AXIS Camera Station User’s Manual
About This Document This manual is intended for administrators and users of the AXIS Camera Station, and is applicable for software release 2.01. It includes instructions for using and managing the AXIS Camera Station on your network. Previous experience of networking will be of use when using this product. Later versions of this document will be posted to the Axis Website, as required. See also the product’s online help, available via the Web-based interface.
AXIS Camera Station - Table of Contents Table of Contents Requirements and Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 User’s Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Background service: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
AXIS Camera Station - Requirements and Recommendations Requirements and Recommendations Install AXIS Camera Station on a stand-alone computer dedicated mainly for running this application Hardware: • • • • • • • • System: Intel Pentium 4 with 2 GHz processor CD-drive 512 MB RAM Hard disk: 1 GB available space for installation NTFS file system XGA (1024 x 768) or higher resolution monitor Separate graphics card, Direct Draw with 32 MB or more memory 100 MB Ethernet with a static IP address • Microsoft Win
AXIS Camera Station - User’s Interface User’s Interface This chapter provides a brief description of AXIS Camera Station user’s interface, control buttons and menu options from the main view. For a more detailed description of buttons and menu items refer to the online help. To configure your cameras and video servers see How to..., on page 9 for detailed instructions. AXIS Camera Station One has all the basic features of AXIS Camera Station for one camera/video channel.
AXIS Camera Station - User’s Interface Controls The control pad contains buttons for quick access to the many functions of AXIS Camera Station. View Selection - Select one of the layouts for viewing live images from multiple network cameras. The views are configured under Options > Views. See Views, on page 17 for instructions. Extended menu for camera selection - Click here to open a drop-down list to select a camera for One monitor view.
AXIS Camera Station - User’s Interface Click on the camera button to open the device's window with live image stream. Buttons for starting and stopping an output are also shown. I/O Status window can also be opened by selecting menu items Views > Show I/O Status. See External I/Os, on page 19 for configuration of inputs and outputs. Camera Sequence - Opens the Camera sequence window. A camera sequence is a defined "tour" or configuration that automatically switches through the cameras included in the tour.
AXIS Camera Station - User’s Interface File menu In the menu you will find many of the functions that are located in the control panel as well as all the configuration windows for AXIS Camera Station. Start/Stop Server From the File menu you can start or stop AXIS Camera Station as a background service. This is the part of the program that gets images from the cameras and stores them to hard disk.
AXIS Camera Station - How to... How to... After installing the software, it must be configured for your cameras and video servers. Among other things this chapter describes how to configure and maintain AXIS Camera Station as well as how to set up recording, motion detection, and alarms. For installation instructions refer to AXIS Camera Station Installation Guide.
AXIS Camera Station - How to... 4. All pertinent information appears in the window, such as the camera/video server’s name, IP address, Device model and Video Port. The Camera enabled box must be checked to make recordings and viewing images possible. Camera name is how the camera will appear in AXIS Camera Station. If you like, you may change the name to something more descriptive. The change will only affect AXIS Camera Station and not the camera.
AXIS Camera Station - How to... AXIS Image Enhancer AXIS Image Enhancer improves the quality of images taken in conditions such a fog, smoke, rain and snow. If you have a registered license for AXIS Image Enhancer follow these steps to enable it for a device. To register your license for AXIS Image Enhancer, Select menu item Options > General Settings > License. Set up AXIS Image Enhancer 1. From AXIS Camera Station, select Options > Camera settings.
AXIS Camera Station - How to... Recording Recording can be set up as continuous, scheduled or triggered by motion or alarm. For information about setting up the database for recorded events see Recording Database, on page 15. Set up continuous recording With this procedure you can set the server to continuously save images. Note that this option uses more disk space than an Alarm triggered recording. 1. From the AXIS Camera Station, click Options > Camera settings.
AXIS Camera Station - How to... Motion triggered recording Motion can be detected by AXIS Camera Station or Axis network cameras that have built-in motion detection software. Recording only when motion is detected will save hard disk space compared to other options such as recording continuously. The advantage of having the camera trigger an alarm or recording is that it takes the processing load off the server.
AXIS Camera Station - How to... Set up motion detection for different light conditions Different motion detection settings are used for when it’s dark as images become more noisy or grainy at night which would be misinterpreted as movement. The Low-light threshold or the point set on the slide bar will instruct AXIS Camera Station to which Motion detection settings to use (Normal or Low-light) when detecting movement. 1.
