When exporting video, from time to time you may notice that the length of the exported AVI or MOV file is slightly shorter than the video you marked in the client to be exported.
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This occurs because when the video from the client is transcoded to a different format the length is determined by (frame rate * number of frames). The software must estimate the frame rate in order to account for things such as motion recording or time lapse where there are gaps. The longer your exported file is the more you may notice this, but the total export will still contain all the frames recorded during that time.
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If this is a serious concern, we recommend exporting to our proprietary PS file format or the EXE file format which does not transcode the video. In addition, EXE files provide the benefit of a watermark to authenticate that the video has not been tampered with.
exacqVision 7.8 introduced enhancements to video archiving to provide faster access to video and better manage bandwidth. Users closer to the archive location on the network can directly search video on the archive without routing data through the recorder. Direct archive search is available for any Exacq S-Series storage device and any third-party network share archive.
For customers that want to implement mobile video on vehicles such as trains, subways, and buses, exacqVision Edge+ VMS software on a camera can be used in combination with direct archive search to send video to the archive while at the station and view video from the archive while the vehicle is on duty.
Direct archive search can be enabled for exacqVision Professional and Enterprise users. To enable direct archive search, users can go to the Archiving page and select the Enabled check box under the new Direct Search section and enter read-only username and password credentials that the client will use to access the network share.
Once Direct Archive Search is enabled. You would perform your search from the exacqVision Client search page. You can choose your preferred search location.
Direct Search Disabled
This will search the exacqVision Server for the metadata. The server will provide the desired video from the exacqVision Server. If the video does not reside on the server but is archived, it will pull the desired content from the archive and then send from the exacqVision Server to the client.
Note: If the exacqVision Server is offline, you will not get any search results from the archive.
Direct Search Enabled – Prefer System Video (Default)
This will search the exacqVision Server for the metadata. The server will provide the desired video from the exacqVision Server. If the video does not reside on the server but is archived, it will provide the video from the archive. Since Direct Archive Search is enabled, the content will be pulled directly from the archive (not routed through the exacqVision server)
Direct Search Enabled – Prefer Archive Video
This will search the archive first and provide the results directly to the Client, unless it does not exist on the archive. This could be the case when video recorded on the NVR has not been archived yet. If you know the exacqVision server is offline, this would be the choice for directly searching the archive. This could also conceivably be used to search video from an S-Series removed from site for legal/evidentiary purposes.
Direct Search Enabled – Prefer Cloud Video
This will search a Cloud Drive archive. Cloud Drive is a subscription product offered for archiving data off premises.
Video may be exported from exacqVision in different formats. The table below illustrates some of the differences in these formats.
Multi-Camera: For the purposes of this article, multi-camera means many camera streams are combined into a single exported file. When exporting as .MOV, .AVI, or .MP4 each stream will end up as its own file.
Self-Playing: The .EXE file format bundles the exacqVision ePlayer into the file. This allows the file to be opened and played back on any Windows desktop or server operating system. This file format does not play natively on Ubuntu/Linux or Mac systems.
For more details on .AVI and .MOV usage and codecs, please refer to Article 1925
Introduced in exacqVision 8.0, suspect tracking provides users with a visual method of following a person or object moving through several camera scenes.
Suspect tracking is featured as a new tab on the camera settings page. If you already have cameras laid out on a map that includes the camera you are configuring, you may opt to use the ‘Generate from Map’ button. This button will try its best to approximate placement of suspect tracking windows based on your map. You will probably still need to make some edits.
The suspect tracking ‘windows’ are drawn over the live camera image and act similar to a web page link, where clicking this window in Live Mode will automatically take you to the view of the associated camera.
Click on the New button to add a suspect tracking window.
Click and hold while you drag out a window over the camera image. Release to finish drawing the window. Even after drawing the window you can resize it and move it.
In the example above a window was placed to the left side because we have another camera down that hallway. You can change the fill color, border color and opacity for each window to make them stand out or easily identifiable for your users. Before you can click the Apply button you must select the ellipses button and choose the camera you want this window to be tied to.
When you are done editing your suspect tracking window, click Apply.
