Ambush Client Software User Guide For use with the full Range of Ambush DVRs Version 1.2 Overview This user guide will take you through the process of obtaining and archiving footage from the Ambush Technologies range of digital video recorders (DVR). Ambush Video client is a windows application that will allow the viewing and processing of.mp4 files from the DVR on a normal desktop PC. The Ambush DVR automatically creates these files on the removable (or internal) hard drive cartridge. The cartridge must be connected to the PC in order to process the files (Alternatively the recorder could be connected via LAN/WLAN). Playback options include play, fast fwd, slow motion, pause, time line jumping and stop. Screenshots can be taken in either BMP or JPG format. Screenshots can also be printed directly to any installed printer. Sections of footage can be saved to independent.mp4 files and written to CD/DVD for archival/evidential purposes. How MPEG4 works. The reason MPEG4 is able to compress video so efficiently is due to the way individual frames of video are encoded based not only on what has been displayed previously (this is the method all other video compression algorithms use) but also on what will be displayed next. An MPEG4 stream consists of lots of sequential groups of pictures (GOPs), a typical GOP might contain 5 frames of video which look like IPBPB I Frame Index frame that fully describes a frame of video (much like a single photo) P Frame P frames contain a list of encoded list of changes since the previous I frame B Frame B frames are MPEG4 s secret weapon. They contain not only a list of changes from the previous I frame but can also reference parts of frames yet to appear. These frames are very complex but also incredibly small. This is what allows MP4 to achieve stunning compression ratios. However the complexity of these frames does mean that a lot of CPU capacity is required to decode them. Installation To install the AMBUSH Video client place the CD into the drive and it will automatically start the installation process. If you have downloaded the software just double click with the left mouse button on the AMBUSHDVRClient_Buildxx.exe file to begin the installation process. Alternatively you can always find the latest release of the software at http://www.ambushcctv.com The default directory for the software is C:\Program Files\Ambush Technologies\Ambush DVR Client The installation directory may be changed without any impact on the execution of the software. If you have an older version of the client it will overwrite the old version automatically.
Minimum system requirements Ambush Video client runs on windows 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP and Vista Although Ambush Video client will run on almost any PC, due to the nature of mp4 streams it is recommended that the system should be a Athlon 2200+/P4 2.4Ghz based system with native USB 2.0 and ATI Radeon 9600 or above / Nvidia Geforce FX5700 graphics card with 512MB of system Ram. Screen Resolution of 1024x768 or higher (if using wide screen laptops ensure that normal font size is used in the display properties as display corruption will occur if large fonts are used). Hard Disk Space: 10MB is required for installation and at least 3GB should be free for archiving. Starting Ambush Video client To start running the Ambush Video client click start on the bottom left of the windows screen and then follow Start> All Programs> Ambush Technologies> Ambush DVR client. Alternatively you can click on the icon below that will have been created on the desktop during the installation process. Installing a Cartridge You can remove the hard drive cartridge with the recordings by unlocking the hard drive caddy in the DVR by turning the key clockwise to the 12 o clock position. Once this is been done you will be able to pull the disk cartridge from the recorder using the grab handle on the front of the cartridge. N.B The DVR should be powered off during this process as disk corruption can occur if the disk is removed / inserted while powered up. Accessing the recorded data Reviewing files from the AMBUSH DVR can be achieved in two ways. Option 1. Option 1. By accessing the removable hard disk cartridge Option 2. By accessing the DVR using Wireless LAN To access the files from the cartridge run the software and click on the icon shown below Page 2 of 21
This will select the direct disk replay option. Once you have clicked on this icon it will bring up the following dialog box asking what period of footage you would like to concentrate on or if you would like to view the entire recorded history. Select from the drop down menu if you want to retrieve a smaller recording database, else leave on All Available Data and Click on the OK button. Once the recording database has been retrieved you are ready to review the recorded images. Option 2. To access the files from the DVR via WLAN run the software and click on the icon shown below. This will select the remote replay option. Once you have clicked on this icon it will bring up the following dialog box asking what period of footage you would like to concentrate on or if you would like to view the entire recorded history. Page 3 of 21
Click OK and the client will now retrieve the recorded history based on your selections. You will see the progress in the dialog box shown below Once the recorded database has been retrieved you are now ready to review the recorded images. Reviewing recorded images Having retrieved the recorded database based on your time and date selections you will be presented with a view like the one below. As you can see there is space for up to 12 cameras simultaneously, however if you have less than 10 cameras on your system you can optimize the views by selecting a different window option. You can do this by clicking on the icon shown below and selecting the option that most suits you. Page 4 of 21
Once you have selected the required screen mode that most suits, you we are ready to start looking at the recorded footage. To see all the footage that is recorded open up the calendar by clicking on the icon shown below The calendar will open up and looks like the following screenshot. Days where you have recorded footage are shown in bold. You can move forward or back a month by clicking on the appropriate arrow. Select the day with the footage you wish to view by double clicking on that day. Once you have done that you are ready to select the time of the footage you wish to view. You do this by moving the slider to the timeframe you wish to view (the time bar is 00:00 24:00) as shown below. If you have motion detection footage or many smaller pieces of footage where it is difficult to accurately place the slider on the correct time you can use the Zoomed time bar option. To access the click on the view menu at the top of the screen and select Zoomed Timebar option. This will open up an additional movable window with a magnified view of the timebar that the slider is on. Page 5 of 21
