IP Security Solutions

Video Trickling: an innovative edge storage solution

2011-02-07T08:48:00.002-05:00

As like the Federation concept, Genetec has developed another great innovation, pushing edge recording to the next level with Video Trickling. Most edge recording or edge storage solutions only focus on uninterrupted recording, but do not necessarily offer new innovative ways to deploy IP video solutions.

Video Trickling is a new concept created by Genetec that enables the security manager to define when, how and how much recorded video will be transferred from the cameras or DVR to the Omnicast server. Administrators have the flexibility to decide which video should be transferred and how and when the transfer will occur. This flexibility offers a bunch of new video surveillance scenarios that were not possible before.

Multiple Locations / Cloud Computing
It’s not easy to deploy an IP-based system with only a few IP cameras per locations. Most of the time, the WAN is widely used during business hours. IT doesn’t want to stream the cameras over the WAN to a remote server and it’s expensive to install and maintain a VMS server in each location for only 10 cameras.

With Video Trickling in Omnicast 4.7, a single server, installed centrally, can be configured to automatically move video from the IP cameras or DVR only at night. This architecture prevents video lost due to network congestion without impacting the business. Security managers can even filter the recorded video which can be used to limit the amount data transferred at night.

Ex: - Transfer only video with motion activity or analytics events.
- Transfer any video clips that have been reviewed by an investigator.
- Transfer only video recorded between 9am to 5pm

Unreliable Networks
The system can be configured to retransmit video as soon as you reconnect to the IP camera or DVR. This configuration is very useful for unreliable networks (3G, wireless) but also to transfer the video recordings if the Omnicast server is not running for a short or long period of time.

For most cameras manufacturers, the Video Trickling feature is using TCP which reduce the risk of video transmission artifacts due to packet lost.

Multi-Tier Storage
Video Trickling is flexible enough to provide a complete multi-staged recording system by leveraging edge storage.

The system can be designed to keep high-quality videos at the edge and only transfer video related to an event, such as motion, playback review, bookmark, analytic event, alarm, or input pin. And of course, it’s possible to configure the amount of video transferred before and after the event.

Using Omnicast Auxiliary Archiver and multi-streaming capabilities from the camera, the system can record on a server 24/7 at a lower resolution and only transfer high-quality recordings tied to an event.

Serverless In-car Recording System
System integrators can use Omnicast 4.7 in mobile applications by only installing IP cameras inside a vehicle (bus, train, metro…) The solution can then be configured to transfer video as soon as the Omnicast Archiver can communicate with the cameras. So, the video transfer will automatically occur only when the vehicle arrives back at the depot.

Because the transfer can be initiated through a dry contact, a macro, event to action… it’s possible to configure the system such that live streaming over 3G is possible for emergencies, but recorded video is always transferred when the vehicle is back at the depot.

This reduces the amount of hardware required in a vehicle and simplifies this installation. This solution competes well with DVR-based solutions in public transit applications.

Availability
Video Trickling has been introduced with the release of Omnicast 4.7 and it’s supported with the following products:
• Axis: Cameras and encoders with SD card slot with firmware 5.20 or more recent
• Bosch: Cameras and encoders with edge-recording support
• Genetec Protocol partners that implement edge recording

We will add new manufacturers in the coming months, so please refer to the official list of supported cameras available online or the GTAP.

More info: Video Trickling feature focus

What's new in Omnicast 4.6 SR1

2010-11-18T08:51:00.000-05:00

We just released Omnicast 4.6 SR1 which includes a lot of new camera models and improvements to ONVIF. The video integration development team at Genetec has been very productive, Omnicast now supports more than 630 different IP cameras or encoders.

Axis
We certified a lot of new Axis models in the last months with this release. M1054, M1103, M1104, M1113, M1114, M3113-R, M3114-R, M3202/-V M3203/-V, M3204/-V, M6034, P1343-E, P1344-E, P1346-E, P1347/-E, P3304/-V, P5532 P5532-E and P5534-E.

Bosch
We improved our support of the Bosch VRM which allows de-centralized recording with Omnicast and Bosch devices.

Panasonic
Same for Panasonic with their most recent products: WJ-GXE500/DG-GXE500, WV-SC385/DG-SC385, WV-SP105/DG-SP105, WV-SP302, DG-SP304V, WV-SP305/DG-SP305, WV-SP306, WV-SF332, DG-SF334, WV-SF335/DG-SF335, and WV-SF336.

Pelco
We added support for new Pelco models but also added lot of new functionalities:

Support up to 2 simultaneous H.264 streams with Pelco Sarix
Support for Hardware Motion detection with the Pelco Sarix (Full screen, motion detection zone with multiple region of interest)
Input and output pins are now supported for all Pelco Sarix products
Added support Pelco Spectra IV IP PTZ
Added support for multi-channel encoders NET5308T and NET5308T-EXP (eight input video expansion unit)

Sony
We added a few new models for Sony: SNC-CH180, SNC-DH180, SNC-CH240 and SNC-DH240.

Verint
Omnicast can now manage seamlessly H.264 encoders from Verint: S1808e, S1816e and S1816e-SP.

Genetec Protocol
We also have many camera/encoder manufacturers that implemented the Genetec protocol directly in their device: Hikvision, HW Group, OTN System, IONODES, SightLogix, March Networks and VideoIQ.

The Genetec protocol is a network protocol (HTTP based) that is available to any technology partner who wants to integrate to Omnicast.

Some customers and integrators used the Genetec protocol to integrate a legacy DVR into Omnicast just by creating a transparent bridge between 2 products. To get access to the Genetec protocol please contact us at tech_partner@genetec.com

ONVIF
The ONVIF standard is more and more popular, we added a lot of functions to our ONVIF v1.01 implementation and now all the common used features are supported:

MJPEG and H.264 streaming
Modify video compression settings
Modify Network Configuration
PTZ Control
Control output pins
Authentications with username and password

To improve customer's experience and better support our partners with ONVIF, we created a Genetec certification tool that validates ONVIF Services used by Omnicast and provides detailed information on potential implementation errors.

If you are developing ONVIF or Genetec Protocol compatible devices, we recommend that you use that tool in conjunction with the most recent ONVIF certification tool. To get access to the Genetec Certification tool please contact us at tech_partner@genetec.com

Other manufacturers
We also added support for different cameras and encoders from ACTi, Arecont, Basler, Comtex, Mango DSP, Mavix, Optelecom-NKF, Promelit, Samsung, Sanyo, Toshiba, Truen and Vivotek.

More information
A detailed list of all the supported camera models is available on our Website: If you need more details and want to upgrade to Omnicast 4.6 SR1 please visit the Genetec Technical Assistance Portal

Service release and Hardware Integration Pack (HIP) available to any Omnicast 4.6 customer with or without a valid Software Maintenance agreement. Customers under a valid SMA can upgrade from any previous version of Omnicast without any licensing fee.

New products introduced at Essen and Asis 2010

2010-11-01T09:19:00.000-04:00

In October, Genetec had a booth in 2 major Security shows; Essen in Germany, and ASIS 2010, Dallas. During these shows we demonstrated the new IPhone and Blackberry platform, the SV-16 and Plan Manager.

Genetec Security Center Mobile
We demonstrated for the first time at a trade show the new Genetec Security Center Mobile platform. It’s an add-on module to Security Center 4.0 that can stream video and alarms to Blackberry devices, IPhone, IPod and IPad. The system is designed to pushed alarms to the mobile devices over 3G or Wi-Fi even if the application isn’t running in the background.

The Mobile platform is deployed on a few beta sites; it will be generally available in December.

SV-16

We also launched a new NVR platform pre-loaded with Omnicast, the SV-16. It’s a Windows 7 embedded platform with built-in wireless that can record up to 16 cameras or 32 Mbit/s. People have been impressed by its form factor, it’s only 4.5 x 4 inch.

In addition to being small, it’s energy efficient. It consumes a maximum of 8 watts (a PC uses 250 Watts on average) and doesn't have any mobile parts. It’s ideal for small locations, the SV-16 does not need to be installed in temperature controlled environment.

