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 Video Video capture card resources

By default the resources of video capture cards are uniformly distributed between cameras video signals of which are digitized and processed by this ADC. The frame rate of the digitized video signal is limited by the ADC resources for video signal processing and digitization.

Video capture cards may be configured, so as to give to one or more cameras additional ADC resources, and thus to increase the frame rate of video signals from these cameras. At the same time the frame rate of video signals from other cameras is decreased.

INTELLECT™ software Axxon PSIM and video capture cards sharing allows reallocating video capture card resources to the cameras:

Option 1. Reallocation of cameras between ADCs of a video capture card.

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A. Uniform camera allocation between ADCs

B. reallocating the cameras between ADCs to allocate extra resources to Camera1

Option 2. Reallocation of resources of one ADC between camerasvideo signal of which are to be processed and digitized by one ADC.

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In the Live video mode all resources of an ADC are used to process the single video signal. The mode provides digital video stream with a maximum frame rate of 25 fps FPS in PAL format and 30 fps FPS in NTSC format.

If the ADC processes two or more video signals, its resources are used in the multiplexing mode. Then the ADC resources are uniformly allocated between the cameras, and part of its resources support the multiplexing process. So, in the multiplex mode the total frame rate of video signals, digitized by a single ADC, is much lower than in the Live video mode.

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For ADC that digitizes all video signals with standard (352 x 288 pixels in PAL format, 352 x 240 pixels in NTSC format) and/or high (704 x 288 pixels in PAL format, 640 x 240 pixels in NTSC format) frame resolution, the total frame rate is 16 fps FPS in PAL format and 20 fps FPS in NTSC format.

When ADC digitizes at least one of the video signals with full resolution (704 x 576 pixels in PAL format, 640 x 480 pixels in NTSC format), the maximum permissible total frame rate is reduced to 12 fps FPS in PAL format and 15 fps FPS in NTSC format.

Frame rate setup procedure

Default settings for the digitized video signals frame rate are 2 fps FPS in PAL format and 2.5 fps FPS in NTSC format.

While settings it is possible to increase or to reduce the frame rate.

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To prevent allocation of ADC resources, the Camera objects are to be disabled in INTELLECT™ Axxon PSIM, assigned to the disabled video channels.

To disable the Camera objects in INTELLECT™ system Axxon PSIM, do the following:

1. Define the numbers of the idle video capture channels (taking into account BNC plug numbering).
2. Go to the Hardware tab in the System settings dialog box (1).
3. Select the Camera object, created before, with the same channel number as the BNC plug (idle channel) (2). The settings panel for the selected object is displayed on the right of the Hardware tab.
   
4. Make sure that no signal is displayed in the video field (1).
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5. The signal displayed in the video field indicates that the Camera object is matched to another video channel.The video channel number is specified in the Channel number drop-down list in the Basic settings tab (2). Match the Camera object with the channel number, which corresponds to the BNC plug number and the Camera object number, or scan for a Camera object, matched with the desired channel number.
6. Set the Disabled checkbox (3).
7. Click the Apply button (4).

The disabled Camera object is indicated with a cross mark.

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It is recommended to define the actual frame rate of video signal digitization and then to set up the frame rate for video signals from video surveillance system cameras.

Frame rate setup is to must be done only performed if frame rates of video signal frame rates from one or more cameras do not meet the requirements.

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To define the actual frame rate for a selected camera, do the following:

1. Configure the video Video surveillance monitor (see Configuring video display on Video Surveillance Monitor section);
2. Enable the debug Debug mode in Intellect™ software Axxon PSIM using the tweaki.exe utility (see Tweaki.exe utility for advanced setup of the Intellect Axxon PSIM software system, The Settings panel of the Axxon PSIM section).

In Intellect™ software, actual As a result, the current frame rates of the digitized video signals in the debug mode are displayed on the Monitordirectly in the Video surveillance monitor. To define get information about the frame rate of the video signal from a the selected camera, do the following:

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display the Surveillance window corresponding to the selected camera

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in the Video surveillance monitor and activate this window by clicking it with the left mouse button. A window with video signal information is displayed in the upper right corner:

• video stream frame rate (FPS);
• size of the displayed frame in bytes (the parameter can be used, for example, to understand whether the displayed frame is a reference frame or to calculate the average bitrate);
• video stream resolution in pixels.

