processing commands, please refer to Playback sequences on page 35.


Procedure To view a playback sequence returned by your archive query, drag and drop it to any tile of your choice in the Playback pane or double-click it to play the sequence in the first available free tile.

Additional reading:• Controlling the playback on page 41• Exporting video archives on page 86


Export selection



GENETEC SEQUENCE SEARCH WORKFLOWOMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE 4 ALTERNATE WORKFLOWS

Instant replay To view the last two minutes of recorded video for any camera, drag and drop the camera to any tile in the Playback pane or double-click on the camera to play the last two minutes of recorded video in the first available free tile in the Playback pane.

This feature is also available from the Event Search.



Clicking on the button pops the File locations dialog which shows the video files containing the selected video sequences.

See Display files on hard drive on page 36.

Export selection Clicking on the button pops the Export dialog which allows you to create stand alone video files that can be played while you are offline. The Archive Player also gives you the option to export the video sequences in a standard format such as ASF or AVI.

See Exporting video archives on page 86 to learn more about this feature.


Clicking on the button pops the Protect archives dialog which allows you to protect the selected video sequences from being deleted by the system during routine archive cleanups or by other users.

See Protect archives from deletion on page 37.


ALARM SEARCH WORKFLOW GENETEC4 ALTERNATE WORKFLOWS OMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE

Alarm search workflow

Construct the query

Alarm Search The Alarm Search allows you to search for video archives associated to specific alarms.

Search by alarm instance number

If you know the exact alarm instance number, select the Alarm instance check box, enter the number and click Start. When searching by alarm instance number, all other search criteria are disabled.

Select the alarm entities

Select the types of alarms you are interested in finding. In Omnicast, different types of alarms are represented as alarm entities. The properties associated to alarm entities are described in Omnicast Administrator Guide.

Use the Entity Search tool if you have trouble finding a particular alarm entity.

Select a query tool

Search by alarm instance number


Select the alarm entities

Execute the query

Filter by alarm creation time

Filter by alarm priority

Filter by alarm source

Filter by alarm description

Filter by alarm status


GENETEC ALARM SEARCH WORKFLOWOMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE 4 ALTERNATE WORKFLOWS

Filter by alarm creation time

The time range serves to limit the search to alarms that were triggered within a specific time range. You may leave the time range open ended by clearing one or both date-time options.

Filter by alarm priority Select the Alarm priority check box to limit the search to alarms within a certain priority range. In Omnicast, alarms with higher priorities have a lower number.

Filter by alarm source Select the Source check box to limit the search to specific alarm sources. The alarm source is the entity whose event was used to trigger the alarm. Click on the browse button to pop the following dialog.

From the Source combo-box, select the type of alarm source you want. The choice of alarm source will determine the type of entity tree that appears below. Select the entities you wish to investigate and click OK.

Filter by alarm description

Select the Description check box to search for alarms with a particular description. The alarm description is an optional descriptive text supplied by the user when triggering an alarm. For more details, please refer to Triggering New Alarms in Omnicast Live Viewer User Guide.

If a description is associated to an alarm, it will be indicated in brackets “( )” after the alarm name in the query result list. See Interpret the query result on page 67.



Filter by alarm status Select the Alarm status check box to limit the search to specific alarm statuses and click on the browse button. The following dialog appears.

An alarm instance is always in one of the following states:• Active – The alarm has not yet been acknowledged.• Acknowledged – The alarm has been acknowledged by a user.• Auto-acknowledged – The alarm has been acknowledged automatically by the

system (after a timeout).

If you selected the Acknowledged check box, you must also specify:• the type of acknowledgement used (default, alternate, or custom).• who acknowledged the alarm.• when the alarm was acknowledged.

Execute the query

Procedure Click on the Start button to launch the query. While the system is searching, the animated icon will be shown. You may interrupt the query by clicking Cancel.





Alarm instances The Alarm Search returns alarm instances in the Query pane.

Each alarm instance is described by:

Show alarm details (Off)

Show alarm history

Field Description

Status icon The icon in the first column shows the alarm status:

Acknowledged (default mode)

Acknowledged (alternate mode)

Acknowledged (custom mode)

Active (not yet acknowledged)

Name Alarm name followed by the alarm instance number.

If a description was provided at the time the alarm was triggered, it will be shown in brackets “( )” between the alarm name and the instance number.

Priority Alarm priority (1=highest and 30=lowest).

Creation time Alarm instance creation time.

Source Entity that triggered the alarm. See Filter by alarm source on page 65.

If the source is displayed as blank, it means that the source is currently a ghost camera.

Event type Event that triggered the alarm.

Acknowledged by User who acknowledged the alarm instance.

Custom acknowledgement type

If custom acknowledgement was used, this column indicates the custom event that was selected. For more explanations on the different ways to acknowledge an alarm, please refer to the section on Handling Alarms in the Omnicast Live Viewer User Guide.

Acknowledge time Time the alarm instance was acknowledged.



Show alarm details Clicking on the button toggles between the list view and the detailed view of the selected alarm. The alarm details are indicated by a camera list on the left and a recipient list on the right. See below.

The camera list shows the recorded video corresponding to the cameras used to display the alarm in the Live Viewer. If one of the camera is a ghost camera, it will not be shown.

The recipient list shows which users or monitor groups are configured to receive this alarm.

Preview If the Preview is not displayed, click on to show it for the selected camera or on to show it for all cameras in the list.

Show alarm details (On)

Show alarm history

Recipient listCamera list




Show alarm history Clicking on the button pops the Alarm history dialog. This dialog shows every step that the alarm instance has gone through.

The meaning of the action icons are described below.

Once acknowledged, an alarm is kept in the system for 90 days. However, the Omnicast administrator can decide to change this value.

Icon Action that took place

Activated. The By field indicates the alarm recipient.

Forwarded. The By field indicates the user who performed the action and the Description field indicates the alarm recipient.

Snoozing. The By field indicates the user who performed the action.

Comment added. The comment is indicated in the Description column.Note that a comment can only be added through an alarm procedure.See View alarm procedure in Omnicast Live Viewer User Guide.

Acknowledged (default).

Acknowledged (alternate).

Acknowledged (custom). The Custom event field indicates the event associated to the acknowledgement.



View alarm playback

Procedure To replay an alarm the way it was seen in the Live Viewer when it was triggered, drag it from the alarm list and drop it to the Playback pane, or double-click it in the alarm list.

Every visual element used to display the alarm in the Live Viewer will be reproduced in a separate playback tile. Therefore, you need to make sure you have enough free tiles in the Playback pane to show all the alarm elements before you attempt to playback an alarm.

The alarm elements involving a camera (live video, playback and still images) are reproduced as playback sequences starting 5 seconds before the alarm triggering time.

Alarm elements involving a camera sequence cannot be played back. However, a tile will be reserved in the Playback pane to indicate that a camera sequence was used for that alarm.

You may also view the video sequences individually from the alarm details view.


Procedure No post-processing is available on alarm instances.

Camera sequence cannot be played

back

Live video, playback and still images are

reproduced as playback sequences


GENETEC MOTION SEARCH WORKFLOWOMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE 4 ALTERNATE WORKFLOWS

Motion search workflow

Construct the query

Motion Search The Motion Search allows you to search for video sequences showing motion in a specific area of the image. This query type is only available in Advanced mode.


Specify here which archive source you wish to interrogate. In Omnicast, video archives can be managed by the Archiver, the video unit (the ones equipped with their own storage), or both. For a complete description of the available options, please read Select the archive source on page 33.

Select a query tool


Select a camera

Execute the query


Motion detection zone and drawing

tools

Preview image

Click to play

Motion detection criteria


MOTION SEARCH WORKFLOW GENETEC4 ALTERNATE WORKFLOWS OMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE

Select a camera Click in the Select a camera drop-down list to show the camera tree and select a camera.

TIP If you have trouble finding a particular camera, click on the button at the upper right corner of the camera tree to pop the Entity Search tool (see page 38).

Preview image The moment a camera is selected, a preview image based on the selected time range is displayed. Click on the Play button to view a video playback instead.

NOTE If the selected camera does not support motion search, the message Search not supported will be displayed instead of the preview image.



Click on the button to refresh the preview image if you change the time range.

Motion detection zone A motion detection zone must be defined before you can start the search. Define the zone by drawing motion detection blocks (green squares) on areas where motion is meaningful for the search.

In the illustration at hand, only motion detected on the right side of the door is important. Therefore, motion created by people walking to the left and the bottom area of the camera’s field of view will be ignored by the search.

The tools for editing the motion detection zone are explained below.


Select a camera

Button Usage

Use the Pen to draw single motion detection blocks.

Use the Eraser to erase the motion detection blocks that are not needed.

Use the Rectangle to draw a group of motion detection blocks.

Use Fill to cover the entire image with motion detection blocks.

Use Clear to erase all the motion detection blocks in the image.

Use Invert to interchange the area with motion detection blocks with the area without.


GENETEC MOTION SEARCH WORKFLOWOMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE 4 ALTERNATE WORKFLOWS

Motion detection criteria

Three criteria can influence the speed and accuracy of the motion search.

Execute the query

Procedure Click on the Start button to launch the query. While the system is searching, the animated icon will be shown. You may stop the query by clicking Cancel.



Playback sequences The Motion Search returns playback sequences , just like the Archive Browser.

For the description of playback sequences and post-processing commands, please refer to Playback sequences on page 35.

Preview If the Preview is not displayed, click on to show it for the selected video sequence or on to show it for all video sequences in the query result list.

Parameter Meaning

Motion threshold

This value represents the minimum number of blocks within which motion needs to be detected to qualify for the search. The total number of blocks in the motion detection zone is indicated as the maximum value allowed for the threshold. A value of zero means any motion detected in the defined zone would qualify for the search.

Consecutive frame hits

The consecutive frame hits allows the motion threshold to be applied over a specified number of video frames. This setting helps to avoid false-positive motion detection like video noise in a single frame. It ensures that motion will not be detected simply because the threshold is met on a single frame, but rather that the threshold is met over a specified number of consecutive frames.

Minimum time between frames

The minimum time between frames is used to control the sampling rate for the search. This setting allows the user to accelerate the search by telling the system not to examine every single video frame. The higher this value, the more frames the system will skip during the search, thus, performing the search faster.

A value of 33 msec or less is equivalent to ask the system not to skip any frame. (The highest archiving frame rate is 30 frames/sec. At this rate, the time between two consecutive frames is only 33 msec).


MOTION SEARCH WORKFLOW GENETEC4 ALTERNATE WORKFLOWS OMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE


Procedure To view a playback sequence returned by the Motion Search, drag and drop it to any tile of your choice in the Playback pane, or double-click it to play the sequence in the first available free tile.

