Creating and configuring a virtual Video capture device

General information about the virtual Video capture device

Axxon PSIM implements a way to work with a virtual video capture device. This way assumes that Axxon PSIM operates in a test mode and imitates the video stream feed to a virtual Video capture device by playing back video (video recording). In Axxon PSIM there are two types of virtual video capture devices: 

1. Virtual bench. It plays back video recordings in MKV, MP4, and AVI formats, for which DirectShow filters (codecs) are installed in Windows OS.
2. Virtual. It plays back video recordings in the Axxon PSIM internal format only.

Virtual video capture devices don't support multistreaming mode. To ensure the correct operation of a virtual video capture device, including the option of displaying the video archive and archiving, you must disable the multistreaming mode (see Configuring the multistream video).

We don't recommend using an LAV Splitter to play back videos on the virtual video capture device. The FFDSHOW mediadecoder is preferable.

Creating and configuring the virtual video capture device

To create and configure the virtual video capture device, do the following:

1. Set the Use virtual grabber checkbox (see The Settings panel of the Video subsystem section). Before that, shut down Axxon PSIM.
   
2. Create the Video capture device object on the Hardware tab.
3. Set the Virtual or Virtual bench type of the video capture device, depending on the type of the file that you want to use for imitation of the video signal.
   
4. Click the Apply button.
5. Create the Camera child object for the Video capture device object.

6. Specify the storage for the video that you want to use for video signal imitation in the Basic settings tab of the selected Camera object.
   

   Note

   We don't recommend using videos compressed by the Wavelet codec, as their use significantly increases the load on the server.

7. Click the Apply button.
   If Axxon PSIM doesn't find files for playback within one minute after clicking the Apply button, the file search is interrupted.
   

   Attention!

   The selected folder mustn't contain the video recordings of the Axxon PSIM internal format and AVI files at the same time.

   We recommend using one video recording and specifying the folder containing only the recording or the path to the file. If you need to use several video recordings, select the recordings with similar codec and resolution. This helps to avoid delays in Axxon PSIM work when switching between the recordings.

Features of playing back the files in the virtual Video capture device

As a result of the above settings, the video recording file from the selected folder is played back in a loop. 

If you set the path to a separate file, not a folder of the Virtual video capture device type, the file is played once.

You can disable looping of a separate file for the Virtual bench video capture device type in one of the following ways:

1. Enter "OPTIONS:playFileOnce=true" in the IP address field on the Video capture device settings panel:
   1. OPTIONS: includes the use of advanced options.
   2. The playFileOnce value corresponds to the "Single Play" option (you must specify the parameter name, strictly case-sensitive).
   3. After the "=" symbol, specify the value that must be applied (the correct values are true, TRUE, or 1 for the "On" value / false, FALSE or 0 for the "Off" value).
      
      
2. Set the ​playFileOnce = 1 registry key (see Registry keys reference guide).

If there are several files in the folder, they are played back in the order set in the latest modification. You can also sort files by name and time of creation during playback. Set the sorting order by the VirtualGrabberSortMode registry parameter (see Registry keys reference guide).

When playing back files, the system sends events to the Debug window indicating the playback status (see CAM Camera). There are also reactions for controlling video recordings' playback in a virtual video capture device using the scripts (see GRABBER Video capture device).