*Devices tab

Owned by Tom Polman
Last updated: Sept 21, 2022
4 min read

Configuration Article | CA-20200930-TP-03

VDG Sense | Setup | Devices

Introduction

This article explains the functionality of the devices tab. The devices tab shows the list of devices which are configured on the selected server. The server can be selected in the selection box just below the ‘Server’ and ‘Devices’ tab.

The list of devices is devided into three categories which can be selected by the corresponding icons. These are located above the list of devices on the left side of the screen:

  • Cameras (left icon)

  • Commend Servers (middle icon)

  • I/O boxes (right icon)

On the devices tab, the devices that are recorded by this Sense server can be added, removed or configured. Use the ’+’ button to add a new device, or use the ’-’ button to remove the selected device.

If a device is connected to the Diva and it is selected, live video from that device will be visible in the panel on the top right of the screen. Below the preview window there is an ’Open Device Settings’ button. Pressing this button will open the advanced
settings page of that camera.

Finding devices
To find devices which are present in the same network-range as the connected server open the ’Find Devices’ dialog by pressing the ’Find’ button at the bottom of the screen.

Immediately after opening the dialog a device search will start. This can take a couple of seconds. The devices which need to be added can be selected by checking the boxes. Click on ’Add’ to close the dialog and add the devices. Click on ’Cancel’ to only close the dialog without adding the devices.

Add or edit a device
On the left there is a list of all devices, so you can easily change to a device you want to edit without. To change a device select it in the list, the following properties can be changed:

  • Device ID
    The device ID can be used for API commands.

  • Name
    The name of the device. This name will be displayed when viewing the device in a live or playback layout.

  • Location
    The name of the physical location of the device. This name is used in several place in the interface to divide the device list into groups. This to keep device lists short and synoptic.

  • Driver
    The driver of the device.

  • Address
    The IP-address of the device.

  • Port
    If the device is configured to stream its video on another port, use this field to let the server connect to the device on the correct port. Default value is 80.

  • Stream Port
    This field is visible for devices from Acti, VDG and DIVA which require dedicated ports for data and commands. If the device is configured to stream its video on another port, use this field to let the server connect to the device on the correct port. The Port field is used to send commands.

  • Use HTTPS
    This checkbox is visible for devices from Axis. Enabling this checkbox will set the connection of the device to HTTPS. The default port for HTTPS connection will be set 443.

  • Video channel
    This field is visible for multi-channel encoders and cameras from Acti, Arecont, Axis, Observision, Vivotek. The value is used to connect to the configured video channel on the encoder. If misconfigured this will result in a connection lost or a video loss message.

  • User name
    If the device is setup with a user name and password here you can fill in the same user name to connect to the device.

  • Password
    If the device is setup with a user name and password here you can fill in the same password to connect to the device.

  • Max Storage (hours)
    The maximum number of hours that data for this device should be stored. NOTE: This is only a maximum setting, not a minimum. The number of hours that data for each device is stored, depends on the storage space available.

  • Codec
    This field is visible for multi-codec encoders and cameras. Use this setting to choose to optimum codec for your situation. Options are JPEG, MPEG2, MPEG4 / H.264, MPEG4 and H.264. Use JPEG for a more flexible event handling of the video, this requires more storage and network bandwidth. Choose MPEG4 / H.264 when lower bandwidth is the more important requirement.

  • Angle
    The angle setting can be used to correct the image of a device that has been mounted in a different position. The image is only rotated in the view and stored as received. This setting is stored with each frame and during playback the stored angle is used to rotate the image.

Reference image
It is also possible to set the reference image, which is also used by the SceneR algorithm, to do so click the ’+’-button between the preview and the reference image to grab the image shown in the preview. When adding a new device the first received image from that device is used as a reference image.