Category: Documentation

Motion Event PTZ Presets with the Axis M5000-G in exacqVision

Post author By Bhargav Atturu
Post date October 11, 2024

Overview

The Axis M5000-G PTZ camera is a multi-sensor camera containing three stationary wide-angle lenses around the circumference of the camera body and one center-mounted PTZ lens. This guide is intended to help users automate the positioning of the PTZ lens upon events, such as motion detection.

Requirements

Axis M5000-G PTZ camera, with firmware 11.10.61 or higher
exacqVision Server 24.09 or higher

NOTE: While this article is written specifically with the M5000-G PTZ in mind, the setup of Event Linking to reposition PTZ cameras based on the motion detection from other sensors, and even other cameras, can be used with any capable devices.

Camera Configuration

Log into the camera’s web browser interface.
Configure the initial user credentials as required, if you have not already done so.
Open the PTZ menu. You may configure the PTZ presets within the camera on the Preset Positions screen, or choose to configure presets within exacqVision at a later stage.
If desired, configure the range of motion for the PTZ turret on the Limits screen within the camera. These settings cannot be configured within exacqVision. See the device’s help file or manual for details on setting PTZ limits.
The Motion tab within the PTZ settings configures the behavior of the camera during motor movement of the PTZ turret. Motion detection may be configured within the Video Motion Detection application under the Apps menu.

Connecting the Camera to exacqVision

Use the AXIS VAPIX option from the Device Type menu when adding the Axis M5000-G PTZ camera.

Refer to the exacqVision Client User Manual or watch one of our videos on how to Add IP Cameras for the steps to connect the camera to your exacqVision Server.

Motion Detection

If you chose not to configure motion detection zones within the camera, do this now for use in the next steps.

Expand the left-hand navigation tree under Camera Recording.
Select the sensor to be configured. When adding the M5000-G PTZ camera to exacqVision, each sensor appears individually on the navigation tree as a separate camera.
On the Camera Settings page for the selected sensor, use the Display tab to change the Name. You may find it helpful to identify each sensor and which one is the PTZ. This will be useful in later steps.
Use the settings on the Motion tab to define the motion detection regions within the sensor’s field of vision. You may need to adjust the sensitivity, percentage, and time to trigger settings to best suit your installation environment.

PTZ Presets

When adding the M5000-G PTZ camera to exacqVision, each sensor appears individually on the navigation tree as a separate camera with the PTZ turret as the first one. A preset is a saved position and field of view that can be used to quickly point the PTZ lens to a specific region of interest such as a display or locked cabinet.

Expand the left-hand navigation tree under Camera Recording.
Select the PTZ sensor.
 
NOTE: Due to this camera reporting to exacqVision that it is a PTZ camera all sensors will display a Mechanical PTZ tab, but there are no motors associated with the non-PTZ sensors.
On the Camera Settings page for the PTZ sensor, select the Mechanical PTZ tab, then choose the Presets tab beneath it.
If you configured PTZ Presets within the camera they will be shown in the Presets panel.
Create new Presets by using the Pan/Tilt and Zoom controls to position the camera’s field of view as you’d like, then press the New button to Name your preset before selecting the Apply button to save your changes. Presets may also be removed by selecting them from the list and pressing the Delete button.
In the example below, we have created a preset to display a file cabinet after creating a motion detection region for this area on Sensor 3. This may just as easily be focused on a specific entry way, display case, or any other object of interest.

Using Event Linking to Move the PTZ on Motion Events

PTZ presets may be activated manually by those monitoring exacqVision, but can become more powerful tools when automated. In the next steps you will configure exacqVision to direct the PTZ turret of the M5000-G camera to preset locations when motion is detected by the stationary lenses. You may even choose to activate a preset when motion is detected by other cameras nearby.