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Note that this information window displays initial data about the video stream from the camera or from the archive transmitted to the Video surveillance monitor. The actual displayed frame rate of the video stream can be different, see Displaying information about a video stream on top of a video.

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Changing frame

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decimation

By default INTELLECT™ software Axxon PSIM digitizes video signals with the frame rate lower than maximum allowed one. This is caused by the following:

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By default the total frame rate of video signals, which are digitized and processed by the same ADC, is 2 times lower than the maximum allowed one. This ratio is provided by frame groomingdecimation, which allows every second frame to be processed by the program.

Settings allow reducing (total frame rate increases) or increasing (total frame rate decreases) the groomingdecimation.

Frame grooming decimation is changed separately and independently for every ADC.

To change grooming decimation of ADC video signals, do the following:

1. Go to the Hardware tab in the System settings dialog box (1).
2. Select the relevant Video Capture Device object, created before, in the Hardware tab in the objects tree (2). The settings panel for the selected object is displayed in the right part of the Hardware tab.
   
3. If it is necessary to increase the total frame rate up to the maximum allowed value, move the Rate slider to the Max position (3).
4. If it is necessary to reduce the total frame rate to the minimum allowed value, move the Rate slider to the Min position. The minimum total frame rate of video signals, digitized and processed by selected ADC, is 3 times lower than the maximum allowed one.
5. If it is necessary to return the default grooming decimation settings, move the Rate slider to the middle position. The default total frame rate is 2 times lower than the maximum allowed one.
6. Click the Apply button (4).
7. Close the System settings dialog box and restart INTELLECT™ software Axxon PSIM.

Allocation of video capture card’s resources

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Before reassigning the cameras to ADCs of the video capture card, disable the Camera objects corresponding to disabled cameras (see Frame rate settings#Configuring Configuring video subsystem with disabled video channels section).

To increase the frame rate of the video signal from one or more cameras, do the following:

1. Go to the Hardware tab in the System settings dialog box (1).
2. Select the Camera object, created before, corresponding to the camera, which frame rate is to be increased, in the objects tree in the Hardware tab (2). The settings panel for the selected object is displayed on the right of the Hardware tab.
   
3. To increase the frame rate of a camera up to the Real time rate (25 fps FPS in PAL format and 30 fps FPS in NTSC format), reallocate other cameras serviced by the same ADC as with the camera above, to other ADCs.

For this move Camera objects to parent branches of other Video Capture Devicecapture device objects. The parent Video Capture Devicecapture device object for a Camera object is set by selecting the number of the parent object in the Video Capture Devicecapture device list of settings panel for the Camera object. As a result the Camera object moves to a subdirectory of the selected Video Capture Devicecapture device object.

Example 1. Configuring video signal digitization with the Real time frame rate.

Task. Video signal on Camera2 Camera 2 is to be digitized with the Real time frame rate.

Initial data. The card has 4 ADCs. They are matched to 4 Video Capture Devicecapture device objects in the objects tree. The video capture card may have up to 16 cameras connected to it. 8 cameras are actually connected to the video capture card. The objects matched to the remaining 8 cameras are disabled. Each of two ADCs, matched to the Video Capture Device capture device 1 and Video Capture Device capture device 2 objects, is configured to digitize the signals from 4 cameras. The ADCs matched to the Video Capture Device capture device 3 and Video Capture Device capture device 4 objects are not configured to digitize signals from any cameras. An example of the objects tree is given in figure A:

A. Initial data data                                            B. Result

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1. Select the Camera 1 object in the objects tree. The settings panel for the selected object is displayed.
2. Select Video Capture Device capture device 3 in the Video Capture Devicecapture device list.
3. Click the Apply button.
4. The Camera 1 object moves to the subdirectory of the Video Capture Device capture device 3 object (see B).
5. Repeat ( 1) – (-4 ) steps for the Camera 3 and Camera 4 objects.
6. Select the Video Capture Device capture device 1 object in the objects tree.
7. Make sure that the Speed slider is in the max position.
   If the Speed slider is in the max position, then setup is completed.
   If the Speed slider is in another position, move it to the max position and do ( 8) - (10 ) steps.
8. Click the Apply button.
9. Close the System settings dialog box and restart INTELLECT™ software Axxon PSIM.
10. The frame rate of the selected camera increases up to the Real time rate (for information on testing the frame rate change, see the Frame rate settings#Actual Actual frame rate section).
11. If the number of connected cameras prevents the configuration of video signal digitization from one of the cameras with the Real time rate (for example, when 15 of 16 allowed cameras are connected), or if the frame rate on several cameras is to be increased simultaneously to the rate, lower than the Real time one, then the cameras, the frame rate of which is to be increased, are allocated between ADCs and they do not exceed the maximum allowable number. The frame rate is increased by as many times, as the number of cameras on ADC is reduced.