Additional reading:• Controlling the playback on page 41• Exporting video archives on page 86



Clicking on the button pops the File locations dialog which shows the video files associated to the selected events. See Display files on hard drive on page 36.

Export selection Clicking on the button pops the Export dialog which allows you to create stand alone video files that can be played without the need to be connected to an Omnicast Directory. See Exporting video archives on page 86.


Clicking on the button pops the Protect archives dialog which allows you to protect the selected video sequences from being deleted by the system during routine archive cleanups or by other users. See Protect archives from deletion on page 37.



Export selection



GENETEC METADATA SEARCH WORKFLOWOMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE 4 ALTERNATE WORKFLOWS

Metadata search workflow

Construct the query

Metadata Search The Metadata Search allows you to search the archive for video sequences associated to metadata. This query type is only available in Advanced mode.

Select the metadata source

Specify here the metadata source you wish to interrogate. You have two choices:

Select a query tool

Select the metadata source


Select the source entities

Specific search criteria (depends on

the type of plugin)

Execute the query


Select the plugin

Option Meaning

Default engine Interrogates only the default Metadata Engine. The default engine is the Metadata Engine that runs the plugin.

All engines Interrogates all Metadata Engines that run the same type of plugins.


METADATA SEARCH WORKFLOW GENETEC4 ALTERNATE WORKFLOWS OMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE

Select the plugin You must select a plugin in order to perform a search.

You can either select a type of plugin or a specific plugin instance .

In the above example, AutoVu1 and AutoVu2 are specific instances of the plugin type Video Analytics - AutoVu LPR.

If you select a plugin type, then all plugin instances of that type will be included in the search.

Select the source entities

Metadata are associated to their source which can be a camera or an external entity. The type of entity they are linked to depends on the type of plugin you selected.

For video analytics plugins, the metadata are associated to cameras . For access control plugins, the metadata are associated to doors . For point-of-sale plugins, the metadata are associated to cash registers .



Specific search criteria The specific search criteria also depends on the type of plugin you selected. For a more information on search criteria, see Plugin manuals on page 14 to refer to an individual plugin guide.

Execute the query

Procedure Click on the Start button to launch the query. While the system is searching, the animated icon will be shown. You may stop the query by clicking Cancel.



Plugin type

Plugin instance




Metadata events Queries issued from the Metadata Search return metadata events . The result is listed in the Query Result pane.

Each metadata event is characterized by:


Procedure To view the playback sequence associated to a metadata event, drag and drop the event to any tile in the Playback pane, or double-click on the event to play the associated video sequence in the first free tile.

Report

View metadata details

Field Description

Plugin Name of the plugin instance that generated the event.

Metadata Engine

Name of the Metadata Engine that recorded the metadata event.

Start Start time of the video sequence associated to the metadata. In the example illustrated above, the sequences all have a zero duration, but it is not always the case.

Stop Stop time of the video sequence associated to the metadata.

Summary Summary of the associated metadata. This summary depends on the type of plugin. You can see the plugins that are available in Omnicast by referring to Plugin manuals on page 14.

Click on to see more details in the Tool pane.

See View playback sequences on page 77.


METADATA SEARCH WORKFLOW GENETEC4 ALTERNATE WORKFLOWS OMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE

There are usually more metadata than what is shown in Summary field of the result list.

To view all of the metadata side by side with the playback video, show the Tool pane by pressing <F8>, select the Metadata tab, and select the appropriate plugin.

The details shown depend on the plugin type. Some plugins can display metadata as overlays over the video.

NOTE Metadata overlays are shown during playback only if both the video and the metadata were recorded by the same Archiver. In the case where the video is stored on the unit, the metadata overlays will be shown only if they were recorded by the default Archiver of the unit.

Select the Metadata tab

Select the plugin

The displayed details depend on the type of plugin selected




Report Click on the Report button to export the query results to a file. The following dialog appears.

This dialog allows you to export selected metadata fields to a CSV file. To complete the export, do the following.1 Click on the browse button to specify the Report path. This is the path to the CSV

file where the report should be saved.2 Select the fields you want for the report from the Available fields column and click

. Depending on type of the selected plugin, more fields may be available for the report.

3 You can change the order of appearance of the selected fields with the and buttons.

4 Click on Export to generate the report. Once created, the report can be viewed in Microsoft Excel.


FILE BROWSING WORKFLOW GENETEC4 ALTERNATE WORKFLOWS OMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE

File browsing workflow

Construct the query

File Browser The File Browser works like Windows File Explorer with the exception that it only shows the folder content if it contains video files.

What are video files? Video files are created by the Archiver to store video archives (digitally recorded video). They are readily playable with the Archive Player. All video files have the file extension G64.

Where to find video files

The Archiver generally stores the video files under the folder \VideoArchives on each of the disks configured for archiving. These files are then grouped under subfolders bearing the camera's name (without the spaces). Within each camera folder, the video files are further divided by archive dates (see illustration above). These files usually contain no more than 60 minutes of video each, and are deleted gradually based on the Keep archives for parameter set for each encoder in the Config Tool.

Select a query tool

Default root folder used by the Archiver

Folders corresponding to

camera names

Find the previous folder containing

video files

Folders corresponding to

archiving dates

Find the next folder containing video files

Refresh folder tree and folder content


GENETEC FILE BROWSING WORKFLOWOMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE 4 ALTERNATE WORKFLOWS

Video files may also be found in other places when users export selected video sequences for safekeeping, or when the backed up archives are being restored to disk for viewing. See Exporting video archives on page 86.

Execute the query

To browse for video files:1 Select the folder where you want to start your search in the File Browser’s folder

tree. Expand the subfolders if necessary.2 Move down the folders in the folder tree with the keyboard arrow keys or the

mouse. When a folder containing video files is selected, its content will be listed in the Query Result pane. See Interpret the query result on page 81.

3 Click on to let the application find the next folder containing video files. While the system is searching, the animated icon will be shown. You may interrupt the query by clicking Cancel.

4 Click on to let the application find the previous folder containing video files.5 Click on to refresh the folder tree and the folder content.


Video files The File Browser automatically lists the video files contained in any selected folder.

Each video file is characterized by:

Always get file info (Off) Get file info

Validate file

Convert file(s) to ASF

Decrypt file

Field Description

File name Name of the video file.

Begin Start time of the video sequence contained in the file.

End End time of the video sequence contained in the file.



Get file info If no information is displayed after the first column, click on one of the two buttons described below.


Procedure To view a video file, drag and drop it to any tile of your choice in the Playback pane or double-click it to play the video in the first free tile.

Please refer to Controlling the playback on page 41 for more details.

NOTE If the video file is part of the online archive, meaning that the file is still managed by an archiver, then no event markers will be shown in the Timeline. To see the event markers, use the Archive Browser or the Sequence Search instead.If you are viewing an exported video file, all the event markers will be visible. However, you will not be able to jump from bookmark to bookmark with the playback buttons. See Exporting video archives on page 86.

Length Length of the video sequence in (h:mm:ss).

Status This field indicates the file status.• Bad file format

• Empty file

• File not watermarked

• File watermarked (see Validate file on page 83)• Encrypt files

• Decryption completed

Watermarking is the process by which a digital signature is added to each recorded video frame to ensure its authenticity. If anyone later tries to make changes to the video (add, delete or modify a frame), the signatures will no longer match, thus, showing that the video has been tampered with.

Field Description

Click To

Show the detailed information (Begin, End, Length, and Status) on all video files listed in the Query pane. This button works as a toggle. When it is activated, the green LED is lit.

Show the detailed information on the selected video files.


GENETEC FILE BROWSING WORKFLOWOMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE 4 ALTERNATE WORKFLOWS


Decrypt file If you chose to encrypt your video sequence with an encryption key before exporting it, you need to decrypt the exported video sequence using the same encryption key to view it in the Archive Player. To do this:1 In the File browser, select the folder that contains your exported video.2 In the Query Result pane, choose the encrypted video file and click the button.3 Enter the Encryption key and click OK.4 Select where you would like to decrypt your file, and click OK.5 Once the file is decrypted, the Status field will indicate Decryption completed.6 In the File browser, select the folder that contains the decrypted file, then double-

click the decrypted file in the Query Result pane. If the wrong encryption key was entered, the Status field will indicate Bad file format and you will not be able to view the file.

Validate file When the status of a file is File watermarked, you can validate its authenticity by clicking on the button.

The possible results are:• File watermarked and authenticated

• File tampered at <date and time>

If a file has been tampered with, the timestamp of the first frame that did not pass the watermark validation test will be indicated.

Convert file(s) to ASF Click on the button to convert the selected video file(s) from Omnicast’s native format (G64) to Advanced Systems Format (ASF) so they can be played by popular software like Windows Media Player.

To convert a video file:1 Select the video file(s) you wish to convert and click on . The Browse for folder

dialog appears.2 Select the folder where to save the converted file(s) and click OK. The following

dialog box appears.

3 Select the appropriate compression Profile. Use the Description field to guide your choice. Generally, the higher the bit rate, the better the image quality, and the larger the converted files.



4 Select the Export audio check box to include audio information in the ASF files.5 Select the Display date and time on video check box to have the date and time overlaid

on the exported video images.6 Click on OK to start the conversion. The progress of the conversion will be indicated

in the Status column. When all selected files are converted, the operation will stop by itself. Click on the button to interrupt the conversion at any time.

The converted files have the same name as the source files with the ASF extension. Double-click on the converted file to view it with Windows Media Player (if it is installed on the same machine).

The illustration below shows the date and time stamped on the video.

WARNING Bear in mind that if you intend to play the ASF file on a different machine than the one that created it, it is possible that the target machine does not have the same video compressors installed. If this is the case, Windows Media Player will tell you that it does not support the format you are trying to play.


SECTION 5

ADVANCED FEATURES

Instruction on how to use the advanced features and how to customize the Archive Player

EXPORTING VIDEO ARCHIVES GENETEC5 ADVANCED FEATURES OMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE

Exporting video archives

Feature presentation

Description The Export function allows you to create stand-alone video files that can be played without being connected to an Omnicast Directory. The Archive Player also gives you the option to convert the exported files to a format other than the Omnicast native video format (G64) so popular software like Microsoft Media Player can be used to play these files.

Export formats The different formats you can export the archived video to are:

Format Description

G64 This is the native video data format used by Omnicast.

It contains bookmarks, motion markers, metadata markers, metadata overlays, audio and date-time information. See Event markers on page 46.

It supports watermarking, variable frame rate and variable image resolution. When the video files authenticity is protected through proper watermarking, they are eligible in court as proof of evidence.

