En.omnicast Live Viewer User Guide 4.7

OMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE

This document explains how to use the Omnicast Live Viewer application

Doc. No. EN.100.003-V4.7.B.(1) - December, 2010Copyright © 2001 - 2010 by Genetec Inc. Reproduction and disclosure prohibited.

GENETEC OMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER 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.

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All specifications are subject to change without notice.

Document title: Omnicast 4.7 Live Viewer User Guide

Document number: EN.100.003-V4.7.B.(1)

Publication date: December, 2010

2 COPYRIGHT © 2001 - 2010 BY GENETEC INC. REPRODUCTION AND DISCLOSURE PROHIBITED.DOC. NO. EN.100.003-V4.7.B.(1) - DECEMBER, 2010

GENETEC TABLE OF CONTENTSOMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE

Table of Contents

This document explains how to use the Omnicast Live Viewer 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 in the Live Viewer . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Support for Axis IR-cut filter . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Support for Axis Auto-tracking PTZ command . . . . . . . . . 16

Section 2 Live Viewer Overview

Instruction on how to start and exit the Live Viewer followed by a tour of its workspace

About Live Viewer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Access to Live Viewer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

COPYRIGHT © 2001 - 2010 BY GENETEC INC. REPRODUCTION AND DISCLOSURE PROHIBITED. 3EN.100.003-V4.7.B.(1)

TABLE OF CONTENTS GENETEC OMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE

Missed notification log . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Exiting Live Viewer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Normal exit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22From Full Screen Video mode . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Live viewer workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Workspace elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Main menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Main toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Viewing pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Camera pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Tool pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Analog monitor pane . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Message pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Customizing your workspace . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Live Viewer menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26System menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26View menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Camera Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Layouts menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Tools menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Custom menu items . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Help menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

File versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Section 3 Basic Operations

Introduction to the basic operations of the Live Viewer to get you started quickly

Viewing a camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34How to view a camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Drag-and-drop . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Double-click . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Using the keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Finding a camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Local search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Global search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Viewing tile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Border highlight . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Tile controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Camera controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Tile background . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Recording. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Recording modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39



Recording status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Record button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Adding bookmarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Controlling dome cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Dome cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Using the PTZ controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Using the PTZ toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44Using the joystick . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Using the PC keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Digital zoom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Using the digital zoom controls . . . . . . . . . . . 46Using the PC keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Tile contextual menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Selecting the viewing quality . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Selecting the metadata overlays . . . . . . . . . . . 47Changing the state of output relays . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Viewing a camera sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . 49What is a camera sequence? . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49How to view a camera sequence . . . . . . . . . . . 49Finding a camera sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Controlling the camera sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . 49Camera sequence controls . . . . . . . . . . . . 49Pausing a camera sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . 50Controlling individual cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Viewing a map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53What is a map? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53How to view a map . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Finding a map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Controlling the map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54Map controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54Limitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Viewing on analog monitors . . . . . . . . . . . . 55Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55Where to find analog monitors. . . . . . . . . . . . 55Viewing cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56Viewing camera sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Full screen operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Full screen mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Show/hide the window panes . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Full screen video mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59



Controlling the application . . . . . . . . . . . . 59Using multiple screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60Assigning PC displays to the Live Viewer . . . . . . . . . . 60Video wall configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Section 4 Alarm Management

Instruction on how to handle alarms in the Live Viewer and how to trigger alarms

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62What is an alarm? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62What constitutes an alarm?. . . . . . . . . . . . 62What triggers alarms? . . . . . . . . . . . . 62How do I get notified? . . . . . . . . . . . . 62What are my options when I receive an alarm? . . . . . . . . . 62

Receiving alarms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Alarm notification . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Alarm bell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Alarm warning message . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Armed tiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64Alarm list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Viewing alarms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65Alarm display tile . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65Alarm controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65Controlling individual alarm elements . . . . . . . . . . 66

Alarm display modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67Simple mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67Salvo mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68Block mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Handling alarms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Acknowledging an alarm . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Default acknowledgement . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Alternate acknowledgement . . . . . . . . . . . 70Custom acknowledgement . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Other handling options . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Auto forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Snooze . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Pausing an alarm . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72View alarm procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . 73View alarm history . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73View alarms on analog monitors . . . . . . . . . . . 74



Triggering new alarms . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Predefined alarms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Trigger predefined alarms . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Contextual alarms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76Trigger contextual alarm . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Alarm playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77Replay a past alarm . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Section 5 Advanced Features

Instruction on how to use the advanced features and how to customize the Live Viewer

Advanced dome controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80PTZ commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80On-screen menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80Specific commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Modify preset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Record pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Auxiliary switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

PTZ locking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82Lock PTZ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82Unlock PTZ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Camera blocking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83Feature presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83How it works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Blocking cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84Accessing the dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84Dialog description . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Camera blocking rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85Rule #1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85Rule #2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85Rule #3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85Rule #4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Event monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87Event list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Using the event list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87Viewing the video associated to a camera event . . . . . . . . . 87Event filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88



Clearing the event list . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Instant replay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89Launching instant replay . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89Playback cursor . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90Background color . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90Event markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90Time range markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Playback commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91Status panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91Controlling the playback . . . . . . . . . . . . 91Controlling the playback speed . . . . . . . . . . . 92Bookmark commands . . . . . . . . . . . . 92Save, Print, and Export . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Other commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Local recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95Scope of local recording . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Using local recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95Start/stop local recording . . . . . . . . . . . . 95Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96Configuring local recording . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Keyboard Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97Controlling the viewing pane . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Controlling the layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . 97Tile configuration panel . . . . . . . . . . . . 98Selecting cameras and tiles by IDs . . . . . . . . . . . 98Controlling the selected entity . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Special Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100Opening dialogs . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100Switching focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100PTZ or Digital Zoom commands . . . . . . . . . . . 100Advanced PTZ controls . . . . . . . . . . . . 101Instant replay controls . . . . . . . . . . . . 101Macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Using macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103What is a macro? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103Executing macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Using hot macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104What are hot macros? . . . . . . . . . . . . 104Configuring hot macros . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Using plugins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107What is a plugin? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107Plugin types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107



Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107Using the Remote Live Viewer plugin . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Viewer layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Viewing pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111Monitor ID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111Viewing tile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111Tile pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111Viewer layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111Layout selection tabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Layout management . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112Using predefined layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . 112Layout controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112Changing the tile pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . 113Running the guard tour . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113Changing the layout configuration . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Display management . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114Tile display memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114Layer 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115Layer 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115Layer 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115Layer 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115Double-click vs. Drag-and-drop . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Customizing the Live Viewer . . . . . . . . . . . . 117Options dialog box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117General options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119User login dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119Guard tour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120Instant Replay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Network options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121Network card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121Connection type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121Default viewing stream . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Audio options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123Sound bites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123Audio volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Alarm options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125On new alarms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125Snooze time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Visual options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127Information displayed in the viewing pane . . . . . . . . . . 127



Tile toolbar commands . . . . . . . . . . . . 128User interaction options . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129System messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129On application exit . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130Snapshots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Peripheral options (Joystick) . . . . . . . . . . . . 131Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131Active joystick . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131Axis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Peripheral options (Keyboard) . . . . . . . . . . . . 133Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133Keyboard protocol . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133Keyboard address . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133COM port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133Automatic detection. . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Display options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135Video options . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135Selecting PC displays . . . . . . . . . . . . 137Video wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Local recording options . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139Record path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139Archive files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139Disk minimum free space . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Remote access options . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Date and time options . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143Device time zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143Time zone abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

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 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE

About this guide

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

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

Purpose and scope This document explains everything there is to know for the proper operation of Omnicast Live Viewer. 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 Live Viewer 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 Live Viewer Overview

Instruction on how to start and exit the Live Viewer followed by a tour of its workspace on page 17.

3 Basic Operations

Introduction to the basic operations of the Live Viewer to get you started quickly on page 33.

4 Alarm Management

Instruction on how to handle alarms in the Live Viewer and how to trigger alarms on page 61.

5 Advanced Features

Instruction on how to use the advanced features and how to customize the Live Viewer on page 79.

Glossary Explains the terminology used in this user guide on page 145.


GENETEC ABOUT THIS GUIDEOMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER 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

This is the manual you are currently reading. 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

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 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE

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

Note that the document you are currently reading contains information on the Remote Live Viewer plugin relevant for the Live Viewer user. See Remote Live Viewer plugin on page 107.

Terminology See Glossary on page 145 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 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 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE 1 PREFACE

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WHAT'S NEW IN OMNICAST 4.7? GENETEC1 PREFACE OMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE

What's new in Omnicast 4.7?

This section highlights the changes to the Live Viewer for Omnicast 4.7.

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

New features in the Live Viewer

Support for Axis IR-cut filter

You can now use the Tile contextual menu of the Live Viewer to enable or disable the IR-cut filter for Axis units that support IR-cut filter. An "Auto" option is also available if you want the unit to automatically turn the filter on and off. For more information on how to use the Tile contextual menu, see Tile contextual menu on page 47. For more information on Axis IR-cut filter, see your Axis documentation.

Support for Axis Auto-tracking PTZ

command

Omnicast now supports auto-tracking for Axis PTZ units. You can enable or disable this feature using the Specific Dome Commands dialog box. For more information about using specific commands, see Specific commands on page 81. For more information about Axis Auto-tracking, see your Axis documentation.


SECTION 2

LIVE VIEWER OVERVIEW

Instruction on how to start and exit the Live Viewer followed by a tour of its workspace

ABOUT LIVE VIEWER GENETEC2 LIVE VIEWER OVERVIEW OMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE

About Live Viewer

Introduction The Live Viewer application serves as the control and monitoring center of your entire security system.

Through the Live Viewer, security personnel can view full-motion video, control camera movements, receive on-screen alarm notifications, save and print video snapshots, view instant replay clips, and generate bookmarks among other functions.

Additionally, the Live Viewer consolidates all metadata from third party systems into comprehensive sets of events that can be used to trigger alarms.

Both intuitive and powerful, the Live Viewer provides the tools necessary to gain a complete understanding of events taking place within a facility with a user interface streamlined for proper event management.

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

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


GENETEC ABOUT LIVE VIEWEROMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE 2 LIVE VIEWER 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 Live Viewer always displays fields for the supervisor’s credentials.

The following other scenarios can occur when supervised logons are used:• If you require a supervisor to log you in 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 logon attempts will now display the required fields for supervised logons.

• Even if you log on with your Windows credentials, supervisors still must use 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.



Application control panel

Connection status Once logged on, the Live Viewer 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 cameras 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 camera to a tile. To remedy the situation, remove some cameras from the Viewing 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 live video stream, use the Start/Stop listening button found in the bottom toolbar of each tile. See Camera controls on page 38.

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 Live Viewer

Normal exit To close the Live Viewer application, choose System > Exit or click the 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 log on 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.



From Full Screen Video mode

Note that you may not see the button when you are in Full Screen Video mode. To show this button, point to the upper right corner of the screen. The Windows system buttons will appear:

Please turn to Full screen operation on page 57 to learn more about the Full Screen Video mode.

Move the mouse cursor to the upper right corner of the screen to make the system buttons appear.


LIVE VIEWER WORKSPACE GENETEC2 LIVE VIEWER OVERVIEW OMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE

Live viewer workspace

Introduction The Live Viewer 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 Viewing pane, the only area that cannot be hidden.

Workspace elements

Main menu The Live Viewer 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 Live Viewer menu on page 26.

Main toolbar The Live Viewer toolbar contains the Application Control Panel, the Tile Configuration Panel, and other buttons that you can click to call up the most frequently used commands in the Live Viewer. You can show or hide the toolbar by pressing <F9>.

Main toolbarMain toolbarMain menuMain menu

Viewing paneViewing pane

Tool paneTool pane

Message paneMessage paneAnalog

monitor paneAnalog

monitor pane

Camera paneCamera pane

Application control panel Tile Configuration Panel

Joystick detectedCCTV keyboard detected

Click to logon/logoff

GENETEC LIVE VIEWER WORKSPACEOMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE 2 LIVE VIEWER OVERVIEW

Viewing pane The Viewing pane is the main viewing area. This area is divided into sections called tiles. Each tile can display a single video stream. See Viewing tile on page 37. Up to 16 video streams can be displayed on a single monitor.

The Viewing pane is the only area in the workspace that cannot be hidden.

In a multi-screen setup, a distinct Viewing pane is assigned to each monitor controlled by the Live Viewer. The Live Viewer can control as many monitors as there are available on the PC. Each Viewing pane is assigned a unique ID in the system called monitor ID.

Camera pane The Camera pane contains an entity tree showing all accessible entities. You may find the following entities in the Camera pane:

You can display any entity shown in the Camera pane by dragging and dropping it to a tile in the Viewing pane. You can show or hide the Camera pane by pressing <F6>.

Tool pane The Tool pane has tools to control cameras displayed in the Viewing pane. You can show or hide the Tool pane by pressing <F4>.

Analog monitor pane The Analog monitor pane contains an entity tree showing all the analog monitors that are accessible to the user. You can drag a camera from the Camera pane to a monitor in the Analog monitor pane to display it on the selected monitor. You can show or hide the Analog monitor pane by pressing <F7>.

Message pane The Message pane is the area of the workspace reserved for displaying alarm and event notifications. You can show or hide the Message pane by pressing <F8>.

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 mentioned under each workspace element.

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 Description

A site. Sites are similar in concept to the folders in Windows Explorer. Sites are created by the Omnicast administrator to group related entities together. Sites can be nested to form hierarchies.

Site with a map attached.

A fixed camera.

A PTZ enabled camera, or dome camera.

A fixed virtual camera (camera controlled by a CCTV matrix).

A dome virtual camera.

A camera sequence.

A viewer layout.

A Live Viewer plugin.

LIVE VIEWER MENU GENETEC2 LIVE VIEWER OVERVIEW OMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE

Live Viewer menu

Introduction The following describes the entire Live Viewer 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 28.

Camera This menu lets you perform specific actions on the currently selected camera in the viewer layout. See Camera Menu on page 29.

