Category: exacqVision Client

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exacqVision Timestamp Format

All exacqVision video is timestamped in UTC, so there is no ambiguity as to the absolute time when the video was recorded. When exporting video, the time zone of the system on which the video was recorded is not stored. Starting with exacqVision version 3.4, two features were added to make this more transparent to the operators:

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  1. In exacqVision Client, an onscreen display shows the server time zone (in offset from UTC) along with the timestamp. If this option is not configured for the camera, the timestamp is shown in the client’s local time.
  2. In ePlayer, the timestamp of the recorded video is shown in the time zone of the local computer on which it is playing, but the time zone offset is shown. Thus, if you watch a video on a computer set to EDT, you might see 2:00 (GMT-4:00), whereas the same video viewed on a computer in CDT would show 1:00 (GMT-5:00). The UTC timestamp is the same in both cases. Knowledge of the physical location of the recording server, which is clearly needed for evidentiary purposes, can correlate the local time of the machine on which the video is being watched to the local time of the server on which it was recorded.

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Temporary File Location

The ExacqVision Client creates temporary files to locally store searched  audio, video, and exported files. Temporary files are created in a directory specified by an environment variable. The following environment  variables are searched in order to determine the path: TEMPDIR, TMP, TEMP,  USERPROFILE.

On systems built after May 2018, these environmental variables usually point to a file location within the C:\ Primary partition on Windows systems. Windows systems built prior to this date would have a 30 GB partition on the first physical disk for the purpose of storing the temporary file directory.

If the allotted space is not sufficient for your searching and exporting requirements, you can move the temporary directory to another location. To do this, complete the following steps:

  1. Run Start, Settings, Control Panel, System.
  2. Select the Advanced tab.
  3. Click the Environment Variables button.
  4. Edit the first of the variables listed above to point to your new location.
  5. Restart ExacqVision Client.

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Validating ExacqVision Video (also known as Watermarking or Authentication)

The validation standard used in ExacqVision is known as HMAC, for Hashed Message Authentication Code, and uses a cryptographic hash and secret cryptographic key. HMAC is used by ExacqVision to verify the integrity of exported video.

The ExacqVision Client software calculates and writes out the message authentication code (MAC) during file export. The ExacqVision ePlayer later calculates a hash and verifies the MAC during authentication using SHA-256. The methodology ensures no alteration of the data as the hashed calculations are compared to be certain the hashes match.

To authenticate video in the ExacqVision ePlayer, select Authenticate from the Tools menu.

The following image shows a successful authentication:

Video may only be authenticated using the ExacqVision ePlayer. The ePlayer application is used to playback ExacqVision native files in .PS or .PSX file formats. It is also packaged in self-playing .EXE file exports. For more information on the features of exported file formats, refer to Article 1894.

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Changing the Default Export Location

On a Windows-based Exacq NVR, video exported from the exacqVision Client is saved by default to the “exacqVision Files” directory in Documents for the current Windows user. A Windows user logged as a Kiosk user, or logged in to a restricted operating system account cannot select a different directory when saving the exported file, but Windows users with Administrator privileges can select another directory.

On a Windows machine, an administrator may change the default export location within the Windows registry.

WARNING: Only experienced administrators should edit the registry. Incorrect edits can cause drastic changes in the operating system or the OS may fail to work altogether if the wrong keys are changed. Before you edit the registry you should export a copy of the key(s) you plan to change so that this can be restored if problems are encountered.

To change the default export location edit the following key/value pair.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders\Personal

Note: In Linux/Mac systems we write exports to the $HOME/exacqVision Files directory.

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H.264 General Information Only (Axis Do Not Share)

H.264-General-Information.pdf

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Video has a Green Hue (Possibly with Red or Pink Lines)

If video has a green tint and possibly pink or red lines, set VGA Acceleration Mode to None on the Client page.

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Video-has-a-Green-Hue-Possibly-with-Red-or-Pink-Lines.pdf
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Enabling Font Smoothing

Operating systems display text in the form of glyphs. You can view these on Windows systems using the included Character Map tool. Each character is a glyph; a visual set of pixels that represents a character. While this method is easy to display, it could result in text with a “jagged” appearance depending on your monitor and settings. In the case of small text this may cause the text to be difficult to read. Similarly, some languages may use characters with many closely placed lines that may be difficult to read.

The characters shown below are the of the same font and font size. Characters on top have no font smoothing. Characters on the bottom have font smoothing enabled. (Enlarged for illustrative purposes.)

Different solutions have been created over time to help resolve this issue and depend somewhat on your operating system.

Anti-aliasing utilizes pixels of varying opacity to “smooth” the curves and edges of each glyph. However, on low resolution monitors very small text begins to appear blurry. For this reason, it was not used by Mac or Windows on small text.

Font smoothing was created to address some of the issues with anti-aliasing. Font smoothing uses sub-pixel rendering, which Microsoft calls ClearType. Sub-pixel rendering directly controls the red, green, and blue components of the millions of pixels in LCD monitors to emulate a resolution three times larger than normal. Microsoft windows provides font smoothing, using ClearType, on Windows 7, 8, 10, and 11.

An advantage to disabling font smoothing is that when the ExacqVision Desktop Client is using VGA Acceleration, the on-screen display (OSD) can appear sharper on top of the video.

Enabling / Disabling Font Smoothing via Client on Windows.

Click on the Client node from the navigation tree within the client’s Configuration mode. Toggle the Disable Windows Font Smoothing checkbox (pictured).

Enabling / Disabling Font Smoothing via Windows OS

To affect font smoothing system-wide. Click the Windows Start menu button and search for ‘ClearType’. Select the ‘Adjust ClearType text’ result. Follow the prompts from Windows to adjust as desired.

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