The SV-16 scales from 1 to hundreds of cameras… When a customer buys the SV-16, he owns an Omnicast license. If the number of cameras or storage requirements changes, the end user is allowed to migrate the SV-16 license to a standard computer and just pay a license fee for the new cameras added.

Security Center 5

Security Center 5 is the next generation Genetec Unified platform, on top video and access control, Security Center 5 now integrates both Intrusion and Alarm panel devices. During the show, we demonstrated a few key features of Security Center 5, the ability to share and send tasks between operators, new management tools for cameras, new video functions and some major improvements with the Federation and multi-site systems.

We also demonstrated the capabilities of the new video core that has been entirely rewritten to leverage the power of multi-core processors.

Plan Manager
It’s an advanced mapping system built for Omnicast. JPEG based mapping systems are not ideal to represent large facilities. An entire floor doesn’t always fit in a single JPEG image with a proper resolution, the system administrator is then forced to create many JPEG maps and link them together.

Plan Manager uses a multi-tile technologie similar to Microsoft Bing and Google Map but it also support AutoCAD floor plans. The operators can easily navigate large floor plans, view cameras and buildings on GIS map they can also view alarms and control PTZ.

Plan Manager is available today with Omnicast and will be available next year with Security Center.

Technological Leadership in City-Wide Surveillance - Microsoft Public Safety Symposium 2010

2010-10-22T22:22:00.000-04:00

City emergency management officials are turning to IP-based networked solutions to extend the reach and the scale of their city wide video management systems beyond the capabilities of analog or switched circuit-based technology.
Presenter: Pierre Racz, CEO, Genetec.

Genetec CEO: Why Genetec is independant

2010-09-25T21:44:00.002-04:00

Earlier this month, Pierre Racz gave an interview to SP&T news. I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about Genetec and the reason behind some of the changes we did recently.

Interview with Pierre Racz SP&T new

Desktop Virtualization for Video Surveillance

2010-09-19T21:40:00.000-04:00

Some customers chosen to run the Omnicast Live Viewer and Security Desk over a Virtual Desktop (Eg:VMWare View or Citrix Xen).

Someone posted a nice video on Youtube to demonstrates the fluidity of Omnicast over VMWare View. It's impressive to see how fluid it is compare to what Microsoft Remote Desktop can achieve today.

There are a few scenarios where a virtualized workstation with Omnicast and Security Center might be beneficial.

Occasional users

In a corporation, the different managers, the HR department, the CEO need occasional access the VMS system and access control system. Instead of installing and maintaining the client applications on all these computers, most of time laptops are not purchased with video surveillance in mind, they use virtual desktop. It always works, it’s easy to upgrade and it can be used from anywhere, it works on any computers.

Access the system over a poor network

A city wants to have all his traffic cameras available to different agencies across the city; some agencies have bandwidth constraints with the city datacenter. Instead of installing the clients in all these different agencies, everything is centralized in a datacenter where anyone can connect to. On top of simplifying upgrades and support, the virtual infrastructure automatically adjusts the quality of the video/entire desktop dynamically based on the available bandwidth.

Mobile users

A customer wants to operate and monitor his Omnicast system over a patrol car but the MDT is already overloaded and the wireless network between the car and buildings is poor and irregular. , it’s more Desktop virtualization can be more efficient, it prevents any video decoding artifacts, the user can view more than 1 camera at the time without any problem, the frame rate of the application fluctuates according to the bandwidth available but the picture is always clear.

If you are looking for such solution, make sure to select a product that supports video acceleration, this will make a big difference.

What's new in Omnicast 4.6

2010-04-26T15:44:00.002-04:00

Here's a quick overview of the improvements included in Omnicast 4.6 released last week.

Synch. playback for exported files
Fail-over on Disk Failure
IGMP version 3
Edge recording support through Genetec Protocol
Various improvements in the camera integration

Synchronous playback of exported .g64 files

It’s now possible to play multiple g64 files synchronously, there’s a new option to synchronize all tiles, play and pause all tiles.

Advance Disk array failure detection

Many recording fail-over on the market today will only take over if the entire machine is down. In consequence, some system might have only 15 days or recording instead of 30 days.

The Omnicast fail-over Archiver can now take over automatically if the system detects a failure on 1 or more disks. When this option is enabled, the Archiver will disconnect following a Disk(s) full or Cannot write to any drive event, in consequence the secondary Archiver will take over. The primary Archiver will re-evaluate the disk status every 30 seconds and reconnect once a disk becomes available.

SSM and IGMP v3 support
Because it’s hard to route and manage efficiently multicast requests with Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) v2, it’s limited in scale and very hard to deploy in a large environment with many router layers.

Omnicast now supports Source-Specific Multicast (SSM) with IGMP version 3. In a Source-Specific Multicast network, multicast receivers shall provide the IP address of the multicast source and the group. In IGMP version 2, the multicast receivers do not provide the IP address of the multicast source.

Genetec Protocol Improvements
The Genetec protocol now supports edge recording. Partners with embedded storage can playback their video from the Omnicast Archive Player. We have currently working with a few partners to incorporate this in their Genetec Protocol implementation. We also improve the interface to support Dynamic Name system (DNS) .

Axis Improvements
On top of the most recent cameras, Omnicast 4.6 supports the Axis P8221 IO module (Audio, Serial port, Input/outputs). With the most recent Axis firmware, Omnicast 4.6 can now receive an H.264 stream directly from the camera.
It’s also possible to change the color palette of Axis Q1910 Thermal camera from the Config Tool.

Bosch H.264 support
H.264 streams are now supported for the following Bosch units using the Bosch or Generic Extension.

Autodome IP 100/200/300/500i
Dinion IP (0455/0495)
Flexidome IP (0455/0495)
Extreme IP (EX30/EX36/EX80/EX82/EX7)
VIP X1600/VIP X1600 XF
VideoJet X10/X20/X40
NBC-255-P

Optelecom-NKF Motion Detection
MPEG-4 software motion detection is now supported for the following Optelecom units using the Generic extension.

FD-22
BC-22
BC-22
BC-24

Panasonic
Omnicast now supports Audio out and H.264 for Panasonic units using the Panasonic extension. Auto Back Focus feature is now supported in the Live Viewer for the following Panasonic units:

WV-NP502
WV-NW502S
WV-NW484
WV-NW484S
DG-NW484
DG-NW484S

Sony Encoders
Coaxitron is now supported for fifth generation Sony encoders.

Sanyo H.264 support
H.264 streams are now supported on Sanyo units using the Generic extension.

Other video units
We also added support for various models under many other manufacturers. Please refer to the http://gtap.genetec.com/ to find the list of supported models.

For more details on previous releases, you can refer to similar articles or to official the release notes available on the GTAP.

ONVIF is coming in Omnicast

2010-04-16T16:39:00.001-04:00

Omnicast 4.6 will support ONVIF cameras in the coming months as a Hardware Integration Pack.

In February, Genetec developers participated to the developer plug fest in Germany; they tested Omnicast with 13 different cameras vendors through the ONVIF.

At ISC West 2010, Omnicast and 24 other vendors demonstrated interoperable products during ONVIF Plug Fest.
Technology partners now have 3 different options to integrate their cameras in Omnicast.

Create a cam file through th Generic Extension for HTTP and RTSP based cameras
Genetec Protocol implemented in the camera
Develop support for ONVIF

ONVIF Press Releases
http://www.onvif.org/NewsEvents/ONVIFNews/tabid/436/Default.aspx

Does my VMS leverage multi-core processors

2010-03-22T02:10:00.001-04:00

If you have to purchase a new Security Platform today, you are looking for something that will work well with the latest but also upcoming technologies. Computers are evolving quickly but software applications must also evolves.

This article is the second of a series on mutli-core technologies. (Previous article)

There are a few ways to identify VMS Software that don’t efficiently leverage multi-core computers.

Single-threaded software can’t leverage multi-core processors

A thread is a single flow of execution, you can visualize it as 1 person sequentially answering calls in call center, that person can only take one call at time and must complete the current call before moving to the next one.