You can also export g64 files when in offline mode. This is useful when you want to export and view a small segment of a previously exported g64 clip.

You need the Archive Player to read these files.See also File browsing workflow on page 80.

ASF The Advanced Systems Format is a Microsoft proprietary data format.

It supports audio information and variable frame rate, but not digital signatures (watermarking). Date and time information is not supported either, but can be overlaid on top of the video images during the conversion (see Convert file(s) to ASF on page 83).

If the selected video sequence uses multiple image resolutions (CIF, 2CIF, 4CIF, etc.), the exported video sequence will follow the image resolution of the first frame found in the source video sequence.

If you have metadata associated to the video, they will not be exported. You need Windows Media Player to read these files.

AVI The Audio Video Interleaved format is the least efficient of all three data formats. It does not support audio, nor watermarking, nor date and time information. The maximum size of an AVI file is limited to 4 GB.

Variations of image resolution in the source video will cause the Archive Player to create separate AVI files every time the resolution changes. Variation of frame rate will cause the resulting video to play slower or faster.

Because of these restrictions, we strongly recommend using ASF format over AVI format whenever G64 is not appropriate.


GENETEC EXPORTING VIDEO ARCHIVESOMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE 5 ADVANCED FEATURES

Export accessibility You must have the Export video files privilege to use this feature. You can export the sequence you are currently viewing or export the entire list of playback sequences returned by an archive query.

To export the playback sequence you are currently viewing, right-click on the playback tile and select the Export from the contextual menu, or click on the Export current sequence button from the playback controls.

To export from the Query Result pane, select the playback sequence(s) you wish to export and click on the Export selection button.

Both actions display the Export dialog which will carry you through the rest of the export procedure.

Using the export dialog

Select the export folder

First, specify where you want to create the exported files.

Enter a path or click on the browse button to select a folder.

Select the export format

Next, select the Export format you wish to use. See Export formats on page 86. The next three sections will describe how to use each of these export formats.



Using G64 format Choosing G64 format requires you to make the following choices.

Select the Copy a stand-alone Archive Player in the directory check box to include a Web-based light weight version of the Archive Player with your exported video sequences. See Using the Stand-Alone Archive Player on page 92.

Select the Delete intermediary g64 file(s) check box if you do not need to keep the G64 files after converting them to encrypted (.gek) files. This option is only available if you select the Encrypt files check box.

Select the Transfer watermarks with data check box to validate and tamper proof the exported video files. See Export and watermarking on page 92.

Select the Create an autorun file in the directory check box to copy the stand-alone Archive Player as an autorun file. Choose this option if you plan to install the entire exported result to another machine.

Select the Encrypt files check box if you want to add an encryption key to your export. The encryption key you define will be required to view the file. For details on how to view encrypted files, see Decrypt file on page 83.

If audio data and metadata are available, they are exported as well.

Using ASF format Choosing ASF format requires you to make the following choices.

Select the compression profile that best suits your needs. The bit rate indicated in brackets is an indication of the quality of the exported video. The higher the bit rate, the higher the quality.

Select the Delete intermediary g64 file(s) check box if you do not need to keep the G64 files after the conversion to ASF is completed.

Select the Export audio check box to include audio information in the ASF files.

Select the Display date and time on video check box to have the date and time overlaid on the exported video image.



Select the Encrypt files check box to add an encryption key to your export. The encryption key you define will be required to view the file. For details on how to view encrypted files, see Decrypt file on page 83.

See also Convert file(s) to ASF on page 83.

Using AVI format Choosing AVI format requires you to make the following choices.

Select the Use following codec check box to use the default Intel Indeo codec (coder/decoder). Intel Indeo is the most standard codec that almost every machine supports, but it is not the most efficient. If you clear this option, Windows will prompt you to select one of the codec installed on your PC.

Select the Delete intermediary g64 file(s) check box if you do not wish to keep the G64 files after the conversion to AVI is completed.

Select the Encrypt files check to add an encryption key to your export. The encryption key you define will be required to view the file. For details on how to view encrypted files, see Decrypt file on page 83.

Select the export time range

Indicate the export time range for the selected video sequence(s).

You may specify a different time range for each video sequence.



Start the export Click the Export button in the dialog to start the operation. Another dialog showing the progress of the export operation appears.

All video sequences are exported simultaneously.

Export in progress The following table explains the different elements found in the export progress status dialog.

Element Meaning (1 of 3)

Export status The global export status is indicated at the top of the dialog box along with the animated icon.



List of video sequences

Each sequence is identified by the camera name, the Archiver used for export, the sequence start and end times, the export status, the length of the exported sequence, and a progress indicator (the number of MB written so far). Each sequence corresponds to a single video file.

The possible export statuses are:• Transferring data – The export is in progress (creation of the G64

file). The progress is indicated by the number of bytes transferred.

• Conversion to ASF – If you chose to export in ASF format, this step will follow the previous step. The progress is indicated as a percentage of work complete.

• No video – There is no video from that camera for the selected time period.

• Partial export – The export has to be aborted due to some unexpected problem. Click on the sequence to see a description of the problem in the Status field found at the bottom of the dialog. When this happens, the remainder of the video is exported to a separate video file.

• Archive server not running – The Archiver that manages the selected video sequence is not running.

• Failed – The export failed. Click on the line to see an explanation for the failure in the Status field below.

• Successful – The export completed successfully. Select the sequence to see the Start and End time of the exported sequence.

The Archive Player would normally attempt to export the entire video sequence as a single video file. But unexpected problems could force it to break the video sequence into several files (partial export). The most common reason for a broken sequence is when the watermarking changes in mid-sequence. Please read Export and watermarking on page 92 for more details.

Elapsed time The total elapsed time since the export operation started.

Status The error message explaining why the selected export failed or had to be aborted (partial export).

Filename Name of the created export file.




Complete the export Click on OK to close the export progress status dialog when the operation is either completed or cancelled. All video files are created in subfolders bearing the camera name, under the specified export folder.

Export and watermarking

The option Transfer watermarks with data is used to preserve the digital signatures in the exported video files. If the original video was not watermarked, the exported video cannot be watermarked either.

Within a single video file, the watermarking must remain the same. If the watermarking changes in the middle of the sequence being exported, the Archive Player will close the current video file it is writing to and create a new file to handle the remainder of the sequence.

In the Export progress dialog, each broken section of the sequence will indicate Partial export and the last part of the sequence will indicate Successful. Each new section thus created will be inserted after the last one created for the same camera.

To avoid having the sequence broken into many pieces when the watermarking changes, clear the option Transfer watermarks with data in the Export dialog.

Using the Stand-Alone Archive Player

If you chose to export a stand-alone version of the Archive Player along with the selected video sequences, the two files: ArchivePlayer.htm and GxArchivePlayer.CAB will be copied to the export directory. These files contain the stand-alone version of the Archive Player that does not require any installation.

Cancel selections

This button allows you to end the selected export operation before its full completion. If you choose to do so, the following message appears.

You will have to decide whether to keep the video files that were already created or to delete everything done so far. Clicking on Cancel resumes the operation.

Cancel all remaining

This button works like Cancel selection, except it cancels everything that is not yet completed.




The stand-alone Archive Player is a web application. You need to have Windows Internet Explorer 6.0 or later installed on your PC to run it.

The stand-alone version of the Archive Player is identical to the full-fledged version of the Web Archive Player with the exception that it cannot launch the Web Live Viewer. Use the file browser to select and play the exported video files.

To start the application, double-click the file ArchivePlayer.htm. It will open an Internet Explorer window as follows. Depending on your Internet Explorer settings, you may get the following message when starting the stand-alone Archive Player.

If this is the case, simply click on Yes.

Using the Single-Click Archive Player

The Single-Click Archive Player is available as a free tool on your Omnicast Installation DVD. It has all the functionality of the full Archive Player, however, you do not need any Omnicast software installed on your system to use it.

The Single-Click Archive Player is located in the following folder on your Omnicast installation DVD: Tools\Free Omnicast Tools\Single Click Archive Player 4.x. To run it, click the Archive Player.exe.

NOTE When the Single-Click Archive Player opens, you don’t need to enter any information in the Connect dialog box, simply click Cancel.



CUSTOMIZING THE ARCHIVE PLAYER GENETEC5 ADVANCED FEATURES OMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE

Network options

Description

Network card If your machine is equipped with more than one network card, you will be given the option to choose the network card to use for Omnicast.

GENETEC KEYBOARD COMMANDSOMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE 5 ADVANCED FEATURES

Keyboard commands


Purpose With the Archive Player application, the PC keyboard can be turned into a powerful control tool, surpassing the CCTV keyboard in functionality and ease of use.

Controlling the playback pane

Controlling the tiles The following keyboard commands pertain to the control of the playback tiles.

Selecting tiles by IDs You can select a tile using only the numeric keypad by typing <99><.>, where <99> represents a number between 1 and 16.

Type To

<Ctrl>+<Tab> Select the next tile with something displayed. Empty tiles are ignored.

<Ctrl>+<Shift><Tab> Select the previous tile with something displayed. Empty tiles are ignored.

<Ctrl>+<-> Switch to previous tile pattern in the list of patterns.

<Ctrl>+<+> Switch to next tile pattern in the list of patterns.

<Ctrl>+<Backspace> Remove all currently displayed entities from the Playback pane.


KEYBOARD COMMANDS GENETEC5 ADVANCED FEATURES OMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE

Tile control panel To help you keep track of what number has been entered, all digit keystrokes (0 through 9) are shown in the Tile control panel.

The Tile control panel also shows the tile and camera IDs of the selected tile.

In the following table, the keystrokes <99> represent a sequence of 1 or 2 digits.

The sequence <Key1><Key2> means the two keys must be typed one after another.

The sequence <Key1>+<Key2> means that <Key2> must be pressed while holding <Key1>.

The keys <.>, </>, <*>, <+>, and <-> must be entered from the numeric keypad.

Controlling the selected tile

The following keystrokes are used to control the selected tile or displayed entity.

Special controls

Switching focus The following keystrokes allow you to focus on a particular element of the workspace.

Type To

<99><.> Select tile <99>.

<Esc> Clear the digit keystrokes shown in the Tile control panel.

Digit keystrokes just entered.Type <Esc> to clear.Currently selected

tile and camera IDs

Type To

<E> Expand or restore the selected tile to its original size.

<Backspace> Remove the selected playback sequence.

<B> Add a bookmark. Equivalent to .

<.> Start or stop listening. Equivalent to .

Type To

<Ctrl>+<Q> Switch focus to the Query pane.See Query pane on page 24.

