Different cameras may have different controls and functions available, however, the following illustration shows a common set of camera controls and functions available in the Video Playback view.
Controls and indicators are grouped in the following categories:
-
Camera Controls
-
Video Playback Controls
-
Event Controls
-
Video Indicators
The following control descriptions apply to drivers that support them.
Camera controls do not operate unless they are Enabled. Each of these controls must be enabled by selecting the option box for each control under the PTZ Support property on the camera property sheet. The default setting for these controls is Disabled (or, not selected).
-
Iris
The iris is the adjustable opening (aperture) of a camera that controls the amount of light that is allowed through the lens. This control buttons are located in the top left corner of the view and allow you to manually adjust the opening:
-
Increase
This button increases the iris opening and causes the image to brighten.
-
Decrease
This button decreases the iris opening and causes the image to darken.
-
-
Presets
This option list is located along the top and in the center of the Video Playback view. The Presets option list contains preset options that are configured in the camera’s property sheet view (using the Preset Text property and the Enum dialog box. Presets are defined and actuated using the the following buttons:
-
Go
Click this button to activate the Preset that is currently displayed in the Presets option list.
A Preset must have a location defined, using the Store button, before it can be activated, even though the option appears
in the list.
-
Store
Click this button to associate the current camera position with this Preset option.
-
-
Focus
The buttons allow you to manually “pull focus” in order to improve the sharpness and clarity or to change the focal target of the image. This button is located in the top right corner of the view and has two control buttons:
-
Increase
This button is moves the focus closer.
-
Decrease
This button moves the focus farther.
-
-
Pan and Tilt
Pan and Tilt controls are activated by clicking directly on the video display and dragging the hand icon
in the desired direction. Pan and tilt speed and direction is variable and indicated by the blue pan and tilt arrow, shown
in Video Playback view (Playback Viewer) and described in described in Video indicators.
-
Zoom
You can zoom in and out by clicking on the zoom icon
that is located in the zoom bar on the right side of the view. Zoom-in by dragging the zoom icon up and zoom-out by dragging
the zoom icon down. The speed of the zoom is controlled by how far up or down you move the icon and is indicated by the color
changes in the zoom bar, shown in Video Playback view (Playback Viewer) and described in Video indicators.
-
Fast Play Forward
This control incrementally speeds up the forward play speed with each click. The on -screen play indicator shows the current play speed while this function is being used.
-
Fast Play Reverse
This control incrementally speeds up the reverse play speed with each click. The on -screen play indicator shows the current play speed while this function is being used.
-
Skip Forward
While playing back video, this function skips forward to the next recorded track and starts playing automatically.
-
Skip Reverse
While playing video, this function skips backward to the beginning of the current track and starts playing automatically.
-
Live
This button-control functions to switch from a playback video display to a live video display (still in the Video Playback view), when you click the button.
-
Browse events
This function opens the Browser Events dialog box, as shown in Figure 32.
-
Browse events dialog box
This dialog box displays a 2-column tabular list of events that shows a Time Index and Description of each event. In addition to the standard table controls and functions (described in the NiagaraAX-3.x User Guide), the dialog box has the following controls:
-
Page Up
When the number of events exceeds the maximum that can be displayed in the table display, you can click this button to display the next earlier series of events.
-
Page Down
When the number of events exceeds the maximum that can be displayed in the table display, you can click this button to display the next earlier series of events.
-
Page Home
Clicking this button loads the earliest set of events.
-
Find event
Clicking this button opens the Time Index dialog box (see Figure 33).
-
-
Find event
This function opens the Time Index dialog box.
-
Time Index dialog box
This dialog box, shown in Figure 33, allows you to select an event according to a specific date and time in terms of day, month, year, and time. A calendar icon in the dialog box presents an interactive calendar for browsing to and selecting the desired date.
In addition to the actual video image, the following indicators are displayed in the Live Video or Video Playback views:
-
Live Video
This icon appears temporarily at the top left and right corners of the playback view when a “live” mode is selected. This
indicates that the video currently displaying is “live” or occurring in real-time.
-
Playback speed
This indicates the current playback speed in terms of multiples of normal play speed. Each click on the Fast Play Forward
button increments the speed by one multiple. Speed indications are expressed as X1,X2,X3(times one, times two, times three) and so on. -
Video Playback indicators
These icons (fast-forward, skip, play, and pause) appear temporarily near the top left and right corners of the playback
view any time that there is a playback state change. For example, if you click the pause button, the “pause” indicator icons
display over the display for a few seconds to alert you that the playback has paused. When the play button is clicked, “play”
icons display similarly.
-
Pan and Tilt
Both pan and tilt are indicated by the blue Pan and Tilt indicator. This polygon (arrow-like) indicator is superimposed on the video image whenever you click directly on a live video image. The following parameters are indicated:
-
Pan and Tilt Direction
Directional control is represented by the Pan and Tilt arrow display location on the screen. The pan and tilt locations comprise 8 segments. The largest end of the blue arrow indicates the direction that the camera is moving.
-
Pan and Tilt Speed
The speed indicator display one of three shades of blue to indicate slow (light blue), medium (medium blue), and fast (dark blue).
-
-
Zoom
Zoom parameters are indicated by the following:
-
Pan, Tilt, and Zoom speed
Pan, tilt, and zoom speed is indicated by the darkness (or opacity) of the pan, tilt, and zoom indicator. Indicators display one of three shades of blue to indicate slow (light blue), medium (medium blue), and fast (dark blue).
-
Zoom-in and Zoom-out
Zoom direction is indicated by the vertical position of the zoom icon
. Drag the zoom icon up on the scroll bar to zoom in . Drag the zoom icons down on the scroll bar to zoom out. Zoom speed
is indicated by the darkness (or opacity) of the zoom indicator bar.
-
Pan and Tilt Speed
The speed indicator display one of three shades of blue to indicate slow (light blue), medium (medium blue), and fast (dark blue).
-
-
Status message
A text message displays on the screen at times to indicate the connection status.