Layouts This menu groups all the commands related to the control of viewer layouts. See Layouts menu on page 30.

Tools This menu lets you change the Live Viewer options and launch other Omnicast applications such as the Archive Player and the Config Tool. See Tools menu on page 30.

Help This menu lets you access various help functions.See Help menu on page 32.

Command Description (1 of 2)

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

Disconnect This command disconnects the Live Viewer 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 when you wish to connect to another Directory or through another Gateway.

Use the Exit command when you want to exit the Live Viewer.


GENETEC LIVE VIEWER MENUOMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE 2 LIVE VIEWER OVERVIEW

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 Confirm password field.

Activate CCTV Keyboard

Enables the CCTV keyboard connected to the serial port of your PC. When the CCTV keyboard is activated, a keyboard icon appears in the tile configuration panel. See Main toolbar on page 24.

For the CCTV keyboard to work, it must be properly configured for your PC. See Peripheral options (Keyboard) on page 133.

Deactivate CCTV Keyboard

Disables the CCTV keyboard connected to the serial port of your PC. This command can be used to free the serial port for another use.

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

When a joystick is detected, a joystick icon appears in the tile configuration panel. See Main toolbar on page 24.

To learn how to configure the joystick for the Live Viewer, see Peripheral options (Joystick) on page 131.

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

All notification messages displayed by the Live Viewer 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 129.

Exit This command disconnects the Live Viewer from its current Directory and exits the application.



View menu

Description The View menu allows you to control the look and feel of the Live Viewer workspace. If you do not have the Change client views privilege, most of the commands in this menu are disabled. See Live viewer workspace on page 24.

Command Description Shortcut

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

Camera Pane Hides or shows the Camera pane. <F6>

Analog Monitor Pane

Hides or shows the Analog monitor pane. <F7>

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

Toolbar Hides or shows the Main toolbar. <F9>

Hide all Panes Hides or shows all the panes, except the Viewing pane.

<F10>

Hide Menu in Full Screen

Hides or shows the Main menu in full screen mode. See Full screen mode on page 58.

Full Screen Turns the Full Screen mode on or off. The full screen mode maximizes the Live Viewer's window and hides the task bar, the title bar and the application border.See Full screen mode on page 58.

<F11>

Full Screen Video

Turns the Full Screen Video mode on or off. See Full screen video mode on page 59.

<Shift>+ <F11>

Advanced Mode Alternates between Simple and Advanced modes.

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

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

<Shift>+ <F10>

Camera Menu

Description The Camera menu groups together all commands for camera and camera sequence control. See also Tile contextual menu on page 47.


Expand Expands the currently selected tile so it takes the entire Viewing pane. See also Layout controls on page 112.

Digital Zoom Shows the Digital zoom tab in the Tool pane.See Digital zoom on page 45.

Instant Replay Shows the Instant replay tab in the Tool pane.See Instant replay on page 89.

Record Starts or stops manual recording. Performs the same function as the record button. See Recording on page 39.

Record Locally Starts or stops local recording on the selected tile (<Ctrl>+<L>) or on all tiles (<Ctrl>+<T>). See Local recording on page 95.

Save Snapshot Saves a snapshot of the selected tile. Same as clicking on from the camera toolbar. See Save, Print, and Export on page 93.

Print Snapshot Prints a snapshot of the selected tile. Same as clicking on from the camera toolbar. See Save, Print, and Export on page 93.

Add a Bookmark Displays the Add a bookmark dialog. Same as clicking on from the camera toolbar. See Adding bookmarks on page 40.

Trigger Alarm Triggers a contextual alarm. Same as clicking on from the camera toolbar. See Contextual alarms on page 76.

Forward Video to Pocket PC

Displays the following dialog to forward a selected video stream to a Pocket PC Viewer of your choice.

Layouts menu

Description The Layouts menu allows you to manage the viewer layouts available in the Viewing pane. See also Layout management on page 112.

Tools menu

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

Remove Removes the entity that is shown in the selected tile from the Viewing pane. Same as clicking on in the tile control toolbar, or dragging the current display back to the camera tree.

Remove All Removes all currently displayed entities from the current layout page. Same as <Ctrl>+<Backspace>.


Command Description

Insert Inserts a new layout to the Live Viewer workspace.

Remove Removes the currently selected viewer layout.

Rename Renames the currently selected viewer layout.

Save Saves the definition of the currently selected viewer layout.

Save All Saves the definition of all the viewer layouts in the layout list.

Reload Reloads the saved definition of the currently selected layout.


Config Tool Opens the Config Tool without having to logon.

Archive Player Opens the Archive Player without having to logon.

Alarm Allows you to manually trigger an alarm or to set the alarm auto forward.• Trigger Alarm, see Trigger predefined alarms on page 75.• Auto Forward, see Auto forward on page 71.

Macro Allows you to configure the hot macro list or to manually execute macros.• Hot Macros, see Configuring hot macros on page 104.• Execute Macro, see Executing macros on page 103.

Entity Search Opens the Entity Search dialog to find specific entities in the system. See Global search on page 35.


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

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.

Block Cameras Opens the Block cameras dialog to block the video from being seen by less privileged users. See Camera blocking on page 83.

This command is enabled by the Block camera option in your Omnicast license and is only available when you have the Block camera privilege.

Execute Action Opens the generic Execute action dialog:

This dialog allows you to execute any of the programmable actions that are within your privileges to run. For a full description of all the available action types and event types, please refer to the Omnicast Administrator Guide.

Options Opens the Options dialog. See Options dialog box on page 117.



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! They may not be the same if you unsuccessfully uninstalled a previous version, and then upgraded 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

BASIC OPERATIONS

Introduction to the basic operations of the Live Viewer to get you started quickly

VIEWING A CAMERA GENETEC3 BASIC OPERATIONS OMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE

Viewing a camera

How to view a camera

Drag-and-drop To view a camera ( or ) in the Live Viewer, select it from the Camera pane and drag it to a tile in the Viewing pane.

See Workspace elements on page 24 for the definition of the UI terms.

Double-click Another way to view a camera is to double-click it in the Camera pane.

The selected camera will then be displayed in the first free tile found in the Viewing pane. When there is no free tile available, the oldest displayed camera will be replaced by the newly selected one.

Using the keyboard If controlling the cameras with a keyboard is easier for you, please read Keyboard Commands on page 97.

Finding a camera

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.

Find the previous match Find the next match

Close

Global search

GENETEC VIEWING A CAMERAOMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE 3 BASIC OPERATIONS

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 case insensitive. 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).

Global search The second method is called Global search. To use Global search you can click the Global search button using the Local search controls, or choose Select Tools > Entity search from the main menu. The Entity Search dialog appears.

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

for. The search is case insensitive.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 when you want to find them all.



4 Click on the 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.

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 when the Entity Search was invoked from the Local search. If an entity is not found in the current context, it is shown in gray.

Click to reveal the site hierarchy



Viewing tile

Definition The viewing tile is a section in the Viewing pane used to display a single video stream. See also Viewing pane on page 25.r

A viewing tile can be used to display all sorts of viewable entities, such as alarms, camera sequences, maps, etc. For now, we will concentrate on the display of cameras.

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 also call it the current tile.

Different highlight colors are used to indicate different statuses. An orange border is used to indicate the target selection when moving entities around in the Viewing pane.

A red flashing border is used to attract your attention to a particular tile. This could be a programmed behavior or a specific action performed by another user.

Tile controls At the top left corner of the tile are the tile controls. They are usually hidden. To show the tile controls, point to the tile ID.

The tile ID may or may not be shown, depending on your PC configuration. To show the tile ID, move the mouse cursor over the tile area.

Tile ID

Tile controls

Tile background

Border highlight

Camera controls

Live video stream

Camera name

Camera ID

Click To

Arm the tile. See Armed tiles on page 64.

Expand the tile so it fills up the entire viewing area. Click again on to restore the original view.

Start local recording. Click again on to stop the local recording. See Local recording on page 95.

Remove the currently displayed camera (or any other entity).



Camera controls The camera controls are found in the bottom toolbar of the tile. Also found in the bottom toolbar are the camera name and the camera ID (in brackets). Depending on your PC configuration, the bottom toolbar may or may not be displayed.

To show the bottom toolbar, point to the bottom area of the tile. The toolbar will appear with or without an extension. This will depend on the particular setup of your PC.

You may find different camera controls than those illustrated here. It all depends on how your Omnicast administrator has configured your PC. The following table gives you the complete list of the camera controls that are available.

Click To

Start/stop manual recording. See Recording on page 39.

Push-to-talk (PTT). Enabled only if the camera is attached to a speaker.

Start/Stop listening. Enabled only if the camera is attached to a microphone.

Switch to PTZ commands. See Using the PTZ toolbar on page 44.

Replay the last 5 minutes of recorded video. See Instant replay on page 89.

Show the digital zoom commands. See Digital zoom on page 45.

Add a bookmark. See Adding bookmarks on page 40.

Save a snapshot.

Print a snapshot.

Trigger contextual alarm. See Contextual alarms on page 76.

Forward the video to a Pocket PC.

Block the camera. See Camera blocking on page 83.

Tile ID

Border highlight

Camera controls

Live video stream

The bottom toolbar appears when the

mouse cursor moves over the bottom area

of the tile

Camera name and ID

Toolbar extension



Tile background The color of the tile background is used to indicate the alarm status of the tile. Refer to Armed tiles on page 64 for more details.

Recording

Recording modes Omnicast handles the video (and audio) recording in two different ways.• Automatically• On user request

Automatic recording follows predefined schedules defined by the Omnicast administrator. It can be performed continuously or carried out sporadically, following specific events, such as when movement is detected.

When Omnicast is operating in the automatic recording mode, the user cannot stop the recording manually. Manual recording can only occur during specific times configured by the Omnicast administrator.

Recorded video is called the video archive, and can be later retrieved using the Archive Player application. See also Instant replay on page 89.

Recording status You can tell whether a camera is being recorded or not by looking at the record button found in the bottom toolbar of the tile. See Camera controls on page 38.


Record button The record button has a dual purpose. It shows the current recording status of the camera and allows the user to start or stop the recording manually.

NOTE The record button only shows the Archiver recording status of the camera. Recording can also be performed by the video unit itself, but it will not be managed by Omnicast. For this reason, the unit’s recording status cannot be shown through the record button.

Adding bookmarks You can remember important moments in the video by adding bookmarks to the recorded video. Later, you can review these marked video sequences with the Archive Player by searching for the bookmarks they are associated with.

To add a bookmark to the selected camera, do one of the following:• Point to the bottom area of the tile and click .• Type .• Right-click the tile and select Add a Bookmark from the popup menu.• Select Camera > Add a Bookmark from the main menu.

Icon Meaning Click action

Not recording. Manual recording is enabled.

Click to start manual recording. » After clicking on it, the button will turn red . » If you do not stop the recording yourself,

someone else can stop it, or it will automatically stop by itself after 5 minutes.

» The record button will start to flash 30 seconds before the recording stops.

Not recording. Manual recording is disabled.

No action is possible.

Recording. Manual recording is disabled.

No action is possible.

Recording. Manual recording is enabled.

Click to stop manual recording. » After clicking on it, the button will turn gray .

* Flashing red *. Recording is soon going to stop.

Click to continue the recording for another 5 minutes or until someone stops it.


The Add a bookmark dialog will appear.

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.

If Omnicast was not recording prior to this action, adding a bookmark will cause the system to start recording if you have the Record manually privilege, just as if you clicked on the record button. See Record button on page 40.

NOTE Unlike the record button, you can always add a bookmark even when recording is disabled ( ). Omnicast allows you to do that because the recording could be handled outside Omnicast, directly by the unit. However, if the unit is not recording, your bookmark will have no video archive to go with.


Controlling dome cameras

Dome cameras The Live Viewer allows you to control the PTZ (Pan-Tilt-Zoom) commands on dome cameras. To find the cameras that are PTZ enabled, look for the icon in the Camera pane. Cameras shown as are fixed cameras. This means that they either do not have the PTZ capability or that you do not have the privilege to use their PTZ feature.

There are many ways to control the PTZ camera as you can see below.

Using the PTZ controls Select the tab in the Tool pane to show the PTZ controls. Type <F4> if you do not see the Tool pane.

If the PTZ status indicates Ready, you may use the PTZ controls in various ways:• Use the four arrow buttons to pan and tilt the camera.• Click and hold the button to pan and tilt with the mouse. If you have a wheel

mouse, you can also zoom in and zoom out with the mouse wheel while holding the <Shift> key.

• Use the speed slider (on the left) to adjust the reaction speed of the Pan, Tilt and Zoom.

• Click on the (+) and ( - ) buttons to adjust the focus and the iris . You need the Change focus and iris settings privilege to use these features.

• Click on one of the numbered (0 to 7) preset buttons to turn the camera to the corresponding preset position. You must have Use presets privilege to be able to use this feature.

• Click on Home to move the camera to its default preset position.• Click on Flip to rotate the camera by 180°.

PTZ status display

Speed slider

Zoom in

Zoom out Free look

Click to make the pane float

PresetsAdjust focus

and irisLock PTZ

Specific commands

Home

Flip


Using the PTZ toolbar A second method to control the dome camera is to use the PTZ toolbar found at the bottom of each tile.

To switch from the normal toolbar to the PTZ toolbar, click on . The camera controls will be replaced by the PTZ controls.

To pan and tilt, click on the video image and hold the left mouse button.The mouse cursor will change into a fat arrow pointing to the direction you are moving the camera.

Click To

Zoom in.

Zoom out.

Focus near.

Focus far.

Open iris (brighten the image).

Close iris (darken the image).

Return to normal toolbar.


Using the joystick The third method to control the PTZ of a dome camera is to use the joystick connected to your PC.

When the Live Viewer detects a joystick connected to your PC, the icon is shown in the Tile Configuration Panel. See Main toolbar on page 24.

If a joystick is connected but is not shown in the Tile Configuration Panel, select System > Detect Joysticks from the main menu.