In Live mode a new camera association will appear.
Clicking or pressing this association toggles the suspect tracking windows on and off.
Double-clicking on the suspect tracking window will change that camera panel to the associated camera.
Exacq does not pull proxy settings from the LAN settings or Network Adapter settings. When ‘Check for Updates’ is selected it reaches out to Exacq.com to gather information on other versions of software, but if it is behind a network proxy it needs to know how to communicate with it. This requires creating an Environmental Variable in the operating system. See steps below for Windows, scroll further down for Linux.
Windows
Click the Windows (Start) button.<br><br>
Windows 10: Use the Search field to type ‘Environment Variable’, and click on the resulting option, titled ‘Edit the system environment variables‘. <br> Windows 7: Right-click on Computer and choose Properties.<br><br>
Within the System Properties window that appears, open the Advanced tab.<br><br>
Click the Environment Variables… button. <br><br>
The bottom half of the Environment Variables window contains the System variables panel. Click on the New… button under this panel. <br><br>
In the New System Variable dialog, enter ‘http_proxy‘ into the Variable name field. The Variable value field will be filled with the IP or domain address of your proxy server. The picture below uses ‘192.168.0.1’ as an example in this field. If you do not know the address of the proxy to use here, you will need to check with the site’s network administrator. <br><br>
Click OK when finished, then click OK to close the Environment Variables window, and OK again to close the System Properties window. <br><br>
Linux
Open a Terminal window by pressing CTRL+ALT+T.<br><br>
At the prompt enter the command below, replace the ‘192.168.0.1’ example with the IP of your proxy server. export http_proxy=192.168.0.1<br><br>
To make the new entry persistent, so it remains after future reboots of the server, you must add it to the environment configuration file.
From the prompt in Terminal enter: sudo gedit /etc/environment<br><br>
Add a new line. Replace the ‘192.168.0.1’ address in the example with the IP of your proxy. http_proxy=192.168.0.1<br><br>
Multistreaming provides the ability to display or record camera video streams at alternative settings for a number of different use cases. Examples include:
Displaying higher resolution video to users on the local network than those connected remotely to constrain bandwidth consumption. This is achieved through Auto-Context Switching, described below.
Recording high resolution streams while displaying lower resolution to live viewing workstations, ensuring forensic searches provide the greatest level of detail. This is achieved by simply using different recording schedules for each stream.
NOTE: Multistreaming is not available for exacqVision Start users and your cameras must support multistreaming. Refer to the IP Camera Integration database to search for supported camera models.
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Adding Streams
In the cameras Settings page, use the ‘Add Stream‘ button to create a secondary context stream and make any changes to the recording quality or frame rate settings.
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The resulting secondary stream will appear nested under the primary stream on the configuration tree. Here, it’s been given a name to indicate it is the lower resolution.
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TIP: Cameras typically provide fewer settings options with each additional stream. Typically, you want to select the lowest context number available since most cameras provide less settings options as the stream number increases. As an example, a 4MP camera may provide 4MP for the primary stream, but the secondary stream may not be set above 2MP. Some fisheye cameras may only provide camera-side dewarped options.
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Auto-Context Switching
The exacqVision Client has the built-in capability to select the best stream for your display panel based on the scale of the video display and connection speed. This can be used to help optimize performance in the client.
Example: You have a camera configured with a high resolution primary stream but also have a low resolution secondary stream. Auto-Context Switching by the Client will select whether to display the low or high resolution stream based on the size of the image in the client or connection speed. This results in improved bandwidth utilization and performance when viewing multiple camera streams in Live View or connected over a slower remote network.
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Managing Streams as Quality Streams
Auto-Context Switching takes place automatically if the sub-stream(s) are in the same aspect ratio; e.g. – 16:9 to 16:9, or 4:3 to 4:3. This does not take place automatically if they are of different aspect ratios, such as a 16:9 primary and a 4:3 secondary, or in cases where the FOV has been cropped. However, the exacqVision Client provides some settings for controlling this behavior as well as the appearance.
Navigate to the Client Settings.
