The Monitor Station is the primary user interface in the Video Insight product suite. From an end user point of view, it provides centralized viewing of live and recorded images from any server. System and Security Administrators use the Monitor Station to setup and configure all servers and cameras from a central location.

Video Insight Screen Layout

Video Insight has two primary functions: it records the video and provides tools to view live or recorded video. The system is designed to be easy to use while having very powerful features. When you start Video Insight, the following screen appears:

There are three main sections of the screen:

• Viewing Panel (outlined in red) which can be customized to view up to 32 cameras
• Left Navigation tree structure (outlined in blue) which can be used to navigate from camera to camera and to view recorded files
• Tool Bar (outlined in green) which provides convenient access to commonly used tools

Viewing Panel

The viewing panel can be configured to show from one to 32 cameras in various configurations. The layout buttons at the top of the viewing panel allow you to control the number of cameras displayed. Click on the 4 camera grid and it displays the first four cameras.

Click on the desired layout icon, and the viewing panel changes to reflect the new viewing configuration. You can also create any number of custom views and select the layout to display on startup. To create custom layouts, please see the Setup and Configuration manual.

At the top of the image is the name of the server and the camera.

Right Click on Image

By positioning the mouse on the image and right clicking, the following menu appears:

Left Click to Zoom

To zoom in on a picture, position the mouse on the upper left hand corner of the area that you want to zoom in on, then press the left mouse button and drag the mouse over the area to be zoomed. The system will then zoom in on the area. To zoom out, position the mouse in the lower right hand corner, then press the left mouse button and drag the mouse back over the area. The system will then zoom out to the original view. You can then use the PTZ controls in the left pane to control the zoom function as a digital PTZ. You can click on the middle of the camera image to return to the normal view.

Left Panel Navigation Tree Structure

The Left Navigation Tree Structure provides the main means of navigating between locations and cameras. You can navigate to particular locations (servers) and cameras, or you can navigate to custom layouts and facility maps. The system starts displaying all cameras. To view a single camera, click on the camera from the Left Navigation Tree. The focus will shift to a single camera.

Layouts

You can set up customized layouts that can display cameras from one or multiple servers. In the example above, the administrator has set up two custom layouts: one consisting of the front entrances of four separate campuses (Front Entrances) and one consisting of certain cameras at the Southwest Campus. In the example above, when the layout “Front Entrances” is selected, the following view appears showing cameras at each entrance of each of 4 different campuses. Layouts are stored on particular servers. However, given the right security access, anyone on any server can view any custom layout. For more details on setting up custom layouts, consult the Setup and Configuration Guide.

Dynamic Layouts

You can also create dynamic layouts by selecting and dragging cameras onto the viewing panes. Select cameras from the left navigation tree and drag them into the desired viewing panes. Cameras can be selected from any server.

Multi-Layered Facility Map

To help locate cameras across your organization, you can import images of your facilities into Video Insight. Our easy to use setup, allows you to take advantage of this feature without any customization.

If Facility maps have been set up, they will appear in the Navigation Tree. As with layouts, facility maps are stored on particular servers. However, given the correct security access, you can view facility maps from any server. Facility maps can be layered for drill down purposes. You can set up a map for an entire town, then drill down to an individual campus, and then drill down to an individual floor. You can set up default facility maps for a server. For instance, the default facility map for the server is Lincoln.

By selecting the Lincoln Campus from the left navigation tree, the floor plan for Lincoln High School will appear. You can mouse over the camera and that camera’s live image will appear in the pane to the right.

In the lower right hand corner is information on the camera, the Live Window option and the zoom in and out controls. By clicking on the 30 Seconds button, you can review the last 30 seconds of recording for that camera.

The left arrow moves the view to the next higher facility map if you have set up multi-level facility maps.

At the top of the facility map are options to show or remove the cameras, camera names or camera ranges from the facility map.

You can also change the font size on the camera names and remove the zoom bar from the camera view.

Right Click on Camera Name

You can change some of your camera settings by right clicking on the camera name.

By selecting this option, you will be taken to the corresponding camera setup screens. For more detail on camera setup, consult your Setup and Configuration Guide.

PTZ and Audio Controls

At the bottom of the left navigation area are controls for PTZ cameras as well as Audio Controls. By clicking on the arrow, you collapse the controls so that they no longer appear in the left navigation area.

PTZ Controls

With the PTZ Controls, you can control the PTZ camera by clicking on the arrows to move the camera, clicking on the zoom in and zoom out buttons, . When a PTZ camera is selected in the viewing panel, the PTZ controls affect the camera that is selected.

Audio Controls

• Balance – Balances sound between the left and right speakers.
• Delay Buffer – sets the size of the audio buffer. This can be adjusted when you have a slow network connection.
• Volume – sets the speaker volume.

Recorded Video

To View a Recorded File

Using the left navigation tree, click on a camera, date, and time.

Recorded files are organized into folders starting with Today. Click the folder to view the recorded files from today. The file names represent the time when the file was created. For example, 06h44m09s means 6:44:09AM. The system creates a new file whenever the file size has reached the specified size (default is 200mb). See the Setup and Configuration Guide for instructions on changing these settings. The file will play back in the viewer and you can use the navigation buttons to move through the file. Video Insight stores its files in a standard AVI format with the camera name, date and time stored on the file. The file format is compatible with any Windows Media player and can be distributed without the requirement of a special viewer.

The system automatically creates a new file at midnight, regardless of size, to keep all files organized by date. Depending on the amount of activity and your settings, you might see as few as 1 file or as many as 20 files for a single day.

When you click on a recording, a playback screen will appear with the playback options shown below.

Zoom On Playback

Video Insight provides the ability to zoom on playback as well as live view. To zoom in on a picture, position the mouse on the upper left hand corner of the area that you want to zoom in on, then press the left mouse button and drag the mouse over the area to be zoomed. The system will then zoom in on the area. To zoom out, position the mouse in the lower right hand corner, then press the left mouse button and drag the mouse back over the area. The system will then zoom out to the original view. You can then use the PTZ controls in the left pane to control the zoom function as a digital PTZ. You can click on the middle of the camera image to return to the normal view.