Technical information
Playback Video
Playback video is the video that is retrieved from the hard drive and displayed on the main SVGA monitor.
The played back video may also be seen on the composite duplicate of the main display and on the VACD
card output when menu-selected to do so. Playback video appears to have a lower resolution than live video
due to the configuration of JPEG. It may be accompanied by a single channel of recorded audio and up to
four channels of recorded text.
Intellex has a distinct advantage over VHS tape. Although a video clip is often shown to identify the
culprit, most tape investigation consists of individual image-by-image review of the tape using the
pause/still button in conjunction with the single step capability of the VCR. Many still images exhibit
“tearing” where the still image is jumping and portions of the image may be distorted. There is no tearing
with Intellex. Each image is a perfect individual picture. The mouse-controlled Intellex jog shuttle (or
selectable VCR control buttons) allow you to run forward and backward through the available images. The
action gets faster or slower with no image distortion. There is no comparison between the quality of
Intellex single step image review and that of a conventional VCR. In fact, if you would like to try an
experiment, check the “Getting Video In and Out of Intellex” on page 23 for information on how to play
back that VHS tape in Intellex.
Playback from DAT tape: You can’t play back archived information directly from a DAT tape. The
archived information must first be loaded into the Intellex and then reviewed from the hard drive. The
reloaded information is put on the C: drive. This is the system drive partition of the first Intellex drive. It is
not loaded to the data drive, as that would interfere with the normal recording. You can’t load the entire
DAT tape to the drive. There is not enough room, and it would take a very long time to load. Up to fifty 20
MG segments can be loaded at the same time. There is an index header on the DAT tape. You can select
the segments you wish to load by time/date and whether there are alarms present. Loading and restoring
information from the DAT tape can be a very slow process. The DAT is a linear device. If you select a
segment for review from the physical end of the tape, the mechanism must work its way to that position
before retrieving it. Once this data is reloaded to the C: drive, it can be exported to CD-RW.
Intellex v3.1 and beyond will support archiving to a Super Digital Linear Tape (SDLT) device. Although
more reliable and larger in capacity than DAT, this is a tape device with many of the same limitations.
SDLT devices offer an expensive archive alternative for those whose application demands permanent
archive storage of all data.
The export feature of Intellex allows you to write selected video clips, along with audio and text, to a CD-
RW. Intellex v3.2 has an optional DVD for exporting larger video segments. As you are viewing video in
Intellex, select the start point and the end point of the desired video clip. You can include footage from one
camera or from all cameras simultaneously by choosing either a single or multi-pane display. The clip is
saved to a list. You can export any or all of the clips to CD. You can also fill the CD with the latest video
from all cameras by activating a contact closure on alarm input 18 or by selecting the “Fill CD” option
from the Export menu. Here’s how you do it:
1) Close the contact.
2) Intellex calculates the last 600 MG of record time and then copies it to the CD, ending at the
time the contact closed (this could take up to an hour to finish). If a DVD is used, the last four
GB of information are recorded. Intellex Player software is copied to the CD along with the
video for installation and viewing on a standard PC.
The jog shuttle is usually a favorite feature of Intellex playback. You can manipulate your way through the
recorded video by moving the shuttle knob with the mouse. Believe it or not, there are some people who
would rather have traditional VCR control buttons to review the video. If you must, you can change the jog
shuttle display to traditional VCR control buttons by selecting it in the Display menu.
Q. Why does live video appear to have a higher quality than playback video?
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