A multi-threaded system is the equivalent of having multiple technicians in the call center working at the same time. The number of core in a machine is the number of phone stations in the call center, you can have 12 employees (12 threads) but only 4 technicians can work simultaneously because you only have 4 phone stations (quad-core computer). Om the other hand if you expand your call center with 4 phone stations (quad-Core) but keep only 1 employee (single thread), the expansion is useless, you do not increase the amount of calls per day. An efficient call center must at least have 1 employee for each phone station.

The operating system is responsible to decide who work when and it's very efficient, it switches threads with almost no overhead. A scalable application must at least have 1 Thread for each logical processor. Ex: 4 threads minimum on a Quad Core processor.

Using Windows task manager you can easily find out how many threads you VMS application has, make sure to display many cameras when you do this test.

Here we can conclude that Notepad and OneNote are not designed to leverage multiple cores, it doesn’t run faster on a quad-core every operation is executed sequentially, it’s not a big deal for notepad but it makes a big differences in a real time application like a video monitoring system.

Efficiently distribute the load among processors

If we take back the example of a call center with 2 levels of technician; calls must go through Level 1 before being escalated to level 2. You will have situations where level 1 technicians are not 100% occupied but people are waiting in the Level 2 queue. Ideally you want all your technicians to work equally. The same logic applies with software, if I buy a quad core machine, I want to be able to use all the cores to its maximum.

If you have a quad core computer or better you can do a simple test with your VMS. Open your video client software, display enough cameras to use above 30% of the workstation and open the performance tab of Windows task manager. A good parallel design will split the load evenly between all the logical processors to leverage the total computing power.

Ex: Omnicast 4.5 SR1 LiveViewer decoding 32 cameras at 4CIF 30 FPS all logical processors share the same load.

if your VMS software doesn't scale well on a dual or quad core machine today, it will be just worst in one or two years when 8 or 16 cores machine will be common.

In the next article, I will explain the challenges with multi-threaded programming and what is parallel programming.

Design software for mutli-core processors

2010-03-06T17:31:00.014-05:00

If you recently purchase a computer, you certainly realized that AMD and Intel are no longer increasing CPU clock speed, it's not possible anymore. The new trend is to add parallel processing cores on the same microchip.

Last month, I changed my home PC and bought an Intel I7, it’s a quad-core with Hyper-threading technology; Windows 7 sees it as eight logical processors. It’s a very powerful workstation for only $ 1000 usd.

Imagine how many cameras a high end workstation with 2 quad core Intel I7 processor (16 logical processors) can decode at the same time, no reasons to complain about the expensive decoding cost of H.264.Unfortunately, 8 or 16 cores doesn’t mean all softwares automatically run 8-16x faster.

It would be 8-16x faster if the CPU clock speed was increased by 800%-1600%. Designing software that takes advantages of 1-2 cores is different than designing software that scales linearly from 8 to 64 processing cores.

Before Windows Server 2003 R2, all TCP/IP communications in Windows were managed on the same logical processor; it was impossible for a network intensive application to use the entire bandwidth available with 1 and 10 gigabit/sec switches. The logical processors managing the network drivers was hitting 100% before all the others. In Windows Server 2003 R2, they improved the network stack ( Receive-Side Scaling) to spread the load on multiple processors at the same time. Therefore the Omnicast Archiver support more cameras on Windows Server 2003 R3 or Windows Server 2008 than Windows Server 2003 R1.

Windows 7 is definetly better than Vista, I'm using it for a while now on my Tablet PC and it's a lot faster. Microsoft rewrote some portion of the Windows 7 kernel to leverage more efficiently multi-core processors, I was not able to find out which improvements they made but I clearly saw a difference.

With H.264 cameras, it's important that VMS software leverage multi-core computers efficiently. The next article gives methods to evaluate if a VMS software will scale on a multi-core system.

Next article

Omnicast requires less bandwidth than some competitiors

2010-01-30T07:44:00.006-05:00

When designing IP Video Surveillance solutions, the cost storage has a big impact on the total cost of the project. If remote monitoring is a requirement, then bandwidth can become critical in your design. Integrators should be aware that not all VMS/NVR solutions are not born equals in terms of storage and bandwidth usage.

We tend to believe that only the IP camera will dedicate how much bandwidth is required and not the VMS/NVR, but it’s not entirely true.

Recently I did very simple test to measure the efficiency of Omnicast versus another well-known product. Using a video amplifier, I hook a single camera to 2 ports of an Axis Q7406. Because the Q7406 expose 1 IP address per video port, I have been able to assign each video port to different software. Then I configured the same video quality settings in both products and measure the bandwidth between the encoder and the NVR using Wireshark.

Depending of the scene and frame rate, I found situation where Omnicast was using 2-3x less bandwidth and storage than a competing Product. In all scenarios I tested, Omnicast was always more efficient. Obviously I inverted the video port to make sure it was not introduced by the encoder.

Initially, I suspected a configuration error and started looking at the differences; both products had the same resolution, same quality, same frame rate… but only Omnicast gives the flexibility to configure the key Frame Interval (I-Frame Interval) and the default value was 4 seconds (30 FPS) but it can go up to 20 seconds.

Figure 1 - Omnicast Video Configuration page (Axis H.264)

The configuration interface of Product X didn’t expose anything to configure the I-Frame frequency (GOP Size). In fact I confirmed that this product absolutely requires 1 I-Frame every second.

When Product X is recording a camera at 2 FPS, 1 frame out of 2 is an I-Frame, it’s a terrible waste of bandwidth because I-Frames can be 50X bigger than P-Fame… As you may already know, I-Frame contains the entire picture while P-Frame only the differences with the previous frame.This paper from Axis gives a very good overview of compression technologies.

Next time you use an NVR/VMS, take a look at the video configuration page to see if the product supports variable GOP size (I-Frames frequency).

What’s new in Omnicast 4.5 SR1

2010-01-08T17:02:00.006-05:00

The service release contains more features that usual for a Service Release. This service release is free for any 4.5 owners, the 4.5 GA license will be still valid.

This article focus only on improvements since 4.5 GA, refer to this previous post for more information on 4.5 GA.

Release of 4.5 SR1: December 2009

Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2
It’s now official, Omnicast 4.5 SR1 officially supports Windows 7 platforms. Windows 7 was a lot easier than moving to Windows Vista; we had only few minor issues to resolve. Many developers moved to Windows 7 because it seems a lot more stable than Vista.

I have been running Windows 7 since October and I love it. It runs faster than Vista on my laptop and I just got a few compatibilities issues with third party software but nothing close to the issues I had with Vista.

Major Video Decoding Improvements
We improved the video decoding engine; the performance improvement varies with OS, graphic card and computer. We measured a 30% gain in CPU for some workstations using windows XP.

I suggest upgrading to 4.5 SR1 just for this.

Multi-unicast streaming without multicast
Omnicast has always supported unicast streaming through the gateway. In 4.5 SR1, the gateway has the options to longer use multicast, no more multicast on your local LAN if you don’t want to.

Decentralized recording with Bosch VRM
The Bosch Video Recording Manager manages edge-recording Bosch IP Video from a central user interface. You basically assign series iSCSI disk to a bunch of IP Camera or Encoder and the software will decide automatically which cameras is recorded where. The Video recorder stream goes directly from the camera to the iSCSI system without any software application involved in the recording pipeline.

When using VRM with Omnicast, all the standard functions for Bosch cameras are available but recording is done automatically by the camera.

It’s already possible to leverage Bosch’s decentralized recording capabilities with Omnicast but recording configurations (Schedules, disk…) must be done in each unit’s Web Interface.

For details on adding a VRM using the Bosch extension, see “Archiver extensions” in the Omnicast Administrator User Guide.

Audit Trail improvements
You can now find out who reviewed video at a specific time. Any time video is played back in Omnicast, a “playback” event will now be recorded in the directory log and database log. The application name, user name, camera viewed, and viewing time will be available.

