MOBOTIX Online Help

MOBOTIX Camera Software News

This page lists the most important changes for software version MX-V3.4.5.10 since version MX-V3.4.2.16.

Notes:

• Open www.mobotix.com/support/software_downloads to find the available versions of the camera software and the corresponding release notes.
• Please note that some of the described features in the dialogs will only be visible if the More button at the bottom of a dialog has been pressed.
• Please send an e-mail to software-feedback@mobotix.com for feedback.

Enhancements and Improvements

Additional and Expanded Q22M Image Display Modes

The Q22M models with L11 lens (fisheye) now feature additional image display modes. You can set these modes using the Display Modes Quick Control:

• Panorama
  When using a Q22M mounted to a wall, you can use this mode to see the entire room from the left to the right wall in one 180° image. Images in this mode have an aspect ration (width to height) of 4 to 3, with the width determined by the currently used image resolution (size).
• Double Panorama
  When using a Q22M mounted to the ceiling, this mode shows a 180° panorama image for the Northern half of the image and a second panorama image of the Southern half of the image using an aspect ration (width to height) of 4 to 3.
• Panorama Focus
  This display mode combines the panorama view (aspect ration 8 to 3) with two smaller images (each with aspect ratio 4 to 3) in one large image with an aspect ratio of (width to height) of 4 to 3. This mode is especially interesting, if the camera has been mounted to a wall, since you can use the Panorama view to monitor the entire room while the two independent smaller views can be used to zoom into areas of interest.

Additional information:

• The definition of North, which is used for the Double Panorama display mode, is accomplished in Normal display mode using the Installation > Set North Quick Control.
• The display modes mentioned above are usually locked, i.e. they cannot be changed by vPTZ actions (vPTZ = virtual Pan/Tilt/Zoom). To unlock the views, you can use the Lock button, which is is available in the browser and in MxCC 2.0; once unlocked, you can use vPTZ actions to set your own view.

Full Image Storage

With this release, the cameras can always store the full image - regardless of what the live image stream is showing. This ensures that the recording always contains the full image even though the operator used the vPTZ features to zoom into the image in order to examine a specific detail of the image. This is especially interesting for the Q22M models, which rely strongly on the vPTZ features in the live image. This means that you can use the vPTZ features to pan, tilt and zoom the live image, while the camera is recording full images at 1 fps in MEGA or QXGA resolution. Thanks to the advanced distortion correction features of MxControlCenter (MxCC) and MxEasy, you can still play back and examine the recorded full images of Q22M cameras normally, i.e. without distortion. Open the Setup > Recording dialog and activate the Full Image Recording option to use this feature. Besides other parameters, this dialog also allows setting the desired resolution.

Please observe the following hints:

• When using Full Image Recording on Q22M cameras, you should use at least MEGA or better yet QXGA format. Reason: when viewing the recorded images in MxCC of MxEasy, the applications need this resolution to deliver satisfactory image quality.
• As the computing power of the camera has its natural limits, full image storage reduces the attainable data rate of the live image stream by about 20 to 30 percent. It is thus recommended to reduce the image rate for storage as far as possible, thus influencing the live image stream as little as possible.

Enhanced Configuration Options for MxEasy Alarm Planner

When using the cameras together with MxEasy and its Alarm Planner feature, you can set time ranges for recording with totally different recording settings. It is now possible to set a surveillance camera in a store during opening hours to record continuously with 1 to 2 fps while using event-triggered recording with maximum frame rate and activated Video Motion detection and PIR sensor for detecting events.

Exposure Windows Adapted to vPTZ Features

When setting the exposure windows, e.g. by using the Exposure Control Quick Control, the camera now has two different modes:

• vPTZ Exposure Mode
  This new mode determines images exposure by automatically following the currently viewed image section when using the virtual PTZ features. Note that this will influence the exposure of the full image—even of those areas that are currently now viewed. This may lead to undesired effects if the camera is recording the full image. This mode does not allow using any exposure windows since the whole visible image area is used for exposure control.
• Recording Exposure Mode (Default)
  
  This mode allows using the well-known exposure windows for determining the correct image exposure. The exposure windows and thus, image exposure will not be changed using the vPTZ features. This approach ensures that image exposure always delivers optimum exposure when recording and that exposure is not changed when using the virtual PTZ. Note that you can set the desired exposure windows in both the (distorted) full image and an image section that has been selected using the virtual PTZ.

