VisionPoint™ VMS Web OpCenter - 8.1 User Manual

BETA Release

Web OpCenter Basics

Installing Web OpCenter

System Requirements

3VR Web OpCenter™ software allows you to access a 3VR VisionPoint™ VMS server from any PC on your network using a web browser. Below are the system requirements.

Running Web OpCenter on a VMS Server

The system requirements below apply when running Web OpCenter on a VMS Server, as opposed to a 3VR Appliance. The table shows the 3VR Applications Minimum System Requirements.



Operating SystemWindows XP Professional SP2 or later, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8
Processor

Intel and AMD CPUs, 3.0 GHz or higher

Video playback performance will be dictated by CPU capabilities.

DisplayAny display capable of 1024x768 resolution or greater
Video CardDirectX 9-capable video graphics adapter
Memory2 GB RAM or greater
Storage1 GB available storage space
BandwidthBroadband connection (384 Kbps or greater) to 3VR appliance recommended. Greater bandwidth will result in a better user experience when viewing stored or live video.
ProcessorIntel and AMD CPUs, 3.0 GHz or higher
Video CardDirectX 9-capable video graphics adapter with support for multiple displays
Embedded Appliance Hardware
Support
Only 4000-series Appliances and above are supported

Signing In

Just enter an appliance’s IP address into a web browser to access Web OpCenter.

Signing in to Web OpCenter



  1. Start a web browser
  2. Enter the IP address used to access Web OpCenter. This is the address provided to you by the 3VR administrator, in the format XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX (four 1-3 digit numbers separated by periods). For example, 10.100.2.22.
  3. Press 

4. At the sign-in screen, type the Username and Password of your 3VR user account.

Trouble Signing In

If you do not know the username or password of your 3VR user account, please contact the 3VR administrator at your organization or your 3VR re seller.

5. Click Sign In.

Enterprise Web OpCenter

When you log into an Enterprise server, Web OpCenter shows the VMS Servers connected to the Enterprise server that you have access to.

Web OpCenter Panel Layout

Use the Web OpCenter panels to watch live and recorded video, view events and people, and search for videos.



Video Panel
Use the Video panel to watch live and stored video. You can view one camera at a time or watch multiple cameras
simultaneously. The Views feature allows you to save frequent camera arrangements for quick reference. Click the Video tool
to display the Video panel.

Monitor Panel
The Monitor panel presents a real-time view of events as they are generated on the system. View all events, or filter the
results by camera, event type, time, or a special criteria. Click the Monitor tool to display the Monitor panel.

Search Panel
The Search panel enables you to quickly locate events of interest. In addition to standard criteria like date, time, and camera number, you can refine the search based on plug-in properties, such as event types (motion, imported events, and others).

You can store frequent searches in the Search panel for later use. Click the Search tool to display the Search panel.

Resizing and Closing Web OpCenter

You can minimize and maximize 3VR Web OpCenter in the same way as any other browser window using the controls in the upper-right corner.



  1. To close Web OpCenter, click the X button.

  2. To customize the size of the Web OpCenter window, click the Restore Down button and then click and drag any edge of the window until it reaches the desired size.

  3. Click and drag a corner of the window to resize the window vertically and horizontally at the same time.

Changing the Inactivity Timeout Setting

Web OpCenter automatically logs you out after a specified period of time of inactivity. You can change the inactivity period setting.



  1. Click your username (for example, “techrep”) in the upper-right corner and select Settings from the drop-down menu.

    The Settings dialog box appears.
  2. Click the Timeout tab. The Timeout dialog box appears.

  3. Drag the slider to indicate the desired inactivity period before timeout. Click
    Save.


Checking the Web OpCenter Version

You can check the software version of Web OpCenter you are using (for example, to provide this information to 3VR technical support).



  1. Click your username (for example, “techrep”) in the upper-right corner and select Settings from the drop-down menu. The Settings dialog box appears.