From the left-hand navigation tree in the exacqVision Client, select Event Linking.
Begin by pressing the New button near the bottom of the window.
From the Event Type panel on the left, select Video Motion.
Use the Event Source panel to locate and select the first of your stationary camera sensors.
From the Action Type panel in the center-right of the window, select PTZ Preset.
Using the Action Target panel, select the name of a preset configured for a region within the sensor’s field of view.
Press Apply to save your changes.
You’ve now configured the system so that when motion is detected by the first sensor it will reposition the PTZ turret to examine an area within that sensor’s field of view with greater detail.
Press the New button again to repeat Steps 3-6 for each sensor and preset combination.
The following images show the Live view of all four sensors from the camera in Live viewing mode. The stream from the PTZ turret sensor is shown in the upper-left corner and moves to the file cabinet when motion is detected.

If you have a secondary camera nearby configured for motion detection or AI driven Object Classification, you may also select these using the Event Types (Video Motion or Analytics), then select the other camera from the Event Source window. Event Linking may combine other event types as well to take a PTZ Preset action, such as Serial Profiles to position a PTZ lens towards a cash register during sales transactions, or Input Triggers to position the lens towards a door when opened. See our Event Linking Video for more information, or refer to the Related Articles section below.

Tags PTZ, Event Linking, Multisensor, M5000-G, 21469, Guest, Axis

User Guides Documentation Integrations Categories Products exacqVision Integrations

Axis Q19 Series Thermal Cameras Integration Guide

Post author By Bhargav Atturu
Post date September 18, 2024

Description

Axis thermal cameras provide heat-based detection for monitoring property or detecting thermal anomalies which could lead to incidents involving smoke or fire. This guide is intended to introduce the use of these devices with your exacqVision VMS software.

Requirements

Axis Q19 Series Camera
Camera firmware 11.8 or higher
exacqVision Server/Client 24.09 or higher

At the time of writing this article, these instructions pertain to the Axis Q19 Series of cameras and assume you have already located the device on your network and logged into the web browser interface.

Thermometry Configuration

Detecting a Temperature Change (Temperature Tripwire)

Expand the Thermometry menu from the left-hand side, then select Temperature Reading.
Select a color palette of your choice from the Palette menu on the right.
Set the Temperature unit you intend to use, either Celsius or Fahrenheit.
Select Temperature detection, beneath the Thermometry menu on the left.
Back on the right, select Add detection area.
Use the handles to drag out the bounding area on the video panel to highlight the polygonal area of interest.
Provide a descriptive name in the Name field, such as “High Temperature” or “Low Temperature” depending on what you may be concerned about sensing.
Enable the Use area control to enable monitoring this detection area.
Set Temperature in area choice.
- If detecting a high temperature is desired, choose ‘Warmest Spot’ from the Temperature in area options. Then select ‘Above’ and enter the temperature degrees you wish to be alerted at.
- If detecting a low temperature is desired, choose ‘Coolest Spot’ from the Temperature in area options. Then select ‘Below’ and enter the temperature in degrees you wish to be alerted at.
You may wish to adjust the Delay field time if some fluctuation is expected in the region. This setting will allow the event to trigger only after remaining above/below the set temperature threshold for a given amount of time.
The Include detection area in video stream selector determines if, or when, the bounding area is included in the video stream as it will be sent to exacqVision.
Checking the Include temperature checkbox will display the detected temperature.

Detecting Smoldering Fire

The Thermometry functionality of the camera combined with the Early Fire Detection app may be used to sense if a fire could ignite in a designated area. The early fire detection app filters uninteresting moving objects, to minimize false alarms.

Expand the Thermometry menu from the left-hand side, then select Temperature Reading.
Select a color palette of your choice from the Palette menu on the right.

NOTE: Axis recommends avoiding the use of palettes beginning with ‘Iso’ for best performance, preferably using the ‘White-hot’ option.
Set the Temperature unit you intend to use, either Celsius or Fahrenheit.
Select Temperature detection, beneath the Thermometry menu on the left.
Back on the right, select Add detection area.
Use the handles to drag out the bounding area on the video panel to highlight the polygonal area of interest.
Provide a descriptive name in the Name field. If you were monitoring a waste disposal area for the potential of a fire, you might name this “Waste Bin”.
Enable the Use area control to enable monitoring this detection area.
Use the Temperature in area control to select ‘Warmest Spot’ and ‘Above’.
Within the temperature field, enter 50°C (122°F)
Open the Apps menu from the left-hand side of the screen.
Enable the Early Fire Detection app.

