*BriefCam setup

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

Technical Article | TA-20201002-TP-31

VDG Sense | Third party Integrations | BriefCam

 

What is BriefCam?

BriefCam is the creator and patent holder for Video Synopsis®, a ground-breaking approach that superimposes objects on a stationary background, simultaneously displaying events that have occurred at different times. This allows you to conduct careful forensic analysis of recorded material, reviewing hours of footage in minutes, sometimes seconds.

A BriefCam microservice has been added to VDG Sense 2.6.2, which allows BriefCam to collect recorded footage from your VDG Sense server. This article will describe how to setup your BriefCam software and how to create a video synopsis using VDG Sense recorded data.

For more information about BriefCam and it’s features, visit the BriefCam website at https://www.briefcam.com/

Connecting BriefCam to VDG Sense

To connect your BriefCam server to the VDG Sense server, it is required to install the BriefCam Generic HTTP Plugin. This allows BriefCam to communicate with VDG Sense through HTTP. Contact your BriefCam salesman for obtaining the installation files of this plugin.

Once the plugin has been installed, start up the BriefCam Server Admin tool. Fill in your BriefCam credentials and login.


Once logged in into the admin tool, click on the button “Add directory”

Select “Generic HTTP integration” in the video integration checkbox.

Fill in your VDG Sense IP address of your Master server. Make sure you include the https:// and add /briefcam/api/v1/ at the end of the IP. So for example:

https://<Your Sense server IP>/briefcam/api/v1/

Fill in the administrator username and password and click “Apply

Note: If this causes a “Failed to Connect” error, check the Troubleshooting section in the bottom of this article.

Once the directory has been added, click on the “Camera +” icon


In the following dialog, select all the cameras that should be eligible to work with the BriefCam software. Click apply once ready.

Creating a Video Synopsis

Once Briefcam has been connected to the Sense services, you can create a Video Synopsis from within the BriefCam software. Due to the many options and possibilities in the BriefCam software, this article will not have a detailed exploitation of how the software works. Please refer to the BriefCam User Manual for a detailed explanation on creating Video Synopsis’.

Troubleshooting

1) Failed to connect. Could not establish trust relationship

This error occurs because the certificate of the VDG Sense server is self-signed. To solve this, the certificate needs to be downloaded from the VDG Sense server and added to the local machine.

  1. Open Internet Explorer and run as Administrator

    • It’s possible to use any internet browser, but the steps may differ than described here.

  2. Type in the Sense Server IP address in the addresss bar

    • If you are on the machine on which the Sense Server is installed, do not use localhost or 127.0.0.1 address!

  3. On the right side of the URL bar, click on the Certificate Error message

4. The pop-up message, click on “View Certificates”

5. In the dialog, click on the “Details” tab

6. Look up the field “Subject Alternative Name” and check if one of the IP address in the value equals the Sense Server IP

  • If this IP is not equal, an additional step is required. Refer to the Update Certificate troubleshooting section. Else continue with the steps below

7. Click on the “Copy to File..” button

  • If this button is disabled, please make sure you are running Internet Explorer as Administrator

8. This will open a Certificate Export Wizard

9. In the Export Format window, choose “DER encoded binary X.509 (.CER)

10. Choose a filename and a location to save the certificate

11. Browse to saved location and right click on the .cer file

12. In the context menu, click “Install Certificate”

13. Choose “Local Machine” as the Store Location

14. In the Certificate Store window, select “Place all certificates in the following store” and click Browse…

15. In the directory pop-up, select “Trusted Root Certification Authorities”

 

16. Click Finish to complete the Certification import process

2) Update certificate

If your Sense Server IP address does not match the IP address in the “Subject Alternative Name”, the certificate needs to be updated before it can be used.

  1. Open Internet Explorer and run as Administrator

  2. Type in the IP Address of the Sense Server followed by /config in the address bar

  3. Login with your Sense administrator credentials

  4. Click on the API icon (monitor)

  5. Click on the Certificate icon

6. Click on “Generate Self-signed certificate”

  • This can take several seconds

7. Click on “Restart”

8. A new certificate has been generated which can be used to establish a trust relationship. However you are required to restart the entire process from step 1.