AXIS Media Control -- Version 3.32 February 2006 (c) 2003 - 2006 Axis Communications AB AXIS Media Control is the ActiveX component used for viewing and handling media streams produced by Axis video products. __________________________________________________________________ Contents: - INSTALLATION - USAGE - WHAT'S NEW - KNOWN ISSUES __________________________________________________________________ INSTALLATION: - Supported platforms: The AXIS Media Control can be installed on any Windows platform, but only Windows 2000, Windows XP or higher are supported. - Administrator rights required on the target platform when installing the AXIS Media Control. - Client PC minimum requirements for MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 (one instance): CPU • Pentium III 500 Mhz or higher, any AMD Athlon Memory • 128 MB RAM Graphic card • AGP card with Direct Draw support and 16 Mb video memory (32/64 Mb recommended for high resolutions/color depths) Software • Internet Explorer 5.5. • DirectX 9.0 or higher UNINSTALL: Use "Add/Remove Programs" from the Control Panel to uninstall the AXIS Media Control. __________________________________________________________________ USAGE The AXIS Media Control can be controlled independently of the Axis product's web pages, where it is embedded by using the provided toolbar. Advanced properties can be configured by using the AXIS Media Control applet provided in the Control Panel. Toolbar ------- The toolbar includes the following buttons: - Stop (when a media stream is being played) Stops retrieving media stream. This stops all network traffic to and from the Axis product. - Play (when a media stream is stopped) Connects to the Axis product and starts playing a media stream. - Snapshot Saves a copy of the current image being displayed. The location of the image file can be specified in the AXIS Media Control Applet found in the Control Panel, as documented below. - Full screen The media stream will be displayed in full screen mode. To return to standard mode, hit the 'Esc' button on the keyboard. - Mute/Sound Enable or disable sound if the media stream includes audio. A volume slider bar is available for controlling the volume level when the media stream includes audio. - Talk/Listen Enable or disable microphone connected to PC, if the Axis device has audio capacity. A microphone sensitivity slider bar is available for controlling the volume level on audio sent to the Axis device. - Audio settings In small resolutions the volume controls are displayed on top of the video window when pressing this button. - Push to talk In "simplex mode - AXIS device speaker only" and in "half duplex" mode push this button to activate microphone. Control Panel Applet -------------------- The AXIS Media Control has a set of advanced properties that can be configured in the Windows control panel. Some of the settings require a restart of AXIS Media Control to take effect. The following tabs and properties are available: - General tab Presents the version and support information. The "View readme" button opens this readme file. - Network tab From here the network connection timeout can be configured. This value is the maximum length of time (in seconds) that the AXIS Media Control will attempt to connect to an Axis product, before displaying an error message. The default value is 15 seconds. The Multicast Network Interface is the interface (IP address) that AXIS Media Control will use to connect to the multicast stream sent from the Axis camera/video server. This option can be changed if there is a problem viewing the multicast video stream on a PC with multiple network interfaces. When set to default AMC will use the interface selected by windows. For more information about multicast see the product manual. The connection order for MPEG-4 protocols can be changed in the "MPEG-4 connection order" list. Protocols can also be disabled. The first protocol that succeeds to get a connection is used the next time the camera/server is accessed. This setting will be used until either the server can't be reached on the protocol or when a protocol setting has been changed. - Snapshot tab Specify here the folder where snapshots will be stored when the Snapshot toolbar button is clicked (see above). It is also possible to specify which type of feedback that will be given when the button is clicked. The default snapshot folder is "My Documents\AXIS Media Control - Snapshots". This folder will be created automatically if it does not exist. When taking a snapshot, feedback is given in the form of a standard Windows sound for success or error. Instead of a sound you can select to have visual confirmation of the outcome of the operation. You can also choose to open the snapshot folder in the background if you need quick access to the snapshots. - MPEG-2 tab MPEG-2 advanced features can be configured here. Note that when setting video processing properties, changes will not take effect on media streams being displayed until the stream is restarted. De-interlacing is an operation performed by the AXIS Media Control to eliminate unwanted image effects when viewing rapidly moving objects. This operation improves video quality when fast movement is being registered, but may introduce a slight decrease in the overall performance of the media displaying. The default is to not apply de-interlacing. By default, AXIS Media Control decodes