<Ctrl>+<R> Switch focus to the Query Result pane.See Query result pane on page 24.

<Ctrl>+<D> Switch focus to the Digital Zoom controls.See Digital zoom on page 52.

<Ctrl>+<O> Open the Options dialog.See Options dialog on page 102.

<Right arrow> Select next Query tab (while the focus is a tab itself).


GENETEC KEYBOARD COMMANDSOMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE 5 ADVANCED FEATURES

Digital Zoom commands

The following keystrokes can be used to control the Digital Zoom.

Playback commands The following keystrokes allow you to control the selected playback sequence.

<Left arrow> Select previous Query tab (while the focus is a tab itself).

Type To

Type To

<Shift>+<Left arrow> Pan left.

<Shift>+<Right arrow> Pan right.

<Shift>+<Up arrow> Tilt up.

<Shift>+<Down arrow> Tilt down.

<Shift>+</> Zoom in.

<Shift>+<*> Zoom out.

Type To

<G> Play / pause.

<H> Previous key frame.

<J> Next frame.

<K> Rewind.

<L> Fast forward.

<Shift>+<+> Play faster.

<Shift>+<-> Play slower.

<Shift>+</> Expand timeline (zoom in).

<Shift>+<*> Compress timeline (zoom out).


VIDEO FILE PROTECTION GENETEC5 ADVANCED FEATURES OMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE

Video file protection


Storage spacemanagement

New videos are generally considered more important than older ones. Therefore, the default behavior of all archivers is to delete the older video files to make room for the new ones.

Omnicast Archiver uses two different strategies to free up the archive storage space:1 Automatic cleanup: An archive retention period (in days) is assigned to each

camera. The Archiver routinely checks for video files whose retention period is expired and deletes them. The retention period may be configured individually for each camera.

2 Cleanup on demand: The Archiver deletes the oldest video file every time it runs out of disk space.

The strategy to use for archive cleanup as well as the archive retention periods are configured by the Omnicast administrator with the Server Admin and the Config Tool. Please refer to Omnicast Administrator Guide for more details.

Protecting important video sequences

If certain video sequences are particularly important, such as containing evidence of criminal activities, you can choose to protect them so they will not be deleted by the routine archive cleanup procedures.

Video protection can be set as a post-processing step after an archive query (see Protect archives from deletion on page 37) or from the Video File Query dialog.

Video file query

Description The Video File Query is an additional query tool designed to locate the video files containing the online video archives. It allows you to search the video files by camera name and by date and time range. You can also filter the query results by their video file protection status and end date.

The main purpose of this tool is to help the administrator manage the protected video. The following operations are supported in this tool:• Protect selected video files (indefinitely or until a specified date)

(requires the Protect video from deletion privilege)• Remove the video protection from selected files

(requires the Remove video protection privilege)• Delete selected video files

(requires the Delete video files privilege)

TIP You can check the percentage of disk space occupied by protected videos over the total disk space used for a given Archiver. To do this, open the Config Tool, select the appropriate Archiver from the Physical view, select the Statistics tab, and click on the Protected video file statistics button.


GENETEC VIDEO FILE PROTECTIONOMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE 5 ADVANCED FEATURES

The video file query is not found in the Query pane. To launch it, select Tools > Video File Query from the main menu.

The Video File Query dialog appears.

Searching video files To perform a search:1 Select the archive source you wish to query.

– Default archiver – Query only the default Archiver. Redundant Archivers will not be queried.

– All archivers – Query all archivers.2 Select from the camera tree, the cameras you wish to include in the search.3 Indicate the search time range by specifying the From date-time and the To date-

time.Be aware that the wider the range, the longer the Archive Player will take to perform the search. If the search yields more than 1000 items, the Archive Player will ask you to refine the search criteria.


VIDEO FILE PROTECTION GENETEC5 ADVANCED FEATURES OMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE

4 If you are only interested by files having certain video protection statuses, select Filter by status and select the desired statuses:– Unprotected – Files that are not protected against potential deletion. – Ending protection – Files whose protection has just been removed manually. See

Removing file protections on page 100. – Protected – Files that are still protected.

5 If you are looking for Protected files, you can further refine the search by setting a filter on the protection end date. You can choose from the following options:– Indefinitely – Files that do not have a protection end date.– Within n days – Files whose protection ends within n days.– Before date – Files whose protection ends before the specified date.

6 Click on the Start button to start the query.While the system is searching, the animated GIF will be shown . The result will gradually appear in the list below. The search is complete when the animated GIF disappears. You may stop the search at any time by clicking on Cancel.

Query results The video files returned by your query are grouped by camera name and archiver name. The icon preceding the file name indicates the file protection status.

From the result list, you can protect, remove the protection, change the protection expiry date, or delete the video files.

Removing file protections

The Video File Query dialog is the only place where video protection can be removed. You need the Remove video protection privilege to perform this operation. To do this, select the files from the result list and click on the button.

The updated status will be shown the next time you perform a query.

When the protection is removed, the file does not become unprotected right away. The file remains protected for an extra 24 hours before becoming vulnerable to the routine archive cleanup procedure. During this safety period, the file is flagged as Protection ending ( ).

Icon File protection status

Not protected.

Protected. The protection expiry date is shown in End of protection.

Protection ending. The protection has just been removed manually. The protection expiry date is shown in End of protection.


GENETEC VIDEO FILE PROTECTIONOMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE 5 ADVANCED FEATURES

Changing video protections

To protect or extend the protection period of selected video files, click on the button. The Protection settings dialog appears.

You can either protect the file indefinitely or specify a protection duration or an expiry date.

Click on the Protect button to apply the new settings to all selected files. The updated status will be shown the next time you execute a video file query.

NOTE You may only extend a file protection, not shorten it. If you want to shorten a file protection period, you must first remove the file protection (which requires the Remove video protection privilege), then set the new protection expiry date.The system will display a warning if the total size of the protected video files exceeds the protected video threshold configured by the administrator.

Deleting video files Only unprotected video files may be deleted. To delete video files, select them from the result list and click on the button. When the request for confirmation appears, answer Yes.

The deleted files will immediately be removed from the result list.




Customizing the Archive Player

Options dialog

Description The Options dialog allows you to customize most of the Archive Player's behavior to suit your preferences. To access this dialog, do one of the following:• Select Tools > Options from the main menu.• Type <Ctrl>+<O>.

You must have the Change application options privilege before you can change any application settings. If you do not have this privilege, you can still use this dialog to view the current settings.

The dialog contains the following tabs:

Tab Description

See General options on page 103.

See Network options on page 94.

See Audio options on page 105.

See Visual options on page 106.

See User interaction options on page 107.

See Joystick options on page 109.

See Display options on page 111.

See Date and time options on page 114.

GENETEC CUSTOMIZING THE ARCHIVE PLAYEROMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE 5 ADVANCED FEATURES

General options

Description

User login dialog Restrict access to connection parameters – Enable this feature to prevent the users from changing the Gateway in the Connect dialog. The next time a user starts a client application on this PC, the Gateway drop-down list will turn into a read-only field.

TIP If for some reason the connection parameters are invalidated because of a change in the system (e.g. the Gateway has been moved to a different PC) after you enabled this feature, users will no longer be able to connect to the system.To make the Gateway editable again, enter the username and password of an administrator and type <Ctrl>+<Shift>+<Enter>.



Use current Windows credentials by default – Enable this option to use Windows credentials for user logon. When this option is selected, the application will skip the Connect dialog and proceed immediately to logon with the current Windows credentials. The Active Directory must be enabled on the specified Omnicast Directory for this option to work. For more information, please refer to Active Directory in the Omnicast Administrator Guide.

NOTE Do not use this option if potential users of this workstation require supervised logons. Refer to User > Permissions > Supervised Logon in the Omnicast Administrator Guide.

On application exit Save search criteria – Select this option to save the state of the search tabs in the Query pane before closing the application so that the next time the application is started, the same settings can be restored.

If the search settings are not saved, the application will start with all time ranges set to one hour before the current time and no entity pre-selected.

Save tiles' content – Select this option if you want the Archive Player to reload the video sequences you are currently viewing into the same tiles the next time you start the application.

Time to seek before a restored sequence – If you selected the previous option, then you will need to specify the number of seconds to start the reloaded video sequences before their saved position.

Playback Time to seek before a bookmark – Enter the number of seconds to start the playback before the position of a bookmark you just sought.

Time to seek before an alarm – Enter the number of seconds to start the playback before the creation time of an alarm instance when displaying past alarms. See Alarm search workflow on page 64.

Seek when the end of recording is reached – This option lets the application seek automatically for new video recordings after the end of the recording is reached, up to a maximum of three times. The purpose of this option is to prevent the playback from stopping inadvertently in situations where the playback closely follows the live video. The playback could stop if it reaches the end of the recording before Omnicast has the time to write the new video to disk. Note that the playback would not automatically continue if the recording is purposely interrupted for a significant amount of time (anything over 5 seconds).

NOTE The above option is ignored during synchronous playback. See Synchronous playback on page 44.




Audio options

Description

This tab is visible only if Audio is supported by your Directory license.

Sound bites The folder where the sound files used for alarms and actions are found. If you leave this field blank, no alert sound will be heard.

Audio volume Show the volume controls in the toolbar – Clear this option if the volume control should be hidden from the application control panel. See Application control panel on page 21.

TIP By withholding the Change application options privilege from a user, the administrator can prevent the user from ever changing the audio volume.



Visual options

Description

Visual elements Show timeline for each tile – Select this check box to display an individual timeline at the bottom of each playback tile. See Timeline on page 45.

Show metadata overlays – Select this check box to show all metadata associated to a recorded video by default (if available). Note that you can turn this feature on and off on each individual playback sequence from the tile contextual menu.

Full path in entity names – Select this check box to include the full path (hierarchy of site names) in the entity description of each playback tile. If the entity is found under multiple sites, then the path is indicated as ”...\”.


User interaction options

Description

System messages Show messages, warnings or errors – Clear this option to prevent the application from showing any warning or error message. This option should be cleared when the application is running in an unattended mode. When this option is cleared, the next two options will be disabled. You have to restart the application for this option to take effect.

Close automatically messages, warnings – Select this option if you want the notification messages to be moved automatically to the notification message log if they are not acknowledged by the user after a given period of time. See Missed notification log on page 22.

Prompt user when CPU usage is above – When the CPU is near its maximum capacity, attempting a CPU intensive operation (such as viewing a camera) can sometimes freeze the machine. To prevent this from happening, you can ask the system to prompt you for a confirmation before attempting any CPU intensive operation when the percentage of CPU usage is above a preset level. Select this option to turn this feature on. When you attempt a CPU intensive operation when the CPU usage is above the indicated threshold, the following message will appear.



