At only 2.5" square and 6.5" long (without the lens), the IndigoVision Digital IP Camera can fit almost anywhere inconspicuously. The unit has a 10/100 Ethernet port and a standard 12-volt power input port that can be connected to an internal 12-volt DC power system or to an AC outlet with an included adapter. The power connector provides four pins for motion-sensitive triggers, which can be set up on doors, windows and light switches. When programmed into IndigoVision's event manager, the triggers can set off alarms, notify security personnel and make sure video is captured.
The camera also has a BNC connector for standard video-out and two RCA plugs for audio input and output. You can arrange for one- or two-way communications using microphones and speakers at the camera site and in the control room. The audio is digitized and sent over the Ethernet connection. The camera also has a serial connection for initial configuration and a connection for auto-iris lenses. After configuring the camera, you can use the serial port to add PTZ (pan tilt zoom) accessories.
Configuration
IndigoVision's device uses six pieces of software and requires a Microsoft Windows 98 or higher PC for initial configuration and administrative control. From the VB Serial Config, I set the IP, gateway and netmask addresses of the unit to match my lab network. At this point, it's a good idea to assign the camera a name and a location ID. The TCP/UDP (User Datagram Protocol) ports for the audio and video can be specified, but I kept the defaults.
I had three transmission protocol options: UDP unicast, UDP multicast and TCP. Because only I would be viewing the video, I set the unit for TCP, but if more people need access to video from a single camera, I suggest using UDP multicast to minimize bandwidth usage. Resolution can be set to SIF (screen-image format 352x240) or QSIF (quarter SIF 176x144) when encoding with H.261, and VGA (640x480) when using M-JPEG (motion JPEG).
You can set encoding bit rates from 8 Kbps to 3 Mbps for both LAN and WAN connections. The bit-rate setting controls the frame rate transmitted back to the Viewer application, with lower bit rates equaling lower frame rates. Even at the lowest bit rate, the playback should be fine for most security applications. You can't specify a particular frame rate, unfortunately.
All the settings for LAN and WAN connections can be configured separately. The LAN settings are for viewers on the same subnet; the WAN settings are for viewers using devices outside the defined gateway. This flexibility lets you set higher bit rates for images transmitted on the LAN and lower bit rates for those going out on the WAN. The settings for each are on their own tabbed page. If you revise either setting, click "Apply" or the changes won't stick.
Administration
After the initial configuration, you still have to set up the camera in the CCTV Admin application and then copy representative files to the computers you wish to have access to the video. Here's where things get sticky. To create a file for access to a camera or group of cameras, you need to locate each camera by scanning the network, then create an icon for each camera and save those icons on the administrator's hard drive. From there, the file or files can be copied onto the hard drives of each computer designated to have access to the camera(s). I would have liked an easier way to grant access to the cameras, such as a username/password combination. Who wants to apply configurations to innumerable computers?
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Good News
Lots of features, good video image, small package.
Three choices for transmission protocol.
Separate WAN and LAN configuration.
Bad News
Configuration and administration are tedious.
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Camera access via the CCTV Viewer is for viewing only. If you discover a problem while testing the camera from within the Admin application, the configuration of the bit rate or encoding can be changed. This job can be huge, depending on how many computers have access to the camera that needs adjustments. First you have to make the required changes from within the Admin application, then resave the file, recopy it to the computers that have access to the camera, and finally reopen the file from the CCTV Viewer in each computer. This could take hours if you need to adjust multiple camera/viewing stations at one time. Argh!
The CCTV Viewer can display video from up to four cameras on a screen simultaneously. You can view an unlimited number of cameras by letting CCTV Viewer cycle through them four at a time, round-robin fashion. You also have the option of enlarging individual views to full-screen size. Even with this up-sampling, the image quality was good overall in my tests. Video can be captured and saved to the hard drive for later viewing from the camera's Player application.
One feature I didn't test is PTZ, which requires attaching a PTZ device to the camera. IndigoVision supplies an application to configure PTZ devices, which are controlled within the Viewer.
The camera ships without a lens, but it will accommodate any standard CCTV lens. In my tests, I used a simple auto-iris lens with no zoom. Having an auto-iris lens is advisable if the light will change within the monitored area. The IP Camera is available in NTSC (National TV Standards Committee) and PAL (Phase Alternating Line) versions.
Darrin Woods is a technology editor of Network Computing. Darrin has worked as a WAN engineer for a telecom carrier. Send your comments on this article to him at dwoods@nwc.com.
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