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Under the Multistreaming dialogue, enabling ‘Manage All Streams as Quality Streams‘ will override the default behavior to perform Auto-Context Switching regardless of aspect ratios. Note, that this could lead to distinguishable changes in the Live display based on the aspect ratio of the camera panel grid when the streams have different dimensions.
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In Live View parent devices are shown using a purple icon, with the context streams nested beneath them shown with blue icons if you are using the Light or Dark themes. When using the Classic theme, the parent device will now be shown with a gold asterisk.
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Drag the primary device name to a panel. This contains both the high and low resolution streams. The exacqVision Client software will automatically determine which stream to display based on the panel size.
This can be observed by first using a layout in which camera panels are small in size, such as the 5×5 layout shown below. Note that the stream named ‘(Low Res)’ has been selected and view the data rate at the bottom.
When changing the display to the single panel layout, the Client software automatically switches to the full resolution stream and the data rate at the bottom increases.
Besides changing the size of the panels by changing the layout, this can also be observed when resizing the Client window, particularly when viewing the single panel layout.
In addition to panel size as a factor, exacqVision will also consider the connection speed of the Client to the Server. This is manually configured when connecting to a server on the Add Systems page. Located beneath the server address and login credentials, this setting defaults to LAN. But users connected offsite may benefit from selecting the proper setting.
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Local – Should be reserved for instances of the Client being run directly on the NVR hosting the exacqVision Server.
LAN – Used by workstations on the same local network, typically within the same building and without routers between the workstation and NVR.
WAN – Used by workstations on a wide area network, say on a municipal or university network, or even across town.
Remote – Used by workstations connected further away over several router hops, or with bandwidth limitations between the Client and NVR. Also encouraged if connected to remote exacqVision Edge applications using a cellular/wireless connection.
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Hiding Quality Streams
By default the Live Cameras tree will display all configured streams, as seen in this example.
Some users may not wish to see the secondary context streams listed under their cameras in the Live Cameras tree. These may be hidden by entering the Client settings page and enabling the ‘Hide Individual Quality Streams‘ setting.
With this enabled, returning to the Live Cameras screen shows only the parent stream, managed automatically by the Client as described above using Auto-Context switching.
Features gained by upgrading from HDVR to exacqVision:
2-way audio added for certain cameras (see camera database to determine which cameras support this feature).
Remote server update is now accessible.
Archiving features available on Windows 7 systems (not supported in Windows XP).
The Exacq 6.0 Bundle installer consists of three components:
Server
Client
Web Service
This HDVR replacement bundle installer requires user intervention to complete the process. This document includes procedures for each component’s installer. After the HDVR installers are replaced with the exacqVision installers, use exacqVision versions for all future installations.
NOTE: After the migration, you will see the exacqvision “V” logo instead of the HDVR logo in all icons and shortcuts.
exacqVision Server
If the installer detects a previous HDVR server installation, a licensing message appears.
Click OK to install exacqVision Server over the existing HDVR server installation. This will install to C:\Program Files\HDVR, and video will be saved to existing directories.
exacqVision Client
If the installer detects a previous HDVR client installation, a warning message appears:
Click OK to install exacqVision Client over the existing HDVR client installation. This will install to C:\Program Files\HDVR, and all configuration XML files will be saved and applied to exacqVision Client.
exacqVision Web Service
If the installer detects a previous HDVR web service installation, a warning message appears:
A useful feature of exacqVision Client is to automatically switch to a view that highlights an event in progress. This can be configured two slightly different ways in exacqVision Client:
If you want the view to change to an event and stay on that event until the operator acknowledges it, or if you want the client to stay on that event for a specific number of seconds, configure Event Monitoring using a default view and the Event Monitoring List.
If you want the view to change to an event and stay on that event until the event ends, and if all cameras are on the same server, configure Event Monitoring using Source Groups. (NOTE: All cameras must be on the same server for this type of automation because it depends on a Source Group event that runs on the server.)
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Configuration Steps
Each of these methods are explained in the following sections.
Configuring Event Monitoring using a Default View and the Event Monitoring List
Save the view that you want to display by default when no event is triggering.
Save each view that you want to display full screen when a trigger is activated.
Create a new Event Monitoring profile.
