Creating the Video capture device object

To receive video from USB webcams via the FFMPEG driver, you can add the Video capture device object either by Creating and configuring the Video Capture Device object or using the Camera discovery tool. The latter method is preferable.

Video and audio devices aren't combined when you search, unless they are previously integrated via the FFMPEG driver. So when there is a USB camera with a microphone, two devices are discovered—one video-only device and one audio-only device. The Dshow video (USB camera) model detects only video devices. If a device with video and audio is required, select the Dshow device model (USB camera) and manually edit the address string to create a device with video and audio, or integrate the device so that it is immediately displayed when you search.

To add the Video capture device object to receive video via RTSP and RTMP protocols using the Dshow video (USB camera) model, do the following:

1. Start the Camera discovery tool.
   
   
2. In the Model list (3), select Dshow video (USB camera).
3. In the Firmware list (4), select auto.
   As a result, the discovered devices are displayed in the FFMPEG list (2). If the required device isn't discovered, proceed to the next step. If the device is discovered, proceed to step 5.
   
4. Click the Search button (1) and wait for the repeat discovery to complete.
   If necessary, you can add the device manually by Creating and configuring the Video Capture Device object. For the device address format, see Advanced settings for the FFMPEG device below.
5. In the Settings list (5), select:
   1. Video server settings, if you want to send the settings specified in Axxon PSIM to the camera when you add it.
   2. Device settings, if you want to use the device settings.
6. Enter login (6) and password (7) to connect the FFMPEG device. The login and password are specified in the documentation of the network device that you connect. Usually these fields must be left blank.
7. Check if the TCP/IP port (8) is correct. If necessary, enter the required value in the field.
8. Select the objects that you want to create on the basis of the FFMPEG device by setting the corresponding checkboxes (9).
   

   For more information, see Camera discovery tool.

9. Click the Apply button (10) for one device or the Apply button (11) if several devices are selected.
   The selected objects are automatically created in the object tree on the Hardware tab.
10. Click the Exit button (12) to close the Camera discovery tool window.

Advanced settings for the FFMPEG device

• Specify the address string manually in the IP address field on the settings panel of the Video capture device object. If necessary, you can include a list of parameters in the address string after two colons:

  dshow(<index>)://<video_device_name>(::additional_parameters)

• It doesn't matter which port you select if there are several identical device types in the configuration.
• By default, the index is set to 0 unless you specify another option. You can use a non-zero index when connecting several devices with the same name to the system at the same time, for example, dshow1://USB 2.0 HD Camera, if there is already dshow://USB 2.0 HD Camera​.
• The additional options property allows you to specify a string that consists of ffmpeg utility parameters directly from the software. Example of a string to receive a video with settings different from the default ones:
  

  pixel_format yuv420p -video_size 1280x960

• You must specify the value of the additional options property at the end of the address string. Example of a string for a device without audio (two colons are required):
  

  dshow0://A4 TECH USB2.0 PC Camera J::-pixel_format yuyv422 -video_size 640x480

• The list of settings and the list of parameters of these settings depend on the format and the specific device. You can find out the set of allowed parameters for dshow devices using the following command:
  

  ffmpeg -list_options true -f dshow -i video="<device name>"​​

Connecting multistream devices

A camera that is created on the basis of the Video capture device object with the Dshow video (USB camera) model has two streams. You can select a codec for each stream:

• YUV422—codec for the detector stream.
• MJPEG—codec for transmission over the network and saving to an archive.

Dshow video (USB camera) formats

Dshow video (USB camera) supported formats:

• RAWVIDEO/RGB24BGR24 (bgr24) ,
• YUV422 (yuyv422)​,
• YUV420P (yuv420p),
• MJPEG (mjpeg),
• H.264 (h264),
• H.265 (h265, hevc).