Click on Yes if you wish to ignore the warning, or click on No to cancel the operation.

Selecting Never ask me that question again and clicking Yes to turn this feature off.

Display warning if query covers multiple days – Select this option to have the Archive Player to issue a warning when the time range for a query exceeds 24 hours. Note that no query is permitted to return more than 1000 items. When this limit is exceeded, an error message is issued.

Snapshots Write date, time and camera name on snapshots – Select this option to have the date, time and camera name overlaid at the bottom of the snapshots.

This option applies to both saved and printed snapshots. See example below.

Always save the snapshots in the same folder – Use this option to speed up the Save a snapshot command. See Save, Print, and Export on page 50.

WARNING If the Always save... option is disabled, the Save a snapshot command will prompt you to enter the name, the location and the format (bitmap or JPEG) of the saved image file before taking the snapshot, causing you to miss the important scene you want to save.

The name of the saved image file will follow the “camera name - date_time.format" format, where ".format" is either “.bmp” or “.jpg”.



Joystick options

Description

Use the Joystick tab to configure the joystick connected to your PC.

Active joystick When a joystick (or any game controller supporting at least one axis) is detected on your computer, its brand and model name will appear in the Active joystick drop-down list.

The Import and Export buttons allow you to import a previously saved joystick configuration from disk or to save the current configuration to disk.

Use the Clear button to erase the selected command mapping.

Axis The top section is used to map the joystick axis commands to the desired PTZ commands of your choice. All axis supported by your joystick will be listed.

To associate a PTZ command to a joystick axis, select the axis in the list and click on the Command field. The available commands will appear in a drop-down list..



For each axis, you have the choice to invert the commands. For example, if you mapped the Tilt command to the Y axis, inverting the commands will cause the camera to move up when you pull the joystick towards you, and down when you push the joystick away from you.

Buttons The lower section is used to configure the joystick buttons to perform the Archive Player commands of your choice. The number of buttons you can configure depends on the type of joystick you have.

To associate a command to a joystick button, select the button in the list and click on the Down command or Up command field to see a list of commands you may choose from.

If the selected command requires an argument, then enter it in the Argument field.

You may associate two different commands to each button, one to the button down event and another to the button up event. The second command is optional.

Use the Clear button to erase the selected command mapping.



Display options

Description

Most of the display options are the same for all three client applications (Live Viewer, Archive Player and Config Tool). Changing the settings in one application will automatically change it for the other applications installed on the same machine.

Video options For the Archive Player, only the Playback video options are configurable.

Wait for vertical blank – Select this check box to reduce the tearing effect where movements are shown in the video. The tearing effect is shown as jagged edges or blurred video around moving objects. This effect is noticeable only when the video is displayed in high resolutions (2cif or 4cif).

NOTE This option is only recommended for 2 GHz processors or faster, because it uses up more CPU.



Let's look at a concrete example. The picture below shows a 2cif video displayed on a 2 GHz machine with the Wait for vertical blank option turned off.

Notice how blurry the image is around the moving arms. Also notice the CPU gauge. Displaying this video on a 2 GHz machine hardly uses any CPU.

Now let's look at the same scene with the Wait for vertical blank feature turned on.

This time, the same moving arms look much sharper. Also notice that the application is using more CPU.

Deinterlacing filter – Select this check box to help reduce the jagged effect around straight lines during movement. This effect affects only high resolution videos (2cif or 4cif format).

Deblocking filter – Select this check box to help reduce the appearance of blocks in low resolution videos (qcif and cif).

Video mode – Omnicast supports two video display modes: RGB and YUV. The latter mode is the preferred mode because it offers a performance gain of 20% to 30% over the default RGB mode. However, it is not supported by all video adapters.



The following is a list of video adapters that do support the YUV mode: • Matrox G450 or G550 • nVidia GeForce2 or better • ATI Radeon 7000 or better

TIP The surest way to know whether your video display adapter supports YUV or not is to test it. You must restart your application after changing the video mode. If the video is displayed correctly, then your video adapter supports the selected video mode. Sometimes, upgrading to the latest version of the device driver can fix some compatibility issues.

List of detected display adapters

This list shows all display adaptors installed on your PC. The type indicates whether the adapter supports single or multiple monitors.




Date and time options

Description

The Date and Time settings apply to all client applications. Changing a setting in one automatically affects the other applications installed on the same PC. Note that the date and time display format follows the Windows settings.

Device time zone Display based on each device's time zone – Choose this option to have each device in the system follow a specific time zone. Generally speaking, an application follows the time zone of the PC where it is running and all devices (units) follow the time zone of the application controlling it.

Display based on the following time zone – Choose this option to display the time according to each entity's time zone or to display everything following a time zone of your choice. This change is effective immediately and affects all client applications.

Time zone abbreviations

Display time zone abbreviations – Select this option to display the time zone abbreviation wherever time is displayed. Please refer to the Appendix for the time zone abbreviations used in Omnicast.

GLOSSARY

Explains the terminology used in this user guide

GENETEC GLOSSARY OMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE

The term Means

access control system An access control system (ACS) is a computerized security system to protect against unauthorized access to a secured area through the use of credentials, such as proximity cards or PIN numbers. Omnicast allows the integration of third party ACS through the use of the Virtual Matrix.

action User-programmed behavior that is triggered by a specifically defined event (motion detected, doorbell rung, alarm triggered, etc.).

active alarm An active alarm is an alarm that has not yet been acknowledged. Only active alarms can be viewed from the Live Viewer. Alarms that are no longer active may only be viewed from the Archive Player.

Active Directory Active Directory is Microsoft's trademarked Directory service, an integral part of the Windows 2000 architecture. Active Directory is a centralized and standardized system that automates network management of user data, security, and distributed resources, and enables interoperation with other Directories. Omnicast has the ability to synchronize its user and user group definitions with an existing Active Directory for the purpose of having a unified user management system within an organization.

add-in Small program added to another program in order to expand the program's options. Omnicast uses two types of add-ins: plugins and macros.

Advanced mode One of the two operating modes offered by all Omnicast client applications. The other one being the Simple mode. In Advanced mode, all available controls are visible, thus giving complete control to the experienced users. Type <Shift>+<F10> to toggle between the two modes.

alarm An alarm is the notification procedure used to warn the security guard of a particular situation (signal lost on a camera, unexpected motion detected, monitored object removed, etc.) that requires his or her immediate attention. Typically, the situation is described to the security guard by displaying live video or recently recorded video on the Live Viewer.

alarm acknowledgement

User response to an alarm. There are three variants of alarm acknowledgement in Omnicast: (1) Default acknowledgement; (2) Alternate acknowledgement; (3) Custom acknowledgement. Each variant is associated to a different event so that specific actions can be programmed based on the alarm response selected by the user.


GENETECOMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE GLOSSARY

analog monitor External hardware monitor requiring a video decoder to view video streams and archives. We use this term in Omnicast to refer to monitors not controlled by a PC.

application shortcut Single “quick launch” button that allows users to automatically open and log on to another Omnicast application using the same username, password, Gateway and connection option.

archive playback Playing back or viewing a video archive (previously recorded video).

Archive Player Omnicast application used to playback and search through archived videos. To learn how to use this application, please refer to Omnicast Archive Player User Guide.

Archiver The main Omnicast service that is responsible for dynamic discovery and status polling of units (see also Archiver extension). All communications with units are established through this service. This is also where all the video and multimedia streams are archived.

Archiver extension Archiver extensions are additional Archiver settings pertaining to the control of specific groups of units. These settings cover areas such as automatic discovery, communications between the Archiver and the units, archiving priority, and security. Archiver extensions are defined in Server Admin.

archiving mode The criteria by which the Archiver schedules the recording of video streams. There are four possible archiving modes: • Disabled (do not record)• Manual (record only on user requests)• Continuous (always record)• On motion / manual (record according to the

motion detection settings or on user requests)

archiving schedule Generic schedule applied to the archiving function. Archiving schedules are followed by all archivers to determine when and under which conditions (see archiving mode) the video stream issued from a given camera must be recorded.

armed tile An armed tile is a viewing tile that is ready to display alarms. An armed tile is shown with a dark red background. To arm a tile, click on the Arm button in the tile control toolbar or select it and type <A> from the keyboard.

The term Means



ASF ASF (Advanced Systems Format) is an extensible file format designed to store synchronized multimedia data. It supports data delivery over a wide variety of networks and protocols while still proving suitable for local playback. ASF supports advanced multimedia capabilities including extensible media types, component download, scalable media types, author-specified stream prioritization, multiple language support, and extensive bibliographic capabilities, including document and content management. ASF files can be played back with the Windows Media Player (provided that the appropriate codecs are installed).

asynchronous playback Simultaneous playback of archived videos without regard to synchronization of time between them.

audio decoder Device or software that decodes compressed audio streams for playback.

audio encoder Device or software that encodes audio streams using a compression algorithm.

automatic discovery The process by which units on a network are automatically discovered by the Archiver service. This is done by broadcasting a discovery request on the discovery port and waiting for all listening units to respond with a package that contains connection information about itself. Omnicast uses this information to configure the connection to the unit, thus enabling communication. Not all units support this feature.

Auxiliary Archiver The Auxiliary Archiver is a supplemental archiving service. Unlike the regular Archiver, the Auxiliary Archiver is not bound to any particular discovery port. Therefore, it is free to archive any camera in the system, including the ones that are federated (see federated entity). In addition, the Auxiliary Archiver offers the choice to archive different video streams on different schedules than those followed by the regular Archivers. The Auxiliary Archiver depends on the default Archiver to communicate with its video units. It cannot operate on its own.

AVI file An AVI (Audio Video Interleaved) file is a sound and motion picture file that conforms to the Microsoft Windows Resource Interchange File Format (RIFF) specification. AVI files (which end with an .avi extension) require a special player that may be included with your Web browser or may require downloading.

backup set Collection of video archives copied to a backup device (disk or tape) during a single backup operation. They are created for the long term safeguard of the video archive by the Archiver. To view backed up data, a backup set must first be restored to full playback capabilities with the Restore Archiver.

The term Means



bit rate Data transfer rate expressed in kilobits per second (kbps).