  2. Click the Version tab. The Version pane appears and displays the version number of Web OpCenter.

  3. Click Close.

Video Panel

Getting Started with the Video Panel

The first time you launch Web OpCenter on a PC, the application loads the Video panel. The panel contains a single blank video player, as you haven't yet selected any cameras. On the left-hand side of the Video panel appears the camera tree with the name of the VMS or Enterprise server.



  1. Click the arrow next to the name of the VMS or Enterprise server to expand the camera tree.
    • When connected to a single VMS server, the camera tree displays the list of cameras on the system.
    • When connected to an Enterprise server, the camera tree shows cameras from all systems on the Enterprise, organized first by region and then by VMS server.






  2. Click and drag a camera from the camera tree to the player to begin watching video in the video
    player.





    Live video from the camera streams in the player.




Customizing the Video Panel

You can use the Video panel to control cameras and views.

Changing the Number and Size of Video Players



The layout selector at the top of the Video panel controls the number and arrangement of video players.

  1. Click a different layout button to increase or decrease the number and positioning of players as desired.
    You can display up to 36 cameras at a time in the
    Video panel.
  2. After you select a player layout, click and drag a
    camera to each blank video player as described
    in section 1.

    To rearrange cameras, click a video and use the mouse to drag it from one video player to an empty video player. When you release the mouse button, the camera's video displays in the selected video player.

Adding and Removing Camera

You can specify the cameras displayed in the Video player.

Adding Cameras With Drag and Drop

You can drag and drop a single camera or all cameras from a VMS server from the camera tree to the Video player. When you drag a VMS server onto the Video player, all cameras on the VMS server display on the video players.

Removing Cameras

To stop streaming a camera that is currently playing in the Video panel:

  1. Move the mouse pointer over the desired video player.
  2. Click the close box (X) in the upper-right corner of the video player.

Camera Views

The camera views feature of the Video panel allows you to save a selected layout and selection of cameras for later use.

Saving a New Camera View

To save a view:



  1. Click the Management icon  in the upper left.
    The Camera Management dialog box appears.
  2. Click the plus sign (+) button to add a new view.


  3. Select the default New View name and enter a desired
    name for the view.
  4. Select the desired player layout at the top. The selected layout appears in the dialog box.


  5. Click and drag a camera to a blank video player. Each
    camera name you add is highlighted in the camera list.
  6. Optionally, if desired, select Save as shared view to make this view accessible to all users.



  7. Click OK. The new view's name appears in the Views drop-down list. A padlock icon appears next to
    views that aren't shared; a share icon appears next to shared views.




Loading a Saved View



To switch the layout of the Video panel to a saved view:

  1. If views are hidden, click the Show Views button.

  2. Click the arrow next to Views. The saved views appear.

  3. Click the desired view to load the view in the Video panel.

Deleting a Saved View

  1. Click the Management icon in the upper left.

    The Camera Management dialog box appears and displays the saved views.

  2. Select the view and then click the minus sign (-). Click OK. The view is permanently deleted.

You can only delete views that you created.

Searching for Camera Views

You can search for camera views by name.



  1. Enter the name or part of the view name you want in the Views search field. Web OpCenter lists views
    that match the search text in a drop-down list.


  2. Click the desired view in the list. The selected view appears.

  3. To locate all views that match the search text, click the magnifying glass button. Click the desired view.
    The selected view appears.


  4. To redisplay a list of all views, clear the text in the search field and click the magnifying glass button.



Camera Overlays



Information about the camera appears in the bottom-left corner of each video player. The overlay items are:

  • Camera number/name
  • Appliance name

Showing/Hiding the Camera Tree and Views

You can hide from view the camera tree.

  • Click the down arrow beside Views to hide the views; click the right arrow to display the views
  • Click the down arrow beside Camera Views to hide the tree; click the right arrow to display the tree
  • Click the Show views/Hide views button at the top of the screen to show and hide both the views and camera tree (the button toggles between Shows views and Hide views)

Switching to Full-Screen Mode

Switching the Video panel to full-screen mode displays the selected cameras at maximum resolution.