NOTE: At the time of this writing, this app is a beta release, version 1.2.0.
Select the Open button for the Early Fire Detection app.
Examine each of the defined detection areas on the right-side of the screen to ensure they are active for early fire detection.

exacqVision Use

Add the camera to your exacqVision Server, using the AXIS VAPIX Device Type, following the steps shown in How to Add IP Cameras – Manual Method.
Select the camera from the left-hand navigation tree to reach the camera settings page.
Select the Analytics tab from the bottom half of the page
A panel lists each analytic from the camera, including each detection region you defined on the camera as well as an ‘AnyArea’ option which acts as an alert when any of the regions have been triggered. Users may define the appearance of bounding areas for each analytic separately.
Users may also configure Event Linking or Event Monitoring actions to occur when any of these analytics are triggered. Use these to perform actions such as sending SMTP email notifications or change views for live viewers. More details on configuring Event Linking and Event Monitoring can be found in the exacqVision Client User Manual or the video links at the bottom of this page.

Tags Integration Guide, 21288, Thermal, Thermometry, Guest, Axis

User Guides Video Library Demo Highlighted Video Guides exacqVision Client Youtube Video Library Categories Products

exacqVision – Remote Connections

Post author By Bhargav Atturu
Post date September 17, 2024

exacqVision 24.09 introduces the Remote Connections feature. This video for system administrators discusses the benefits of using Remote Connections as well as creating access codes for mobile users. This feature can be used with exacqVision Mobile 24.09 and above.

Chapters: 
00:00 Intro 
00:33 Features of Remote Connections 
00:48 Network architecture 
01:54 Enable Remote Connectivity in the Client 
02:17 Mobile Optimized Streaming 
03:15 Creating access codes

Tags Smartphone, Tablet, Remote Connectivity, Guest, Remote Connections, Mobile, 21257, Phone, Access Codes

Video Library User Guides Demo Highlighted Video Guides Youtube Video Library exacqVision Mobile Categories Products

exacqVision Mobile – Live Viewing and Navigation

Post author By Bhargav Atturu
Post date September 17, 2024

This video takes a deep dive into general navigation, live viewing, and creating saved views in the all new exacqVision Mobile app.

Chapters: 
00:00 Intro 
00:10 Live 
00:33 Quick View 
00:41 Editing Quick View 
01:17 Audio 
01:52 Creating and Editing Saved Views 
03:34 Navigating Between Views 
03:47 Focus View 
05:11 Devices Screen

Tags Tablet, Guest, exacqVision Mobile, Mobile, 21261, Views, Phone, Smartphone

User Guides Video Library Demo Documentation Installation Illustra Youtube Video Library Categories Products exacqVision Integrations

Illustra IQ LPR Cameras with exacqVision

Post author By Bhargav Atturu
Post date September 13, 2024

This video reviews the Illustra IQ LPR model cameras for edge-based license plate recognition, covering installation best practices for reliable results and the camera’s use with the exacqVision VMS software. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 00:35 exacqVision Advantage 00:47 Requirements & Hardware 01:27 Installation Best Practices 03:48 Camera Configuration 08:54 Use with exacqVision

Tags Illustra Analytic, Analytic, Illustra IQ, Guest, 21230, LPR, ANPR

User Guides Documentation exacqVision Mobile Categories Products

Accessing exacqVision from Tablets and Phones using the exacqVision Mobile App

Post author By Bhargav Atturu
Post date September 12, 2024

Overview

exacqVision Mobile receives live and recorded video from the exacqVision Server

The exacqVision Mobile app allows you to use Apple or Android tablets and smartphones to view live video from an exacqVision Server, search for recorded video, and more. To access your exacqVision server over the internet from exacqVision Mobile, additional configuration may be required depending on your network and the method chosen to connect.