Depending on the model of your joystick and how it has been configured for your PC, many other frequently used commands could be mapped to your joystick buttons. Instructions on how to configure the joystick are given in the section Peripheral options (Joystick) on page 131.

Using the PC keyboard The fourth method to control the PTZ of a dome camera is to use the PC keyboard.

To learn more about the PTZ controls, please refer to Advanced dome controls on page 80.

Digital zoom

Introduction The digital zoom is available to all cameras in Omnicast. You need the Access digital zoom privilege in order to use this feature.

Joystick connected

Press 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.

<Shift>+<End> Focus near.

<Ctrl>+<End> Focus far.

<Shift>+<Delete> Open iris (brighten the image).

<Ctrl>+<Delete> Close iris (darken the image).

<Ctrl>+ Show the Tool pane and select PTZ controls.

<F4> Show or hide the Tool pane.

Using the digital zoom controls

Select the tab in the Tool pane to show the digital zoom controls. Type <F4> if you do not see the Tool pane.

if the PTZ status indicates Ready, you can use the PTZ controls in various ways:• Use the mouse to draw a specific zoom area in the preview window.• Use the left and right arrows to pan the zoomed area.• Use the up and down arrows to tilt the zoomed area.• Click to clear the zoom.• Use the (+) and ( - ) buttons to zoom in and zoom out.• Use the speed slider (on the left) to control the sensitivity of the PTZ buttons.

Using the PC keyboard You may also control the digital zoom using the PC keyboard.

Current zoom factor

Speed slider

Zoom in

Zoom out Return to 100% view


Preview windowZoom area

Press To


<Shift>+<right arrow> Pan right.





<Ctrl>+<D> Show the Tool pane and select digital zoom

<F4> Show or hide the Tool pane.


Tile contextual menu

Definition The tile contextual menu, also called the pop-up menu, is the menu that appears when you right-click in a tile. The commands available in this menu depend on the tile’s context. The following example is the contextual menu of a tile showing a camera.

The menu contains most of the commands found in the application’s Camera menu. See Camera Menu on page 29.

The menu also features additional sub-menus, that appear below the Trigger Alarm command. The sub-menus that appear will vary depending on the unit you are displaying. Some common sub-menus are explained below.

Selecting the viewing quality

The Viewing quality submenu is available when the selected camera supports multiple video streams. Click on this submenu to select the desired stream for viewing. The default viewing stream is configured in the Options dialog. See Network options on page 121.

Selecting the metadata overlays

The Metadata submenu appears when additional information regarding the selected camera, called metadata, is available. More than one type of metadata could be available. This submenu allows you to turn the display of each type of metadata on or off, individually.

Changing the state of output relays

The last series of submenus found in the contextual menu are for the control of output relays found on the video unit attached to the camera. Output relays are typically associated to simple actions such as locking or unlocking a door or turning on or off a light.


GENETEC VIEWING A CAMERA SEQUENCEOMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE 3 BASIC OPERATIONS

Viewing a camera sequence

What is a camera sequence?

Definition A camera sequence is a list of cameras controlled by the Virtual Matrix, where each camera is displayed 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 viewing tile.

How to view a camera sequence

A camera sequence is viewed the same way as a camera. See How to view a camera on page 34.

Camera sequences occupy a lower position than cameras in terms of monitoring needs. Therefore, you can drag-and-drop a camera on top of a camera sequence in a tile and hide the latter. When the camera is removed from the tile, the camera sequence will reappear. The opposite is not true. To learn more about this behavior, see Display management on page 114.

Finding a camera sequence

The same Entity Search tool used to find cameras in the system can be used to find camera sequences. Please read Finding a camera on page 34.

Controlling the camera sequence

Camera sequence controls

The camera sequence controls are found in the bottom toolbar of the tile. Depending on your PC configuration, the bottom toolbar may or may not be displayed. To show the bottom toolbar, point to the bottom area of the tile.

Tile ID

Border highlight


Live video stream



of the tile

Camera sequence (ID) / Camera (ID)


VIEWING A CAMERA SEQUENCE GENETEC3 BASIC OPERATIONS OMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE

The name and ID of the camera sequence and the currently displayed camera are indicated in the bottom toolbar. Using the camera sequence controls, you can pause the sequence and control each camera individually.

The following table describes the available camera sequence controls.

Pausing a camera sequence

Pausing a camera sequence allows you to control the cameras individually. To pause a camera sequence, click on the button. The button appears to the left of the camera sequence name. Click to switch to camera controls.

Click To

Pause the camera sequence. Once paused, the user can control each camera in the sequence individually.

Show previous camera in the sequence. This command is enabled when the camera sequence is paused.

Resume the normal play controlled by the Virtual Matrix. Note that the dwell time for each camera is set in the Config Tool.

Show next camera in the sequence. This command is enabled when the camera sequence is paused.

Tile ID

Border highlight


Live video stream

Click to switch to camera control



GENETEC VIEWING A CAMERA SEQUENCEOMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE 3 BASIC OPERATIONS

Controlling individual cameras

Click on the button to switch the toolbar from camera sequence control to camera control. When you are in camera control mode, only the camera name and ID are indicated in the toolbar.

For a description of the available camera controls, please read Camera controls on page 38.

Click on the button to switch back to camera sequence control.

Tile ID

Border highlight

Camera controls

Live video stream

Click to switch to camera sequence

control



VIEWING A CAMERA SEQUENCE GENETEC3 BASIC OPERATIONS OMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE


GENETEC VIEWING A MAPOMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE 3 BASIC OPERATIONS

Viewing a map

What is a map?

Definition A map in Omnicast is an interactive HTML document linked to a site. A typical map is composed of a background image representing an actual map of the site or a floor plan with icons that users can click to execute specific actions.

The following diagram shows an example of a map created with Omnicast’s Map Editor. The background image shows the floor plan of a building. Camera icons are placed on the map according to the real locations of the cameras in the building. Clicking on a camera icon shows the live video from the corresponding camera. Recording buttons can also be added to show the recording status of the camera and allow the user to start manual recording. See Record button on page 40.

Map applications are not limited to showing floor plans. Anything that can be shown in HTML on a Web page can become an Omnicast map.

How to view a map Maps are represented by the following icon in the Camera pane. You view a map as you would a camera. You can use drag-and-drop or double-click it. See How to view a camera on page 34.

Maps occupy a higher position than cameras in terms of monitoring needs. Therefore, you can hide the currently displayed camera in a tile by dropping a map over it. When you remove the map from the tile, the previously displayed camera will reappear. The opposite is not true. To learn more about this behavior, please read Display management on page 114.

Finding a map You use the same Entity Search tool used to find cameras in the system to find maps. Since maps are associated to sites, when you perform a search by entity type, you must specify a site . See Finding a camera on page 34.

Click to show the camera in

the first free viewing tile

Record/stop recording


VIEWING A MAP GENETEC3 BASIC OPERATIONS OMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE

Controlling the map

Map controls The map controls are found in the bottom toolbar of the tile. Depending on your PC configuration, the bottom toolbar may or may not be displayed. To show the bottom toolbar, point to the bottom area of the tile.

The name of the site matching the map is indicated in the bottom toolbar. When a map is displayed in a tile, the latter turns into a mini Web browser. You can navigate through the Web pages just like in a Web browser. The available map controls are described below.

Limitation You cannot drag-and-drop a map over another map in a tile. To replace the current map in a tile, you must first remove it by clicking the button found in the Tile controls (upper left corner), and then drag-and-drop the new map to that tile.

Click To

Go back one page. This command works only if you have visited previous pages before.

Go forward one page. This command works only if you have gone back to a previously visited page.

Refresh the current page.

Tile ID

Border highlight

Map controls

Map



of the tile

Site name


GENETEC VIEWING ON ANALOG MONITORSOMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE 3 BASIC OPERATIONS

Viewing on analog monitors

Definition Analog monitors are conventional CCTV monitors that are not attached to a PC. They require a video decoder in order to display live videos.

Analog monitors are treated like viewing tiles in Omnicast (see Viewing tile on page 37). They can be used to display live videos, i.e. cameras ( or ), camera sequences , and alarms.

Analog monitors cannot display maps. See What is a map? on page 53.

Where to find analog monitors

If your system uses analog monitors, you will find them in the Analog monitor pane located at the lower left corner of the Live Viewer window.

If you do not see the analog monitor pane, type <F7> to show it.

Each analog monitor is assigned a unique monitor ID in Omnicast. This ID is indicated between brackets after the monitor name in the entity tree. If a monitor is currently displaying something, the displayed entity is shown under the monitor icon in the entity tree.

NOTE Analog monitors can also display archived video , but this must be done from the Archive Player. Playback sequences may not be removed from the Live Viewer. They are shown in the Live Viewer to indicate that the monitor is being used. Please refer to the Omnicast Archive Player User Guide for further details.

The icon indicates that the monitor belongs to a monitor group, which means that it is reserved for alarm display. It is equivalent to an armed tile in the Live Viewer.

For more information on this topic, please refer to View alarms on analog monitors on page 74.

VIEWING ON ANALOG MONITORS GENETEC3 BASIC OPERATIONS OMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE

Viewing cameras To view a camera on an analog monitor, drag the camera ( or ) from the camera pane and drop it on the desired monitor in the analog monitor pane. The camera control toolbar appears at the bottom of the analog monitor pane.

Please read Camera controls on page 38 for the description of the command buttons.

Viewing camera sequences

To view a camera sequence on an analog monitor, drag the camera sequence from the camera pane and drop it on the desired monitor in the analog monitor pane. The camera sequence control toolbar appears at the bottom of the analog monitor pane.

Please read Camera sequence controls on page 49 for the description of the command buttons.


GENETEC FULL SCREEN OPERATIONOMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE 3 BASIC OPERATIONS

Full screen operation

Introduction Omnicast Live Viewer offers two different modes of full screen operation: Full screen mode and Full screen video mode. In both cases, the goal is to maximize the video display area (see Viewing pane on page 25).

The following diagram illustrates the Live Viewer in restored screen mode.


FULL SCREEN OPERATION GENETEC3 BASIC OPERATIONS OMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE

Full screen mode

Description The Full Screen mode maximizes the Live Viewer application window and hides the task bar, the title bar and the application border. Type <F11> to activate or deactivate the Full Screen mode.

Show/hide the window panes

To further maximize the area used to display video:

To also hide the main menu when you switch to Full Screen mode, Select View > Hide menu in Full Screen before typing <F11>.

Type To

<F4> Hide or show the Tool pane.

<F6> Hide or show the Camera pane.

<F7> Hide or show the Analog monitor pane.

<F8> Hide or show the Message pane.

<F9> Hide or show the Main toolbar.

<F10> Hide or restore all Workspace elements that are currently shown.

GENETEC FULL SCREEN OPERATIONOMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE 3 BASIC OPERATIONS

Full screen video mode

Description The Full Screen Video mode is designed to emulate an analog monitor with the PC screen. It hides all workspace elements from view and leaves only the Viewing pane. Type <Shift>+<F11> to activate or deactivate the Full Screen Video mode.

The difference between Full Screen mode and Full Screen Video mode is that with Full Screen Video, the commands <F6> through <F10> are disabled.

Typing <F4> will show the Tool pane in a floating window.

Controlling the application

Although all menus and toolbars are hidden, all mouse and keyboard commands remain available. To show the standard Windows system commands, point the mouse cursor to the upper right corner of the screen.

Click to cancel the Full Screen Video mode.

Move the mouse cursor to the upper right corner of the screen to make the system buttons appear.

FULL SCREEN OPERATION GENETEC3 BASIC OPERATIONS OMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE

Using multiple screens

Introduction In a multi-display configuration (a PC connected to more than one monitor), the Live Viewer will create a distinct Viewing pane for each supported screen when the user switches to either one of the full screen modes.

In this case, each viewing pane is identified by a different monitor ID.

All viewer layouts configured for the user will be available in all viewing panes. When multiple layouts are defined, the Live Viewer will automatically select a different layout for each monitor. The guard tour can also run independently in each viewing pane.

Assigning PC displays to the Live Viewer

For the Live Viewer to automatically take control of the PC monitors when operating in full screen mode, the latter must be explicitly assigned to the Live Viewer. For instructions on how to set this up, read Selecting PC displays on page 137.

Video wall configuration

On a PC with multiple monitors attached, the Live Viewer can be configured to operate as a video wall. For instructions on how to set this up, read Video wall on page 137.


SECTION 4

ALARM MANAGEMENT

Instruction on how to handle alarms in the Live Viewer and how to trigger alarms

INTRODUCTION GENETEC4 ALARM MANAGEMENT OMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE

Introduction

What is an 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, watched 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. The latter can optionally be configured to sound an alert whenever a new alarm is received. Please read Alarm options on page 125.

What constitutes an alarm?

Alarms are defined by the Omnicast administrator using the Config Tool. Please refer to the section on alarm configuration in the Omnicast Administrator Guide.

An alarm is characterized by1 a name (which uniquely identifies this procedure)2 a priority (alarms with higher priority are displayed first)3 a list of visual elements to display in order to describe the situation4 a dwell time (how long each visual element should be displayed)5 a list of recipients who should receive the alarm6 a list of acceptable handling procedures

The alarm recipients can be notified all at once or one after another, following a preset sequence and time interval. In other words, you will not receive an alarm unless it is destined to you.

What triggers alarms? Alarms are triggered by specific events that occur in your system (motion detected, door bell rung, etc.). In this case, the triggering must be programmed by your system administrator and alarms are triggered automatically and sent to the predefined list of recipients.

Alarms can also be triggered manually by other security guards on the system, based on what they see on cameras. In this case, the person triggering the alarm can choose who to send the alarm to. For more information on this, please read Triggering new alarms on page 75.

How do I get notified? Every time you receive a new alarm, the alarm indicator in the Tile Configuration Panel will light up or a message will be displayed on screen. Depending on your Live Viewer configuration, you may even hear an audible alert. Please refer to Alarm notification on page 63 for a complete answer.

What are my options when I receive an

alarm?

When you receive an alarm, you can do any of the following:1 Acknowledge it (see Acknowledging an alarm on page 70)2 Put it to snooze (see Snooze on page 71)3 Forward it to someone else (see Forward on page 71)4 Pause it (see Pausing an alarm on page 72)5 View the alarm procedure (see View alarm procedure on page 73)

An alarm that has not yet been acknowledged is called an active alarm.