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Example 2. Configuring video signal digitization from 2 cameras with increased frame rate

Task. Video signal on Camera1 Camera 1 and Camera5 Camera 5 is to be digitized with increased frame rate.

Initial data. The card has 4 ADCs. They are matched to 4 Video Capture Devicescapture devices objects in the objects tree. The video capture card may have up to 16 cameras connected to it. 12 cameras are actually connected to the video capture card. The objects matched to the remaining 4 cameras are disabled. Each of 3 ADCs, matched to the Video Capture Device capture device 1, Video Capture Device capture device 2 and Video Capture Device capture device 4 objects, is configured to digitize the signals from 4 cameras. The ADC, matched to the Video Capture Device capture device 3 object, is not configured to digitize the signals from any camera. An example of the objects tree is given in figure A.

A. Initial data data                                            B. Result

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1. Select the Camera 1 object in the objects tree. The settings panel for the selected object is displayed.
2. Select Video Capture Device capture device 3 in the Video Capture Devicecapture device list.
3. Click the Apply button.
4. The Camera 1 object moves to a subdirectory of the Video Capture Device capture device 3 object (B).
5. Repeat ( 1) – (-4 ) steps for the Camera 5 object.
6. The frame rate on Camera1 Camera 1 and Camera5 Camera 5 increases twofold (for information on testing the frame rate change see the Frame rate settings#Actual Actual frame rate section).
7. Click the Apply button.

Video capture card’s resources are now allocated.

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A camera is allocated with additional ADC resources via the priority process queue.

INTELLECT™ software Axxon PSIM provides 1/2 and 1/3 process queues.

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Let us suppose that Camera 1 has 1/3 queue, and the rest of the cameras are in the common queue. Then the ADC digitizes video signals in the following sequence:  

Camera 1, Camera 2, Camera 3, Camera 1, Camera 4, Camera 2, Camera 1…

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1. Go to the Hardware tab in the System settings dialog box (1).
2. Select the Camera object, created before, corresponding to the camera, ADC video processing queue of which is to be changed, in the Hardware tab in the objects tree (2). The settings panel for the selected object is displayed on the right of the Hardware tab.
3. Go to the Advanced settings tab on the settings panel of the Camera object (3).
   
4. If it is necessary to queue the camera with 1/2 priority for ADC video processing, move the Processing slider in the Priority group to the 1/2 position (4).
5. If it is necessary to queue the camera with 1/3 priority for ADC video processing, move the Processing slider in the Priority group to the 1/3 position.
6. If it is necessary to return the camera into the normal queue for ADC video processing (set by default), move the Processing slider in the Priority group to the Normal position.
7. Click the Apply button (5).

Video processing priority is now set.

Setting video recording priority

While processesing processing the video signal before recording it to the video server archive, ADC resources are reallocated between the cameras by queueing one of the cameras with 1/2, 1/3 or the Real time priority.

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1. Go to the Hardware tab in the System settings dialog box (1).
2. Select the Camera object, created before, corresponding to the camera, ADC video processing queue of which is to be changed, in the objects tree of the Hardware tab (2). The settings panel for the selected object is displayed on the right of the Hardware tab.
3. Go to the Advanced settings tab on the settings panel of the Camera object (3).
   
4. If it is necessary to queue the camera with 1/2 priority for ADC video processing in the recording mode, move the Recording slider in the Priority group to the 1/2 position (4).
5. If it is necessary to queue the camera with 1/3 priority for ADC video processing in the recording mode, move the Recording slider in the Priority group to the 1/3 position.
6. If it is necessary to queue the camera with the Real time priority for ADC video processing in the recording mode, move the Recording slider in the Priority group to the Real time position.
7. If it is necessary to return the camera into the normal queue for ADC video processing in the recording mode (set by default), move the Recording slider in the Priority group to the Normal position.
8. Click the Apply button (5).

Video recording priority is now set.