AXIS Camera Station - How to... Recording Database Specify where to store your images. Recordings will be deleted when the reserved hard disk space for AXIS Camera Station is full, or when the recording is older than the amount of days specified in Keep for Days. Set up a recording database 1. Select Options > General Settings > Recording Database. 2. Recording drives are listed with capacity and the amount of free space. Select a drive in the drive list and check the box Enable recording to this drive.
AXIS Camera Station - How to... Schedules Under Schedule you can set up timetables for Continuous recording, Alarm/Motion recording and Send mail on alarm/motion. Depending on the types of recordings that were enabled under Recordings (see page 12) interval bars become active. How to set up a schedule. 1. Click on a day of the week you would like to make a schedule for. 2. Left-click and drag time bar to define intervals. 3.
AXIS Camera Station - How to... Views Set up camera views from AXIS Camera Station To define the camera views as seen from the main AXIS Camera Station user interface, click on Options > Views from the file menu. 1. Select the view according to the number of cameras you want to set up. 1.Select view 2. Drag-and-drop camera to view. 3. Select Frame rate and Image quality 5. Specify the default start view 4. Limit live view properties 2.
AXIS Camera Station - How to... Users Using the integrated Windows user database, a high level of security can be implemented in AXIS Camera Station where users are granted or denied access to a specific camera. Before a user can be granted access to AXIS Camera Station, users must be registered on the local computer or have an Active Directory user account. Set up users under Options > General Settings > Users.
AXIS Camera Station - How to... Sequences A camera sequence is a pre-defined " tour" or a configuration that automatically switches through all the cameras included in the tour. Once added, the operator simply selects it from View > Camera Sequences or by clicking on the Camera Sequences button under Monitor to view a camera sequence. How to set up a sequence 1. Select Options > Sequences and the Sequence List window opens. Click on the Add button.
AXIS Camera Station - How to... Event Search An event is a recording which is triggered by an alarm or scheduled. AXIS Camera Station offers easy ways to search for recorded events in Event Search and 4-Camera Playback. 4-Camera Playback enables a user to view simultaneous recordings from different cameras to get a comprehensive picture of an event. How to search using Event Search Select the menu option Playback > Events from the menu or click on the Event playback button on the Control panel.
AXIS Camera Station - How to... How to do an advanced search 1. From the Event search window click on the Advanced Search button 2. The Advance Search window opens 3. Under Controls select the camera and the interval to search by choosing FROM date/time and TO date/time from the drop-down lists. 4. If you would like to include a motion search left-click and drag where motion detection should be performed. Set the sensitivity for motion detection with the slide bar. 5.
AXIS Camera Station - AXIS Image Enhancer AXIS Image Enhancer An integrated component of AXIS Camera Station, AXIS Image Enhancer improves the quality of images taken in conditions such a fog, smoke, rain and snow. Applied to live or recorded color video, it delivers real-time result and displays visual details that would otherwise have been difficult to see under poor visibility conditions.
AXIS Camera Station - AXIS Camera Station Client AXIS Camera Station Client The AXIS Camera Station Client application is used for remote operations on client workstations, where you can perform the same tasks as from AXIS Camera Station. From a client PC you can acquire and save images, detect motion and save alarms and images without having to access the server PC where settings and recordings are stored. Important! AXIS Camera Station uses port 11007 to communicate with the client.
AXIS Camera Station - AXIS Camera Station Client AXIS Camera Station Client Interface The AXIS Camera Station Client interface is similar to that of the AXIS Camera Service with a few differences under file menu that are described here. Connection - To establish a connection between the AXIS Camera Station (server application) and AXIS Camera Station Client, the server’s IP address and password must be entered under File > Connection.
AXIS Camera Station - AXIS Camera Station Web Application AXIS Camera Station Web Application An Internet Explorer Web browser can be used on client workstations to view live video, recordings and I/O status. To enable Live View, a set of IP addresses and port numbers must be opened in your firewall; there must be an open port for each camera and one port for AXIS Camera Station. See Network Configuration, on page 27. Simply viewing recorded events/images does not require the firewall configurations.
AXIS Camera Station - AXIS Camera Station Web Application AXIS Camera Station Web Control Buttons Select a camera before clicking the control buttons. Camera Selection - A list of cameras is displayed for the user, showing cameras according to his/her user rights Open in new window - Click this button to open a small window showing a live image from the selected camera. If the camera has PTZ (Pan/Tilt/Zoom) or audio enabled, the controls are shown here.