GENETEC RECEIVING ALARMSOMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE 4 ALARM MANAGEMENT

Receiving alarms

Alarm notification Whenever a new alarm is sent your way, the Live Viewer will notify you through one of the following methods:1 Sound an alert (if it is configured)2 Ring the Alarm bell (if the Application toolbar is shown)3 Display the alarm in the Alarm list (if the Message pane is shown)4 Display the alarm in the Armed tiles (if at least one tile is armed)5 Display a warning message in the center of the screen

(when all other notification methods failed)

Alarm bell The alarm bell is shown in the Tile Configuration Panel. It “rings” every time a new alarm is received. If there are armed tiles in the current layout to display the alarms, the bell will stop “ringing” after 5 seconds, otherwise it will continue to ring until the alarm is acknowledged or that a tile is armed.

The number of active alarms is indicated below the alarm bell. Click on the alarm bell to show the alarm list (same as pressing <F8>).

Alarm warning message

If both the toolbar and the message pane are hidden and no tile is armed when a new alarm arrives, a large warning message will be displayed in the center of the screen. The message will remain until another method for showing alarms is enabled.

Alarm bell will “ring” when new alarms are received.

Active alarm counter

RECEIVING ALARMS GENETEC4 ALARM MANAGEMENT OMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE

Armed tiles In order to view alarms, you need to have at least one armed tile in your Viewing pane. To arm a tile, click on the Arm tile button. The tile background color will change from grey to dark red (armed).

See also Alarm display tile on page 65.

Alarm list The alarm list is found in the Message pane (<F8>). It shows the past and present alarms received by the current user. The alarm list is constantly updated as alarms are received, forwarded, or acknowledged.

Each row in this list corresponds to one alarm instance. Each alarm instance is described by an alarm status (see table below), the alarm name, the alarm instance number, the alarm priority (with 1 being the highest), the time the alarm was triggered, the source of the alarm, and the event that triggered the alarm.

For a description of the action buttons found at the bottom of the alarm list, please refer to Alarm controls on page 65.

Click to arm or disarm

Unarmed tile (grey background) Armed tile (dark red background)

Icon Status

Active (has not yet been acknowledged).

Forwarded to another user. See Forward on page 71.

Snoozing. See Snooze on page 71.

Acknowledged (default). See Default acknowledgement on page 70.

Acknowledged (alternate). See Alternate acknowledgement on page 70.

Acknowledged (custom). See Custom acknowledgement on page 70.

GENETEC VIEWING ALARMSOMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE 4 ALARM MANAGEMENT

Viewing alarms

Alarm display tile

Description When there are active alarms in the system, they are automatically displayed in armed tiles. See Armed tiles on page 64.

When an active alarm is shown in an armed tile, the tile background and the toolbar colors change to bright red. The bottom toolbar shows the name and instance number of the alarm followed by the name and ID of the displayed camera.

Alarm controls You may find different alarm controls than the ones illustrated here. It all depends on how your Omnicast administrator has configured your PC. The following table gives you the complete list of the alarm controls that are available.

Tile ID

Border highlight

Alarm controls

Displayed element (live vide, playback or

still frames)

Click to switch to the controls pertaining to

the alarm element

Alarm name and instance # / Camera name (ID)

Toolbar extension

Bright red background means

active alarm

Click To (1 of 2)

Acknowledge (default form). See Default acknowledgement on page 70.

Acknowledge (alternate form). See Alternate acknowledgement on page 70.

Acknowledge (custom form). See Custom acknowledgement on page 70.

Snooze. See Snooze on page 71.

Forward the alarm. See Forward on page 71.

View alarm procedure. See View alarm procedure on page 73.

Show alarm history. See View alarm history on page 73.

View previous alarm element. This command is only available when the alarm is paused. See Pausing an alarm on page 72.


VIEWING ALARMS GENETEC4 ALARM MANAGEMENT OMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE

Controlling individual alarm elements

An alarm is displayed as a sequence of visual elements called alarm elements.

The source of each alarm element can be a camera or a camera sequence . When the source is a camera, the visual element can be a live video stream, a playback sequence, or a sequence of still frames produced by that camera.

All alarm elements are displayed sequentially for a same preset amount of time called the dwell time. See What constitutes an alarm? on page 62.

To gain control over the currently displayed alarm element, click on the icon shown to the left of the bottom toolbar. The alarm controls will be replaced by the controls pertaining to the currently displayed alarm element.

When the toolbar is showing the alarm element controls, it also shows the name of the source of the alarm element.

To switch back to alarm controls, click on the icon shown to the left of the bottom toolbar. See also Pausing an alarm on page 72.

View next alarm element. This command is only available when the alarm is paused. See Pausing an alarm on page 72.

Launch the Archive Player to view the alarm as it was first triggered. This command is only available from the Alarm list. A full description of this feature is found in Alarm playback on page 77.

Filter the alarm list by alarm status. See Alarm list on page 64.

Click To (2 of 2)

Tile ID

Border highlight

Alarm element controls

Displayed element (live video, playback

or still frames)

Click to switch back to alarm controls

Alarm element source name and ID

Toolbar extension

Bright red background means

active alarm



Alarm display modes

Introduction When there are many elements to display in an alarm, the display pattern depends on the number of armed tiles and the alarm display mode. Omnicast supports three distinct alarm display modes:

– Simple mode– Salvo mode (default)– Block mode

All three display modes share the following rules:– Only active alarms are displayed– Higher priority alarms are always displayed first

The alarm display mode is a characteristic of the user and is set in the Config Tool by the Omnicast administrator.

Please refer to user configuration in the Omnicast Administrator Guide for details.

Simple mode With the Simple mode, the Live Viewer tries to display as many alarm elements as possible, using the available armed tiles, and starting with the alarm with the highest priority.

Each armed tile will only show one alarm element. Therefore, if there are more alarm elements than there are armed tiles available, only the highest priority elements will be shown.

Only after a currently displayed alarm is acknowledged will the remaining alarms be able to take its place in the armed tiles.

Let us look at an example to better describe this mode.

Consider 3 consecutive alarms with 2 display elements each, and 3 armed tiles.• Tile-1 displays Alarm-1 / Element-1• Tile-2 displays Alarm-1 / Element-2• Tile-3 displays Alarm-2 / Element-1• Alarm-2 / Element-2 is not shown• Alarm-3 is not shown

When Alarm-1 is acknowledged, everything shifts up by 2 tiles, and we get:• Tile-1 displays Alarm-2 / Element-1• Tile-2 displays Alarm-2 / Element-2• Tile-3 displays Alarm-3 / Element-1• Alarm-3 / Element-2 is not shown

If an alarm has more elements to display than there are armed tiles available, the remaining elements will never be shown.

If a new alarm with a priority higher than all the current ones is triggered, the new alarm elements will be displayed in the first tiles of the list, and the rest will be shifted down.


VIEWING ALARMS GENETEC4 ALARM MANAGEMENT OMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE

Salvo mode The Salvo mode is similar to the Simple mode with regard to the use of the armed tiles. Both modes try to display all the elements of a given alarm simultaneously. But this is where the similarity ends.

The Salvo mode differs from the Simple mode in these two aspects:1 Only one alarm is displayed at a time, regardless of how many elements it has.2 All elements of a given alarm will take turn to be displayed.

The following example will illustrate how this mode works.

Consider 2 consecutive alarms with 5 display elements each and a dwell time of 5 seconds, and 3 armed tiles.• Tile-1 displays Alarm-1 / Element-1• Tile-2 displays Alarm-1 / Element-2• Tile-3 displays Alarm-1 / Element-3

After 5 seconds (the dwell time), the remaining 2 elements of Alarm-1 will be displayed.• Tile-1 displays Alarm-1 / Element-4• Tile-2 displays Alarm-1 / Element-5• Tile-3 displays whatever it was showing before the alarm occurred

After another 5 seconds, Alarm-2 will be displayed, following the same display pattern as Alarm-1.

After all Alarm-2 elements have been displayed once (i.e. after 2 x 5 seconds), if the active alarms haven’t changed, Alarm-1 will be displayed again, and the cycle continues.

When there are more alarm elements to display than there are armed tiles available, the display will occur in batches, starting with the elements at the top of the list. Each batch of alarm elements will be displayed for the duration specified by the dwell time until all elements have been displayed once before the cycle repeats.

A 5-element alarm with a dwell time of 5 seconds will take 15 seconds to be displayed completely on two armed tiles, but will take only 5 seconds on five tiles.

If there is more than one alarm in the queue, the display will cycle through all of them, up to the Maximum displayed alarms, which is another user characteristic, following the order of the alarms in the queue.

If a higher priority alarm is triggered while a lower priority alarm is being displayed, the display will immediately switch to the higher priority alarm. After all the elements of the new alarm have been displayed once, the display will resume with the next alarm in the queue, following the order of the alarms in the queue.

Block mode With the Block mode, all elements of a same alarm are displayed sequentially on a single armed tile. Each element will be displayed for the amount of time specified by the dwell time. Therefore, a 5-element alarm with a dwell time of 5 seconds will take 25 seconds to display, regardless of the number of armed tiles available.

If there is more than one alarm in the queue, the Live Viewer can display simultaneously as many alarms as there are armed tiles available, up to the Maximum displayed alarms configured for the logged on user.

The higher priority alarms will be shown in the tiles with the lower tile IDs.



If there are more alarms to display simultaneously than there are armed tiles available, then the last armed tile (the one with the highest tile ID) will be used to cycle through the remainder alarms.

Let us consider an example to better describe this mode.

Consider 4 consecutive alarms with 3 display elements each, and 3 armed tiles.• Tile-1 displays Alarm-1, cycling through all its display elements• Tile-2 displays Alarm-2, cycling through all its display elements• Tile-3 displays Alarm-3 and 4, cycling through all their display elements

If a 5th alarm with a priority higher than the rest is triggered:• Tile-1 displays Alarm-5, cycling through all its display elements• Tile-2 displays Alarm-1, cycling through all its display elements• Tile-3 displays Alarm-2, 3 and 4, cycling through all their display elements

If Alarm-1 is acknowledged, Alarm-2 will take its place in Tile-2:• Tile-1 displays Alarm-5, cycling through all its display elements• Tile-2 displays Alarm-2, cycling through all its display elements• Tile-3 displays Alarm-3 and 4, cycling through all their display elements

NOTE When there is only one armed tile available, Salvo and Block modes become identical.


HANDLING ALARMS GENETEC4 ALARM MANAGEMENT OMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE

Handling alarms

Acknowledging an alarm

Introduction To acknowledge an alarm is to respond to an alarm. It tells the other users on the system that the alarm has been taken care of. Therefore, the moment an alarm is acknowledged, it becomes inactive and is removed from all displays, except when it is paused (see Pausing an alarm on page 72).

If something else was displayed in the tile before the alarm took its place, once the alarm is acknowledged, that entity will be shown again. To learn more about this behavior, please read Display management on page 114.

Alarms can be acknowledged from the alarm tile or from the alarm list. See Alarm display tile on page 65.

Omnicast provides three variants of alarm acknowledgement to cover all types of situations:

Default acknowledgement Alternate acknowledgement Custom acknowledgement

Default acknowledgement

This is the most common form of alarm acknowledgement and the only form available in Omnicast version 3.5 and earlier. This action generates two alarm events:• Alarm acknowledged

• Alarm acknowledged (Default).

Alternate acknowledgement

The second form of alarm acknowledgement is very similar to the first. The difference is found in the alarm events it generates:• Alarm acknowledged

• Alarm acknowledged (Alternate)

The alternate form of acknowledgement is often used together with the default form to provide two opposite responses to a same triggering event; for example, to open or not to open a door when someone rings the bell.

Custom acknowledgement

The custom acknowledgement is designed to handle alarms that require multiple choice responses. This action generates the alarm event Alarm acknowledged plus an extra custom event that the user must choose when acknowledging the alarm.

NOTE Each company can decide on the meaning they want to associate to each type of alarm acknowledgement. Please ask your Omnicast administrator to find out about your company’s policy. See also View alarm procedure on page 73.


GENETEC HANDLING ALARMSOMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE 4 ALARM MANAGEMENT

Other handling options

Forward If you feel that another person should handle a particular alarm instead of you, you can forward it to that person. To forward an alarm:1 Click on in the alarm toolbar. The Forward alarm dialog appears:

2 Select the recipient from the drop-down list you wish to forward the alarm to. The alarm recipient may be a user or a group of users.

3 Click on in the Forward alarm dialog box to send.

Once forwarded, the alarm will no longer be displayed in your Live Viewer, but it will remain in the alarm list.

Auto forward If you need to leave your post for a while, you can forward all future alarms to another user or group of users. To achieve this, do as follows.1 Select Tools > Alarm > Auto Forward... from the main menu. The Auto forward alarms

dialog box appears:

2 Select the recipient from the drop-down list that you wish to forward all future alarms to. The recipient can be a user or a user group.

3 Click on in the Auto forward dialog box to turn this feature on.

Only future alarms will be forwarded to the selected recipient(s). The alarms that you have already received will remain under your care.

To turn the auto-forward feature off, choose None as the recipient.

Snooze When you do not wish to deal with an alarm immediately, you can silence it for a short period of time by asking it to snooze. To do this, click on in the alarm toolbar to make it snooze for 30 seconds.

After the snooze, the alarm will be reactivated, and you will get the same notification as when it was first triggered. See Receiving alarms on page 63.



The duration of the snooze can be changed from the Live Viewer’s Options dialog. See Alarm options on page 125.

Pausing an alarm Pausing an alarm means to pause the automatic cycling of the alarm element display. It allows you to examine the individual alarm elements at your own pace.

To pause an alarm, you must either disarm the tile where it is being displayed by clicking on the Disarm tile button found in the tile controls, or drag-and-drop the alarm to an unarmed tile. When you pause an alarm two new buttons will appear in the alarm toolbar:

Use the and buttons to move between the alarm elements..