Block Alarm display mode which consists in displaying all cameras assigned to an alarm one after another on a single monitor. Each camera is being displayed for the amount of time specified in the alarm dwell time. Therefore, a 5-camera alarm with a dwell time of 5 seconds will take 25 seconds to display, regardless the number of monitors available. The alarm display mode is part of the user configuration. See also Salvo.

bookmark Descriptive text that is tagged to a specific point in time on a selected camera or video archive. Bookmarks can later be easily searched and retrieved from the database using the Archive Player application.

broadcast Receiver unspecific transmission over a network.

camera A camera is a video surveillance equipment used to monitor a specific area from a particular location. In other words, each camera constitutes to a unique video input to the system. To ease their identification, Omnicast automatically assigns a unique logical ID (also known as the camera ID) to each camera. See also video encoder.

camera blocking Feature that allows users with sufficient privileges to block other less privileged users from establishing video connections with selected cameras. This feature is particularly targeted for installations that provide the general public access to live video. In such cases, cameras may be viewing situations not suitable for transmission to all users.

camera group Logical grouping of related cameras (video encoders) used to simplify alarm definitions. Typically, cameras showing different angles of a same area (room, lobby, etc.) are put together in the same camera group. The only place that camera groups are used in the system is in the encoder list specification of alarm entities.

Camera pane The Camera pane is part of the Live Viewer workspace. It contains a tree showing all entities that the user is entitled to view.

camera sequence A list of cameras (video encoders) controlled by an analog matrix or Omnicast's Virtual Matrix, where each camera is shown for a preset amount of time, following a cycling program. The purpose of having a camera sequence is so that multiple cameras can be displayed on a single analog monitor or a single viewing tile within the Live Viewer application.

camera tree Hierarchical list of all the available cameras in the system. The cameras can be grouped in a hierarchy of user-defined sites.

The term Means



cold standby A backup system which needs to be started manually in case of failure of the main system. See also hot standby and warm standby.

command port Communication port used by the Failover System (FOS) and the Gateway to communicate system commands with the Omnicast Directory.

Config Tool Omnicast front-end application that enables management and configuration of many components of the Omnicast system like sites, users, archiving schedules, devices and applications. The Config Tool is described in the Omnicast Administrator Guide.

connection type A setting in the Network tab of the Config Tool that allows choice of unicast, multicast, or auto-detected Best Available. This connection type setting only applies to certain devices such as cameras/encoders, serial ports/PTZ controls, microphones and speakers.

contextual alarm System defined alarm used to generate context sensitive alarms from the Live Viewer. The purpose of this type of alarm is to report on the spot, ad hoc events observed on specific cameras. The generated alarm will follow the properties configured for the Contextual alarm entity and show only live video from the selected camera.

custom event A custom event is an event added after the initial Omnicast installation. Events that were defined at Omnicast installation are called system events. Custom events can be user-defined or automatically added through plugin installations. Unlike system events, custom events can be renamed or deleted.

data server An application that manages data in databases and handles requests made by client applications.

database Collection of data that is organized so that its contents can easily be accessed, managed, and updated.

database type Type or format of the database. Omnicast currently supports only MSSQL.

default Archiver The default Archiver of a unit is the Archiver that currently assumes the command and control function of that unit. The default Archiver does not necessarily handle the archiving function since some units are capable of storing the video archive on the unit itself. A unit may have only one default Archiver at any given time. See also standby Archiver and redundant archiving.

detection zone Motion detection zone. A user defined template that watches for motion in a specific part of the video image, as opposed to simply detecting motion anywhere in the image.

The term Means



device In Omnicast, any identifiable piece of hardware or software is called a device. Examples of devices used in Omnicast are: video encoders , video decoders , camera sequences , digital input , output relays

, serial ports , macros , applications , etc.

DFC Directory Failover Coordinator.

digital input An external device that interfaces with Omnicast providing an On/Off signal to the application. Omnicast can then use the digital input to associate it with a pre-determined action. Digital input sources can include devices like door contacts, motion detectors, card readers, etc.

digital zoom Software manipulation of an image whereby the image is cropped and enlarged creating pixels through interpolation.

Directory The Omnicast Directory is the main server application whose service is required to provide a centralized catalog for all other Omnicast services and applications on the system. From the Directory, applications can view, establish connections and receive centralized configuration information. See also Directory Failover Coordinator.

Directory failover The safety mechanism by which Omnicast switches over to a backup Directory when the main Directory service fails. The Directory failover is configured in the Config Tool.

Directory Failover Coordinator

The Directory Failover Coordinator (DFC) is the special service installed on every Directory server to guarantee the continuity of the Directory service in the context of a failover configuration. The DFC performs two main functions: (1) Keeping the local Directory database up to date while the Directory service is on standby; (2) Start or stop the local Directory service when it is appropriate to do so, based on a failover list.

discovery port The discovery port is the port used by the Archiver service to find units on the LAN (see automatic discovery).

Discovery Tool Tool used to list all units and Archivers connected to the LAN.

edge recording The camera itself records and stores video, eliminating the need to constantly stream video to a centralized server (Archiver).

entity Any identifiable physical (see device) or conceptual object in Omnicast. Most entities are uniquely identified in Omnicast by a logical ID for ease of reference. Their properties can be viewed and modified using the Config Tool.

The term Means



entity tree Any graphical representation of system entities in a tree structure illustrating the hierarchical nature of their relationships.

event An event is the signal that Omnicast sends when something occurs in the system. Events can be used to trigger action(s) or alarm(s) automatically, conferring intelligent behaviors to the system. Events are always linked to its source, which can be any Omnicast entity.

failover A backup operational mode in which the functions of a system component are assumed by secondary system components when the primary component becomes unavailable through either failure or scheduled down time. Used to make systems more fault-tolerant, failover is typically an integral part of mission-critical systems that must be constantly available. The procedure involves automatically off loading tasks to a standby system component so that the procedure is as seamless as possible to the end user. In Omnicast, all mission-critical server applications can be protected by the failover mechanism.

failover list An ordered list of similar system components intended to provide a same service and meant as a series of successive backups for the purpose of keeping that service available when disasters strike. See also failover.

federated Directory The federated Directory is a proxy (representative) of a remote Directory, created by the Federation Server to allow local users to view entities on the remote system as if they were on the local system.

federated entity A federated entity is a local representative of an external entity belonging to a remote Omnicast system. Through these federated entities, local system users can manipulate the external entities (cameras, camera sequences, digital inputs, etc.) as though they belong to the local system. Such a configuration is called a Federation.

Federation The Federation is a virtual system formed by joining multiple independent Omnicast systems together. The purpose of the Federation is to allow Omnicast clients to view video sources belonging to multiple independent Omnicast installations simultaneously as if they were on the same system. The Federation is fully described in the Omnicast Administrator Guide.

Federation Server Omnicast service at the core of the Federation, allowing users on the local Omnicast system to access entities belonging to other remote Omnicast systems. The remote entities published by the Federation Server are called federated entities.

The term Means



filter A filter is pass-through code that takes input data, makes some specific decision about it and possible transformation of it, and passes it on to another program in a kind of pipeline. Usually, a filter does no input/output operation on its own.

frame A single video image.

frame rate The number of video frames transmitted per second.

Gateway The Gateway is the service that provides seamless connections between all Omnicast applications in a given system, regardless of whether they are located on the same LAN or not. The Gateway acts as a doorway to the Directory for all Omnicast applications. Multiple Gateways can be installed on large Omnicast systems to increase service availability and provide load balancing.

ghost camera A ghost camera is a stand in camera that is automatically created by the system when video archives must be restored for a camera whose definition has been deleted from the Directory, either because the physical device no longer exists or because the entity has been deleted by mistake. Ghost cameras cannot be configured like real cameras. They are created so that users can query the video archives that still remain.

global Directory In the context of Directory failover, a global Directory is a Directory server that serves the entire system as opposed to the local Directory that serves only a subset of the Omnicast applications, typically within the same LAN.

guard tour The guard tour is a feature of the Live Viewer that switches viewer layouts automatically at regular intervals. It allows a single PC to display many more cameras than it would otherwise be possible, but not all at the same time.

GUID Globally unique identifier.

hardware matrix The hardware matrix is an entity type used in Omnicast to represent conventional CCTV matrices to ensure their seamless integration to the rest of the system. All interactions between Omnicast users and the CCTV matrix are handled by the Virtual Matrix. Omnicast users can view any camera connected to the inputs of the CCTV matrix with the Live Viewer without ever having to worry about the manual switching commands.

hidden site A site that is only visible to the administrators and to specifically authorized users. The purpose of the hidden site is to hide the existence of covert cameras from users who would otherwise have access to them because of the Always view all entities privilege.

The term Means



hot standby A backup system which starts up immediately in case of failure of the main system. See also warm standby and cold standby.

I-frame or Intra-frame. See key frame.

image quality An adjustable setting in the Display quality tab for encoders (cameras) found in the Config Tool. The adjustable slider control ranges from 1 to 10 and reflects the degree of compression used by the encoder when encoding/compressing the video signal. Setting the slider to 1 tells the encoder to use as much compression as possible (reducing the bandwidth requirements, file sizes and picture quality). Setting the slider to 10 tells the encoder to use as little compression as possible (increasing the bandwidth requirements, file sizes and picture quality).

inactive device Devices listed in the Logical or Physical views of the Config Tool that are configured to connect to the Omnicast Directory but are not currently connected. Inactive devices appear in red in the entity tree.

instant replay Allows immediate replay of recently recorded video side by side with the live video stream for a given camera in the Live Viewer application.

IP The Internet Protocol is the method or protocol by which data is sent from one computer to another on the Internet.

IP camera A stand-alone device incorporating a camera and a video encoder which allows users to view live, full motion video from anywhere on a computer network, even over the Internet, using a standard web-browser. IP cameras are viewed as encoding units in Omnicast.

key frame A key frame (or I-frame, or intra-frame) is a frame that contains a complete image by itself as opposed to a usual frame that only holds information that changed compared to the previous frame. It is used as reference in video image compression.

LAN Local Area Network.

layout (or viewer layout) Choice of the tile pattern combined with the selection of video source to display in each tile. Viewer layouts are kept as part of the user profile, so no matter which machine is used to connect to the system, the same layouts will always be available to the same user.

The term Means



license key Serial number issued by Genetec Inc., reflecting the type of software licensing options purchased for the Omnicast application. The license controls the expiry date, the maximum number of simultaneous connections allowed, and the availability of optional Omnicast features. Omnicast license key is applied using Server Admin.

Live Viewer The Live Viewer is the main Omnicast application used to observe all live camera streams in the system. From a single workstation, a user can view up to 16 cameras simultaneously on a single monitor. To learn how to use this application, please refer to Omnicast Live Viewer User Guide.

load balancing In Omnicast, load balancing refers to the distribution of client connections among the available Gateways. It can be done automatically by the system or configured manually by the administrator through the Directory Failover Configuration Wizard.

local Directory In the context of Directory failover, a local Directory is a Directory server that serves only a subset of the Omnicast applications, typically within the same LAN, as opposed to the global Directory that serves the entire system.

local recording Local recording is a special feature of the Live Viewer that allows the user to keep a local record of all live video displayed in the Viewing pane at any given point in time.

logical ID Logical IDs are unique IDs assigned to each entity in the system for ease of reference. Logical IDs are only unique within a particular entity type. Typical use of logical IDs are CCTV keyboards and Virtual Matrix programming.

