ACTi VMS Workstation for 64-bit Windows V3.0.11 User manual

Brand: ACTi

Model: VMS Workstation for 64-bit Windows V3.0.11

Type: User manual

ACTi VMS Workstation for 64-bit Windows V3.0.11 is a powerful video management software that allows you to monitor up to 100 ACTi video streaming devices from local or remote networks, record videos manually, take snapshots, receive alerts on motion detection, DI, video status, and network status, and operate PTZ functions with mouse or joystick.

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VMS Workstation for 64-bit Windows

User’s Manual

For Version 3.0.11

2015 / 12 / 25

About This Manual

Target Audience

This manual is intended for End Users who actually execute security tasks such as monitoring activities,

patrolling secured zones, searching video data and managing alarms with use of NVR surveillance system.

The reader is expected to own not only the basic operation skills but also permissions to access major

functionalities, as the access rights are based upon different user roles deﬁned by the System

Administrators.

You may also visit ACTi Download Center (http://www.acti.com/downloadcenter) for updates or release

information about this software and documents.

Related Documentation 2

Technical Support 2

Legal Notice 3

Disclaimer 3

Trademarks 3

Overview 6

ACTi NVR Server / Client Architecture 6

Access via VMS Workstation 7

User Interface Introduction 9

Resident Tool Bars 9

Live View Page 10

Watch Live View 11

Remove a Channel 12

Read Channel Status 12

Record Videos Manually 13

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Take Snapshots of Live View 14

Read Event Notiﬁcations 15

Enable or Disable Motion Region Indicator 16

Adjust Audio-in Volume 16

Send Audio Signal to Camera Side 17

Trigger Digital-out Device 18

Operate PTZ Functions 19

Navigate a Fisheye Camera Channel 20

Set Up Live View Window 21

Playback Page 22

Watch Playback 23

Remove a Channel 24

System Setup Page 25

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Overview

ACTi VMS Workstation for Windows is a windows-based software that provides distributed

network video surveillance solution. This software supports real-time monitoring of up to

100 ACTi video streaming devices from local or remote network, displaying event status

upon connection loss or recovery between server and client or motion detection, among

other features.

ACTi NVR Server / Client Architecture

ACTi NVR system is a typical web-based server/client system. In a video surveillance system architecture,

the Server serves as a video management service provider, aimed to run 24/7 offering non-stop services for

clients. A Client makes requests of monitoring video streams or playback recordings to Server, which can

reside on the same computer with server program (as from local) or on another computer (as from remote).

Server starts automatically as soon as the Server computer (where it is installed) boots up, and operates in

the background without requiring login by administrator. It would provide services over the TCP/IP network to

multiple Clients upon request through HTTP Protocol.

A Workstation Client is a type of client that can access the NVR server free from any other additional

program, such as a web browser. The workstation includes a set of programs that serves as an interface

between users and the NVR server.

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A Workstation Client allows you to access the NVR system via its interface. In order to

use a workstation client, the VMS Workstation needs to be pre-installed on the computer.

Access via VMS Workstation

VMS Workstation includes a set of programs that provide the interface between users and the NVR server.

It may be installed in the NVR server, or in the remote client computer that connects to the NVR server via

network. Find and double-click on the “VMS Workstation for Windows” icon to log in to the NVR server.

Double-click the “VMS Workstation for Windows” icon, and then the login window will pop up.

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Server IP: Key in localhost or 127.0.0.1 if VMS Workstation is installed on the same computer

with the NVR server. If you are connecting from another computer, please input the IP address

of the NVR server.

Server Port: Specify the port number.

Account: Enter the account name.

Password: Enter the password.

Initial Page: Select the page you would like to go after you log in from the dropdown list.

Language: Select the language from the dropdown list, and then click to refresh.

Remember Account / Password: Check the checkbox to have VMS Workstation login page

remember the your login information.

Auto Login: To skip the login page and directly log in to the NVR server once you execute

VMS Workstation, check both Remember Account / Password and Auto Login.

Don’t Remember: Click it to clear the login information you previously entered.

After completing the login information, click Login button to log in to the NVR server.