Anti-jitter buffering for Live Streaming
A new streaming option is now available in the Live Viewer and Config Tool to reduce any jittering that may occur when playing back or viewing live video.
This option is useful if you stream live video over a Network with a lot of throughput fluctuation. (Ex: Internet, 3G Wireless Networks).

For more information, see “Video options” in the Omnicast Live Viewer User Guide, or the Omnicast Administrator User Guide.

Axis PTZ protocol improvement
The Axis PTZ protocol now supports the following functionalities for position data return on Axis PTZ units:
• Current position query.
• Automatic refresh of the current position at fixed intervals.
• Changing pan, tilt, and zoom to an absolute or relative position.

IoImage PTZ protocol is now supported
Omnicast now supports the following PTZ control features for IoImage units:
• Pan/Tilt with speed control.
• Zoom In/Zoom Out.
• Go to, set, and clear presets.

Panasonic PTZ Protocol improvement
The Panasonic PTZ protocol now supports the following functionalities for position data return on the NS202, NS954, and NW964 models:
• Current position query.
• Automatic refresh of the current position at fixed intervals.
• Absolute positioning.

Pelco MPEG-4 dual streaming!
MPEG-4 dual streaming is now supported on the following Pelco units:
• IP110
• IP3701
• Spectra IV-IP
• Spectra Mini-IP
• NET5301T

Sony 5th generation are supported
Omnicast now supports 5th generation Sony units and the following features:
• Three video streams for SD units.
• Two video streams for HD units.
• Tampering alarms.
• Video Motion Filter (VMF) object search on Distributed Enhanced Processing Architecture (DEPA) units.
• New serial ports (RS-232, RS-422, RS-485, and RS-485FD).

Sony PTZ protocol improvement
The Sony PTZ protocol now supports the current position query function for most of the 3^rd and 5^th generation units.

Other Video Integrations
We also added support for different IP Video products under these brand: American Dynamics, CBC Ganz, Econolite, Hikvision, Ionodes and Mango DSP.

Refer to the http://gtap.genetec.com/ to find out the exact camera model supported and specific features on each of them.

Different ways to Integrate with Security Center

2009-12-25T16:56:00.000-05:00

Security Center is a unified platform that merges seamlessly access control and video surveillance. Like Omnicast this platform is extensible through different API and plug-ins.

XMAL maps
The map engine in Security Center is very powerful, it's build on top of Microsoft .NET WPF and XAML. You can create and compile your own maps using Microsoft Expression Blend. The map designer can easily drag and drop devices such as cameras, door, zone, areas on a floor plan.

XMAL is very flexible; application developers can integrate almost anything in the security desk; from a browser base system to complex applications. WPF and XMAL offers built-in support for transparencies, multi-layers, 3D, animations and it’s all offloaded to the Graphic card.

Some features of the map engine:

Vectorial maps that resizes automatically
Real-time status and updates
Infinite number of layers
Maps are automatically downloaded to client workstations
Support most graphical format as input
View all cardholders in a particular area
Camera preview on mouse over
Picture popup on a door
Lock / Unlock doors or gate
Acknowledge Alarms
Display Procedures
Display a web site
Google Earth
Microsoft Bing / Virtual Earth
And a lot more...

Macros written in C#

The macros under Security Center are flexible and easy to develop. You can now write and debug your macros directly in Visual Studio. Instead of VBScript or JavaScript as for Omnicast, macros under Security Center are now developed in C#. It's much more powerful and easier. As usual Macro can be started on specific events, on schedules or on user request.

It's very common that we use macros to link Security Center with another product.

Here are just a few examples of macros than have been developed:

Shutdown lights when the last person leaves an area.
Arm the alarm panel automatically on the last person out.
Synchronized Card holder with an HR Database.

Security Center SDK

The Security Center SDK is a .NET client SDK that enables applications developers to integrate Security Center's functions in their application. It supports access control and video features. In Security Center 3.0 and 4.0 the video SDK is the standard Omnicast SDK. In version 5.0, the video SDK will be entirely written in .NET and supports a lot of new functionalities.

Video Device Integration
Since the video core of Security Center is Omnicast, it’s possible to integrate new video devices in Security Center using the Genetec Protocol. In fact, any device implementing the Genetec Protocol is automatically supported in Security Center.

Happy Holidays!

Easy deployment of Omnicast and Security Center

2009-11-18T23:34:00.001-05:00

We have integrators that can upgrade 50 machines and validate the whole system in a single night.

In our lab, when a new build is ready to test, we have hundreds of blade servers to update. We don't install each server manually, we just push the installation wherever we need it. Omnicast and Security Center installation/upgrade scripts are designed to scale.

Around 110 Servers used by the System Test Team

The ability to script the Genetec product installations is one of the most unused feature because most of us just start installation programs and click Next-> Next->Next... without thinking.

Silent Installation (Command line options)

If you have multiple machines to setup, it's very easy to create a small batch file that installs the software in the background without any user intervention.

The installation and upgrade guide describes all the different options available on the command line to script your client and server installation. Basically any options available during the manual install is possible through the command line. To get the latest documentation, go under to the document section of the GTAP

Standard IT Deployment tools

If you are in a production environment, why not leveraging the same tool you use to push Windows hot fixes. Omnicast installation scripts are standard MSI files that can be pushed with any off-the-shelf deployment tools such Microsoft SCCM, HP Client Automation, Symantec Ghost, Altiris Deployment Solution or WPKG (free Deployment tool).

Advantages of MSI Installation vs EXE only installer

MSI is the official way to create installation scripts with the recent version of Windows (Vista and more). EXE package installer are supported as "legacy application compatibility" feature in Vista.
MSI provides built-in versioning which help reducing the Dll Hell where you see error like: ""A Required DLL File, Z.DLL, was not found".
MSI includes native rollback for clean uninstall if the installation is aborted.
MSI is supported by any off-the-self deployment tools

Why Genetec doesn't build its own deployment tool?

Genetec focuses on its core competency, enterprise IP video and access control management software. So rather than reinvent the wheel, we leverage existing standards and our software can be remotely updated using a number of industry standard IT tools.

A real Point of Sale Integration

2009-11-09T10:19:00.002-05:00

Many video surveillance systems offer the ability to index information with video but they are all doing it in a different way, not all of them are doing it efficiently.

Omnicast is leveraging the power of relational databases by implementing a real database schema for each type of meta-data and not just inserting text annotation with video.

To illustrate the differences let’s look at a simple Point Of Sale offered by many vendors. The UI allow searching any text in the transaction.

Some system supports search pattern or wildcard search; Ex: “K?t K?t cho*“

Because the system doesn’t understand entirely the transaction but only store it has plain text with associated timestamp some very useful search are impossible.

Find all the transactions where we sold a gift card of more than 500$
Show me all Employee # 12345 refunds for the past week over $50

These searches are easy to do with Omnicast because the meta-data engine understands the transaction receipts.

When we combine the power of the meta-data and the federation, it’s very easy to search all transactions across the entire country:

Show me all the transactions worldwide made with this credit card.

POS is just one examples where we used the power of the Meta-Data engine; with Omnicast we have plug-ins for access control systems, video analytics servers, License Plate recognitions and many other applications. They all have their dedicated database schema which makes searches very efficient.

Jo

What's new in Omnicast 4.5

2009-10-31T14:55:00.004-04:00

From a better support of on board video analytic to Security improvements, Omnicast 4.5 includes tons of interesting features. I resume the most important improvements in Omnicast 4.5, for more details please refer to the Release Notes.

Please see also What's new in 4.5 SR1.

Release date of 4.5: October 2009

Onboard Video Analytics support

We improved our support for onboard video analytic in this release. More and more camera vendors offer analytic built-in the camera. The video is analyzed directly by the unit, and events are sent to the System for real-time alarms and notifications. The events are stored by the Omnicast Archiver so they can be queried at a later date. You can also use the Config Tool to associate actions to your edge analytics events to determine how the system will handle them.

Omnicast 4.5 has built in support for onboard analytic from Sony, Bosch and Panasonic and any OV Ready Compliant units.

