Marshall Electronics VMS User manual

VMS Server
User Manual
Firmware Version v1.0
Copyright ©2016, Marshall Electronics, Inc.
All Rights Reserved. This document may not be copied.

About this Manual
This user manual provides information on operating and managing the optimal video
management software, VMS. The manual includes instructions of installation, operation and
configuration of VMS as well as how to do troubleshooting.
This manual contains various applications based on network knowledge. User’s basic network
knowledge may be needed to fully understand this manual. This manual is designed to deliver
the optimal ways to utilize various Video Management System configurations.
Legal Notice
The legal conditions of camera surveillance vary depending on regions. Unauthorized and
inappropriate use may cause you to have penalties. Users have the responsibilities of legal
operation of surveillance product. Please make sure to check your local laws before using this
product.
Safety Notices
Do not proceed with improper operation beyond the instructions in this manual to avoid
damages. Please read this manual before operation and follow instructions.

1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................................... 4
1.1 Overview ...................................................................................................................................................................... 4
1.2 Features....................................................................................................................................................................... 4
2. Installation and Start Up ....................................................................................................................................................... 5
2.1 Minimum System Requirements .................................................................................................................................. 5
2.2 Installation .................................................................................................................................................................... 5
3. Overview of Application Interface and Functions .............................................................................................................. 6
3.1 Application Interface .................................................................................................................................................. 71
4. Live Monitoring.................................................................................................................................................................... 12
4.1 Adding Cameras or Video Encoders ........................................................................................................................ 12
4.2 Display Management ............................................................................................................................................... 16
4.3 Viewing Secondary Monitors ................................................................................................................................... 21
4.4 Camera Connection ................................................................................................................................................. 23
4.5 Exclusive Group Connection Mode .......................................................................................................................... 23
4.6 PTZ Control ............................................................................................................................................................. 24
4.7 Snapshot .................................................................................................................................................................. 28
4.8 Live Stream AVI Recording ...................................................................................................................................... 30
4.9 Audio Control ........................................................................................................................................................... 30
4.10 Video Input Color Control ......................................................................................................................................... 32
4.11 Sensor State and Alarm Control ............................................................................................................................... 32
4.12 Digital Zoom ............................................................................................................................................................. 33
4.13 Streaming to Clients ................................................................................................................................................. 34
4.14 Proprietary Protocol ................................................................................................................................................. 34
4.15 RTSP/RTP Streaming .............................................................................................................................................. 35
4.16 MPEG-TS Streaming ............................................................................................................................................... 35
4.17 Channel Information Display .................................................................................................................................... 37
5. Recording ............................................................................................................................................................................ 38
5.1 Storage Setup ............................................................................................................................................................ 38
5.2 Recording Mode and Schedule .................................................................................................................................. 40
5.3 Manual Recording ...................................................................................................................................................... 44
5.4 Recording Control ...................................................................................................................................................... 44
5.5 Checking Recording Status........................................................................................................................................ 44
5.6 Setting Recording Parameters ................................................................................................................................... 45
5.7 Record Mode Interface .............................................................................................................................................. 45
6. Search and Playback .......................................................................................................................................................... 47
6.1 Search by Date and Time .......................................................................................................................................... 48
6.2 Search by Event ........................................................................................................................................................ 49
6.3 Playback Control ........................................................................................................................................................ 50
6.4 Playback Time ........................................................................................................................................................... 50
6.5 Backup ....................................................................................................................................................................... 51
6.6 Playback Settings ...................................................................................................................................................... 53
7. Event Handling .................................................................................................................................................................... 54
7.1 Event Monitoring and Search ..................................................................................................................................... 54
7.2 Event Log and Search ............................................................................................................................................... 57
7.3 Event Handler ............................................................................................................................................................ 58
8. E-Maps.................................................................................................................................................................................. 63
8.1 Importing Maps .......................................................................................................................................................... 64
8.2 Connecting to VMS .................................................................................................................................................... 64
8.3 Placing Cameras on Map........................................................................................................................................... 64
8.4 Pop-Up Video ............................................................................................................................................................ 64
8.5 Event Handling .......................................................................................................................................................... 64
8.6 Configuring the Object Display .................................................................................................................................. 64
9. Additional Features ............................................................................................................................................................. 69
9.1 Serial Data Pass-Through .......................................................................................................................................... 69
9.2 Synchronizing Camera Time with VMS PC ................................................................................................................ 70
10. Security .............................................................................................................................................................................. 71
10.1 Overview .................................................................................................................................................................. 71
10.2 User Account and Privilege ...................................................................................................................................... 71
10.3 Restricting User Camera Access ............................................................................................................................. 73
11. Trouble Shooting ............................................................................................................................................................... 75
11.1 Max Number or Display Channels and “No Memory” message ............................................................................... 75