NOTE Paused alarms remain in their viewing tiles even when the alarm is acknowledged.

Tile ID

Border highlight

Alarm controls

Displayed element (live video, playback

or still frames)

Click to switch to the controls pertaining to

the alarm element

Alarm name # / Camera name (ID)

New buttons added

Grey background means paused alarm


GENETEC HANDLING ALARMSOMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE 4 ALARM MANAGEMENT

View alarm procedure The alarm procedure is an optional feature that can be customized. Depending on your company’s needs, the procedure can simply display the proper alarm escalation procedure, prompt the user for a comment, or run a sophisticated program. The Omnicast administrator can assign a different procedure to every alarm or none at all. Click on the button to view the alarm procedure.

The above example shows a three-step escalation procedure with an Add Comment button. If associated to the proper Omnicast SDK function, the added comment will appear in the alarm history (see View alarm history on page 73). Your company’s alarm procedure may look very different from this example.

View alarm history Omnicast keeps the history of all actions taken on an alarm, from the time it is created to its acknowledgement. Click on the button to view the alarm history.

The meaning of the action icons are described below.

Icon Action that took place (1 of 2)

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.



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

View alarms on analog monitors

Analog monitors can also be used to display alarms. The way this is done is to assign an analog monitor to a monitor group. Assigning an analog monitor to a monitor group can be compared to arming a tile. See Armed tiles on page 64.

When an alarm is displayed on a monitor group, all monitors belonging to that group become locked. A monitor locked for alarm display is shown as in the analog monitor pane.

Selecting a locked monitor or the displayed alarm element will show the alarm toolbar at the bottom of the analog monitor pane. The alarm name and instance number are also indicated. Please refer to Alarm controls on page 65 for a description of the commands.

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

Comment added. The comment is indicated in the Description field.Note that a comment can only be added through an alarm procedure.See View alarm procedure on page 73.

Acknowledged (default).

Acknowledged (alternate).

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

Icon Action that took place (2 of 2)


GENETEC TRIGGERING NEW ALARMSOMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE 4 ALARM MANAGEMENT

Triggering new alarms

Introduction Any Live Viewer user can trigger alarms when it is needed. There are two types of alarms in Omnicast:• Predefined alarms• Contextual alarms

Predefined alarms

Definition Predefined alarms are alarms defined by the Omnicast administrator.See What constitutes an alarm? on page 62.

Trigger predefined alarms

To trigger a predefined alarm, do as follows.1 Select Tools > Alarm > Trigger Alarm... from the main menu. The Trigger alarm dialog

box appears:

2 Select the alarm(s) you wish to trigger. You may select more than one alarm.3 Enter a description if necessary. The description is optional. If it is entered, it will

appear in brackets after the alarm name. The description can also be used for alarm search with the Archive Player.

4 Click on OK to trigger the alarm(s). The alarm will be automatically sent to all the recipients defined in the recipient list. The displayed elements will appear as defined by the administrator.


TRIGGERING NEW ALARMS GENETEC4 ALARM MANAGEMENT OMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE

Contextual alarms

Definition Contextual alarms are in every way similar to predefined alarms, except that the alarm elements to display and the alarm recipients are only defined at the time the alarm is triggered. The other characteristics such as priority and dwell time are fixed by the administrator. Contextual alarms are used to report ad hoc situations as they occur.

Trigger contextual alarm

To trigger a contextual alarm:1 Right-click on the viewing tile where you observed the alarm situation and select

the Trigger alarm... command. The Contextual alarm dialog appears:

2 Select the recipient(s) you wish to send the alarm to. You may select more than one.

3 Enter a description. Unlike predefined alarms, contextual alarms do not have specific names. For this reason, we strongly suggest to enter a short description that would explain why the alarm was triggered.

4 Click on OK to trigger the alarm(s). The alarm will be sent to all selected recipients at the same time. The only element displayed for the alarm will be the live video from the camera where the contextual alarm was issued.


GENETEC ALARM PLAYBACKOMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE 4 ALARM MANAGEMENT

Alarm playback

Description Alarm playback is a feature that requires the Archive Player. Therefore, it is only available if the latter is installed on the same PC as the Live Viewer.

The purpose is to replay the videos (alarm elements) associated to a past alarm as they were shown in the Live Viewer at the time the alarm was triggered.

This feature applies to past alarms (those that have been acknowledged) as well as alarms that are still active.

Replay a past alarm To replay a past alarm, select the alarm you wish to review from the alarm list and click on . The Archive Player will be launched.

• Every alarm element is reproduced in a separate playback tile in the Archive Player, using as many tiles as necessary. The display is similar to the Salvo mode used in the Live Viewer.

• 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.

To learn more about alarm playback, please read about Alarm Search in the Omnicast Archive Player User Guide.

All alarm elements are reproduced in the

Playback pane

Selected alarm for playback

Playback controls

Camera sequence cannot be played back


ALARM PLAYBACK GENETEC4 ALARM MANAGEMENT OMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE


SECTION 5

ADVANCED FEATURES

Instruction on how to use the advanced features and how to customize the Live Viewer

ADVANCED DOME CONTROLS GENETEC5 ADVANCED FEATURES OMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE

Advanced dome controls

PTZ commands

Description The following describes the advanced dome controls. Not all models of dome cameras support these features. If your camera model does not support a specific feature, the corresponding command button will be disabled.

On-screen menu You must have Use specific commands privilege to access the on-screen menu.

To access the on-screen menu commands, select the tab under Camera controls. The appearance of the command buttons in the Tool pane will change. See above illustration. While in this mode, use the arrow buttons to navigate through the menu and the OK button to select.

To return to the PTZ commands, select the tab. See Using the PTZ controls on page 43.

Select this to activate the On-screen menu

Click the arrows to navigate

through the menu

These tabs appear only in Advanced mode

PresetsAdjust focus

and iris

Click OK to select menu

items

Lock PTZ

PTZ status display

Specific commands

Modify preset

Record pattern

Auxiliary switches


GENETEC ADVANCED DOME CONTROLSOMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE 5 ADVANCED FEATURES

Specific commands You must have the Use specific commands privilege to access this feature.To execute a specific command, do as follows.1 Click on the button. The following dialog box appears:

The actual commands shown in the list will depend on the model of your dome camera.2 Select a command from the list.3 Click on Execute command.

You may repeat steps 2 and 3 as many times as necessary.4 Click on Close when you have finished.

Modify preset You must have the Use presets privilege to go to a preset and the Edit presets privilege to make changes to presets.

To turn the selected camera to a preset position, select one of the numbered (0 to 7) preset buttons, or select a preset from the preset list and click on Go to .

To change a preset position, select the preset number from the preset list, turn the camera to the new position with the PTZ controls, and click on Set .

To rename a preset, select a preset from the preset list, hold the Set button for 2 seconds, then enter the new preset name in the edit box that appears then click OK. This operation also assigns the current camera position to the preset.

Record pattern You must have the Use patterns privilege to run the patterns and the Edit patterns privilege to record new patterns.

To run a pattern on the selected camera, select a pattern from the pattern list and click on Play .


ADVANCED DOME CONTROLS GENETEC5 ADVANCED FEATURES OMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE

To record a new pattern, select the pattern number from the pattern list, and click on Record . The green LED will turn on. Use the PTZ controls to make the pattern and click on the same button again to stop the recording.

NOTE You can only record PTZ patterns for some Axis cameras using the camera’s own Web page. See the Appendix D: PTZ Patterns for Select Axis Cameras in the Administrator Guide.

To rename a pattern, select a pattern from the pattern list, hold the Record button for 2 seconds, then enter the new pattern name in the edit box that appears and click OK.

Auxiliary switches You must have the Use auxiliaries privilege to use the auxiliary switches.

To turn an auxiliary switch on, select the auxiliary from the auxiliary list and click on Set .

To turn an auxiliary switch off, select the auxiliary from the auxiliary list and click on Clear . The green LED will turn on. Use the PTZ controls to make the pattern and click on the same button again to stop the recording.

Note that auxiliary switches can only be renamed from the Config Tool.

PTZ locking

Lock PTZ Locking the PTZ allows you to have exclusive control over the PTZ of the selected camera. You must have the Lock PTZ privilege to perform this operation.

Click on to lock the PTZ. When the PTZ is locked by someone, the green LED beside the lock button will light up and the name of the user who placed the lock will be indicated in the status display panel with the application used. See the sample screenshot in the following section: Description on page 80.

Unlock PTZ Click on to unlock the PTZ. When the PTZ is locked by another user, trying to unlock it will display a message box showing who is currently holding the lock. You can only override the lock if you have the Override PTZ locks privilege, and a higher PTZ priority than the person holding the lock.

If you click the PTZ controls while someone else has a lock on them, a PTZ locked event will be issued by the system. If the Event list is displayed in the Live Viewer, the event description will show the machine, the application and the user who is currently holding the lock.

For additional information on PTZ locking, please refer to the topic on PTZ priority in the Omnicast Administrator Guide.


GENETEC CAMERA BLOCKINGOMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE 5 ADVANCED FEATURES

Camera blocking

Feature presentation

Description Camera blocking is a 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.

This feature is enabled by the Block camera option in your Omnicast license.

How it works Camera blocking is based on a user attribute called the viewing priority. The viewing priority is defined on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the highest priority, and 10 the lowest.

Only users with the Block camera privilege can access this feature. When a camera is blocked, a blocking level is assigned to the camera. All users with a viewing priority equal or lower than the blocking level will be denied the right to view live video from that camera.

A denied video connection is shown as a black screen with the word BLOCKED displayed in the middle of the tile.

If a camera is blocked to a user while a video connection is already established by this user, the connection will be instantly cut off.


CAMERA BLOCKING GENETEC5 ADVANCED FEATURES OMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE

Blocking cameras

Accessing the dialog Camera blocking is done through the Block cameras dialog box. This dialog box can be accessed from either the Tools menu or the Tile contextual menu.

Dialog description The camera list on the left shows all the cameras with their respective blocking status. The crossed out camera icon indicates a currently blocked camera. The number following the camera name indicates the blocking level. Select a blocked camera to see who is blocking it.

Users who are currently viewing this camera are shown on the right. Users whose viewing right has been denied are shown by a crossed out user icon . The number to the right of the user name indicates his current viewing priority. Video connections which have been denied are also shown with a crossed out icon.

Select Show all users to list all users in the system with their viewing status and priority in regard to the selected camera.

A Virtual Matrix icon will appear in the place of a user icon in the Users list if a video connection is requested by a Virtual Matrix as in the case of a camera sequence. See What is a camera sequence? on page 49.


GENETEC CAMERA BLOCKINGOMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE 5 ADVANCED FEATURES

Camera blocking rules

Rule #1 A user may only block a camera at a level lower than his own viewing priority. This means that users with a viewing priority equal to 10 cannot block anyone, and users with a viewing priority equal to 1 cannot be blocked by anyone.

Rule #2 A user may not unblock or lower the blocking level of a camera that is blocked at a level equal or higher than his viewing priority. However, this does not preclude the user from checking who is blocking a camera if the user has the Block camera privilege.

Rule #3 A user with a viewing priority higher than the blocking level of a camera may unblock the camera or change its blocking level. To change the blocking level, it is not necessary to unblock the camera first. Simply enter the new blocking level and click on the Block button.

Rule #4 When a user requests a video connection with a camera, the viewing priority of the user at the moment the request is made is attributed to the connection. Changing the viewing priority of the user after the connection is established will not change the viewing priority of that connection.

Therefore, a user will continue to view a camera if the user's viewing priority is lowered below the blocking level after the camera has been blocked.

Conversely, a camera will remain blocked to a user if the user's viewing priority is raised above the blocking level after the camera has been blocked.


CAMERA BLOCKING GENETEC5 ADVANCED FEATURES OMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE


GENETEC EVENT MONITORINGOMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE 5 ADVANCED FEATURES

Event monitoring

Introduction The Live Viewer allows you to monitor the system events as they occur by displaying them chronologically in an event list.

Event list The events are listed in the Events tab found in the Message pane (bottom of the screen). It is only available under the Advanced mode.• If you do not see the Message pane, type <F8>.• If you do not see the Events tab, type <Shift>+<F10>.• Select the Events tab to view the event list.

Each event in the list is described by the following fields:

Using the event list

Viewing the video associated to a camera

event

If an event is associated to a camera , you can easily view what is happening on that camera by double-clicking on the event item in the list.

If the camera is already shown in a tile, it will be highlighted in yellow.

If the camera is not currently displayed, it will be displayed in a free tile.

If there is no free tile in the current layout, the oldest camera in the layout (the one that has been displayed in the layout for the longest time) will be replaced by the camera you just selected.

Field Meaning

Source The entity (indicated by an icon and a name) that issued the event.

Date The date and time at which the event occurred.

Type The type of event. For the complete coverage of all the event types, please refer to the topic on Event Handling in the Omnicast Administrator Guide.

Description The description gives additional information that further describe the event. For example, for the event type User logon, the description “dtsiang1 – Config Tool: Admin” indicates the PC name, the application the user has logged in to, and the user name.

EVENT MONITORING GENETEC5 ADVANCED FEATURES OMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE

Event filter The Live Viewer allows you to choose what types of events to display.

To change the event display options, do as follows.1 Click on at the bottom of the list. The Events dialog box will appear.

2 Select the option Show selected items only. All items in the list will be available for selection.

3 Select all event types you wish to display. Click on to select all or to clear all selections.

4 Click on OK to save your changes.

Clearing the event list Click on to clear the event list.


GENETEC INSTANT REPLAYOMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE 5 ADVANCED FEATURES

Instant replay

The instant replay allows you to replay the last few minutes (or seconds) of any live video you are currently viewing (as long as the system was archiving the video stream for which you are requesting the playback). Refer to Archiving Management in the Omnicast Administrator Guide.

This feature is only available if you have Do instant replay privilege and if you are operating under Advanced mode.

Launching instant replay

To launch the instant replay of the selected live video stream, select Instant replay from the Tool pane, or Type <Ctrl>+.

If the video archive exists, the playback will start 15 seconds before the current time. The time to rewind before the playback can be changed by the administrator. See General options on page 119.