With OV Ready compliant units, you can use the Config Tool to set up rules that will trigger events based on suspicious actions without having to open a separate interface for configuration. We tested the Pelco and Lan Access OV Ready units but more manufacturers will be available in the future.

Please refer to the GTAP for the exact list of models and manufacturers with edge analytic support.

http://gtap.genetec.com/

It is important to mention that our implementation of analytic on the edge does not require more resource on the video server; the standard rule of thumb (100 cameras 4cif 30 Fps/Archiver or 300 cameras up to 300 mbit/s) is still true even if all cameras have analytics on board. Since the analytic support is implemented in the archiver no need to install a plugin like we do for server based analytic.

Security Improvements
The security model in Omnicast is very flexible and powerful but we added a few options requested by our customers because confidentially around video surveillance has always been a concern.

Password protected export
When exporting a video file from the Archive Player, Omnicast allows you to add an encryption key to your file that is also required for viewing that file.

Restrict number of workstations a user can login from
You can now limit the number of simultaneous workstation connections a user has to the system. This option prevents a user from using all the available user connection licenses if they logon (or forget to logoff) multiple stations.

Password expiration
To increase the security of the system, you can now restrict the number of days a password can be used. Once set, the user is required to change his/her password at regular intervals and the previous password cannot be used.

Playback improvements
Four new playback speeds to help you view events. For fast forwarding, a 6x and 8x speed has been added. For rewinding, a -1x and -4x speed has been added.

A single-click Archive Player is now available as a free tool on the Omnicast installation DVD. The single-click Archive Player has the same functionality as the full Archive Player but you do not need any Omnicast software installed to use it.

When in offline mode, you can now export a portion of a previously exported .g64 video. This is useful when you want to view a small segment of a previously exported clip.

H.264 software motion detection
Omnicast 4.4 doesn’t have software motion detection for H.264, it was available through unit events. With 4.5 it supports server base motion detection without decoding the entire stream. Server based motion search is also available to search all the video archives.

It’s supported for the following H.264 camera manufacturers:
• Arecont
• Axis
• Sony
• IQinVision
• Pelco

Video and PTZ Integrations
Here’s a quick overview of the improvements we made organized by vendor. Many new cameras models are supported since 4.4, for the exact list of features and supported models, please refer to the GTAP portal.

Bosch IntuiKey CCTV keyboard support
Omnicast supports the Bosch IntuiKey CCTV keyboard and the following functions:
• PTZ control
• Camera switching
• Video playback
• Alarm acknowledgment
• Run macro
• Trigger alarm
• 1x1 display change
• 2x2 display change

IQinVision Extension
A new extension is now available in Omnicast for IQEye hardware. The IQinVision extension gives configuration and multi-stream capabilities for most IQEye megapixel cameras.

JVC
Omnicast now supports JVC cameras under the generic plus extension.

March Networks
Some IP cameras from Cieffe/March Networks are now supported under the Genetec extension.

Optelecom-NKF
Omnicast now supports Optelecom-NKF units under the generic plus extension.

Panasonic PTZ
Omnicast now supports the latest PTZ protocol with position data return for analog Panasonic PTZ. We also added support for pattern configuration on IP PTZ WV-NS954 and WV-NW964.

Sony
Input pins are supported for second, third, and fourth generation Sony video units, and output pins for all generations of Sony video units. It’s now possible to upgrade Sony firmware through the ConfigTool.

H.264 streams are now supported on third generation Sony units.

SDK and Genetec Protocol Improvement
We added support in the SDk and Genetec Protocol but I will cover it in a different article.

Jo

Federation is getting even better!

2009-10-08T22:27:00.018-04:00

Recently, I was in Chicago and Kansas City where they deployed the system exactly like we imagined it when we designed the Federation.

Different organisations: police department, airport, 911, department of transportation, transit authorities, stadium, share cameras together without having to centralized their infrastructure and unified their process.

They all manage independent systems and decide which cameras they want to share with very specific access right; Live, playback, PTZ... And it's totally transparent for the people who operates the cameras, the user doesn't see the difference between local and "federated" cameras.

Now we push it further with Security Center. Since we had to re-implement federation for the new Core, we took this opportunity to improved our initial design.

Backward and Forward compatibility

Omnicast 4.x Federation is backward compatible but not forward compatible.

Now if you install Security Center 3.0 today you will be able to federate Security Center 4.0 or Omnicast 4.7 in 2 years without upgrading your entire 3.0 system.

Alarm escalation through Federation!
This is very powerful!
You can decide to send your alarm to another organisation at night, or only send a certain type of alarms. You can even push only the alarms that haven't been cleared within X sec locally.

Access control is now Federated
If you have multi-facilities, you can unlock doors, monitors access events with video and picture pop up, transparently combine events from multiple systems in 1 reports like if everything was on the same system.

Decentralized video streaming, improved performance
Your video streams no longer to go through The federation Server. Client workstation receives video directly from the source.

Remote monitoring ready!
Security center is also the perfect solutions for remote monitoring. It can transparently federate locations that are already using Omnicast 4.x. It's the best solution to monitor multiple Omnicast appliances (Ionodes SV-3200 )

Genetec Protocol supported features

2009-09-18T22:54:00.010-04:00

In the last months, the Genetec protocol has improved a lot. I compiled a list of the different features that are currently supported in Omnicast 4.4 and new features that will be available in 4.5 later this year.

Video Encoder

H.264, MPEG-4 streaming in RTP with a CGI or RTSP
Motion JPEG over HTTP
Modifications of video compression settings
Multiple stream at different quality of the same video input
Transparent Serial port: PTZ, CCTV keyboards, custom integrations
IP PTZ protocol
Configurable Unit Motion Detection

Video Analytic support ( New in 4.5 )

Object entered and exit
Object in field of detection
Object left
Object removed
Loitering
Object stopped
Object’s velocity or direction has changed
Object crossed line
Object following route
The protocol also offer the flexibility to use custom event in the system.
Support for OV Ready devices with configurations

Video Decoder

Video Decoder support through simple CGI
On Screen Display capabilities

Unit Management

Simple discovery protocol using broadcast and IP Scan (new in 4.5)
Standard discovery protocol over ZeroConfig
Configuration of IP settings
Remote reboot
Identify

IOs

Input and output contact
Asynchronous generation of event and custom event (new in 4.5)
Support for pulses on output pins

Audio Support

Bidirectional Audio support full-duplex
Audio support 8Khz (PCMU/G711, G721/G726-32, G723)

It's a lot of feature but the implementation is scalable. Manufacturer can only support a small subset and the software will adjust itself with the device's capabilities.

In the Genetec protocol package, on top of the documentation we provide a certification tool test your device and a demo software license to develop your integration.

If you want more information on the Genetec protocol, do not hesitate to contact me.

Jo

jdoyon1@gmail.com

Security Center GA is available!!

2009-09-18T22:22:00.007-04:00

After going through our beta cycle with a few customers this summer. We finally released the general availability of Security Center 3.0 this week.

The engineering team is very proud of Security Center 3.0, it's the beginning of a totally new generation. When we started Omnicast in 1999, we said nobody will have 1000 cameras in a single systems, now with Omnicast 4.x, we have customer running 20 000 cameras of the federation and 5000 cameras in a flat system. Now, developer nobody will have 2 000 000 cameras...

We started building this new platform 5 years ago as an access control product but we always design with high scalability objectives and convergence between video and access.

The other factor that help in the next platform, it's the fact that software engineering tools and languages evolved a lot in the last 10 years and this new platform leverage key technologies to improve performance and end user experience. We spent a lot of hours thinking about operator's task, we had someone full-time just focusing on usability. We did 3 iterations and prototypes, we even tested the Security Desk with a business partner in a usability lab.

The 3.0 release is just the beginning, there are a lot of impressive stuff coming in the next releases.

Next week, I will be at ASIS in the Genetec booth most of time doing demos of Security Center.

Jo

Prevent hacking of your Physical Security System

2009-08-15T04:18:00.015-04:00

Every year there's hacking conference called DEFCON, this year, 2 conferences demonstrated potential attack to Security systems.