Logical view Entity tree shown in the Config Tool where the entities are logically grouped by site. The logical grouping or sorting of the resources may not reflect their physical connections to each other, but rather their relationships to concepts found in the real world.

LV plugin Live Viewer plugin. A plugin that extends the capabilities of the Live Viewer.

macro A sequence of commands that can be saved, recalled and executed quickly when needed. Macros can be used to create custom actions. For example, a bookmark could be added to a video archive every time someone swipes a security card to walk through a door (if the card reader is connected to Omnicast through a digital input pin), or a rotation of cameras could be presented at preset intervals in the Live Viewer application.

The term Means



Macro Editor The Macro Editor is an integrated development environment for writing macros for Omnicast Virtual Matrix. It allows the user to write and test the macro all from the same environment. The Macro Editor is described in Omnicast Administrator Guide.

macro schedule A schedule followed by the Virtual Matrix for the timed execution of macros. Not to be confused with archiving schedules which are followed by Archivers to record videos.

map A map is an interactive HTML document linked to a site. It can be viewed in the Live Viewer. A site with a map attached is represented by the following icon .

Map Editor The Map Editor is a stand alone application used to create HTML maps to be used in the Live Viewer. The tool presents a simple to use drag-and-drop graphical user interface, allowing the map designer to easily associate Omnicast entities to a map without requiring any extensive HTML knowledge.

ME plugin Metadata Engine plugin. A plugin that adds capabilities to Omnicast through the Metadata Engine.

Media Gateway The Media Gateway is a stand alone application that emulates video capture devices from Omnicast managed video encoders. The purpose of this utility is to allow any third party application that can use video devices (such as Windows Media Encoder) to process, display or broadcast the live video managed by Omnicast.

Message pane The Message pane is the area at the bottom of the Live Viewer's workspace reserved for displaying alarm and event notifications.

metadata Metadata is data about data. In Omnicast, the metadata is the information that describes or enriches the video (the initial data). This metadata is collected from third party applications by the Metadata Engine. For example, metadata collected from Metadata Engine systems could be the identification of people, faces, cars or license plates from the video and for point of sale systems, metadata such as credit card numbers or complete transaction details could be gathered.

The term Means



Metadata Engine The Metadata Engine (ME) is the link between Omnicast and third party applications such as video analytics and point of sale systems with the goal of enriching its captured video with additional information called metadata. Through the use of specific plugins, the Metadata Engine performs live translations of Omnicast video to and from third party applications and enables users to view the collected metadata along with live video or to search for events captured in the metadata stream.

metadata overlay Metadata overlays refers to visual metadata that are displayed as transparent layers over the associated video. This is typically shown as a colored bounding box around an object identified in the video or an inscription such as a license plate number. Both the Live Viewer and the Archive Player allow you to show or hide these metadata overlays when viewing live or archived video.

monitor group Monitor groups are used to configure analog monitors for alarm display. The only other way to display alarms is to use the Live Viewer application. With respect to alarm display, the monitors in a monitor group can be compared to the armed tiles found in the Live Viewer's Viewing pane.

motion detection The software component within Omnicast that watches for changes in the video image. The definition of what constitutes motion in a video can be based on highly sophisticated criteria.

motion search The database search functionality of Omnicast that searches saved video archives for motion in a specific region of the video image.

MPEG-4 Standard for coded representation of digital audio and video for multimedia in fixed and mobile Web applications.

multicast Communication between a single sender and multiple receivers on a network.

multicast by Archiver When true multicast is not available, multicast can be simulated by Omnicast. Instead of having direct communications established in the true multicast mode, the sender will communicate in unicast UDP with the Archiver, and the Archiver will then establish multicast connections with the selected receivers. This simulated multicast is useful when true multicast is not available, for example cameras or Live Viewer connected through wireless LAN.

network camera See IP camera.

The term Means



output relay Omnicast can send a signal through an output relay to an external device. The signal can be pulsed or constant. It can be useful for creating actions such as turning on a light, ringing an alarm, etc.

Physical view Entity tree in the Config Tool showing the physical relationships between the system entities (applications, units, devices). See also Logical view.

Playback pane Area in the Archive Player's workspace reserved for viewing video archives. The Playback pane is comprised of the playback tiles and the playback controls. Up to 16 video streams can be played simultaneously.

playback sequence A sequence of archived video streams for a given time period that can be viewed with the Archive Player.

playback tile A section (tile) in the Playback pane used to display a single video stream.

plugin A software module that adds a specific feature or service to a larger system. The idea is that the new component simply plugs in to the existing system. Plugins are used in Omnicast to extend the capabilities of the Virtual Matrix, the Metadata Engine, and the Live Viewer.

point of sale Point of sale (POS) typically refers to the hardware and software used for checkouts - the equivalent of an electronic cash register. Point of sale systems are used in supermarkets, restaurants, hotels, stadiums, and casinos, as well as almost any type of retail establishment. Today's POS systems handle a vast array of features, including, but not limited to, detailed transaction capture, payment authorization, inventory tracking, loss prevention, sales audit and employee management.

The term Means



port 1) On computer and telecommunication devices, a port (noun) is generally a specific place for being physically connected to some other device, usually with a socket and plug of some kind. Typically, a personal computer is provided with one or more serial ports and usually one parallel port. The serial port supports sequential, one bit-at-a-time transmission to peripheral devices such as scanners and the parallel port supports multiple-bit-at-a-time transmission to devices such as printers.

2) In programming, a port (noun) is a logical connection place and specifically, using the Internet's protocol, TCP/IP, the way a client program specifies a particular server program on a computer in a network. Higher-level applications that use TCP/IP such as the Web protocol, Hypertext Transfer Protocol, have ports with preassigned numbers. These are known as well-known ports that have been assigned by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). Other application processes are given port numbers dynamically for each connection. When a service (server program) initially is started, it is said to bind to its designated port number. As any client program wants to use that server, it also must request to bind to the designated port number.

Port numbers are from 0 to 65535. Ports 0 to 1024 are reserved for use by certain privileged services. For the HTTP service, port 80 is defined as a default and it does not have to be specified in the Uniform Resource Locator (URL).

primary server The default server chosen to perform a specific function in the system. To increase the system's fault-tolerance, the primary server can be backed up by one or many secondary servers that can take its place when the primary server becomes unavailable. See also failover list.

protocol A set of formalized rules that describe how data is transmitted over a network. Low-level protocols define the electrical and physical standard, while high-level protocols deal with formatting of data. TCP and IP are examples of high-level LAN protocols.

PTZ priority The PTZ priority is a user attribute used by Omnicast to determine which user has priority over a camera's PTZ controls when two or more users are trying to control the movement of the same camera. The value of 1 corresponds to the highest priority, and the value of 255 corresponds to the lowest priority.

The term Means



recording state Current recording status of a given camera, shown in the Live Viewer. There are five possible recording states:

Manual recording enabled

Manual recording disabled

Recording / manual stop disabled

Recording / manual stop enabled

(flashing) Manual recording ending

redundant archiving Option granted to the Archiver service through the Omnicast license key that allows multiple copies of the same video streams to be archived simultaneously as a protection against accidental data loss.

Report Viewer Tool used to generate reports on various aspects of the system. All nine standard reports proposed by the tool are user configurable. The Report Viewer is described in the Omnicast Administrator Guide.

Restore Archiver Omnicast server application used to make restored tape or folder backups available for search and playback in the Archive Player.

Salvo Alarm display mode which consists in displaying all cameras assigned to an alarm simultaneously, using as many available monitors as needed. Only one alarm is displayed at a time. The alarm display mode is configured as a user preference. See also Block.

schedule Omnicast entity defining a generic set of time constraints that can be applied to a multitude of situations in the system. The time constraints are defined by (1) a recurrence pattern: daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, or specific dates; and (2) a time coverage: all day, daytime, nighttime, or specific time ranges.

SDK Software Development Kit that can be used to develop custom applications that can interface with the Omnicast system, such as Web clients.

secondary server Any alternate server intended to replace the primary server in the case the latter becomes unavailable. See also failover list.

Server Admin Application used to configure the Omnicast license and services on each local machine. The Server Admin is described in the Omnicast Administrator Guide.

silent alarm A silent alarm is an alarm that has no associated cameras. Therefore, it cannot be displayed. Other features associated to alarm management such as alarm prioritization, alarm tracking, pre-selection of users for alarm handling, alarm snoozing, alarm forwarding, etc., all remain available.

The term Means



Simple mode One of the two operating modes offered by all Omnicast client applications, the other one being the Advanced mode. In Simple mode, only the most common controls are visible, thus simplifying the user interface for novices. Type <Shift>+<F10> to toggle between the two modes.

site User created entity for grouping related system resources together for ease of viewing and management. Typically, a site corresponds to a physical location, like a building or a floor, but it may very well be used to represent any concept in the real world.

SNMP SNMP is the Simple Network Management Protocol. The SNMP protocol is used by network management systems to communicate with network elements. For this to work, the network element must be equipped with an SNMP agent. All Omnicast events can be converted to Advanced mode through the use of a VM plugin.

SNMP trap An SNMP TRAP is a message which is initiated by a network element and sent to the network management system.

SSL Secure Sockets Layer is a protocol used to secure applications that need to communicate over a network.

standby Archiver Option granted to the Archiver service through the Omnicast license key that allows multiple Archivers to be configured as each other's backup for a given pool of units. The Archiver that currently assumes the command and control function of a given unit is called the default Archiver of that unit.

supervised logon Requirement whereby a user’s assigned supervisor must enter credentials along with the user’s own to log on to Omnicast. Any user can be assigned as a supervisor of another user. The logon dialog of client applications can be toggled from single logon mode to supervised logon mode to accommodate both sets of credentials.

system event A system event is a standard Omnicast event defined at system installation. Unlike custom events, system events cannot be renamed nor deleted.

TCP The Transmission Control Protocol is a connection-oriented protocol used to send data over an IP network. The TCP/IP protocol defines how data can be transmitted in a secure manner between networks. TCP/IP is the most widely used communications standard and is the basis for the Internet.

tile ID The number displayed at the upper left corner of the viewing tile. This number uniquely identifies each tile within the layout.