  1. To switch to full-screen mode, click the full-screen button (located above and to the right of the video player grid). The Video panel displays in full-screen mode.


  2. There are two ways to exit full-screen mode:
    • Click the Exit Full Screen link at the top of the screen
    • Press the escape key on your keyboard (Esc)

Viewing Live and Stored Video

By default, the timeline control across the bottom of the Video panel displays time in 1-hour increments. The time when the video you are viewing took place is overlaid on the timeline in the scrolling time slider.

You can change the time range of the timeline. The timeline range extends from 1 minute to 1 hour.



  1. Drag the slider beside the calendar button to the left to reduce the range of the timeline. The timeline
    updates to reflect the change.

  2. Drag the slider to the right to expand the timeline range.

Live Video

When the Video panel loads, the selected cameras begin streaming live video. When video is live, the time slider displays the current time, and the slider moves forward along the timeline in real time. The LIVE button is active above the time slider when watching live video.

To quickly switch from viewing stored video to live video, click the LIVE button located above the timeline.

Stored Video

You can play back stored video in the Video panel in the following ways:

To view video recorded earlier in the current day:



  1. Click and drag the time slider left on the timeline.

    After you release the mouse button, stored video begins to play in all video players. When viewing stored video, the time slider displays the time the video was recorded. The LIVE button is dimmed when viewing stored video.

To play back video from a specific date and time in the past:

  1. Click the calendar button 
  2. Select the date from the calendar picker.
  3. Use the timeline to adjust the time to the desired time.

Video Playback Controls

Use the video playback controls below the timeline to control the playback of stored video in the following ways:

  • Pause: Pauses video playback. 
  • Play: Restarts video playback. 
  • Fast-Forward: Fast-forwards through cached video*. Double-click the fast-forward button to increase the fast-forward speed.
  • Rewind: Rewinds through cached video*. Double-click the rewind button to increase the rewind speed. 

The blue lines on the time slider represent the portion of the video timeline that is currently cached. “Cached video” refers to video that has been downloaded from the VMS server to your PC. 

Dragging the time slider forward or backward through cached video causes the video in the video players to fast-forward or rewind, respectively.

Viewing Events in the Video Panel

The Web OpCenter Video panel allows you to view events as they happen. You can specify what types of events are displayed and the time period to scan for events.



  1. Click the Show events button (pin icon).The events that match the event filter criteria appear.












  2. To change the event filter:
  3. Click Events Filter.
  4. Click the Time drop-down menu and select the time interval to specify the recent time frame to scan for events. You can view events that were generated within the last 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, or 1 hour.

  5. Click the Events drop-down menu and select the event type to display events of that type.








    Optionally, select With Alert to display only events that have triggered an alert. "Alert" appears on event cards that were triggered by an alert.

  6. Click OK. The e event cards update to show events matching the specified criteria.

    The following information about the event appears on each card:

    • The event type and motion
    • The date and time period the event occurred
    • The name of the appliance whose camera captured the event
    • The name of the camera that captured the event
    • The event's duration




Monitor Panel

Getting Started with the Monitor Panel

The Web OpCenter Monitor panel allows you to view events as they happen. You can specify which cameras to view, and what types of events are displayed.



  1. Click the Monitor tool to display the Monitor panel.

    When you first launch Web OpCenter on a PC, the
    Monitor panel is blank, as no cameras or event
    types have been selected.



  2. Click the Filters button in the upper-right to display the filters dialog box.








  3. Click the arrow beside the desired VMS Server. A list of cameras on the server appears.






  4. Check the box(es) besides the desired camera(s). Check the VMS Server to select all cameras.


  5. Click the Time button and select the time interval from the drop-down menu to specify the recent time frame to scan for events. You can view events that were generated within the last 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, or 1 hour.


  6. Click the Events drop-down menu. Check the box beside an event type to display events of that type. You must select at least one event type.

    Optionally, select With Alert to display only events that have triggered an alert.

    Only event types applicable for the selected cameras
    appear in the event type menu. See “Alert Event Cards” for information about alerts.