Hijack Cisco IP Video stream
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/07/video-hijack/

Man-in-the-middle attack against HID and CBORD’s Squadron access control system
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/08/open-sesame/

These 2 attacks and other undiscovered threats rely on the fact that they had access to the IP network.

Some of you might not be totally aware about how Hackers can break into your facility. So I compiled a list of advices that minimizes the risk by making Hacker's life harder.

Never run network cables outside your facility walls
If you have to install cameras in the parking lot or outside your building. Avoid wired technologies, someone could unplug your device and get instant access to your corporate LAN or even tap on the cable without being noticed.

Secure your Wireless Network
If you need to install outside cameras, wireless is a better solution than wires if your secure your network properly.

Use WPA2 Encryption or better and do not divulge your passkey.
DO NOT use WEP encryption, it's been broken and widely documented.
Disable SSID broadcast in the Access Point, it will presence to simple discovery
Run your Security Device on different access point using different pass key than your corporate wireless users to avoid loosing video stream because of wireless congestion.
When using a different access point, you can filter MAC Address since they are fixed.

Use a different VLAN for security device, servers and security workstations

If a hacker find a way to enter on your corporate network, you can still protect you physical security by installing critical Security components on a separate VLAN without limiting operations by enabling routing between your security VLAN and corporate network.

IP cameras
Gard's workstation
Security Servers
IP Access Control Device

VLAN will protect your system against typical ARP poisoning and man in the middle attack.

Never put a IP cameras in a DMZ without firewalls, use VPN
There's a simple rule in IT Security: never install a computer directly on the Internet without a firewall.

IP Cameras are computers that sit on your security network that could be used to run malicious code. On top of it, it's very easy to find them with google.
Example try this search in google inurl:view/index:shtml

You will see an impressive list Axis cameras installed on the Internet, some might have a firewall some might not... Port scanning utilities allows Hackers to figures this out quickly.

If you need to connect IP cameras across the Internet use a VPN instead to create an encrypted WAN between your different networks segment.

Jo

Event Correlation with Omnicast

2009-08-10T17:23:00.021-04:00

Overview
Most PSIM software supports Event Correlation: Create an Alarm if this event occurs at the same time as this other event.

Using Omnicast Macros, it is been possible to correlate events and generate an alarm with a procedure.

Example: You can configure Omnicast to generate an Alarm only when an input pin is triggered at the same time as Omnicast detects motion on 2 other cameras. The number of miliseconds to consider 2 events correlated is configurable.

Download the Macro

General info on how to install macros

How to Configure it

The Event Generation macro is design to run in the background and listen for events.

Make sure that you have an Alarm with the Logical ID 2 with the appropriate procedure and recepients.
Create a VM Schedule with the Event Correlation Macro.
Make the custom event ID 10500, 10501, 10502, 105003 exist. The macro creates them the first time.
Configure which Input pins should be used by generating one of the 3 custom events. (Event-Correlation High/Medium/Low)
Configure which cameras should by generating a custom event when motion is detected.

How to customize it

The first section of the macro code contains all the public value that can be modified to customize it.

Modify WAITING_TIME to change number of miliseconds between events to consider them correlated.
Const WAITING_TIME = 2000 ' 2 Seconds

The Alarm instance that we generate when we detect a correlation is configured, a value of 0 will disable Alarm generation.
Const ALARM_ID = 2

I inlcuded 3 macros in the zip that can be used to test the Event generation macro by simulating events.

Omnicast has a Universal Driver

2009-07-04T05:40:00.014-04:00

Last week, Milestone announced of a Universal Driver for IP cameras. After reading the press release and John Honovich's analysis. I conclude that we already have a similar solution and other alternatives but we never really wrote a nice press release about it.

Same challenges
Genetec and Milestone are facing the same challenges with IP camera support. New cameras are released every month and none of them have the same Network Protocol/API. There’s no standard network protocol and I think it will take at least 2 years before PSIA or ONVIF start improving our life of VMS Vendor.
Meanwhile, we will have to spend a lot of energy supporting new vendors with their models. Even when all cameras will support PSIA/ONVIF natively, Genetec and Milestone will still have to support and maintain proprietary protocol for all major manufacturers because PSIA/ONVIF will always be 1 or 2 years late on the latest and greatest features. End users will not accept waiting 1 year to start using the last feature of my new IP camera.

Don't get me wrong, PSIA/ONVIF is the best thing that can happen to the IP Video Surveillance Industry because it's impossible to implement/test/maintain a driver for every IP camera model that exist. Even with 50 developers just working on this, you have no idea how much integration requests we receive every week, on top of widely distributed manufacturers, there are many localized camera/encoder vendors that are doing good in specifics vertical market.

Solutions offered by Omnicast
Since Omnicast 4.1 we offer a module called the generic extension, it could have been called "Universal Extension". In fact, this is a module that can receive video from any cameras that support JPEG, Motion JPEG, MPEG-4 and H.264. Any cameras supported by the generic extension can support recording, live viewing, software motion detection alerts and PTZ.

Supporting a new camera in the generic extension doesn't require us to change a single line of code. We just fill an XML file and send it to the integrator/end-user, no need to wait for the next release or driver pack. The only time we have to ship a DLL with it, it's when the IP PTZ driver isn't already supported by Omnicast.

In fact, it is so simple to add a new camera that we could release the documentation of the XML format to System Integrators; they could easily add support for new cameras without Genetec's helps. If some of you are interested, let me know (jdoyon1@gmail.com) we should be able to make this happen.

On top of the Generic Extension, Omnicast 4.3 and 4.4 offers a new way of integrating cameras in Omnicast. Camera manufacturers can implement the Genetec protocol and have their cameras supported in Omnicast very easily. We started working on this protocol before behind involve with PSIA/ONVIF and we currently have around 10 manufacturers already supporting it.

The protocol is very easy to implement, it requires supporting a few CGI commands and standard RFCs to stream videos. The manufacturer has the choice to implement each of these options individually: Hardware Motion Alerts, Serial Port (PTZ or Keyboard), Input/output, Alarm, IP PTZ. With the Genetec Protocol, we offer development tools to validate your implementation and we are putting in place a certification program. If you want to join our partner program and get access to the Genetec Protocol:
http://techpartners.genetec.com/

The Genetec Protocol is not only there for camera manufacturer but also System Integrators, its flexible enough that a company created a bridge for 2 legacies DVR. The DVRs are discovered as IP encoders by Omnicast, they only used the public ActiveX SDK provided by the DVR manufacturers.
On top of the Genetec Protocol and Generic extension initiatives, we create a new architecture to release camera drivers independently from our product cycle. And of course we have a dedicated team of engineers just working on support new cameras.
But I personally believe that a true open platform is a platform that allows end-users, system integrators, camera manufacturers to extend themselves the platform, that why we developed our own protocol that offers an immediate solution before PSIA/ONVIF.

Popular articles:
Omnicast requires less bandwidth than some competitiors
A Real POS Integration
All articles about Omnicast

Change Output pin state an Omnicast Map

2009-07-01T03:19:00.011-04:00

Overview

I received an email from Doug who would like to raise all gates and lower all gates in a garage (basically hit the output pin on 6 to 20 different logical id’s (depending on which garage) through an Omnicast Map.

The map editor doesn't give this functionality right away but it's fairly easy to get this done with the SDK available in the Maps.

You can download the entire code for this article here:

Map SDK 101
The Omnicast Live Viewer instantiate Internet Explorer in the background and enable access to the GxUIProxyVB SDK. This allows maps to interact with the system in Javascript.

To access the SDK in JavaScript simply use:

window.external.SDK.anysdkfunction(....)

Since the Live Viewer is already authenticated to the Directory, SDK calls are executed in the user security context. Therefore if the user is denied access to a specific camera, the SDK will not have access as well.

