Direct control of a PTZ device from the client

Answered

Permanently deleted user

November 29, 2020 22:59

A group of Casinos we are working with need to be able to control rotating cameras with little to no delay (given the specific and the nature of the surveillance in this industry).

A suggestion was made to add a capability to Nx to allow for direct communication with, and therefore control of, a PTZ camera, i.e.:

1. An operator is authenticated/authorised the client with the device via the server once;
2. Next, a direct secure tunnel is created with the device;
3. Operator directly controls the device from the client.

Can this be done?

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• Official comment

  

  Norman

  • Network Optix team

  November 30, 2020 20:43 Edited

  Hi @...,

  This topic probably belongs in the New Feature Section, so I'll move it to that section.

  1. Except the 'once' part, this is already possible. 
  2. We can't control the communication between camera and server, but we can control the communication between server and client, including the stream of the camera between server and client. You can enable/disable this in the System Administration menu, tab General.
  3. Since there is no standard control mechanism to control cameras through the web interface, there is no way we can offer such function, especially since there are still tons of manufacturers using ActiveX, which requires the download of dedicated plugins, and these are a security risk by itself and I don't see it is a wise choice to be part of that chain. 
• 

  Permanently deleted user

  November 30, 2020 22:04

  Hi Andrew,

  Theoretically it is possible, but I don't think it will solve the problem.

  When you send some PTZ command, communication client –> server –> camera happens in milliseconds, changing the route to client –> camera won't lead to any noticeable difference.

  When we get video feed from camera, it also goes like camera –> server –> client. Like with the commands, server here usually causes very little delay. Also we can't exclude server from this chain, because it won't be able to record video from camera in this case.

  What theoretically may help to improve situation – you can reduce the "Maximum Live Buffer Length" value in Local Settings / Advanced to the minimum.

  --

  Shortly speaking – we spend a lot of time investigating and improving the delay while controlling the PTZ cameras, and it doesn't look like there is much left to be improved on our side. Likely, most of the delay is caused by cameras, not by our software.

  However, our integration with some cameras may be done incorrectly, or through different protocol. If you can provide us with the exact cameras models, which have bigger delay while controlled through our software compared to while controlled through their web interfaces or different products – it will help us a lot.

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