Chapter 5: The video panel interface
This section describes the main interface within EdgeVis Client - the video panel. This interface is responsible for displaying the video and providing access to the advanced capabilities of your encoder, including PTZ, full-resolution retrieval, and archive access.
From the Home tab selecting three encoders, and ticking Map, would open a layout that looks similar to the following:
Only one video pane can be active at once - click on the video pane to select the desired encoder. The active video pane is signified with a blue border. This will enable two sets of controls that expose the various functions of the encoder - labelled above:
Encoder functions toolbar, including PTZ, archive access and full-res retrieval
Encoder settings, actions and profiles:
- Settings – including colour controls, encoder diagnostics and setting a static map location
- Actions – including showing the encoder location on a map, downloading archive footage or accessing SecureConnect services on the encoder
- Profiles – Quickly change the encoder bandwidth, frame-rate and resolution to a number of intelligent presets (including a low-bandwidth economy mode). If a specific setting is required the Custom profile option can be used.
Encoder functions toolbar
The toolbar at the bottom of the video will present a number of controls that allow access to the features supported by the selected encoder. The toolbar dynamically shows/hides buttons depending on a number of factors including:
EdgeVis Client hides features not available on a particular encoder
EdgeVis Client hides features that the user has not been given permission to use
EdgeVis Client hides features if the video pane is too small to operate them within the confined pane
EdgeVis Client hides features the encoder is not licensed to use
The following features can be accessed using the toolbar:
Listen to the audio from the encoder. Audio must be enabled on the encoder.
Add a bookmark for the current time. Bookmarks can be added to live video or while reviewing archive video
Review the recordings on the encoder. This will present a list of available times - drill down to a day/hour/minute to begin playback, or select a bookmark to jump directly to a saved time
Change the live camera input.
Save a local image of the current video frame
Open the full-resolution retrieval interface
Open the virtual PTZ controls
Open the physical PTZ controls
Using PTZ/Virtual PTZ controls
EdgeVis Client supports two types of PTZ (Pan, Tilt and Zoom) controls:
Physical PTZ - if the encoder has a camera that is physically capable of being controlled, EdgeVis Client will allow the users to move the camera, zoom in/out and change focus/iris and backlight controls.
Virtual PTZ - the encoder will usually be transmitting the video at a resolution lower than the source footage. The encoder will resize the original source image down to the transmitted image's resolution which will cause some detail to be lost. Virtual PTZ allows the user to zoom into the source image, up to the point where one pixel in the source image is represented by one pixel in the transmitted image.
Note: Both types of PTZ are performed by the encoder and will affect all users of the encoder. Only one user may control PTZ at a time - to 'kick' a user log in to the EdgeVis Server’s web management interface to view active users of the encoder.
Opening PTZ control will display an on-screen joystick. Keyboard control are also available. The full list of keyboard commands is available in the built-in help. Drag the thumb joystick further from the centre to move the camera faster.
The joystick is surrounded by four other functions:
Zoom In ‘+’ and Out ‘-‘
Camera preset positions (both 'go to' and 'set')
Advanced features - camera specific, but usually includes iris, focus and backlight controls
Using full-resolution retrieval
All EdgeVis encoders support the full-res retrieval feature which allows users to download portions of the original image, as supplied by the camera, before any TVI compression is applied. This allows the user to view the original image in the highest quality and retrieve detail lost during live transmission.
When the user opens the full-resolution feature, EdgeVis Client will open a new ' full-res' tab:
The interface is split into a number of parts:
This is the currently selected video frame, blown up to the resolution of the source image. This image may look blocky, as it was likely received at a lower resolution. Select an area (Windows: Clicking and dragging, Android/iOS: tap top-left, tap bottom right) to retrieve the original pixels; EdgeVis Client will then contact the encoder and trickle-feed that portion of the original image to the client, while simultaneously ensuring all viewers continue to receive the live stream.
This window shows the live stream, allowing the user to maintain situational awareness.
This pane allows for a different video frame to be retrieved. The amount of time a user may scroll back varies by encoder model and encoder frame-rate, but is typically around one minute.
This button allows the user to download the entire frame. Downloading a full 1080p image (which will be approximately 200-300KB) could take several minutes to download.
The Save button will save a high-quality JPEG of the retrieved image. Images can be saved locally on the user’s PC, copied to the clipboard or attached to an email. The entire image can be saved, or only a selected area of the image.