  7. Click OK. The Monitor panel updates to display event cards matching the specified criteria.

    The total number of events appears in the bottom-left side of the window. The date and time period in which the events occurred appear in the bottom-right side of the window.











Viewing Events

You can view video associated with events.

Event Card Types

Each event captured by the 3VR system is represented in Web OpCenter by an event card. Web OpCenter labels event cards with the type of event, date and time the event card was created, and other information about the event.

3VR’s open and rapidly expanding platform permits an unlimited number of possible event types, as events can be generated by integration with external systems (e.g. transaction, access control, POS, etc.) and analytics plug-ins, in addition to basic video recording. However, the following event types are available by default on all VisionPoint™ VMS servers:

Motion Event Cards

The system creates motion events when it detects movement in a camera’s field of view. 



  1. All motion event cards contain the following elements in row view:
    1. Preview: each motion event card displays several seconds of video from the event
    2. Event Type: motion
    3. Camera name: the name of the camera that captured the motion event
    4. Appliance name: the name of the appliance that captured the motion event
    5. Date/time: the time the camera first detected that motion
    6. Duration: the length of time of detected continuous motion

Face Event Cards

The system generates a face event card when it finds a face on a camera with face recognition enabled.



  1. All face event cards contain the following elements in row view:
    1. Preview: the best image of the individual’s face
    2. Camera: the number and name of the camera that captured the face event
    3. Appliance: the name of the appliance that captured the face event
    4. Date/time: the time the camera detected the face.

      Face events do not appear unless you’ve enabled and configured facial surveillance on one or more cameras.

Alert Event Cards

Alert events are events of any type that meet user-defined criteria for an alert, such as a targeted face or motion event occurring during a certain time of day. In Grid View, “Alert appears on event cards generated by alerts. See “Changing the Appearance of Event Cards and Event Images” for information about selecting Grid View.

You need to configure alerts using 3VR System Manager. See the 3VR VisionPoint VMS Installation and Configuration Guide for 3VR Appliances or more information about alerts.

Viewing Event Video in the Pop-up Video Player

You can view video from an event in greater detail in the Pop-up Video Player.



  1. To open and use the Pop-up Video Player:
    • Click the play button on the event video player. The
      video clip opens in the Pop-up Video Player.
    • Use the controls at the bottom of the video player to pause, rewind, or fast-forward the video as desired.
    • Pause Pauses video playback
    • Play: Restarts video playback
  2. When you are finished viewing the video clip, click the X in the corner to close the Pop-up Video Player and return to the Monitor panel.


Displaying Event Video in Full-Screen



  1. Click the full-screen button to expand the video display to full screen.



  2. To close the full-screen display, press the Esc key.

Adjusting the Audio Level

If the video includes audio, you can turn up and down the volume.
Drag the volume slider to the left to decrease the volume; drag it to the right to increase it.

Customizing the Monitor Panel

You can change the appearance of event cards and images.

Changing the Appearance of Event Cards and Event Images

The event card format buttons allow you to customize the style and size of event cards. There are two event card styles, Grid View and Row View.

  • Row View displays event cards with full details 

  • Grid View displays a thumbnail image from the event, along with some event details 



To change the appearance of event cards:

  1. Click the button for the event card style. The button toggles between Grid View and Row View.

Using the Camera Selector

You can view camera names and select individual cameras.

Viewing Camera Names



  1. To view a camera’s name, move the mouse over the camera number without clicking.
  2. The camera name and number appear as a tool tip.
  3. To view all camera names and numbers at one time, click the drop-down arrow beside the VMS server.

    A menu appears and lists all cameras on the VMS server.

Enterprise Event Monitoring

You can monitor events from multiple appliances at the same time.

Using Enterprise Event Monitoring



Web OpCenter loads the appliances you have access to when you log in. You configure filters for events the same as for stand-alone appliances (Refer Getting Started with the Monitor Panel for more information).

After you configure a filter, the Monitor panel updates to display event cards matching the specified criteria. If you select multiple appliances and channels, events that match the filter criteria appear from the selected appliances and channels.