as many MPEG-2 video frames as possible given the capabilities and performance of the computer. To decrease the amount of CPU capacity used for video processing, it is possible to only decode I or I and P frames. This will, however, greatly reduce the quality of the video being displayed. Only displaying I frames has the lowest performance/quality ratio. For an explanation of I, P and B frames, please refer to the MPEG-2 standards. The AXIS Media Control includes an MPEG-2 video decoder that can be used to view standard MPEG-2 media streams and files produced by other sources. This decoder may, however, conflict with other MPEG-2 applications already installed in the target computer, e.g. DVD player software. Use the buttons on this tab to attempt to resolve conflicts, or to set this decoder as the default for viewing MPEG-2 video content. Click on the "View license" button to view the MPEG-2 license agreement. - MPEG-4 tab MPEG-4 advanced features can be configured here. Note that when setting video processing properties, changes will not take effect on media streams being displayed until the stream is restarted. De-interlacing is an operation performed by the AXIS Media Control to eliminate unwanted image effects when viewing rapidly moving objects. This operation improves video quality when fast movement is being registered. The default is to not apply de-interlacing. By default, AXIS Media Control decodes as many MPEG-4 video frames as possible, given the capabilities and performance of the computer. To decrease the amount of CPU power used for video processing, it is possible to only decode I frames. This will, however, greatly reduce the quality of the video being displayed. Only displaying I frames has the lowest performance/quality ratio. For an explanation of I and P frames (VOP), please refer to the MPEG-4 standards. The AXIS Media Control includes an MPEG-4 video decoder that can be used to view standard MPEG-4 media streams and files produced by other sources. This decoder may, however, conflict with other MPEG-4 applications already installed in the target computer, e.g. XVID, DIVX5 players. Use the buttons on this tab to attempt to resolve conflicts, or to set this decoder as the default for viewing MPEG-4 video content. With the introduction of MS DirectX 9, a new video renderer is added to the system. In case of problems while rendering the date or text overlay on the video, check the box "Advanced Video Rendering". This feature can also be used on desktops that are low on video memory. - Audio tab Audio settings can be configured here. The talk/listen button can be configured for PTT mode: push and hold to talk, release to listen or Toggle mode: Click once to talk and click once to listen. Note that this option is only valid in "half-duplex" and in "Simplex - server speaker only" modes. In simplex you switch between talk and secrecy. Audio buffering controls the size of the buffer for audio. A higher level will reduce audio break-up, but may introduce a noticeable lag in audio transmission. Note that when setting audio processing properties, changes will not take effect on audio streams being played until AMC is reloaded. Changes made by muting or enabling in the toolbar is not saved when AMC is closed. - PTZ tab Configure and select preferred joystick here. If 'Default' is selected, any Axis Communications joystick will be used before others. If there is no Axis Communications joystick, any joystick will do. Assign actions to joystick buttons by opening the "Configure buttons" dialog. Selecting the action from the tree structure to the left, pressing the desired joystick button and then confirming by clicking 'ok' is the easiest way to assign buttons. Normally, AMC starts in center mode, but this can be changed by checking 'Start in Emulated Joystick Mode'. Disabling graphical overlays increases performance when using joystick if processor load is heavy. To see overlays in an mpeg-4 stream it is necessary to enable Advanced video rendering in the MPEG-4 tab. The live stream needs to be restarted before any changes take effect. __________________________________________________________________ WHAT'S NEW: Reconnect functionality when stream stopped if EnableReconnect property is set. AAC in Motion JPEG supported for AAC audio capable devices. SVG Support Joystick Support __________________________________________________________________ KNOWN ISSUES: General ------- - When browsing in the control panel for a snapshot folder, certain invalid folders (e.g. \\{server}) may appear for selection. However, as these are not valid selections, they will not appear in the edit box. MPEG-2 ------ - In MPEG-2 products, if the video resolution is set to 2CIF, any snapshots taken will have half the specified height. - Date and time overlay text shown when playing MPEG-2 files may be hard to read, depending on the color scale of the video being shown. MPEG-4 ------ - The client may stop displaying the MPEG-4 video stream after the PC has been locked. Workaround: Reload the Live View page. AUDIO ----- - If the toolbar is not correctly updated, please reload the Live View page and check your server audio connection if this does not help. - If the audio settings window displayed on top of the video window (only in small resolutions) does not respond on mouse clicks or moves, close and open the window to be able to use the controls again.