Once you have selected the time you wish to view press the play button on the play controls and the footage will start to play. The play controls have a few functions as detailed below. 1 2 3 4 5 1. Play: This button will change colour when pressed to indicate that play has been pressed. 2. Pause 3. Stop 4. Slow motion: This will play the images back at half speed (this will not play in reverse) 5. Fast Fwd: This will play the images quicker depending on how many times it is pressed (it can play 2x, 4x, 8x) N.B Once the footage begins playing it will be initially out of sync (each camera playing from slightly different times) once all cameras are visible the client will then pause the fastest streams to sync the footage (syncing is sometimes not exact depending on frame rates used as we sync the footage to what is known as an I frame: - see MPEG4 explanation in the page 1). You will then be presented with a screen that looks something like the screen below. Page 6 of 21
A particular screen can be viewed in full screen by double clicking on it or you can view all the cameras using all available screen space by clicking the full screen switch shown below. When you want to return to normal operation move the mouse to the top of the screen and click the full screen switch again. Once you have reviewed all the footage you require you are now ready to archive the footage to your local hard drive and then produce a CD/DVD. Archiving Footage There are two methods of archiving the footage, these depend on whether you are using an attached hard drive cartridge or using the wireless LAN to retrieve the footage. Option 1: From hard drive cartridge. Right click on any window and a dialog box will pop up saying save clip as shown below Page 7 of 21
Highlight this and click the left mouse button. You will be presented with the following dialog box Select the cameras you wish to save by checking the tick boxes, input your start and end times in the boxes provided and select the destination folder. Once this has been completed click on OK and the progress bar will start to fill. It will go from left to right one time per camera. This may take some time depending on how long a file you are saving and the specification of your pc. The progress bar is shown below. Once this has been completed you will have multiple (assuming you saved more than one) files on your hard drive ready to either burn to a disk or play in a separate player. Option 2. To archive the footage using the wireless LAN you select the Download from DVR option from the file menu. Select the DVR you wish to download from the drop down menu and select the time: date and the cameras you wish to download. Select a location and press download. Page 8 of 21
The file transfer dialog will appear showing you the speed of transfer; it will show this dialog box once for each individual camera. Playing individual archived files To play an individual file go to the file menu and select open then browse for the file you wish to view and select it by double clicking on it with the left mouse button. It will then open up a new window as shown below Page 9 of 21
This window works in much the same way as windows media player, you can drag the bar for instant fast forward/rewind, the fast fwd button works up to 16X in this mode and the slow motion button works down to a single frame advance. There is also a snapshot button for stills; an edit button and a write CD button (see below). Taking snapshots The client allows you to take and name snapshots (photographs of a frame) or print them out directly. There are two methods for taking snapshots. Method 1: Auto named and saved snapshots Method 2: Manually named and saved snapshots. Method 1. To auto name your snapshots go into the tools menu and highlight the Options tab as shown Page 10 of 21
Select the Saved Snapshots tab. You can select either bmp (uncompressed but large file size) or jpg (compressed, good quality and small file size). Select the directory you wish them to be saved, and if you wish them to be auto named tick the Save auto-named snapshots in box as shown. When reviewing footage highlight the camera you wish the still to be taken with the left mouse button (indicated by a blue outline around that camera image) and then click the snapshot button on the toolbar as shown. You can press the snapshot button as many times as required. A snapshot will be created automatically in the directory selected. The client will increment the number by 1 for every mouse click on the snapshot button. Method 2. To manually save snapshots click the snapshot button a dialog box will appear asking where you wish to save the snapshot and what name to give the file as shown. Page 11 of 21
Printing Snapshots You can also print directly from the client to any installed printer. To do this highlight the screen you wish to print and from the file menu select Print Selected Window or press Ctrl+P This will do a full size print on A4 keeping the aspect ratio of the picture correct Editing Files As noted above when using the single channel player in the client there are some extra buttons, these are the edit button this button will allow you to trim the files to smaller files if you wish. To do this click and drag the mouse along the tram lines and once you have the part of footage you require click the scissors and a dialog box will pop up asking you where you wish to save the new file. See below. Page 12 of 21
Writing the file directly to CD If you wish to write the file directly to CD then just click on the CD icon and insert a blank disk and press the Write CD button. Creating Multiview CD/DVD Once you have archived footage to the hard drive you may want to prepare the footage for evidential purposes. Within the client software is a proprietary CD/DVD burning engine which will allow you to burn footage (including playing software) without using 3 rd part burning software such as Nero or Easy cd creator. To do this select Write Multiview CD from the file menu. The following dialog box will appear. Page 13 of 21
Click the Add button and the browse files dialog box will appear. Click the folder and browse for the files you wish to add. You can add multiple files in one go by highlighting the first file and holding shift while selecting the last file and clicking open. Page 14 of 21
Once you have added the files click OK and you will see the dialog box below. There a few choices to be made on this screen. The options available are:- Do you wish the playing software to start automatically when inserted into a PC. Do you wish to have the player started in full screen mode (initially I would not select this option as the user may get confused with no player controls being apparently visible). Do you wish the footage to start playing straight away (i.e. the user does not have to press play). Do you wish to include the single channel player on the disk (always leave this ticked as it helps view the footage on lower powered pc s). Once you have selected all the options and input the title of the disk click the Write CD button. The disk will now be written. Page 15 of 21
Playing footage from CD/DVD Once you have written your CD insert the completed disk back into your machine (to test for yourself that it has written correctly). If you selected the auto start option you will be presented with this screen. This screen is telling the user that due to the slow speed of modern CD-ROM devices (maximum data throughput of a 52X CD-ROM is 9MB/s) the multi-screen images might stutter and offers the choice of a single channel player. Click on the No option. The Multiview player will start and you will see this screen. Once the data has been buffered from the CD (again as mentioned previous the video will be out of sync until all streams have been buffered). You will be presented with this screen. Page 16 of 21