Description
The IP camera viewing component displays a video stream from a network camera directly in one of your windows. This can be a very powerful tool for allowing operators to view remote or inaccessible locations. Cameras can provide positive feedback about the state and position of machinery, weather, and other factors.
This component is capable of displaying two types of video:
| • | MJPEG (a.k.a. Motion JPEG) is a streaming video protocol that compresses video frames using standard JPEG compression. Compression rates are quite good, requiring low network bandwidth utilization. Framerates depend greatly on the dimensions of the video, but typically range from 1-20 frames per second. |
| • | JPEG stills is not a true video protocol, but is rather the practice of continually refreshing an image that a camera is constantly overwriting. Its simplicity means that many cameras support it (usually along with another protocol). Frame rates are typically lower than MJPEG because a new connection must be opened for each frame. |
Most network cameras on the market support one, if not both of these protocols. Even better, if you have an existing CCTV camera system, video server devices are available that CCTV camera inputs and provide MJPEG streams the network.
Finding the URL for your network camera's video stream is usually the only challenge in connecting this component. Most, if not all, network cameras have an internal web server, allowing viewers to use web browsers to view their video stream. If you go to that webpage, and look at the HTML source of the page, you should be able to find the URL of the MJPEG or JPEG still stream.
Some examples:
| • | Axis 2100 (MJPEG): http://ip.address.here/axis-cgi/mjpg/video.cgi?resolution=640x480 |
| • | Panasonic BL-C10A (MJPEG): http://ip.address.here/nphMotionJpeg?Resolution=640x480&Quality=Standard |
| • | StarDot Netcam (JPEG stills): http://ip.address.here/netcam.jpg |
Properties
Appearance |
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Font |
Font of text of this component
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Foreground Color |
The foreground color of the component.
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Background Color |
The background color of the component.
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Show Stats |
If true, fps and Kbps statistical information will be overlaid on the video.
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Behavior |
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Video Mode |
Choose what type of video stream the URL points to.
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Camera Buffer Size |
Set the size of the video buffer in bytes.
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Refresh Rate |
The rate (in ms) to poll the image if mode is 'JPEG Stills'
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Use Authentication? |
If true, the URL connection will try to authenticate using the given username and password.
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Username |
The username to authenticate with.
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Password |
The password to authenticate with.
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URL |
The HTTP URL of the video stream to display
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User-Agent |
If non-empty, the HTTP User-Agent to spoof.
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Scale Video |
Scale the video to the size of the viewer component. Warning: CPU-intensive.
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Scale Mode |
The scaling performance hint to use.
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Connection Retries |
The number of times to attempt to connect to the stream.
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Retry Delay |
The delay (in ms) to wait between connection attempts
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Common |
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Name |
The name of this component.
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Visible |
If disabled, the component will be hidden.
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Border |
The border surrounding this component. NOTE that the border is unaffected by rotation.
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Mouseover Text |
The text that is displayed in the tooltip which pops up on mouseover of this component.
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Cursor |
The mouse cursor to use when hovering over this component.
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Scripting
Events
The following event sets are fired by this component. See Component Event Handlers to learn more.
| • | mouse |
| • | mouseMotion |
| • | propertyChange |
Scripting Functions
This component has no special scripting functions.