Video Motion Detection—Enhancements and Improvements

This feature has been enhanced and improved as outlined in the following:

• Reference windows with selectable Suppression Time
  The reference windows that are used to avoid false video motion alarms (e.g. when the illumination of large portions of a scene changes) up until now only suppressed video motion windows that triggered in exactly the same image as the reference windows. Open the Setup > Event Settings dialog and enter a Video Motion Suppression Time for the reference windows. When a reference windows triggers now, it will suppress all video motion windows of the same VM detector (VM or VM2) within the specified time.
• More precise settings for specific situations
  Certain situations may require further fine-tuning of the behavior of the video motion windows by using the '$noise', '$postfilter' and '$limit' variables. For further information on how these variables are used and how they work, please see the Video Motion Detection page in the camera's online help.
• Definition of video motion windows also in corrected images
  When using the Q22M (with L11 lens) or M22M (with L22 lens) with the virtual PTZ (i.e. corrected image sections), you can now define the video motion windows directly in these image sections. It is thus not required to switch to Full Image display mode to accomplish this.

ExtIO: Now Supports Ethernet Connections

From this software version on, you can connect the MOBOTIX ExtIO with the cameras using either a USB or an Ethernet cable. Open the Admin Menu > Manage Hardware Expansions dialog to activate the ExtIO and to set its IP address. Once connected to the camera, operation of the ExtIO is the same, regardless of how the ExtIO has been connected.

Enhancements to the HTTP API for vPTZ Control

With the expanded vPTZ features of the camera, it is now possible to control these features using the MOBOTIX camera's HTTP API. For more information on this topic, see the Online help of the camera on the The HTTP API page.

VoIP/SIP Enhancements

This area has been enhanced and improved in the following ways:

• Support of Cisco Call Manager added
  MOBOTIX cameras can now be used for SIP telephony via Cisco Call Manager. Note that Cisco Call Manager currently only supports voice telephony, but no video telephony.
• Playing back an audio message with adjustable delay
  If the camera calls the VoIP number via a SIP provider (e.g. sipgate), the provider accepts the call and forwards it accordingly. Since the camera plays back its audio message too early in this case (i.e. after the call has been accepted), the recipient may miss the beginning of the message. To avoid this, you should set a suitable delay in the Settings for Audio Messages in the Admin > VoIP Settings dialog (set Configuration Mode to Expert Configuration to see these options).
• Flexible assignment of signal outputs to phone keys
  The keys of the phone can now be set to operate the signal outputs 1 or 2 (this is only available when using either the CamIO or the ExtIO). This in turn allows using only signal output 1 without risking that operating the door opener could result in a "fluttering" of the signal. Use the parameters in the Signal Output Settings section in the Admin > VoIP Settings dialog (set Configuration Mode to Expert Configuration to see these options).

New Features and Key Assignments When Using Video SIP

When using video SIP connections, you can display these additional key assignments on the screen of a softphone or video SIP phone:

• Keys for Camera Arming
  
  • Phone key "3": Activate/deactivate camera arming.
  • Phone keys "7", "8", "9": Activate the Listen ("7"), Speak ("8") and Intercom ("9") audio modes of the camera.
• Keys for Event Search
  
  • Phone key "0": This key opens a submenu in Player mode, which allows searching for events according to the date and time you entered.
• Keys for vPTZ Control of a Q22M
  
  • Phone keys "1", "3": Switches back and forth between the Normal ("1") and Surround views ("3").
  • Phone key "0": Opens a submenu for switching between views:
    
    • Phone keys "1" to "6": Defining and storing of predefined views.
    • Phone keys "7" to "9", "*" and "0": Activates the different auto modes; "0" stops the auto mode.