If you have many NVR servers, you can save the login information of each NVR server in this login page by

following the below steps, so that you can conveniently and quickly log in to NVR server you want to

manage.

Step 1 > Specify the NVR server’s name in Server Name ﬁeld.

Step 2 > Complete the login information.

Step 3 > Click Save button.

After ﬁnishing the setup, you can ﬁnd all the NVR servers from the dropdown list in Server Name ﬁeld.

Select the NVR server, and its login information will automatically be shown.

If you forgot the login password, click Forgot Password? and ﬁll in the necessary information to retrieve

your password."

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User Interface Introduction

VMS Workstation has a friendly and intuitive user interface that helps you monitor your

camera views easily. You will see Resident Tool Bars, Live View page, Playback page

and System Setup page after you log in to the NVR server.

Resident Tool Bars

These resident tool bars are important functions or links that you often need through all the operations in the

NVR system.

Layout Selection Bar: Choose the preferable layout style for your live view / playback screen.

Tool Bar: Conﬁgure general settings and see software version. The options in Tool Bar in

Live View page and Playback page are different. You can ﬁnd more information and

instructions in the following sections.

NVR Module Bar: Click the tab to enter Live View, Playback or System Setup page.

User Information and Volume Bar: See your authority level and the number of online users. If

your cameras can record audio, you can adjust the audio volume here to hear the sound."

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Live View Page

Live View page is where you see the live views from your cameras, perform PTZ operations with mouse or

joystick, receive alerts on the event panel, record manually, take snapshots, etc.. In this section, you will be

given instructions on the said fundamental operations.

View Info: The channel name of the current view is displayed here.

Video Source Panel: All the channels connected to the NVR server will be listed in this panel.

Event Panel: This panel shows the alerts of motion detection, DI, video status and network

status.

PTZ Panel: If the camera supports optical PTZ function, you can operate it via this panel.

Control Panel: In this panel you can issue some commands to perform tasks.

Tool Bar: Here you can conﬁgure general settings of Live View page.

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Watch Live View

To watch the live view of a camera, you need to add the camera video stream to a blank channel in display

area. All the cameras that you are allowed to see are listed in Video Source Panel. The permissions to

watch different cameras are deﬁned by your User Group, the details of which are managed by the System

Administrator.

To add video sources to the display area, double-click on a camera or drag it from the camera list to display

area. By double-clicking on “All Cameras”, all the cameras will be added to the display area."

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Remove a Channel

To remove a channel from display area, place the curser on that channel and right-click to bring up quick

menu, and select “Remove” to remove this video source.

Read Channel Status

When watching the live view of a channel, it is essential to observe the status of that channel to make sure

the channel is working properly or performing certain task. The channel status is displayed on the channel’s

Title Bar, and from the following you can ﬁnd detailed information of the Title Bar.

General Information:

You can see camera name,

current date and time.

Bar Color:

The bar color will turn RED for a

while as certain event is triggered.

Status Indicators:

•

Left

Recording manually

Taking a snapshot

•

Right

Camera connected with

video presence

Camera disconnected

Camera connected without

video presence"

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Record Videos Manually

You may manually record the real-time video from live view window, and this video will only be searchable in

Playback. To do the manual recording, right-click on the channel to bring up the quick menu, and select

“Manual Record”. Click it again to stop manual recording.

You can also do it by clicking in the Control Panel, and click it again to stop manual recording.

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Take Snapshots of Live View

You can easily take a snapshot of a channel's live view for certain purpose. The snapshot will be saved in

the default folder (Windows Desktop) on your client computer in JPG format. Right-click on the channel to

bring up the quick menu, and click “Snapshot”. Once a snapshot is taken, its location path will be shown on

the bottom of VMS Workstation window.

You can also click in the Control Panel to take a snapshot.

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Read Event Notiﬁcations

When certain event is triggered or the system is encountering certain problem, there will be a notiﬁcation

pushed into Event Panel. All the notiﬁcations are arranged in the reverse-time order, so that you can ﬁnd

the newest notiﬁcation on top. There are many types of notiﬁcations, and the following will guide you how to

read them so that you will not miss any important message.