Connection Option 1 – Remote Connections

exacqVision Server/Client 24.09 and above add the Remote Connections feature, found as a node on the left hand navigation tree of the desktop Client.

Administrators that Enable Remote Connectivity may generate single-use access codes to to provide to their users. The user enters this access code along with their exacqVision user credentials to connect.

NOTE: Before enabling Remote Connectivity, read the manual or view our user video to understand the Mobile Optimized Streaming component of this feature.

Using this connection method, no ports need to be configured for inbound traffic on your firewall, making setup easier. The server initiates outbound communication to our secure Remote Connectivity switchboard in the cloud. Note, that this method requires exacqVision to have internet access.

The mobile user does not need to know the URL and exacqVision facilitates adding multiple Servers to the app with a single access code. The Remote Connections feature also enforces TLS encrypted communication between the exacqVision Mobile app and the exacqVision Server.

Use of this method is covered in detail within the exacqVision Client User Manual, as well as in the exacqVision Remote Connections video in our Video Library.

Connection Option 2 – Inside LAN

If your users are only connecting from inside the same LAN as the exacqVision Server, there is no need to configure Remote Connections or Port Forwarding. Simply use the ‘Enter a URL instead’ link when adding the Server connection and enter the internal IP address of the exacqVision Server host machine.

Connection Option 3 – Port Forwarding

For those administrators who prefer to use traditional methods, you may still configure your firewall to allow incoming connections.

The exacqVision Server listens for connections from exacqVision Mobile on port 8443 by default. This may be changed following the Changing the Mobile Listening Port for exacqVision Server article.

Mobile users will select the ‘Enter a URL instead’ link within the app when adding their Server connection, then enter the externally facing IP address of the site or hostname. If the port number has been customized using the article linked above they will add this to the end of the IP address or hostname.

Tags exacqVision Mobile, Remote Connections, Guest, 21212, Mobile, WAN, FAQs, Phone, Networking, Smartphone, Tablet, Remote Connectivity

Documentation Integrations exacqVision Client Categories Products exacqVision Integrations Uncategorized

Elgato Stream Deck Integration Guide

Post author By Bhargav Atturu
Post date August 18, 2024

Overview

When configured properly, exacqVision may be configured to react to Elgato Stream Deck to take actions, such as changing camera views or activating output alarms. This is made possible by exacqVision’s Serial Profile settings combined with Event Monitoring or Event Linking. This guide provides the steps needed to get started, which you may customize to suit your needs.

IMPORTANT: This guide is provided for user benefit, but Exacq Support will not provide assistance or troubleshooting for Stream Deck devices or Stream Deck software.

Stream Deck Configuration

Download and install the Stream Deck software, which includes drivers needed to recognize the device when plugged into your workstation as well as software used to customize its behavior.
Open the Stream Deck software from the Start menu or system tray on the taskbar. Stream Deck has limited capabilities out of the box, but provides a marketplace where developers offer plugins to expand its functions, similar to adding apps to your mobile phone or tablet.
With the Stream Deck software window open, access the Marketplace by selecting the Marketplace icon, which will open a web browser to the Marketplace page.
Use the search field to find CommandSender, which at the time of this writing was the most capable plugin available for this purpose and free to download and install.
Click on CommandSender in the search results, then select the Get button. Once installed, return to the Stream Deck software.
Locate and expand the Custom section from your actions panel on the right, then expand the CommandSender item. Drag an instance of the Send Command action from the panel onto a button in your layout. This button is customized in the lower part of the window.
Set the Communication Type to ‘TCP’.
Enter the IP address of the system running your exacqVision Server into the IP Address field. The Port number defaults to ‘45671’, but you may customize this if that port is already being used on your system.
In the Command Pressed field, enter something unique and descriptive to the action you want to take. In the pictured example we enter GoToCamera 09 because in later steps we will configure a camera panel to change when pressed. This text can be anything you’d like because you will pair it to an action in later steps.
Next, add the code for a line feed, \x0a, to the end of your command. This is used to help separate commands when received by exacqVision.
You will not use the Command Released field for use with exacqVision.
Finally, you can choose to customize the icon using icons from Stream Deck, import icon packs from the Marketplace, or upload custom icons you’ve created. You also have an optional Title field.
You may add as many instances of the CommandSender plugin to your button layout as you wish, but the Command Pressed field should be unique for each one. The IP Address and Port fields should be the same unless you are sending commands to different NVRs.

exacqVision Serial Port Configuration

You will need Full Admin or Power User privileges on the system to perform the following steps. The steps in this section are performed only once on each NVR you are sending commands to.