NOTE If the selected camera is from an active alarm, then the alarm triggering time will be used as reference instead of the current time, to calculate when the playback should start.

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. The initial timeline duration of the loaded sequence is 5 minutes. This parameter can

Reload instant replay

Close sequence

Playback sequence


Timeline

Launch Archive Player

Playback commands

Status panel

INSTANT REPLAY GENETEC5 ADVANCED FEATURES OMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE

also be modified by the administrator. See General options on page 119. Once the sequence is loaded, the user can shorten or expand the timeline by clicking on the Zoom in and Zoom out buttons.

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.

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.

Playback cursor Bookmark text Motion indicator Zoom in

Currently displayed bookmark Other bookmarks Zoom out

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.

Playback cursor Time range markers



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.

Playback commands

Description The playback commands found in the Instant replay tab are identical to those found in the Archive Player.

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.

NOTE The time of the current video frame is indicated either as an absolute time stamp or as a time difference between now and the time the video was recorded. Click on the time to toggle between the two display modes.

Controlling the playback

The following commands pertain to playback control.

Reset markersTime range markers

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.



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.

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.

Command Function

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.

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



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 129.

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.



Other commands

Description The following controls are specific to the Instant Replay window.

Export current sequence

Export the current playback sequence. Please refer to Archive Export in the Omnicast Archive Player User Guide for in-depth coverage of this feature.

TIP The time range markers can also be used to delimit the video sequence to export. See Time range markers on page 90.

Command Function

Icon Meaning Click action

Reload instant replay Reload the instant replay with the video coming from the camera displayed in the selected tile. The playback will start n seconds before the current time. See General options on page 119.

Launch Archive Player

Launch the Archive Player with the current playback sequence.

Close sequence Close the current sequence.


GENETEC LOCAL RECORDINGOMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE 5 ADVANCED FEATURES

Local recording

Purpose The purpose of the local recording is to allow the user to save a local copy of the live video as it appears in the Live Viewer.

To have access to this feature, the Local recording option must be enabled in your Omnicast license key and you must have the Local recording privilege.

Scope of local recording

Local recording is a property associated to a tile ID, meaning that if this feature is turned on for a given tile, it remains on for that tile regardless of the viewer layout being used. This means that local recording will not be interrupted by the guard tour.

When local recording is on, the tile ID and the entity description are displayed in red.

Only the live video and only what is visible is recorded. If a camera is blocked, no video will be recorded. If the live video is part of a camera sequence or alarm, it will be recorded as is, in the same display sequence shown in the tile. If an alarm includes playback sequences or still frames, they will not be recorded.

Local recording is deactivated when the user turns it off manually or when the user disconnects from the Directory. The Live Viewer does not memorize the local recording state of each tile from session to session.

Using local recording

Start/stop local recording

To start or stop local recording on the selected tile, type <Ctrl>+<L>.

To start or stop local recording on all 16 tiles at once, type <Ctrl>+<T>.

LOCAL RECORDING GENETEC5 ADVANCED FEATURES OMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE

Limitations Because local recording is carried out by the Live Viewer instead of the Archiver, the following limitations apply:• You will not be able to query the local recordings with the Archive Player. You may

only play the video files from its File Browser. Please refer to File Browser in the Omnicast Archive Player User Guide.

• Local recordings cannot be encrypted.• Audio recording is not supported.• Local recording is prohibited if either an Archiver or an Auxiliary Archiver is

currently running on the same machine. This is to prevent conflicting disk space requirements between the Live Viewer and the archiving service.

• When disk space is low, the Live Viewer will not try to make space by deleting older video files. When there is not enough free space on disk, the recording will stop without warning.

Configuring local recording

Local recording is configured from the Live Viewer's Options dialog. You must specify the Directory where the video files should be created, the maximum size of a video file and the minimum free space to leave on your local hard disk. See Local recording options on page 139.

If local recording has never been configured before, the video files will be saved in the folder where the Live Viewer is installed.


GENETEC KEYBOARD COMMANDSOMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE 5 ADVANCED FEATURES

Keyboard Commands

With the Live Viewer application, the PC keyboard can be turned into a powerful tool, surpassing the CCTV keyboard in functionality and ease of use.

Controlling the viewing pane

Controlling the layouts

The following keyboard commands pertain to the control of the viewer layouts.

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>+<Page Up> Switch to previous layout within the current Viewing pane.

<Ctrl>+<Page Down> Switch to next layout within the current Viewing pane.

<Ctrl>+<-> Switch to previous tile pattern within the current layout.

<Ctrl>+<+> Switch to next tile pattern within the current layout.

<Ctrl>+<T> Start/stop local recording on all tiles (including the hidden ones). See Local recording on page 95.

<T> Start/stop guard tour.

<Ctrl>+<Backspace> Remove all currently displayed entities from the current viewer layout.

KEYBOARD COMMANDS GENETEC5 ADVANCED FEATURES OMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE

Tile configuration panel

All entities (cameras, camera sequences, tiles, layouts, monitors, etc.) are referenced via a unique ID called logical ID. Commands that apply to specific entities are entered after the entity ID.

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

The digits displayed in the middle of the Tile configuration panel is the ID that will be used by the next keyboard command. Note that the keypad Num Lock must be on for the following commands.

Selecting cameras and tiles by IDs

In the following table:• The keystrokes <99999> represents a sequence of 1 to 5 digits.• The sequence <Key1><Key2> means the two keys must be typed one after another.• The sequence <Key1>+<Key2> means that two <Key2> must be pressed while holding

<Key1>.• The keys <.>, </>, <*>, <+>, and <-> must be entered from the numeric keypad.

<F11> Enable/disable Full screen mode.

<Shift>+<F11> Enable/disable Full screen video mode.

Type To

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

Currently selected monitor, tile and

camera IDs

Type To

<99999><.> Select monitor or tile <99999>. » Note that a monitor is either an analog monitor or

a PC monitor (Viewing pane) controlled by the Live Viewer. Analog monitors and PC monitors share the same pool of logical IDs. A remote Live Viewer monitor can also be selected, providing remote access has been granted for that monitor. For more information about remote access, see Remote access options on page 141.

» In a multi-display configuration, the Live Viewer controls two or more Viewing panes in the Full Screen mode, each using a different monitor ID.

» IDs greater than 32 are reserved for monitors. » IDs between 1 and 16 are reserved for tiles within

the current monitor. » IDs between 17 and 32 are not used. » The current monitor, tile and camera selections are

indicated in the Tile configuration panel.

Controlling the selected entity

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

<99999><Enter> Select camera or layout <99999>. » Cameras and layouts share the same pool of logical

IDs. » If a camera is selected, it will be displayed in the

current tile selection. » If no tile is selected, the camera will be displayed in

the first free tile of the layout.

<99999><Ctrl>+<Enter> Select camera sequence <99999>.

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

<0><.> Clear the tile selection (so no tile is selected).

Type To

Type To

<A> Arm or disarm. See Armed tiles on page 64.

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

<Shift>+<E> Expand tile and switch to Full Screen Video mode, or restore to original and return to normal mode.See Full screen video mode on page 59.

<Backspace> Remove the displayed top level entity.

<Ctrl>+<L> Start or stop local recording.See Local recording on page 95.

<Ctrl>+<Space> Acknowledge alarm (default). Equivalent to .

<F> Forward alarm. Equivalent to .

<S> Snooze. Equivalent to .

 Show alarm procedure. Equivalent to .

 Add a bookmark. Equivalent to .

<R> Start or stop manual recording.See Record button on page 40.

<,> Push-to-talk. Equivalent to .

<.> Start or stop listening. Equivalent to .

<Ctrl>+<Shift>+<A> Trigger contextual alarm. Equivalent to .See Contextual alarms on page 76.

<Ctrl>+<Up arrow> Start or stop camera sequence.See Controlling the camera sequence on page 49.

<Ctrl>+<Right arrow> Show next camera in camera sequence.

<Ctrl>+<Left arrow> Show previous camera in camera sequence.

Special Controls

Opening dialogs The following keystrokes open frequently used dialog boxes.

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

PTZ or Digital Zoom commands

The following keystrokes can be used to control either the PTZ or the Digital Zoom depending on where the current focus is.

Type To

<Ctrl>+<A> Open the Trigger alarm dialog.See Trigger predefined alarms on page 75.

<Ctrl>+<M> Open the Execute a macro dialog.See Executing macros on page 103.

<Ctrl>+<O> Open the Options dialog.See Options dialog box on page 117.

Type To

<Ctrl>+ Switch focus to the PTZ controls.See Using the PTZ controls on page 43.

<Ctrl>+<D> Switch focus to the Digital Zoom controls.See Using the digital zoom controls on page 46.

<Ctrl>+ Switch focus to the Instant Replay controls.See Launching instant replay on page 89.

<Ctrl>+<C> Switch focus to the Camera pane.

<Space> Display the currently selected entity when the focus is on the Camera pane, the Alarm list, or the Event list.

Type To


<Shift>+<Right arrow> Pan right.

To resolve any ambiguity, the following rules are applied:• If the control focus is already on Digital Zoom, then the command will be applied

to the Digital Zoom. • If the control focus is not on the Digital Zoom, then the command will be applied

to the PTZ if the selected camera supports it. • If the selected camera does not support PTZ, then focus will automatically switch

to the Digital Zoom and the command will be applied to it. • If the selected tile is not associated to a camera, then the command will be ignored.

Advanced PTZ controls

The following keystrokes correspond to advanced PTZ controls. Please refer to Advanced dome controls on page 80 to learn more about these commands.

Instant replay controls The following keystrokes allow you to control the Instant replay.

Type To

<Shift>+<-> Decrease PTZ speed.

<Shift>+<+> Increase PTZ speed.

<99999><Shift>+<Insert> Go to preset <99999>.

<99999><Ctrl>+<Insert> Set preset <99999>.

<99999><Ctrl>+<Shift>+<Insert> Clear preset <99999>.

<99999><Shift>+<Home> Run pattern <99999>.

<99999><Ctrl>+<Home> Start or stop recording pattern <99999>.

<99999><Ctrl>+<Shift>+<Home> Clear pattern <99999>.

<99999><Shift>+<Page up> Set auxiliary <99999>.

<99999><Ctrl>+<Shift>+<Page up> Clear auxiliary <99999>.

<Shift>+<Delete> Open iris.

<Ctrl>+<Delete> Close iris.

<Shift>+<End> Focus near.

<Ctrl>+<End> Focus far.

<Shift>+<Page down> Menu - Activate / deactivate.

<Shift>+<Enter> Menu - OK.

<Shift>+<Up arrow> Menu - Up.

<shift>+<Down arrow> Menu - Down.

<Shift>+<Left arrow> Menu - Left.

<shift>+<Right arrow> Menu - Right.

Type To

<G> Play / pause.

<H> Previous key frame.

Macros The following keystrokes are related to macro executions.

<J> Next frame.

<K> Rewind.

<L> Fast forward.

<Shift>+<+> Play faster.

<Shift>+<-> Play slower.

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

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

Type To

Type To

<Ctrl>+<Fn> Launch hot macro (1 through 12)

<Ctrl>+<M> Open the Execute a macro dialog.See Executing macros on page 103.

GENETEC USING MACROSOMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE 5 ADVANCED FEATURES

Using macros

What is a macro? A macro is 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.

You need the Execute macros privilege to execute macros from the Live Viewer.

Executing macros To execute a macro:1 Select Tools > Macro > Execute Macro... from the main menu

or type <Ctrl>+<M> from the keyboard. The Execute a macro dialog appears:

2 Select the macro you wish to execute from the entity tree. You may select more than one macro. It is the same procedure if you want to execute Virtual Matrix plugins.

3 Select the Virtual Matrix that should execute the macro. Both macros and VM plugins must be executed by Virtual Matrices. If you do not specify a Virtual Matrix, the macro will be executed by the first Virtual Matrix found in the system.

4 Click OK.

To learn more about writing macros, please read the Omnicast Administrator Guide.

To learn more about plugins, please read the Omnicast Administrator Guide and the individual plugin guides; see Plugin manuals on page 14.

USING MACROS GENETEC5 ADVANCED FEATURES OMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE

Using hot macros

What are hot macros? Hot macros are macros that are mapped to the PC keyboard’s function keys so they can be quickly executed from the Live Viewer by typing <Ctrl>+<Fn>, where <Fn> is the function key mapped to the macro.

Configuring hot macros

The “macro to function key” mapping is specific to each user. It is typically configured by the Omnicast administrator from the Config Tool. Users with the Change macro hot keys privilege can also change the mapping themselves. To do this:

1 Select Tools > Macro > Hot Macros... from the main menu. The Hot macros dialog appears.

The current hot macro list is listed. The number preceding the macro name correspond to the number of the function key. You may execute the selected macro at any time by clicking on the Execute macro button.2 Click on to switch to the Edit mode. The look of the dialog box changes to the

following:

GENETEC USING MACROSOMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE 5 ADVANCED FEATURES

3 Use the and buttons to change the content of the list. Both macros and VM plugins can be mapped to function keys.

4 Use the and buttons to change the order of the macros in the list.5 Click on to exit the Edit mode.


USING MACROS GENETEC5 ADVANCED FEATURES OMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE


GENETEC USING PLUGINSOMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE 5 ADVANCED FEATURES

Using plugins

What is a plugin? A plugin is 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.

Plugin types In Omnicast, the plugins are grouped under three families, depending on the application they seek to augment:

Note The Web version of the Live Viewer does not support client plugins.

Remote Live Viewer plugin

Introduction The Remote Live Viewer plugin is a LV plugin that allows you to control remote monitors from your Live Viewer workstation. A "monitor" in Omnicast is either an analog monitor or a PC monitor controlled via a Live Viewer application.

Remote Live Viewer plugins may or may not be available on your Live Viewer depending on whether they were configured.

Your administrator determines whether you can control all monitors on the Omnicast system, in which case you can switch between them in the plugin, or can only control a specific monitor.

For configuration information on the Remote Live Viewer, refer to Config Tool > Plugins > Remote Live Viewer in the Omnicast Administrator Guide.

Icon Definition

Live Viewer plugin or LV plugin.

