IP camera

The IP Camera object shows the image of an IP camera or recorder (NVR) in a box on the screen. The object is in the Controls group of the Toolbox; it also exists in the 3D library as a monitor on a stand.

The image does not come from the camera to the screen directly. The main program of Live reads the camera and passes the image on to the screen. For this reason the address, user name and password never reach the screen or the browser that is monitoring remotely, and the viewer does not need network access to the camera either.

H.265 (HEVC) is not supported. If the camera sends H.265, switch the encoding or the sub stream to H.264 in the camera settings. The HTTP sources (MJPEG, JPEG) have a connection timeout of 5 s and a data timeout of 10 s.

First set the source type to Test image and check that the box, the buttons and remote monitoring work, then switch to the camera itself. On screens with many cameras, select Sub stream for the small boxes.

In a tile, Live shows a title strip (name, connection state, clock, source badge), the image, and three buttons that appear when the mouse is over it: Enlarge, Save snapshot and the MAIN / SUB stream button. The status can be Off, Queued, Connecting, Connected or Error.

• Enlarge: clicking the image or the Enlarge button opens the main stream in a large window in the center. The stream of the small box is released at that time, so two streams are never opened on the same camera. Esc or clicking outside the window closes it.
• Snapshot: saves the current frame as JPEG. In Live the Save window opens; in the remote monitoring browser the file is downloaded through the browser.
• Switching the stream: the MAIN / SUB button is a temporary selection by the operator. If the stream is changed by a tag, the temporary selection is discarded.
• Tag binding: Channel, Stream on and Title can be bound to a tag. The operator or the PLC can change the camera number and the stream at run time and switch the stream on and off. Address, port, path, user and password cannot be bound.
• Authorization: the buttons and enlargement do not work if the Operable setting of the object or the control of the screen is off, or if the object’s authorization is missing; the image still appears. On a TV there are no buttons or enlargement.

The IP camera in the 3D library is a monitor on a stand. In the displayed camera field you select a 2D IP Camera object of the project. The address, user and password stay in that 2D object, and Live opens the stream with its settings. The stream is Sub stream by default. Frames are drawn on the monitor at most 12 times per second; when there is no image, a camera icon and a status text are shown. Designing 3D screens is covered on the 3D screens page.