Limitations

If there are many events saved from the appliances, you may need to select fewer appliances in order to increase performance of OpCenter and also to prevent overwhelming the system.

Search Panel

Use the Search panel to find events recorded days, weeks, or months ago.



  1. To go to the Search panel, click the Search tool.
  2. Click the New Search button in the upper-left corner of the screen.

    The New Search dialog box appears.
  3. Click in the field beside New Search at the top and type
    a name for the search



  4. Define the dates, days of the week, and time ranges to
    search for events. For example, you can set up a search
    for video recorded in the past month on a Thursday
    evening between 6 PM and midnight.



  5. Select the camera(s) to include in the search. You must
    select at least one camera. Select the appliance to
    select all cameras on the appliance.

    Customers with an Enterprise server can search across multiple appliances on the Enterprise.

  6. Check the boxes under Events to specify the event types to search. You must select at least one event type.



  7. Click the Search button. Web OpCenter displays
    events matching your criteria in the Search panel
    results screen. A thumbnail image and details about
    the video appear.

  8. Click the play button on an event card to view the video clip for the event.











Building a Search

You build a search by specifying the date and time range of interest, along with the camera(s) and event(s) of interest.

Specifying Search Criteria

The first step when selecting search criteria is to assign a name to the search and then specify the period of time you want to search for events.



  1. Click the New Search button in the upper-left corner of the screen.

    The New Search dialog box appears.
  2. Click in the field beside New Search at the top and type
    a name for the search.

Date Range



  • To search for events occurring within a common date range, click Recent and click one of the pre-defined date range buttons, such as 1 day.
  • To search for events during a specific date range, click Specify, and select a specific Start and End date for the search from the calendar picker.

Days

If you specify a Date Range of 1 week or longer, you can restrict the search to specific days of the week.



  • Click Specify (between Full week and Time) and click the days to include to limit the search to specific days


  • Click Full week to search every day of the week.

Time



You can restrict the search to certain times of the day:

  • Click Partial day to search for common time ranges, like evening or working hours.



  • Click Specify to specify precise hours, minutes, and seconds to search.




  • Click Specify to specify precise hours, minutes, and seconds to search.






  • To include all 24 hours in the search, click Full day.







Select Cameras



Specify which cameras to include in the search. You must select at least one camera.

  • Select cameras individually by checking the box beside each camera
  • To select all cameras on the appliance, check the box beside the appliance

Select Event Type(s)

The event selector displays the list of event types available on the VMS server (or VMS servers, if you are connected to an Enterprise server).


Check the box next to the event type(s) to include the event(s) in the search. You must select at least one event type. The following event types are available by default on all VMS servers.

Motion Events

To search for motion events, check the box next to Motion in the event selector. This selects All motion events, which returns all motion events matching the other search criteria.

Face Events



To search for face events, check the box next to Face in the event selector. This selects All face events, which returns all face events matching the other search criteria.


Alert Events

Search for events that triggered an alert by checking Events with Alerts in the event selector. This selects All events with alerts, which returns all events that triggered an alert matching the other search criteria.

  1. Every event type that ever existed on the VMS server appear in the Events list, even if events of that type are no longer being generated.
  2. For information about event types generated by plug-ins (for example, transaction events or events generated by access control systems), please consult the plug-in documentation.
  3. The Faces event type is not listed unless you enable facial surveillance and configure this feature on one or more cameras. To use face recognition, you must license the system for the Facial Surveillance analytic.

Clear Search Parameters

  • Click Clear to clear all the saved search criteria and start fresh.

Running the Search

After you specify the search criteria, click Search. The events that match the specified search criteria appear. The look and feel of the search results screen is similar to the Monitor panel. Click the play button on an event card to open the event video and details in the event player.

Searching using the last  Search



You can quickly perform a search using the last, saved search you executed.
  1. Click the Search Description button. Information about the last saved search you executed appears.
  2. Click the Search button to execute the search. The search results appear.
  3. To modify the search, click the Modify button. The Modify Search dialog box appears. Refer Modifying or Deleting a Saved Search for more information.