Open the exacqVision Desktop Client application and enter Configuration mode by selecting the cog wheel icon in the upper-left corner.
From the left-hand navigation panel, expand the system name, then select the Serial Ports node on the tree.
Under the IP section, press the New button.
In the new row that appears, enter something in the Name field, such as “Stream Deck”.
Change the Use column to ‘POS’.
Change the Profile field to ‘New…’.
Change the Type field to ‘TCP Listener’.
In the Address column field, enter the IP address of the workstation you have plugged your Stream Deck into. 
NOTE: It is expected that you will connect the Stream Deck to a Client workstation, but if you are connecting it directly to the system running the exacqVision Server application, the IP Address used here and in CommandSender will be 127.0.0.1.
In the Port field, enter the port number displayed in CommandSender, which by default is ‘45671’.
The remaining fields are left as is.
Because ‘New…’ was selected in the Profile column, when you press the Apply button you will be automatically taken to the Serial Profiles page to configure the profile described in the next section.

exacqVision Serial Profiles Configuration

Begin by providing a descriptive Name to your Serial Profile.
Test the ability to receive commands from the Stream Deck by pressing the configured CommandSender button on the panel. You should see the commands you configured on the button appear in the data window.
For this use case you do not need to enter anything into the fields for SOT marker or EOT marker.
Select the Event Keywords tab.
Press the New button.
In the String field, enter the text exactly as you entered when configuring the button in CommandSender, without the line feed code.
Press Apply to save your changes.

NOTE: If you need additional help with the configuration of Serial Ports or Serial Profiles, please see the exacqVision User Manual or refer to our User Training Videos on the Exacq Support Portal covering these features.

Event Monitoring and Event Linking

As this document is not intended to be a complete training guide on the use of exacqVision’s Event Monitoring and Event Linking features, we will provide a single example of changing a camera panel to display another camera when the button is pressed. Keep in mind that Event Monitoring provides client-side actions visible to the user of the workstation, such as changing camera panels, live Views, enabling audio, or digital PTZ presets, while Event Linking performs server-side actions, such as recording video, mechanical PTZ presets, auto exports, sending notifications, or triggering webhooks.

NOTE: For additional help with the configuration of Event Monitoring or Event Linking, please see the exacqVision User Manual or refer to our User Training Videos on the Exacq Support Portal on these features.

For this example:

Select the Event Monitoring node on the navigation tree, located near the top of the left-hand panel.
Press the New button under the Profiles panel and enter a descriptive Name in the Profile Configuration area to the right.
Change the Show Event List field to ‘On Event’.
Check the Show Newest Event box.
Set the Type selection to ‘Video Panel’.
The first Client Action is added for you. Configure the default action by selecting ‘Default’ from the Event Type panel. Default events do not have an Event Source to select.
From the Action Type panel, select ‘Switch Video’.
Select a camera from the Action Target panel to display when nothing else is being triggered.
Press the New button under the Client Actions panel in the middle of the window.
From the Event Type panel, highlight ‘Serial Profile’.
You may have many items listed on your system, or several systems to select from. The drop-down menu will filter to specific systems or show them all. Select the item displaying the name of the Serial Profile you created earlier with the Keyword you configured. The profile is monitoring the incoming data being sent from CommandSender on your Stream Deck for this Keyword.
Select ‘Switch Video’ from the Action Type panel.
Choose a camera from the Action Target panel that you want to display when the Stream Deck button is pressed.
Next, you’ll set exacqVision to return to the Default camera after a set number of seconds rather than forcing a user to click in the Event List panel to acknowledge it each time.
Uncheck the Confirm checkbox near the bottom of the window.
Change the Timeout field to “5”.
Press the Apply button to save your changes.