Event Icons:

For the notiﬁcations of motion events (motion detection, digital input and PIR motion) and transmission

status events (video recovery, video loss, network recovery and network loss), you can double-click on the

notiﬁcation entry to bring up the event instant playback window to watch the event. "

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Event Name

Date & Time

Camera Name

Motion Detection

Digital Input

PIR Motion

Video Recovery

Video Loss

Network Recovery

Network Loss

Delete File Fail

Disk Full

Disk Not Found

Disk is Available

Server Recovery

Server Loss

Event Icon

Enable or Disable Motion Region Indicator

If you’ve already conﬁgured the motion detection settings on the camera side, from the live view window you

will see the red Motion Region Indicator blink as any motion within in this ROI is detected.

To disable it, go to Tool Bar of the Live View page and select “Disable Motion Alert”. When disabled, the

indicators in all channels will not be seen.

Adjust Audio-in Volume

If the camera is connected with an audio-in device like a microphone, or supports two-way audio function,

the audio will be recorded along with video stream and you can directly listen to the real-time audio. Find the

Volume Bar on the bottom right of the live view window to adjust the volume.

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Send Audio Signal to Camera Side

To talk to the audience through the speaker connected to the camera, right-click on the channel to bring up

the quick menu, and select “Audio Out”. When this icon appears in orange, your audio-out function is

activated, every sound you make through the microphone on your client computer will be sent out to this

camera only.

To broadcast audio to multiple cameras, click in the Control Panel. Your audio will be sent to the

cameras that are added to the live view display area.

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Trigger Digital-out Device

If the camera is connected with a digital-out device such as door contact or alarm, you can trigger it from the

live view window if that channel. Right-click on the channel to bring up the quick menu, the DO icon will

appear available if the corresponding DO device is connected. Click “DO” to trigger it, and click again to

disable the triggering.

You can also click in the Control Panel to trigger the digital-out device, and click it again to disable the

triggering.

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Operate PTZ Functions

In this section you will be given instructions on how to operate digital and optical PTZ functions to achieve

your security tasks.

Digital PTZ Operations

Regardless of the camera models, you may perform digital zooming from the live view window.

Click and drag a highlight rectangle over the channel, and the area highlighted will be zoomed digitally

and displayed in the live video window. You can see a mini picture-in-picture view showing the

unzoomed video on the lower right of the live view window. The red rectangle on the mini picture-in-

picture view marks the currently zoomed area. You may drag it over the view to zoom another area.

To go back to the original video view, just right-click on the mini picture-in-picture view.

Optical PTZ Operations

If the camera supports optical PTZ functions, you may operate it via the PTZ Panel.

PTZ Operations via Mouse

Placing the cursor on the live view screen, you can also operate PTZ functions directly via the mouse. The

cursor will turn into a directional arrow, and left-click to move towards the direction which the arrow is

pointing. To zoom in or zoom out, place the cursor on the live view screen and scroll up or down the mouse

wheel.

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Digital Zoomed View

Mini Unzoomed View

Focus Control

Iris Control

PTZ Speed Control

PTZ Command Menu

Navigation Control

Zoom Control

Digital / Optical Mode Switch

Goto Peset Menu

Preset Tour Menu

Navigate a Fisheye Camera Channel

On a ﬁsheye camera channel, you may change the ﬁsheye view mode and view point at will. What you see

in the live view window will not affect what is being recorded, and you can have an alternative of view mode

when doing playback.

Change Fisheye Mode

On the ﬁsheye channel, right-click to bring up quick menu, and click “Fisheye Mode” to select the view

mode.

PTZ Operation

Select a ﬁsheye mode; click the entire channel or a region of interest to navigate this view

● Use PTZ Panel to operate PTZ movements.

● Click the mouse anywhere on the view to pan/tilt, scroll the mouse wheel to zoom in/out.

● To reset the PTZ navigation area back to default viewing angle, right-click to bring up channel menu, and

then click “Reset”.

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ACTi VMS Workstation for 64-bit Windows V3.0.11 User manual

ACTi VMS Workstation for 64-bit Windows V3.0.11 User manual

ACTi VMS Workstation for 64-bit Windows V3.0.11 User manual

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