Technical information

A. Live video is processed and displayed prior to recording. It is not compressed like recorded video is.
The live display pixel format is 800x600. JPEG recording limits the pixel count to 640x240 (80x30 tiles,
8x8 pixels within each tile). It is degraded even more in the lower resolution that accompanies extended
record mode (320x240, DV16000 only). Although the playback video is sampled at the 800x600-pixel
format for display, it is sampling the stored JPEG image.
Q. Is the playback quality really better than a high quality VHS tape? What about SVHS?
A. The earlier versions are at least as good as high quality tape. This is true the very first time you review
the video. It is even truer after the 20
th
time you review the video. Unlike with VHS and SVHS tape, the
quality of the Intellex retrieved image does not degrade with multiple usages. The cruel truth is that video
quality is subjective.
Q. What about degrading quality of the video retrieved from the DAT tape? After all, it is still a tape.
A. The DAT tape stores the information in digital format. Even though the quality of the individual ones
and zeros may degrade over multiple uses, they are still easily recognizable as ones and zeros by Intellex.
That is why when Intellex processes the video information, the playback quality remains constant.
Q. Wouldn’t it be easier to review archived information if you made the Intellex capable of reviewing
information directly from the DAT tape?
A. No. DAT operation is very slow because the mechanism has to forward and reverse its way to portions
of the tape that hold the information that you want to review. Once the information is on a hard drive, it is
much easier and faster to get to.
Q. How can I select video for review?
A. You can review video that you just saw live by clicking the pause/play button and dragging the jog
shuttle directly to the recent event. For video recorded some time ago, you can search by time/date, camera
number, the playback slide bar and by Smart Search. Archived video can be reviewed by first retrieving
the appropriate segments from a DAT tape, then using the search tools.
Q. What about this 320x240 record mode? Will the video quality be good enough?
A. It would depend on your expectations. It won’t be as good as 640x240. It would be a good tradeoff for a
longer record duration in many applications. This option is available only in the DV16000.
Q. How much will the 320x240 record mode degrade the perceived image quality?
A. Clearly, there will be a difference. The choice presented to the DV16000 user is one of longer record
duration at a lower image quality or prettier pictures for a shorter time. The DV8000 user doesn’t face this
choice, as the 320x240 record mode is not available. Having said that, how can you mitigate the effect? The
playback image from a properly placed high quality camera is not that much different in 640x240 than it is
in 320x240. Lower quality cameras covering a larger viewing area will look worse. So use good cameras
rather than depending solely on the zoom function within Intellex to help identify an object or person.
Q. If I record at 120 images per second (ips), will I be able to play back at 120ips?
A. The 120ips record rate is sampling cameras at that rate. No individual camera will update that fast. In
fact, a single camera will not exceed 30ips as only one field is used from each camera. The actual record
speed depends on the settings selected in the Rate menu (go to the Setup menu and select Rate). You can
select individual camera record rates or use the traditional “auto” mode that divides the available rate of
images per second across the cameras connected.
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