Use the same Event Monitoring profile you just created to continue adding additional Client Actions for each CommandSender button you have configured on the Stream Deck.

Navigate to the Live view in the Client window to test your setup.

Drag several different cameras to the layout.
Right-click one of the panels. In the menu that appears, expand Event Monitor, and select the name of the Event Monitoring profile you just created. The camera you configured as the Default should display.
Press the CommandSender button you created on the Stream Deck. This camera panel should now change from the default camera to the camera you configured in your Event Monitoring profile with the Event Keyword.
After the 5 second timeout period you set, the camera panel should return to the Default camera.

Opening the exacqVision Client

If you’d like to create a button on your Stream Deck to automatically open an instance of the exacqVision Client, this can be done without additional plugins or serial data configuration using the built-in Open action.

Within Stream Deck, perform the following:

Expand the System menu from the actions panel.
Drag an instance of the Open action from the panel onto an empty button in the layout.
Customize this instance near the bottom of the window.
Provide an optional Title and/or customize the button’s icon.
In the App/File field, either navigate to the edvrclient.exe file on your machine, or enter the path manually. The default path is C:\Program Files\exacqVision\Client\edvrclient.exe

Users of customized Client .XDV files may open instruct the Open action to open the client using their desired .XDV file by adding the file path to the file. e.g.- C:\Program Files\exacqVision\Client\edvrclient.exe -F"C:\Users\myUserName\Documents\myCustomFile.xdv"

Tags Guest, Serial Profiles, Serial Ports, Event Keywords, 21097, Stream Deck

Video Library Documentation Quick Start Guides Installation Highlighted Video Guides Youtube Video Library Categories Products exacqVision Hardware

exacqVision G-Series PoE Quick Start Video

Post author By Bhargav Atturu
Post date August 12, 2024

The G-Series PoE NVRs provide affordable exacqVision recorders with built-in power over ethernet capability. Follow along to step through setup and adding your PoE powered cameras to the system. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 00:17 Unboxing 00:41 Specifications 01:10 Hardware Ports 03:03 Setup & Network Addressing 04:31 Licensing 05:18 Adding PoE Powered Cameras

Tags 21085, Guest, Quick Start, G-series, G-Series PoE

Video Library Documentation Quick Start Guides Installation Highlighted Video Guides Youtube Video Library Categories exacqVision Hardware Products

exacqVision G-Series Micro Quick Start Video

Post author By Bhargav Atturu
Post date August 2, 2024

The G-Series Micro provides an exacqVision solution in an ultra-small form factor for customers who wish to leverage a smaller system design or in space-constrained locations such as retail shops, restaurants, banks, and small offices. Follow along for installation and setup. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 00:22 Unboxing 01:07 Specifications 02:09 VESA Mount 03:17 Setup 04:30 Licensing

Tags 21078, Guest, Quick Start, G-series, G-Series Micro

Documentation Quick Start Guides Categories exacqVision Hardware Products

Installing A-Series Rails on Racks with Threaded Round Holes

Post author By Bhargav Atturu
Post date July 24, 2024

The rack mount rails that ship with exacqVision A-Series NVRs are designed to be toolless when used with server racks that have square or unthreaded round mounting holes on the rack uprights. The following guide describes how to adapt these rails, using tools, for use with rack uprights with threaded round screw holes.

Examine the each end of the rail and take note of the pegs, as indicated in the illustration below.

Insert a Phillips-head screwdriver into the slot at the end of each peg and turn to remove the pegs. Repeat this on the opposite end of the rail. The rear end does not have a center peg.

Each end of the rail should have all pegs removed.

Depending on the spacing of the holes on your rack, the L-bracket on the end of the rail may fit around the upright, facing outward, or may need to be placed behind it, as pictured. Here, the screw threads through the rack and then into the threads on the end of the rail where the pegs you removed from previous steps were located. Use installer provided screws to secure the rail to the rack’s upright.

Tags Guest, A-Series, Rails, 21054