The term Means



tile pattern Prefixed arrangement of viewing tiles within a viewer layout or playback tiles in the Archive Player.

timeline A graphic illustration of a video sequence, showing where in time motion, bookmarks, and metadata are found.

Trickling The process of transferring data in small amounts.

UDP The User Datagram Protocol is a connectionless protocol used to exchange data over an IP network. UDP is more efficient than TCP for video transmission because of lower overhead.

uncompressed video filter

The uncompressed video filter is a filter program that takes an encoded video stream from Omnicast and produces an uncompressed video stream as output. This program implements the interface of a source filter defined by Microsoft's DirectShow. The uncompressed video filter is provided in the form of a dynamic link library (DLL) which can be called from third party applications (such as ObjectVideo's VEW 2.0) to perform live video analysis.

unicast Communication between a single sender and a single receiver over a network.

unit A unit (also called video unit) is a video encoding or decoding device capable of communicating over an IP network. They come in a wide variety of brands and models. Some support audio, others support wireless communication. Certain encoding models support multiple video inputs (up to 12) and others come integrated with a camera, such as IP cameras.

UPnP Universal Plug and Play is a set of protocols and processes which allow devices that are added to a network to identify themselves and automatically connect to other compatible devices with no user intervention required. In Omnicast, UPnP enabled devices can simplify the discovery process.

The term Means



URL A URL (Uniform Resource Locator, previously Universal Resource Locator) - usually pronounced by sounding out each letter but, in some quarters, pronounced Earl - is the unique address for a file that is accessible on the Internet. The URL contains the name of the protocol ("http:", "ftp:", "file:") to be used to access the file resource, a domain name that identifies a specific computer on the Internet, and a pathname, a hierarchical description that specifies the location of a file in that computer. On the Web (which uses the Hypertext Transfer Protocol, or HTTP), an example of a URL is:

http://www.genetec.com/English/Pages/default.aspx

which specifies the use of a HTTP (Web browser) application, a unique computer named www.genetec.com, and the location of a text file or page to be accessed on that computer whose pathname is /English/Pages/default.aspx.

USB (Universal Serial Bus) A plug-and-play interface between a computer and peripheral devices (scanners, printers etc.).

user group User groups are used to define common user attributes, such as permissions, privileges, PTZ priority and Viewing priority. By becoming a member of a group, a user automatically inherits all the attributes of the group. A user can be a member of many groups.

user privilege Particular right granted to a user to perform a specific system function. User privileges can be inherited from user groups.

user profile List of information concerning a particular user, such as the password, the e-mail address, the privileges, etc. Each user profile is identified by a unique username.

validation key Serial number generated by the Server Admin that must be provided to obtain a license key.

video analytics Video analytics is software technology that is used to analyze video for specific data. The technology can evaluate a video stream to determine specific information about its content. Examples of video analytics include counting the number of people entering a door, license plate recognition, detection of unattended objects or the direction of people walking or running, etc.

video archive Digitally recorded video available for playback through the Archive Player.

video data format Resolution of the video. There are typically eight video data formats available: qcif, cif, 2cif, 2cif (480), 2/3D1, VGA, 2cif H and 4cif. The standard video resolution is cif.

The term Means



video decoder Device that converts a digital video stream into analog signals (NTSC or PAL) for playback on an analog monitor. The video decoder is one of the many devices found on a video decoding unit. In Omnicast, the video decoder is often called analog monitor when the distinction between the two is not important.

video encoder Device that converts the signal produced by the camera from analog to digital using a standard compression algorithm (MPEG-4, MPEG-2 or MJPEG). The video encoder is one of the many devices found on a video encoding unit. In Omnicast, the video encoder is often called camera when the distinction between the two is not important.

video file File created by the Archiver to store archived video. The file extension is .g64.

video sequence 1) A sequence of images forming a video illustrating moving scenes.

2) Any recorded video stream. When this definition is employed, we recommend using the term playback sequence to avoid any confusion.

3) A list of video encoders (cameras) controlled by an analog matrix or Omnicast's Virtual Matrix, where each encoder is given a preset amount of time to play, following a cycling program. When this definition is used, we suggest using the term camera sequence instead, to avoid potential confusion.

viewer layout Common layout definitions for the Live Viewer's Viewing pane that can be shared among different users. The viewer layout defines 1) the tile pattern, 2) the entity mapping to each viewing tile, and 3) the alarm state (armed or disarmed) of each viewing tile. Viewer layouts can only be created and modified from the Live Viewer.

Viewing pane Area of the Live Viewer workspace reserved for viewing alarms and live videos. In a multi-display configuration, the Live Viewer can have as many Viewing panes as there are monitors available. Each Viewing pane is assigned a unique ID in the system.

viewing priority The viewing priority is a user attribute used by Omnicast to manage camera blocking, which allows users with higher viewing priorities to block the live video on selected cameras to users with lower viewing priorities.

viewing tile A section (tile) in the Viewing pane used to display a single video stream.

The term Means



virtual camera A virtual camera is a camera that is controlled by Omnicast through a conventional CCTV matrix (see hardware matrix). It differs from a camera directly controlled by Omnicast because it has no permanent connection to a video encoder. Virtual cameras are viewed through the outputs of the CCTV matrix which are connected to video encoders. Because a CCTV matrix has typically more inputs than outputs, not all virtual cameras can be viewed at the same time.

Virtual Matrix Omnicast server application that provides all of the functionality that one expects from an traditional CCTV matrix without the hardware limitations associated with it. Unlike its hardware counterparts, the Virtual Matrix (VM) offers an infinite number of inputs/outputs. Like any other Omnicast applications, the Virtual Matrix has no location limitations; this makes it possible for the Virtual Matrix to manage video feeds from multiple locations all around the world.

VM plugin Virtual Matrix plugin. A plugin that adds capabilities to Omnicast through the Virtual Matrix.

VSIP port The VSIP port is the discovery port used by the Archiver service to find Verint SmartSight units on the LAN (see automatic discovery). A given Archiver can be configured to oversee multiple VSIP ports.

WAN Wide Area Network.

warm standby A backup system which starts up after a period of a few seconds in case of failure of the main system. See also hot standby and cold standby.

Watchdog Application used to provide monitoring functionality to the other Omnicast services. Should Omnicast services fail, the Watchdog is responsible for re-starting services as well as notifying the user by e-mail of the reason and time of the crash. The Watchdog is described in the Omnicast Administrator Guide.

watermarking Process by which a digital signature (watermark) is added to each recorded video frame to ensure its authenticity. If anyone later tries to make changes to the video (add, delete or modify a frame), the signatures will no longer match, thus, showing that the video has been tampered with.

The term Means


GENETEC INDEXOMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE

Index

A

advanced mode . . . . . 28Alarm Search . . . . . 64Analog monitor pane . . . . 25application control panel . . 21, 23application menu . . . . . 26Archive Browser . . . . . 33ASF conversion . . . . . 83

B

bookmarkadd . . . . . . 48delete . . . . . . 60edit . . . . . . 59seek . . . . . . 48

C

contextual menu . . . . . 42conversion to ASF . . . . 83CPU gauge . . . . . 21current tile . . . . . . 41

D

Decrypt file . . . . . 83delete video files . . . . 101documentation set . . . . 13

E

Encrypted fileviewing . . . . . . 83

Entity Search tool . . . . 38global search . . . . 39local search . . . . . 38

eventmarkers, found in timeline . . . 46

Event Search . . . . . 56export current playback sequence . . 50export video archives . . . . 86

F

File Browser . . . . . 80File locations . . . . . 36, 59

H

Help menu . . . . . 30

I

instant replay . . . . . 59, 63loop playback . . . . 47

K

keyboard commands . . . . 95

L

logonstandard procedure . . . . 19supervised . . . . . 20


INDEX GENETEC OMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE

M

Main menu . . . . . 23, 26Help menu . . . . . 30Playback menu . . . . 29System menu . . . . 26Tools menu . . . . . 29View menu . . . . . 27

Metadata Search . . . . 75missed notification log . . . 22Motion Search . . . . 71

O

Optionsaccessing the dialog . . . 102application exit . . . . 104audio . . . . . 105display . . . . . 111joystick . . . . . 109message display . . . . 107playback . . . . . 104restrict access to connection parameters 103show metadata overlays . . . 106show timeline for each tile . . 106snapshot . . . . . 108time zone . . . . . 114use Windows credentials . . . 104video display . . . . 111

P

playback controls . . . . 47playback cursor . . . . 45Playback menu . . . . 29Playback pane . . . . 25popup messages . . . . 21protect video files . . . .98, 101

Q

Query pane . . . . . 24Alarm Search . . . . . 64Archive Browser . . . . 33Event Search . . . . . 56File Browser . . . . . 80Metadata Search . . . . 75Motion Search . . . . . 71Sequence Search . . . . 61

Query result pane . . . . 24Quick synchronization . . . . 45

S

selected tile . . . . . 41Sequence Search . . . . . 61simple mode . . . . . 28Single-Click Archive Player . . . 93snapshot

configuration . . . . 108save/print . . . . . 50

supervised logon . . . . . 20supervisor . . . . . 20

Synchronous playback . . . . 44System menu . . . . . 26

T

tileborder highlight . . . . 41contextual menu . . . . 42current . . . . . . 41selected . . . . . . 41

tile control panel . . . . . 23time range markers . . . . 46timeline . . . . . . 45

background color . . . . 46Tool pane . . . . . 25, 51

Digital zoom . . . . . 52Metadata . . . . . 53Properties . . . . . 51

Tools menu . . . . . 29


GENETEC INDEXOMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE

U

unprotect video files . . . 100

V

video archiveexport . . . . . . 86storage management . . . . 98

video file . . . . . . 80conversion to ASF . . . . 83decrypting . . . . . 83delete . . . . . 101how to find them . . . 36, 80, 98protect against deletion . . 98, 101remove protection . . . 100status . . . . . . 82validate the authenticity . . . 83watermarking . . . . . 82

Video File Query . . . . . 98Video File Query dialog . . . . 98video gauge . . . . . 21

View menu . . . . . 27volume control . . . . 21

W

watermarking . . . . . 82validation . . . . . 83

Windows credentialsforcing the use of . . . 19, 104using . . . . . . 19

workflow . . . . . 32alarm search . . . . . 64event search . . . . . 56file browser . . . . . 80metadata search . . . . 75motion search . . . . 71sequence search . . . . 61step 1 > Construct the query . . 33step 2 > Execute the query . . 34Step 3 > Interpret the query result . 35step 4 > View playback sequences . 36step 5 > Post-processing the result . 36


INDEX GENETEC OMNICAST 4.7 ARCHIVE PLAYER USER GUIDE