How it works

The SDK functions to change output pin value are:

FlipIODefault( int OutputPinID )
FlipIOInverseDefault( int OutputPinID )

The default state of your output pin is configured in the Config Tool, depending on the attached device it can be configure as Low or High.
Ex:

window.external.SDK.FlipIOInverseDefault( 1 )

To change the state of multiple pins at once, you can simply declare a JavaScript array and iterate through it.


var outputLogicalIDGarage = new Array();
// List all output pin logical ID that you want to trigger at once

outputLogicalIDGarage[0] = 1;
outputLogicalIDGarage[1] = 3;
outputLogicalIDGarage[2] = 5;

// Change the state of Output pin with the logical ID: 1, 3, and 5
for (outputID in outputLogicalIDGarage)
{
window.external.SDK.FlipIOInverseDefault(outputLogicalIDGarage[outputID]);
}

References
JavaScript reference

H.264 versus MPEG-4

2009-06-19T04:06:00.015-04:00

Recently I was in a meeting with Axis and they mentioned that their H.264 is generally 50% more bandwidth efficient than their MPEG-4 and in some case higher than that.

Why H.264 is more efficient than MPEG-4?
Why people are excited about H.264?

History of H.264
The MPEG group and the ITU group used to create their own standard specialized standard. MPEG with MPEG-1, MPEG-2 MPEG-4 was target consumer audience while the ITU with H.261, H.263 focused on the telecoms industry.

MPEG specifications have a much larger scope than ITU: Examples: How to compress Audio, how to store MPEG pictures in a file, picture on picture encoding...

You might think H.264 is just another video compression technique from the ITU but H.264 is also called MPEG-4 AVC Part 10. The well-known MPEG-4 is officially named MPEG-4 Part 2.

The reason why H.264 has 2 names, it's because the video expert from ITU and MPEG worked together and create the Join Video Team that continue the ITU work on H.26L. I'm convinced it helped making H.264 greater than everything else before.

1996: Publication of ITU H.263 version 1
1998: Publication of ITU H.263 version 2
1998: H.26L project initiated by ITU
1999: Publication of ISO MPEG-4 part 1
2001: Publication of ISO MPEG-4 part 2
2001: Join Video Team was created ITU VCEG + ISO MPEG
2003: Publication of the first version ITU H.264 / ISO MPEG-4 Part 10 AVC

H.264's objectivesMPEG-4 part 2 has never been design to replace MPEG-2 on DVDs, like H.263 it's has been design to "transport" or store video at relatively low cost (File size/bandwidth). At high bit rate (6-8 Mbit/s), MPEG-4 part 2 still contains unacceptable artifacts for the broadcast and movie industry, that's why MPEG-2 remains the standard in the broadcast industry.

The mandate of the H.264 group was to create a flexible standard that is suitable for telecoms and broadcast industry, the main objectives were:

•Improved video quality
•Reduce Bandwidth by 50% compare with MPEG-4 part 2
•Design for Internet streaming as well as high definition video
•Include a built-in support for robust transmission

What makes H.264 more efficient?H.263 and MPEG-4 part 2 specifications share many common ideas; the compression techniques are almost identical. In fact, the simplest MPEG-4 Profile, called Short Header is a basic H.263 stream.

H.264 has totally reinvented some techniques. One of the biggest improvements in H.264 is the Intra Prediction. MPEG-4 part was not efficient compressing I-Frames, a JPEG images was more bandwidth efficient than an I-Frame. With Intra Prediction, repetitive pattern can be encoded efficiently with predicted vectors based on surroundings blocks.

Motion vector can now go to a precision of 4x4 pixels when needed, it also supports 8x4, 4x8 and 8x8. This flexibility reduces encoding errors compare to a minimum of 8x8 for MPEG-4 part 2.

The CABAC (Context-based adaptive binary arithmetic coding) entropy coder is 9% to 14% more efficient than CAVLC used in MPEG-4 part 2. CAVLC is still supported for certain H.264 profiles and CABAC is more expensive in CPU to encode and decode compare to CAVLC.

To reduce the blocking effects seen with MPEG-4 part 2 at high compression rate, a de-blocking filter can be used in the encoder, which improves the overall image quality.

Most popular H.264 profiles
Baseline profile:
• I-Frame and P-Frame only
• Progressive Image only, no support for interlaced video.
• Redundant Slice
• CAVLC only
• Low latency, good for real-time application
• Commonly used in the video surveillance industry

Main profile:
• I-Frame, P-Frame and B-Frame
• Interlaced and progressive images
• Support CAVLC and CABAC
• Weighted Prediction
• High latency
• CABAC Higher compression than baseline
• More CPU intensive than baseline
• Initially design for Broadcast video but replaced by High Profile.

High profile:
• Designed for high definition
• I-Frame, P-Frame and B-Frame
• Interlaced and progressive images
• Support CAVLC and CABAC
• High latency
• Separate Cr and Cb control to minimize color distortion
• CPU intensive
• HDVD and Blue-ray, some IPTV.

H.264 in the security industry
At this stage, most of the H.264 IP cameras I saw (Axis, Sony, Arecont, IQEye) are H.264 Baseline which is just enough functionality for the Security Industry.

When you are looking to buy IP cameras, you must remember than codec specifications (H.264, MPEG-4) define the format for the video decoder and not the encoding process. Therefore the quality of the encoder varies a lot between vendors; a poor implementation of H.264 can be less efficient than a good MPEG-4 part-2 encoder/IP camera.

I hope this article gave you a good overview of H.264. I wrote few others articles about H.264

If want to learn the details of H.264, I recommend this book:
The H.264 Advanced Video Compression Standard by Iain E Richardson
Jo

How to install/execute macros

2009-06-02T23:33:00.006-04:00

This is a general how to run and modify code in macros with Omnicast.

Import a macro sample
To run macros within Omnicast, you must have the virtual Matrix installed and the license options to enable macros.

Using the Omnicast Config Tool

Create a new Macro: Right-click on the logical view: Create->Add-in Management->Macro
On the newly created Macro; select the "Code" tab on the right pane
Click import and select the wsc file contained in the zip file.
Hit Apply at the top to save your changes
Accept the warnings, you know what you do :)

Execute it

The macro is now configured but doesn't run in the system. Macros are execute on a Virtual Matrix and can be started on schedule, on event or user request.

On schedule

Right click on the logical view: Create->Macro Schedule
Select on which virtual Matrix the Macro should be executed
Click on propertie and select which Macro to execute.
Configure your coverage if it's not always.
ClickApply at the top.

Macros on schedule will always run in the specified time coverage. If the macro stops the matrix will automatically restarts it within 1 minute.

On Event

Go on the Action tab of any entity
Add the Action "Execute a Macro" on the desired event
Select the Macro and Virtual Matrix.

If an event macro doesn't finish by itself once the work is completed, it will run forever...

On User Request

From the Live Viewer: Using Hot Actions or in the tool menu: Tool->Macros

Monitor it, stop it

In the the config tool, select the Virtual Matrix in the physical view, go on the "Statistic" tab. The statistic tab is refresh only on demand. The play and stop icons allows you to control your macro.

In the Live Viewer there's also Macro event that can be displayed.

Modify it

Macros are written in VB script in a XML file.
To modify the macro code, just select the macro in the config tool and jump to the "Code" tab in the right pane.

The easiest way to get a sample code, it's to create a new macro and use the wizard to generate the function you need, than look at the code.

Once you modify the code, the wizard cannot be used anymore, it would have been impossible to design a function to reverse engineer the code will all the possibilities.

VB Script Reference

Jo

Macro listening on a Serial Port

2009-06-02T22:39:00.011-04:00

In an earlier post, I mentionned that we can easily create a macro that parse a serial and generate Omnicast event. A customer recently ask me to provide a sample.

General info on how to install macros

Configure it
The macro must be configured to use the right serial port on the system. The easiest way to uniquely identify a device in Omnicast is through Logical ID. You must now modify the script to use the proper serial port on your system.

