Support for IP cameras

Axxon Next video management software (VMS) automatically identifies all IP-video equipment connected to the local area network. Therefore, to configure the system, the operator does not need to know the IP-addresses of all the cameras – the system will find them, identify the models, and will display all additional capabilities of these cameras, such as availability of microphones, built-in speakers, inputs for alarm sensors, etc. The operator will only need to configure the intended use of each camera and its advanced features.

IP camera support in Axxon Next is provided through the Driver’s Pack Module specially developed by AxxonSoft and regularly updated to support new IP devices. The latest version of the Driver’s Pack is available for free download and can be installed directly into a working system. Thus, Driver’s Pack allows adding support for new IP devices without having to wait for the release of new versions of Axxon Next and without reinstalling the entire system.

Support for embedded video camera analytics

Many modern IP cameras contain embedded video detection tools which are triggered by certain events – movement in the scene, crossing of a line, entry into a zone, etc. Axxon Next supports this camera feature, which allows receiving detector triggering events and to use these events in the subsequent operation, for example, start recording upon detecting motion in the scene.

Support for onboard video camera analytics offers several advantages over the use of video detection tools on the video server. First, it eliminates the additional load on the video server’s processor, since there is no need to run resource-intensive decompression of the video stream. With this, more cameras can be connected to one video server. Moreover, the video embedded video camera detection tools work with video streams, which were not subjected to compression with subsequent decompression. Therefore, compared to the software video detectors on the video server, these video detection tools work with video images of higher quality. This helps ensure more stable operation of the video detection tools under difficult conditions, for example, in poor visibility.

Support for multi-streaming

Many of today’s IP cameras can transmit two video streams with different video parameters and compressed in different codecs. Axxon Next video management software supports this feature, which allows taking advantage of this feature of IP equipment to optimize the CPU load on the video server and the client workstation. For example, if the camera can transmit video streams in both MJPEG and H.264 formats, it is wise to use the H.264 stream for archiving, because it has a greater degree of compression, and the MJPEG stream for viewing on the workstation screen, since it is easier to decompress. Also, depending on the task, different frame rates can be configured for different streams.

360 degree camera support

This function allows dewarping video from a fisheye camera or camera with an ImmerVision panomorphic lens to obtain several “normal” flat images with different frame aspect ratios for display on the client screen. One of the resulting virtual cameras can be a virtual PTZ unit.

This means that a single fisheye camera can replace several fixed cameras and a PTZ camera, for greater hardware cost savings. Dewarping is performed on the graphics card, without any additional burden on the CPU of the client computer. This allows viewing more video channels on a single client without increasing hardware requirements.