These are plugins designed to provide special abilities to the Live Viewer.

LV plugins are represented in the Camera pane and can be displayed in a tile just like cameras .

Metadata Engine plugin or ME plugin.

These are plugins designed to be executed by the Metadata Engine. Their purpose is to gather additional information related to the video, called metadata.

ME plugins are not directly visible in the Live Viewer, but sometimes, they create metadata that can be displayed as overlays over the video. You can control the display of these overlays through the tile contextual menu. See Selecting the metadata overlays on page 47.

Virtual Matrix plugin or VM plugin.

This type of plugin must be executed by the Virtual Matrix and can perform a wide array of functions.

Some VM plugins can be executed just like a macro from the Live Viewer. Please read about Using macros on page 103.


USING PLUGINS GENETEC5 ADVANCED FEATURES OMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE

Using the Remote Live Viewer plugin

You use the Remote Live Viewer plugin by dragging an instance of the plugin from the Camera pane onto a tile. There are no tile toolbars in the plugin representation of the remote Live Viewer. Limited functions are provided through a plugin toolbar.

To use the Remote Live Viewer plugin, do the following:1 Drag a Remote Live Viewer plugin from the Camera pane onto a tile. Depending

on how the plugin is configured, it opens up in floating window, in a tile, or full screen.

2 If necessary, select the remote monitor to control from the Monitor drop-down list.

If the Remote Live Viewer is configured to control only a specific monitor, the Monitor drop-down list is locked and displays the monitor the plugin controls.3 Drag cameras or camera sequences onto the tiles of the Remote Live Viewer. The

video is displayed in the Remote Live Viewer and in the corresponding tile of the monitor it controls.

4 Do one of the following:– Change the pattern of the remote Live Viewer you are controlling by clicking

the Pattern button in the plugin’s toolbar and selecting a new one.– Remove the content of a tile on the remote Live Viewer you are controlling by

selecting a tile, then clicking the Remove button in the plugin’s toolbar.– Switch to Full Screen Video mode on both your workstation and the remote

Live Viewer you are controlling by clicking the Full screen button in the plugin’s toolbar.

– Force a reconnection of the remote Live Viewer by clicking the Full screen button. This is necessary when you change the privileges and permissions of the user connected to the remote Live Viewer. A reconnection is necessary to reload the new credentials of the connected user.

Plugin toolbar Remote monitor the plugin controls


GENETEC USING PLUGINSOMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE 5 ADVANCED FEATURES

All of the above changes are reflected both locally in the Remote Live Viewer plugin, and the remote Live Viewer the plugin is controlling.

NOTE The above functions are disabled if the remote monitor is an analog monitor.


USING PLUGINS GENETEC5 ADVANCED FEATURES OMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE


GENETEC VIEWER LAYOUTSOMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE 5 ADVANCED FEATURES

Viewer layouts

Terminology

Viewing pane The Viewing pane is the area in the Live Viewer's workspace reserved for viewing alarms and live videos. See illustration below.

If multiple monitors are connected to the PC, the Live Viewer will create a viewing pane for each. See Using multiple screens on page 60.

Monitor ID The monitor ID is the number displayed at the lower right corner of the viewing pane. It is assigned by the system and uniquely identifies each monitor in the system so that they can easily be referenced through keyboard commands. Please read Keyboard Commands on page 97 for more information.

Viewing tile The Live Viewer can display up to 16 video streams simultaneously on a single monitor. Each video stream is displayed in its own window called a viewing tile. The number that appears at the top left corner of each tile is the tile ID. Combined with the monitor ID, they uniquely identify each viewing tile in the system. Please refer to Viewing tile on page 37 for a complete description.

Tile pattern The viewing tiles are arranged like a mosaic and follow one of the preset arrangements called tile patterns. There are a total of 22 tile patterns you can choose from.

Viewer layout The viewer layout is what defines the look and feel of the viewing pane. The viewer layout defines: (1) the tile pattern, (2) the entities displayed in each tile, and (3) the alarm state (armed or disarmed) of each tile. See also Tile display memory on page 114.

Armed tiles

Monitor ID

Layout controls

Selected tile

Layout selection tabs


VIEWER LAYOUTS GENETEC5 ADVANCED FEATURES OMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE

This definition can be saved as part of your user profile, so no matter which PC you use, the same layout definitions will always be available to you.

Layout selection tabs If more than one viewer layout is available to you, they would appear as a series of tabs at the bottom of the viewing pane. Click on any of the tabs to select the corresponding layout. The tile pattern used by each layout is shown by an icon on the corresponding tab.

Layout management

Using predefined layouts

Viewer layouts can be saved and shared among different users. Layout definitions are represented by the following icon in the camera tree.

To apply an existing layout to your viewing pane, drag it from the camera tree and drop it to the viewing pane. A new tab will be added to the end of the list of existing layout tabs.

Layout controls The layout controls are displayed at the bottom of the viewing pane.

The following table describes the available layout controls.

Icon Description

Change pattern. See Changing the tile pattern on page 113.

Show only selected camera. Fill the viewing pane with the selected tile.

Start/Stop guard tour. See Running the guard tour on page 113.

Enter/Exit edit mode. Show or hide extra commands for editing layouts.

Insert viewer layout. See Changing the layout configuration on page 113.

Remove current viewer layout. This only removes the viewer layout from your profile. It does not delete the layout definition.

Rename current viewer layout. If other people use this viewer layout, it will be renamed for them as well.

Save current viewer layout. If it is a new layout, you will be prompted to specify the site under which to create the layout. If it is an existing layout, other people using this layout will also be affected by your changes the next time they logon.

Save all viewer layouts. Save all the changes you made to the layouts.

Reload current layout. Reload the saved definition of the currently selected layout. If you have made unsaved changes to the current layout and wish to go back to its original definition, click on this button.

Layout selection tabsEdit mode commandsEnter/exit edit mode



Changing the tile pattern

You need the Change tile pattern privilege to execute this command. To change the tile pattern used in the current viewer layout, do the following.1 Click on the Change pattern button found in the layout controls. The Change

pattern dialog appears:

2 If none of the patterns are what you want, click on More... to show the rest of the patterns.A total of 22 different patterns will be displayed (not shown here).

3 Click on the desired pattern to switch to it.

NOTE When switching from a pattern with a high number of tiles to a pattern with fewer number of tiles, entities displayed in the high numbered tiles that do not exist in the new pattern will no longer be shown in the viewing pane. However, the association of the displayed content to the tiles is not forgotten. When a pattern with a higher number of tiles is again selected, the entities that were previously hidden will reappear in their respective tiles.

Running the guard tour

When the guard tour is running , the Live Viewer automatically cycles through the viewer layouts at regular interval. It allows a single PC to display many more cameras than it would otherwise be possible, but not all at the same time.

You need the Start/stop guard tour privilege in order to run the guard tour, and you need more than one layout in your viewing pane for this feature to work.

The default dwell time on each layout at installation is 5 seconds. If you have Edit guard tour dwell time privilege, you can change this value from the Live Viewer’s Options dialog. See General options on page 119.

Changing the layout configuration

If you have the Edit/save the layout configuration privilege, you can add, rename and remove the viewer layouts and change the position of the layouts in the list.

Move current viewer layout to the left. Move current layout one position to the left in the viewer layout list.

Move current viewer layout to the right. Move current layout one position to the right in the viewer layout list.

Icon Description



To add a new layout, do the following.1 Click on in the layout controls to show the Edit mode commands.2 Click on to insert a layout. The following dialog appears:

You have the choice to create a new layout or insert an existing one.3 If you choose to create a new layout, you must specify the site under which it

should be created. The newly created layout will immediately become available to other users in the system.

4 If you choose to insert an existing layout, the predefined layout will be added to your user profile.You can achieve the same result by dragging a layout from the camera tree to the viewing pane.

5 Click on Insert to finish.

Display management

Tile display memory The Live Viewer has a four-layer memory associated to each viewing tile. Each layer is reserved for the viewing of specific type(s) of entities. All layers are transparent when there is nothing displayed in them.

When an entity is displayed in a given layer, that layer hides all layers below it. When the displayed entity is removed, whatever is in the layer below will become visible again. Only one entity can be displayed in a layer at any given time.

NOTE The display memory of each tile is also saved as part of a Viewer layout definition.



Layer 4 The top layer is reserved for alarm viewing. Both paused and active alarms belong to this layer. This means that whenever an alarm is activated, it will override everything else if the tile is armed. Alarms have the highest display priority. See Viewing alarms on page 65.

Layer 3 The third layer is reserved for control entities such as maps and plugins. Cameras cannot be displayed in a tile showing a map or a plugin. See Viewing a map on page 53.

Layer 2 The second layer is used to display cameras. Cameras can override a camera sequence at any time. See Viewing a camera on page 34.

Layer 1 The bottom layer is reserved for the display of camera sequences. They have the lowest display priority. See Viewing a camera sequence on page 49.

Double-click vs. Drag-and-drop

When you double-click on an entity, you are asking the application to display the selected entity in the first free tile it finds in the current layout. A tile is free when there is nothing displayed in the layer the entity is supposed to go and there is nothing displayed in the layers above.

Suppose you have nothing displayed in your current layout. If you double-click on a camera sequence in the camera tree, the selected camera sequence will be displayed in tile #1. Following that, if you double-click on a second camera sequence, it will be displayed on tile #2, because tile #1 is already taken. But if you double-click on a camera , the camera will be displayed in tile #1, because cameras are displayed in layer 2, and the layer 2 of tile #1 is still free. Similarly, if you double-click on a second camera, the second camera will be displayed in tile #2, but if you double-click on an active alarm in the alarm list, it will be displayed in tile #1.

If there is no free tile for a given entity when you double-click it, it will take the place of the entity that has been displayed for the longest time. If all tiles are occupied by active alarms, then you will get the following message: There is no free tile. Please free an existing tile and try again.

You can either free existing tiles or change the tile pattern so more tiles can be displayed.



When you drag-and-drop a video stream to a specific tile, you are making the decision to view it in that tile. In that case, the application will let you do what you want. If you drag a camera or a map on top of a camera sequence , the camera or the map will be displayed. But when you remove it, the camera sequence will be revealed because the application remembers what is displayed in the lower layer.

If you drag a camera sequence over a camera or a map , the current entity will be removed and the camera sequence will be displayed. When you remove the camera sequence, the camera or the map will not be restored because they were stored in a higher layer. To let you see through a layer, the entity displayed in that layer has to be removed.

NOTE You may not hide an active alarm by dragging something else over it.


GENETEC CUSTOMIZING THE LIVE VIEWEROMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE 5 ADVANCED FEATURES

Customizing the Live Viewer

Options dialog box

Description The Options dialog box allows you to customize most of the Live Viewer's behavior to suit your preferences. To access this dialog box, select Tools > Options from the main menu or 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 119.

See Network options on page 121.

See Audio options on page 123.

See Alarm options on page 125.

See Visual options on page 127.

See User interaction options on page 129.

See Peripheral options (Joystick) on page 131,and Peripheral options (Keyboard) on page 133.

See Display options on page 135.

See Local recording options on page 139.

See Remote access options on page 141.

See Date and time options on page 143.

CUSTOMIZING THE LIVE VIEWER GENETEC5 ADVANCED FEATURES OMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE


General options

Description

User login dialog RESTRICT ACCESS TO CONNECTION PARAMETERS – Select this check box 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 any potential users of this workstation require supervised logons. Refer to User > Permissions > Supervised Logon in the Omnicast Administrator Guide.

Guard tour DWELL TIME – Enter the number of seconds you want the Live Viewer to dwell on each viewer layout when the guard tour is activated . See Running the guard tour on page 113.

Instant Replay INITIAL TIMELINE DURATION – Enter the duration of the video sequence to show in the timeline when the instant replay is requested for a given camera. See Instant replay on page 89.

TIME TO REWIND BEFORE REPLAY – Enter the number of seconds to rewind before starting the instant replay.

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).



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.

Connection type Select the connection type to apply to all software decoders used by this application. Choose between Best available, Unicast UDP, Unicast TCP and Multicast. Please read about Connection types in the Omnicast Administrator Guide.

DIRECT CONNECTION – This option appears only when you choose Unicast UDP as your connection type. You need to select this option only if your Live Viewer is not connected to the same LAN as the Archiver and that your network configuration forces you to use unicast (for example when your company's router does not allow multicast). This option will help avoid the redirection of video streams by the Archiver.

Default viewing stream

Select the default video stream to use when showing live video in a tile, be it from a camera, a camera sequence or an alarm. The choices are:• Live

• Recording

• Remote

• Low resolution

• High resolution

• Automatic

The above choices may or may not be different, depending on the capabilities of the video encoders used in your system and their configuration.



The Live stream is the default selection at software installation.

The Recording stream is the one used by the Archivers.

The Remote stream is the recommended choice when the network bandwidth is limited, such as on a wireless or remote LAN.

Select Automatic if you want the Live Viewer to choose automatically between the following three streams based on the size of the selected tile.1 Low resolution

2 Live

3 High resolution

It is assumed that the administrator has defined the three streams with increasing resolution for each camera. The Live Viewer will always choose the best video stream among the three whose resolution is equal or lower than the display area of the selected tile. The stream selection also changes dynamically when the user resizes the application window or changes the tile pattern.

When Automatic is selected, the High resolution stream will always be used when a tile is maximized or when the digital zoom is in use.

TIP Regardless of the default setting, you can always choose a different viewing stream for each tile using the tile contextual menu. See Selecting the viewing quality on page 47.



Audio options

Description

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

Sound bites Specify 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.



Alarm options

Description

On new alarms BRING THE LIVE VIEWER IN FRONT OF OTHER WINDOWS – Select this option if you want the Live Viewer application to be brought to the foreground every time a new alarm notification is received or re-activated.

STOP GUARD TOUR IF ALARM VIDEO IS DISPLAYED – Select this option if you want the guard tour to stop when alarm video is displayed. See also Running the guard tour on page 113.

DISPLAY AN OVERLAID WARNING IF THERE ARE NO ARMED TILES – Select this option to show an overlaid warning message in the middle of the viewing pane when there are active alarms in the system but no armed tiles to show them. The warning message will stay on screen until the alarms are acknowledged or when a tile is armed. See Alarm warning message on page 63.