Using the Omnicast Config Tool

In the Physical View, select the serial port you want to use.
On the identity Tab, locate the field called "Logical ID" and remember its value.
Select the macro again and jump in the code tab

Locate the line following line of code at the top and change the value 1 by the ID of your serial port.
' Serial port to listen to (Logical Number)
Const g_nSerialPortID = 1
How it works?
This macros is design to run until a schedule end or the user stop it.
When the macro starts, it creates its own custom event in the system, see
Sub CreateCustomEvents().

Connected to serial port: Raised as soon as we establish connectivity with the encoder
Length of received data: Event generated that contains the number of byte received
Received data: Event that contains the Bytes

Every time data is received on the serial port the method
Sub Serial_OnData(Handle, Data) is called.
Currently this generates a 2 custom events (Lenght and Received) and attached the byte receive in the description.
The code in Serial_OnData could be easily modified to generate specific events on specific data or simply just call some methode from the Matrix SDK.
I hope it helps!
Jo

Virtual Earth in Omnicast

2009-05-18T07:25:00.026-04:00

Virtual Earth can be used Omnicast to display cameras on a map. I created a demo using 3D Maps, this demo can be easily modified to add your own cameras.

Installation

You must have a web server configured to run this demo.
Download the zip file containing the demo map.
Unzip the file in a specific folder.
Start IIS Configuration Manager (Control Panel -> Administrative Tools)
On your Default Web site, create a new virtual directory pointing on the folder where you unzipped the sample.
Try to see your new page in Explorer, you should see the page but get an error message because your not running Omnicast.
Start the Omnicast Config Tool and create a new site with the URL of your virtual directory.
In your live viewer, drag this new site on a tile.

You can now drag a camera from the map into a tile or just double-click on a camera icon.
If all the camera icons are red, it's because the demo map expects camera Ids between 1 and 6. This can be easily modify, see how in the following section.
The first time this map will load, since it's a 3D, it will request to download virtual Earth 3D. If you want to avoid this, you can modify the page to a 2D map.

Configure your own cameras
All the cameras displayed on the map are load from and XML file (camerageorss.xml)

To add new cameras open the XML file in notepad and edit the item section.

The Title tag is used by the javascript to find the right camera in Omnicast. If your camera logical ID is 100, the title should be "cam100"
To find or modify your camera IDs (See Config tool -> Directory Element - > ID tab on the right)
The geo:long and geo:lat tags can be found by browsing the map in 3D, they are displayed at in lower right corner of the 3D map.

Change the initial center point
To change the default location when you start the map. Open the html file (VirtualEarthMap.htm) in notepad and just replace the 2 coordinates in this line.

References
Virtual Earth SDK

The Hidden Value of H.264

2009-04-20T22:21:00.017-04:00

Few weeks ago, I saw a presentation on YouTube called "The Hidden cost of h.264". posted by The IP Academy/MxInstaller, a group describing themself as Mobotix Evangelist. Mobotix uses a specialized video compression called MxPEG, which is an improved and proprietary evolution of MJPEG.

The presentation argues that H.264 solutions are more expensive because it requires more Video Surveillance server than traditional MJPEG solutions based on the fact that decoding a H.264 stream is a lot more expensive than Motion JPEG.

It's entirely true that decoding H.264 requires more CPU than MJPEG. But with Omnicast it's not requiring more servers, because well architect products do not require decoding the video stream in order to record. For Omnicast, the main limiting factor on the server isn't the CPU but the number of random IOs/seconds supported by your disks.

Assuming your build a system that can record 100 Mbit/sec with Omnicast; it means 100 cameras @ 1 Mbits/sec in H.264 instead of 20 cameras in MJPEG (According to Axis MJPEG stream are 5x to 6x bigger for the same quality)

But this presentation forget the most important piece of video recording system; the storage. The real value of H.264 is the huge saving on storage.

Here's a quick example just for the cost of hard drives:
Recording 100 H.264 cameras, D1,15 FPS @ 500 Kbit/sec for 20 days 24/7 around 12 000$
Recording 100 Motion JPEG, D1, 15 FPS @ 2.5 Mbit/sec for 20 days 24/7 around 70 000$

With Omnicast, H.264 is always the most cost effective solution and for other solutions it might still be cheaper to use H.264 even if you need more servers.

I wrote another post to understand the differences between H.264 and MPEG-4.
External references
Comparison of MJPEG, MPEG-4 and H.264 http://www.axis.com/products/video/about_networkvideo/compression_compare.htm
Very good white paper from Axis on H.264 video compression standard http://www.axis.com/files/whitepaper/wp_h264_31669_en_0803_lo.pdf

Different ways to integrate with Omnicast

2009-04-18T07:14:00.015-04:00

Omnicast is a very opened video surveillance solution. This post gives an overview of the most common ways to customize or integrate third party system with Omnicast.

Event and Action
Omnicast has a powerful engine that allows administrators to configure how the system should react after a precise event. Here are a only few examples that deployed without any programming, just standard configuration:

Display a one or many cameras in the Live Viewer when your shipping door opens.
Start the recording on a camera when another camera detects motion.
Move a dome to a specific preset when a IR motion sensor detects something.
Send an email when a specific user logs on the system.
If you need to create a very complex chain of action, you can create a macro.

Macros
The Omnicast Virtual matrix allow the user to create custom script that will be executed by the system on schedule or when a particular event happen.

The config tool includes a Macro Wizard that can be used to create simple macros. In fact the wizard generates code in the background and if you want more flexibility, you can start editing the generated code from the config tool and do whatever you want with it.

The Omnicast Macro SDK comes with a series of function call that allow you to do many things with our application but since these macros are pure VB Script or Java Script, you can easily integrate with another system.

Just a few examples of Macros that can be created:

Display cameras when specific characters a serial port are detected (POS/ATM machine)
Move the dome to a specific preset after x seconds of inactivity on the dome
Save a snapshot of a camera in a folder every x seconds
Create a Omnicast Alarm when we receive an alert of a TCP/IP protocol.

Map Engine (Web based)
The Map engine is a powerful tool that allow you to run your own code within our Live Viewer application. The Live Viewer supports displaying any web pages compatible with Internet Explorer. We also publish an API that allow the web page designer to interact with the current live Viewer. The API offers drag'n drop functionality from the web page to the application. The Omnicast Map designer takes advantage of the drag n drop to generate maps from a floor plan in JPEG/GIF format.
Any website designer can easily leverage the map engine to implement features such:

Display available cameras on Google map or Virtual Earth.
Show Motion detection alert on a dynamic map
Show PTZ field of view on a floor plan
Open/close and show status of car gate.
Show picture pop up and activity log from an Access Control product.

Alarm Procedure
When a Omnicast alarm is raised, the Live Viewer user can display a procedure. The procedure is in fact an URL that will be displayed in the Live Viewer. Very similar to the map engine, omnicast has an API that give access to some alarm properties.

Simple HTML page or Word document that details the procedure for this alarm
Integrate with a case management tools and force the user to enter specific field
Page that capture some information and send a SMS with info to a mobile agent.

Omnicast SDK
The SDK is a collection of ActiveX components and COM objects designed to build your own application with Visual Basic or C#. It's contains every required to authenticate on the system, receive and trigger alarms, event, display live or playback video, modify some configurations.
It's the most flexible way to integrate with Omnicast but also the one that requires good programming skills.

Display a Omnicast camera (Live or Playback) within your application
Add Video capabilities to a Web based product
Query the Omnicast Archive Database and export video in AVI or G64 format.

Direct Show Filter
The DShow filter is a DirectX source filter that give access to a uncompressed video stream (YUV or RGB). The main purpose is for for analytics company who needs access to any cameras streamed by Omnicast, it's also used to do transcoding. It requires a very good knowledge of Direct Show programming.
Genetec Protocol
The Genetec protocol is designed for IP camera/encoder manufacturer that requires support in Omnicast. It's an HTTP/CGI based protocol that supports MPEG-4, H.264 streaming over RTSP/RTP and JPEG over HTTP.
As for Omnicast 4.4 it supports:

Video Configuration (Bitrate, framerate, resolutions...)
Events
Device Configuration (IP address, Name)
Serial Port streaming and configurations
PTZ control
More features will be added in future releases