AXIS Camera Station - Network Configuration Network Configuration To access AXIS Camera Station from the Internet and get live images from the cameras you must open a set of IP addresses and port numbers in your firewall configuration. Basically there must be an HTTP port open for each Axis network camera/video server and one port for AXIS Camera Station. In order for AXIS Camera Station Client to have access to AXIS Camera Station over the Internet, port 11007 must be opened in the firewall/router.
AXIS Camera Station - Network Configuration Windows security The AXIS Camera Station has a Windows-integrated security system. If you want to enable secure login facilities, you must authorize the administrative users in Windows: 1. Go to the Control Panel, choose Administrative Tools > Local Security Policy. 2. Select Local Policies > User Rights Assignment > Act as part of the operating system. Add the users you want to have administrative rights in AXIS Camera Station.
AXIS Camera Station - Network Configuration 5. To enable the live streaming engine, click on the Home Directory tab. Make sure that the Local path section is set as shown and that Execute permissions is set to Scripts and executables. 6. Click the Apply button. The Internet information Server is now ready for use. 7.
AXIS Camera Station - Network Configuration 3. Right-click on the folder C:/TempACS and go to Settings > Security. Make sure that all users have access to read and write to the TempACS folder. All users defined in the AXIS Camera Station, should now be able to access the it. Only users with Windows Administrator rights, can start/stop the background service.
AXIS Camera Station - Removing AXIS Camera Station Removing AXIS Camera Station In the Windows Add/Remove programs menu, AXIS Camera Station has two entries: AXIS Camera Station and AXIS Camera Station Web. To remove the entire program 1. Open Add/Remove Programs from the Windows Control Panel. 2. Select AXIS Camera Station and click Remove. 3. Click Yes when asked if you want to remove AXIS Camera Station. This will remove AXIS Camera Station, AXIS Camera Station Web and the background service.
AXIS Camera Station - Troubleshooting Troubleshooting Symptoms, Possible Causes and Remedial Actions No motion detection/record- If AXIS Camera Station doesn't detect motion or doesn't record, ing after AXIS Camera Station please check the following: is started • The background service is started: File > Start Server.
AXIS Camera Station - Troubleshooting Customer Support Before contacting technical support please create a Server Report of your system by selecting Help > Server Report from AXIS Camera Station’s main menu. Screen shots (copying what is currently displayed on a screen to a file) will assist Customer Support in assessing your problem. • Press Alt - Prt Scr • Open Wordpad • In Wordpad select Edit > Paste • Save as text file. Attach the text file and Server Report to your support case.
AXIS Camera Station - Glossary of Terms Glossary of Terms ActiveX - A standard that enables software components to interact with one another in a networked environment, regardless of the language(s) used to create them. Web browsers may come into contact with ActiveX controls, ActiveX documents, and ActiveX scripts. ActiveX controls are often downloaded and installed automatically as required. AF (Autofocus) - A system by which the camera lens automatically focuses on a selected part of the subject.
AXIS Camera Station - Glossary of Terms scan, each frame is scanned line-by-line and not interlaced; most are also displayed at 30 and 25 Hz. Frame rate - The frame rate used to describe the frequency at which a video stream is updated is measured in frames per second (fps). A higher frame rate is advantageous when there is movement in the video stream, as it maintains image quality throughout. Full-duplex - Transmission of data in two directions simultaneously. In an audio system this would describe e.g.
AXIS Camera Station - Glossary of Terms related technology. The primary uses for the MPEG-4 standard are Web (streaming media) and CD distribution, conversational (videophone), and broadcast television. Most of the features included in MPEG-4 are left to individual developers to decide whether to implement them or not. This means that there are probably no complete implementations of the entire MPEG-4 set of standards.
AXIS Camera Station - Glossary of Terms unauthorized users, such as spammers. SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) - SNMP forms part of the Internet Protocol suite, as defined by the Internet Engineering Task Force. The protocol can support monitoring of network-attached devices for any conditions that warrant administrative attention. Sockets - Sockets are a method for communication between a client program and a server program over a network. A socket is defined as "the endpoint in a connection.
Index A Active Directory 32 Administrator 18 Advance Search 21 Alarm 19 Alarm triggered recording 13 Audit Log 8 AXIS image enhancer 11 B Background service 5 C Camera access 18 Camera Selection 26 Camera Sequence 7 Camera Sequence window 7 Camera Sequences 8 Camera Storage Settings 15 Client Web Address 25 Configuration 9, 24 Configuration Sheet 8 Connection 24 continuous recording 12 Controls 6 Credentials 10 D Domain controller 32 E Enhancement factor 11 Event Log 8, 26 Event Log search 26 Event