PLAY A SOUND – Select this option if you want the application to play a sound bite every time an alarm notification is received (or when a snoozing alarm is re-activated). If you do not wish to hear any sound when alarm notifications are received, leave this field blank. You can click on to hear the selected sound bite.

For this option to work, the sound bites must be configured in the Audio tab. See Audio options on page 123.

Snooze time Enter the duration of the alarm snooze in seconds. To learn more about Alarm Management, please read Alarm Management on page 61.



Visual options

Description

Information displayed in the viewing pane

SHOW TILE IDS – Select this option if you wish to show the ID of each tile in the upper left corner. Select Always if you want the tile IDs to be displayed at all times. Select Auto-hide if you want the tile ID to be displayed only when the mouse cursor moves over the tile.

SHOW ENTITY CONTROLS – Select this option if you want to show the entity control toolbar in each tile. Select Always if you want the toolbar to be displayed at all times. Select Auto-hide if you want the toolbar to be displayed only when the mouse cursor moves over the bottom area of the tile.

SHOW LAYOUT CONTROLS – Select this option if you want to show the layout controls at the bottom of the viewing pane. See Layout controls on page 112. Select Always if you want the controls to be displayed at all times. Select Auto-hide if you want the controls to be displayed only when the mouse cursor moves over the bottom area of the viewing pane.

SHOW OVERLAID MONITOR ID – Select this option to show the monitor ID as an overlay at the lower right corner of the viewing pane. This option is recommended only if the layout controls are never shown. Otherwise, the two will clash. Another effect of enabling this option is to briefly display the name of the layout at the bottom of the viewing pane every time the layout changes, when the guard tour is active.

SHOW METADATA OVERLAYS – Select this option if you want to show by default, all metadata associated to a camera whenever they are available. This option does not apply to camera sequences nor alarms. Note that the user can always choose to display or to hide any metadata overlay individually for a given camera from the tile contextual menu. See Selecting the metadata overlays on page 47.



FULL PATH IN ENTITY NAMES – Select this option if you wish to include the full path (hierarchy of site names) in the entity description of each viewing tile. If the entity is found under multiple sites, then the path is indicated as ”...\”.

Tile toolbar commands

This section allows you to configure the various toolbars that appear in the viewing tile.

For each of the entity control toolbars, you have three options for each command:• Never – Never show the command in the corresponding toolbar. • Always – Always show the command in the corresponding toolbar. When you

choose to show the Entity controls at all times, the command will be shown. • Extended – Only show the command in the extended section of the toolbar. The

extended section is revealed only when the mouse cursor moves over the toolbar.

Select To configure the commands found in

The tile control toolbar. This is the toolbar that appears at the top of each tile. SeeTile controls on page 37

For each command appearing in the list, choose Never to hide the command from the toolbar or Always to show it.

The camera control toolbar. See Camera controls on page 38.

The PTZ control toolbar. See Using the PTZ toolbar on page 44.

The camera sequence control toolbar. See Camera sequence controls on page 49.

The alarm control toolbar. See Alarm controls on page 65.

The map control toolbar. See Map controls on page 54.



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.

Select Never ask me that question again and click Yes to turn this feature off.

On application exit SAVE CHANGES TO LAYOUT LIST – Select the save option for changes made to the layout list. The layout list is the choice of viewer layouts that appear as a series of viewer selection tabs at the bottom of the viewing pane. See Viewer layouts on page 111.

SAVE CHANGES TO LAYOUT PROPERTIES – Select the save option for changes made to the viewer layouts themselves.

The options you have are:• Yes means to save without asking;• Ask the user means to always ask you before saving;• No means to never save.

If you are only experimenting with different tile patterns, choose not to save or to prompt you before saving (default option). You can also save the layouts explicitly one by one. See Changing the layout configuration on page 113.

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 Camera controls on page 38.

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”.



Peripheral options (Joystick)

Description

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

Active joystick If 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 bottom section is used to configure the joystick buttons to perform the Live Viewer 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.



Peripheral options (Keyboard)

Description

Use the Keyboard tab to configure the CCTV keyboard attached to your PC.

Keyboard protocol Select the make and model of your CCTV keyboard.

Keyboard address Only certain models require the address to be set. Please refer to your keyboard manufacturer's installation guide.

COM port This section allows you to configure the characteristics of the COM port (serial port) to which the CCTV keyboard is connected. Follow the specifications of the keyboard manufacturer.

Automatic detection CONNECT TO KEYBOARD AUTOMATICALLY – Select this option if you want the Live Viewer to automatically connect to the attached CCTV keyboard every time the application starts up.

If this option is turned off, you will have to connect the CCTV keyboard manually every time you want to use it.



Display options

Description

The display options are the same for all three client applications (Live Viewer, Archive Player and Config Tool) with the exception of the Anti-jitter buffer option. Changing any of the settings in one application will automatically change them for the other applications installed on the same machine.

Video options You can configure separately the video options for Live viewing and Playback (see Instant replay on page 89). The different options are explained below.

WAIT FOR VERTICAL BLANK – Turning this option on reduces 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.

ANTI-JITTER BUFFER – Use this option to reduce any jerkiness that occurs when playing back or viewing live video. Specify the desired buffer time in milliseconds. Values range from zero (no buffering) to 500.

Selecting PC displays The table under the heading “Select the PC displays used for full screen mode:“ lists all logical displays configured under Windows for your PC. The Name indicates the name of each logical display. The Display mode indicates how many physical monitors are included in each display and whether the display span horizontally or vertically.

If your PC is configured with more than one display, you can select the ones that the Live Viewer should use in full screen mode. See Full screen operation on page 57.

Video wall ENABLE VIDEO WALL – Select this option if you plan to use the Live Viewer as a video wall.

Typically, a PC configured as a video wall is equipped with multiple display adapters and runs unattended.

There are three differences between the video wall mode and the normal mode. They are:1 The viewer layouts are not saved in the Directory, only locally. This means that

those layouts are specifically defined for that PC. See Viewer layouts on page 111.2 When the application starts, it will automatically switch to Full Screen mode if the

video wall mode is activated. See Full screen mode on page 58.3 While in Full Screen mode, the selected tiles are not highlighted in yellow.

WARNING You must restart the Live Viewer every time you change the IP Video Wall option. Otherwise, the application will not function properly.



Local recording options

Description

Use this tab to configure your local recording preferences on your PC.

This tab is absent if Local recording is not supported by your license or if an Archiver or an Auxiliary Archiver is installed on the same machine. This is to prevent conflicting disk space requirements between the Live Viewer and the archiving service. To learn more on this feature, read Local recording on page 95.

Record path Enter the root folder where you want the Live Viewer to save the video files.

The video files (.g64) are grouped in subdirectories according to the monitor ID, the tile ID, and the date.

The names of the video files created for the local archives start with the prefix "Monitor_", followed by the monitor ID, followed by "_Tile_" and the tile ID, followed by the date and time of the first frame contained in the file.

Archive files MAXIMUM LENGTH – Set the maximum length for the video files. The length is the time span between the first video frame and the last video frame stored in the file.

Root directoryMonitor IDTile ID

Date



MAXIMUM SIZE – Select this option to set a cap to the size of the video files.

Disk minimum free space

MINIMUM FREE SPACE – Set the minimum free space the Live Viewer must leave on the selected drive. If the free space on disk falls below this value, archiving will stop.



Remote access options

Description

Remote access is a functionality provided by Omnicast to allow other Live Viewer users on the system to use your PC monitors to view cameras as though they were regular analog monitors on the system. This feature is particularly useful when a single user needs to control multiple unattended Live Viewer workstations.

Each monitor controlled by the Live Viewer application is assigned a unique monitor ID by the system (see Viewing pane on page 25).

Using a CCTV keyboard, a joystick or the PC keyboard, you can display a camera in any tile of any Live Viewer controlled monitor, provided that you have the permission to do so. Please read Selecting cameras and tiles by IDs on page 98 to learn how to perform this operation from a PC keyboard.

To permit other Live Viewer users to use the monitors connected to your PC, select their names in the list and click Apply.



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 – Select this check box 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 – You can choose 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 LIVE VIEWER 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 LIVE VIEWER 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 video is recorded on the unit itself, 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 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE

Index

A

advanced mode . . . . . 28alarm

acknowledgement . . . . 70arm/disarm tile . . . . . 64automatic forwarding . . . . 71bell . . . . . . 63Block, display mode . . . . 68contextual . . . . . 76control toolbar . . . . . 65definition . . . . . 62display modes . . . . . 67elements . . . . . . 66forwarding . . . . . 71history . . . . . . 73list . . . . . . 64notifications . . . . . 63pausing . . . . . . 72playback . . . . . . 77procedure . . . . . 73Salvo, display mode . . . . 68Simple, display mode . . . . 67snoozing . . . . . . 71triggering . . . . . 75viewing . . . . . . 65warning message . . . . 63

analog monitordefinition . . . . . 55viewing alarms . . . . . 74viewing camera sequences . . . 56viewing cameras . . . . 56

analog monitor pane . . . . 55application control panel . . 21, 24application menu . . . . . 26armed tile . . . . . . 64automatic recording . . . . 39automatic stream selection . . 121

B

bookmarkadding . . . . . . 40seeking . . . . . . 92

bottom toolbar . . . . 38, 49, 54

C

cameracontrol toolbar . . . . 38finding . . . . . 34viewing . . . . . 34

camera blocking . . . . 83camera sequence

control toolbar . . . . 49pausing . . . . . 50viewing . . . . . 49

Connect dialogmode . . . . . . 20

contextual alarm . . . . 76contextual menu . . . . 47CPU gauge . . . . . 21current tile . . . . . 37

D

default viewing stream . . . 121digital zoom . . . . . 45

controls . . . . . 46keyboard commands . . . 46

display management . . . . 114display memory . . . . 114documentation set . . . . 13dome camera . . . . . 43

E

Entity Search toolfinding a camera . . . . 34finding a camera sequence . . 49finding a map . . . . 53global search . . . . 35local search . . . . . 34

eventfilter . . . . . . 88list . . . . . . 87markers, found in timeline . . . 90monitoring . . . . . 87


INDEX GENETEC OMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE

export video sequence . . . 93

F

Full Screen mode . . . . 58Full Screen operation

introduction . . . . 57using multiple screens . . . 60

Full Screen Video mode . . . 59

G

guard tourconfiguration . . . . 120running . . . . . 113

H

Help menu . . . . . 32hot macros . . . . . 104

I

instant replay . . . . . 89configuration . . . . 120loop playback . . . . 91playback controls . . . . 91playback cursor . . . . 90time range markers . . . 90timeline . . . . . 89

J

joystick detection . . . . 45

K

keyboard commands, about . . . 97

L

layout . . . . . 111Layouts menu . . . . . 30Live Viewer

controlling remote . . . 107local recording . . . . . 95

configuration . . . . 139logon

Connect dialog mode . . . . 20preconfigured . . . . . 19standard procedure . . . . 19supervised . . . . . 20Windows credentials . . . . 19

M

macros . . . . . 103Main menu . . . . 24, 26

Help menu . . . . . 32Layouts menu . . . . . 30System menu . . . . . 26Tools menu . . . . . 30View menu . . . . . 28

manual recording . . . . 39map

control toolbar . . . . . 54definition . . . . . 53

missed notification log . . . . 22monitor

controlling remote . . . 107ID . . . . . . 55, 111

multiple-screen display . . . . 60


GENETEC INDEXOMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE

O

Optionsaccessing the dialog . . . 117alarm . . . . . 125audio . . . . . 123CCTV keyboard . . . . 133default connection type . . 121default viewing stream . . 121granting access to other users . 141guard tour . . . . 120instant replay . . . . 120joystick . . . . . 131local recording . . . . 139message display . . . 129network . . . . . 121on application exit . . . 130restrict access to connection parameters 119snapshot . . . . . 130time zone . . . . 143toolbar commands . . . 128use Windows credentials . . 120video display . . . . 135video wall . . . . 137visual element display . . . 127

P

playback controls . . . . . 91playback cursor . . . . . 90plugins . . . . . 107

Remote Live Viewer . . . 107popup messages . . . . . 21PTZ

advanced controls . . . . 80basic controls . . . . . 43camera . . . . . . 43keyboard commands . . . . 45toolbar . . . . . . 44using the joystick . . . . 45

R

record button . . . . . 40

recordingautomatic vs. manual . . . 39status . . . . . . 39

Remote Live Viewer plugin . . . 107

S

selected tile . . . . . 37simple mode . . . . . 28snapshot

configuration . . . . 130save/print . . . . . 93

supervised logon . . . . 20supervisor . . . . . 20

System menu . . . . . 26

T

tilearm/disarm, for alarm display . . 64border highlight . . . . 37contextual menu . . . . 47control toolbar . . . . 37current . . . . . 37definition . . . . . 37display memory . . . . 114selected . . . . . 37

tile configuration panel . . . 24tile control panel

alarm bell . . . . . 63joystick indicator . . . . 45keyboard commands . . . 98

tile ID . . . . . . 37tile pattern

changing . . . . . 113definition . . . . . 111

time range markers . . . . 90timeline . . . . . 89

background color . . . . 90Tools menu . . . . . 30trigger alarm . . . . . 75


INDEX GENETEC OMNICAST 4.7 LIVE VIEWER USER GUIDE

V

video gauge . . . . . 21video wall . . . . . 60

enabling . . . . . 137View menu . . . . . 28viewer layout . . . . . 111

configuration . . . . 113controls . . . . . 112selection tabs . . . . 112

viewingalarm history . . . . 73alarm procedure . . . . 73alarms . . . . . 65camera sequences . . . . 49cameras . . . . . 34maps . . . . . . 53metadata overlays . . . . 47on analog monitors . . . 55

viewing pane . . . . 111viewing quality . . . . . 47viewing tile . . . . . 37volume control . . . . . 21

W

Windows credentialsforcing the use of . . . 19, 120using . . . . . . 19


En.omnicast Live Viewer User Guide 4.7

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