Give the Profile a name.
Select Show Event Monitor List.
Change the type to View.
Set first Client Action to Event Type Default.
Set Action Type to Switch View.
Set Action Target to your default view.
Click Apply.
11. Click New to add a Client Action.
12. Select your Event Type.
13. Select your Event Source.
14. Set Action Type to Switch View.
15. Select the associated view to display when this trigger is activated.
16. Deselect Confirm and select a timeout period if you want the view to persist for a specific period of time. Alternatively, select Confirm if you want to force the operator to acknowledge the event before returning to the default view.
17. Repeat steps 11-16 for each trigger/view combination.
18. Click Apply.
19. On the Live page, click Views.
20. Double-click the new Event Monitor.
Now your Default view is displayed until a trigger is activated; at this time, the trigger’s associated view is displayed. You can resize and move the Event Monitor List if desired.
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Configuring Event Monitoring using a Source Group
In the Live view, save the view that you want to display by default when no event is triggering.
Save each view that you want to display when a trigger is activated.
Create a new Event Monitoring profile.
Give the Profile a name.
Change the type to View.
Create client actions for each event:
Select an Event Type.
Select an Event Source.
Set Action Type as Switch View.
Select the associated view to display when this trigger is activated.
Select New and repeat these steps for each trigger/view combination.
Create the client action for the default view:
On the Event Monitoring page, select New and select Source Group as the Event Type.
Select the server that contains all the cameras and views in the system drop-down list.
Click New.
Name the group.
Click New and select the appropriate event type.
Select one of the cameras associated with the event.
Select When Not Alarmed.
Repeat these steps for each camera associated with an event.
Click OK to finish creating the Source Group.
Click Switch View as the Action Type.
Select the default view created previously.
Click Apply.
NOTE: There is a known issue with using Source Groups in Event Monitoring. For the Source Group to function, an Event Linking action using the same Source Group must be created on the server. See this article for additional information.
On the Live page, click Views.
Double-click the new Event Monitoring profile created previously.
Now your Default view is displayed until a trigger is activated; at that time, the trigger’s associated view is displayed until it ends or another event starts. The Event Monitoring list is not required to be open.
NOTE: When the initial view loads, no camera is displayed until the first event occurs. Then the view will switch to the event and then back to the default view.
When logged into Windows as a domain user (instead of as a local user), exacqVision Client restricts the locations where video may be exported. An administrative user can export video to any directory or drive, whereas a restricted user can export video only to exacqVision Client’s designated file area.
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When a Windows system is added to a domain, Windows automatically adds the domain’s Domain Admins group to the local system’s Administrators group. (Domain Admins is a standard administrative group in Active Directory.) Therefore, by default any domain user that belongs to Domain Admins is seen as an administrative user by exacqVision Client and can choose any location when exporting video. If a domain user is unable to choose a location when exporting video, verify that the user is a member of a domain group that belongs to the local system’s Administrators group.
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Domain groups can be added to or removed from the local system’s Administrators group via the Computer Management control panel, found under Administrative Tools in Control Panel.
NOTE: These are Legacy instructions. This behavior was replaced when Client settings implemented Panel Size settings.
When using cameras with a 4×3 resolution, gray bars might appear to the left and right of the camera’s video window in exacqVision Client. To stretch the 4×3 video so that it fills the screen, manually set the video card to a 4×3 resolution as described in the following steps for your Windows version:
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Before Changing the Resolution:
After Changing the Resolution:
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Windows 7
Right-click the computer’s Desktop and select Personalize from the pop-up menu.
Click Display.
Select Adjust Resolution.
In the Resolution drop-down list, select a 4×3 resolution, such as 1280×960, 1152×864, or 1024×768, or 800×600. (The first number divided by the second number should equal 1.333333.)
Click Apply.
If the setting is acceptable, click Keep Changes.<br><br>
Windows XP
Right-click the computer’s Desktop and select Properties from the pop-up menu.
In the Display Properties window, select the Settings tab.
In the Screen Resolution section, select a 4×3 resolution, such as 1152×864, 1024×768, or 800×600. (The first number divided by the second number should equal 1.333333.)
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