Events Information

Information about the events, and controls used to navigate the events, appear at the bottom of the screen.

The day of the week, date, and time the displayed events occurred appear on the right. This information automatically updates if you display other events “pages” that occurred at a different date/time.

If more than a screen full of events appear, you can display the other events by clicking the numbered buttons. The events on the selected “page” appear. To scroll sequentially through the pages of events, click the right arrows (>>) and left arrows (<<) buttons.

Saving Searches

You can save and re-use searches, as well as modify saved searches.

Storing Search Criteria as a Saved Search

You can create a search with the criteria you want, and then easily re-execute the saved search.

Creating a Saved Search



  1. Click the New Search button.
    The New Search dialog box appears.
  2. Click in the New Search field at the top and enter the
    desired search name in the field.
  3. Select the desired search criteria. See Specifying
    Search Criteria topic for information and click
    Save.



  4. The new search appears in the Saved list on the left.


Running a Saved Search



  1. Click the desired search in the Saved list. The search criteria appear.
  2. Click Search. The events that match the specified search criteria appear.

Displaying Search Criteria

You can easily display the criteria for a search.



  1. Click the Search Criteria button in the New Search or Modify Search dialog box.

    The search criteria appears.
  2. You can also re-execute the last, saved search you performed. Refer Searching Using the Last Search in this section.


Modifying or deleting a Saved Search

You can modify a saved search and save the modified search under a new name. This feature keeps your search settings so you can change or fine-tune them and perform the search again or create new searches based on a saved search.



  1. Click the desired search in the Saved list. The search criteria appear.




  2. Click Modify. The Modify Search dialog box appears.

    By default, Web OpCenter saves your changes under the same search name. However, you can specify a new name for the search, and your changes will overwrite the original saved search.

  3. If desired, enter a new name in the Modify Search field. Make any desired changes to the search criteria. Refer Specifying Search Criterion for more information on specifying search criteria and entering a search name.


  4. Click Clear to clear all the saved search criteria and start
    fresh. After finishing, click Save.


  5. To delete a saved search, click the Remove button beside the saved search’s name. Click OK to confirm the deletion. Web OpCenter removes the search from the Saved list.









Appendix A - Web OpCenter Features vs. 3VR OpCenter

Feature Comparison: Web OpCenter vs 3VR OpCenter

3VR OpCenter is a Windows application that you install and run on a PC to access a 3VR VisionPoint™ VMS server. Web OpCenter software allows you to access a 3VR VisionPoint VMS server from any PC on your network using a web browser. Currently, Web OpCenter offers a subset of the features in 3VR OpCenter. The table below identifies the features in 3VR OpCenter that are not
currently supported in Web OpCenter.

Top Level TabsFeatures3VR OpCenterWeb OpCenter
SettingsVersion displayYesYes
Automatically sign outYesYes
Email SettingsYesNo
Change PasswordYesNo
VideoLive videoYesYes
PlaybackYesYes
Play live video on different gridsYesYes*
Stitched videoYesNo
Export videoYesNo
Display video panel full screenYesYes
Fast forward/rewind played videoYesYes
Watch live eventsYesYes*
Select channel/event typeYesYes*
MonitorEvent interval selectionYesYes
Play event cardYesYes
Export eventsYesNo
Scan event cardYesNo
Select related eventsYesNo
Camera management (shared view)YesYes
Search events (date range/event type/channel)YesYes
SearchPlay event cardsYesYes
Search related eventsYesNo
Cross search between appliancesYesYes
Saved searchYesYes
Specific searchesYesNo
Import eventsYesNo
Video validationYesNo
View groupsYesNo
Edit groupsYesNo
PeopleImport PeopleYesNo
Export PeopleYesNo
Create alertsYesNo
Edit alertsYesNo
AlertsCreate actions with action typesYesNo

Edit action with action typesYesNo
CasesCreate casesYesNo

Update casesYesNo

Add contentYesNo
*Implementation Testing Pending