1. Introduction
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1.1 Overview
VMS is a complete monitoring and recording system for IP Cameras and Video
Encoders. VMS is comprised of:
VMS Server — handles all communication between the cameras, video encoders
and recordings. Each server can communicate with up to 128 cameras/encoders.
VMS Server Client — graphical interface enabling remote viewing and control from
anywhere on the Internet or corporate network.
Several Clients can be connected to the same Server, and each Client can be
connected to several Servers.
1.2 Features
VMS is a powerful IP video surveillance application providing rich features.
Connect to a number of IP cameras (or video encoders) which monitor live video and
audio in real-time.
Record camera streams into local storage and provide a convenient search, playback
and export to video clips of stored data.
Monitor various events from the camera and associate various event actions.
Provide stream relaying service to remote clients.

2. Installation and Start Up
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2.1 Minimum System Requirements
The following minimum requirements should be met for normal VMS functioning:
Operating system: Windows 10/8.1/8/7, Windows XP Professional, Vista Business,
Server 2003, Server 2008
CPU: Intel Pentium 4, 2.4GHz or higher
RAM: 1GB or larger
Network: Ethernet 100Mbps or higher
Graphics:
- Graphics memory: 128MB or larger
- DirectX9.0c installed
- Screen resolution: 1024x768 or larger
Note: Above minimum requirements are for normal functioning cameras. The
requirements to support more cameras vary depending on the number of channels,
video resolution, framerate, bitrate etc. Please contact MEI technical support to get
the recommendation for a specific configuration for supporting a large number of
cameras.
2.2 Installation
Installation of the VMS is started by double-clicking the installation package.
During the installation, administrator credentials will be prompted.
Default Login:
User ID: admin
Password: 1234
After entering the Default User ID and Password, the user will be prompted to change the
login credentials.
When Automatic login is checked, the VMS doesn’t require a login in the next startup.
Automatic login settings can be changed in the Security setup also.

3. Overview of Application Interface and Functions
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3.1 Application Interface
VMS Application Interface consists of several parts as shown below:
Tool Bar
The Tool Bar provides shortcuts to frequently used functions or applications.
Setup
Manages the VMS Settings. Individual dialog can be accessed also from the
corresponding menu.
Live Mode / Record Mode
Changes the UI Mode of the application.

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Search
Changes the UI Mode of the application to Search Mode.
E-Map
The E-Map application provides geographical management of camera locations, etc.
Event Log
Logs real-time monitoring of events and has the capability to search stored events.
Control Pane
The Control Pane provides most of the controls for the VMS including camera
connection management, PTZ control, audio control, and color control. It also shows
storage status briefly. Each pane can be hidden or shown using corresponding
menu in View menu group.
Camera Tree
Shows registered cameras and provides the connection for
operations. Sensor and alarm device status is attached to the
camera. This provides a way to start a recording instantly.
Storage
Shows the storage status and recorded duration. This
collects the information from the disks which are
selected for recording.
PTZ
Provides PTZ control interface. Circular control
provides full control for pan and tilt including the
speed. Speed control applies to zoom and focus
control. Preset also can be selected here. Further
PTZ camera controls are available on the PTZ control
dialog.
Audio
Provides audio controls for the PC input and output.
Speaker volume and mute can also be controlled.
The audio wave format file can be played on the
camera instead of live input.

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Color
Provides video input color controls for the selected
camera.
System Health Monitoring
Displays CPU load, memory status, network load
and status of disk writing.
Video Window
Video Window is the display area for the cameras. It consists of different display
units (DU). The toolbar above the video window provides various display
configurations.
Timeline for Recording Status
Timeline shows the recording status with multiple colors based on the recording
modes of a selected camera. Detailed view can be obtained by changing the scale
of the timeline using the + or – button. Although the timeline is updated periodically,
it is possible to update manually by pressing the refresh button.
Status Bar
The Status Bar shows additional information such as login ID, the number of
currently connected viewing clients, and statistics for serial TX/RX activity.

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Note: If the Graphics Mode of the PC is not configured to support video
display in Live Mode, a “Display initialization Error” will be shown in video
area. Live Mode requires the following:
- Minimum 128MB graphics memory
- DirectX9.0c installed and maximum H/W acceleration
- 32-bit color mode
Showing / Hiding the User Interface Components
Visibility of each user interface component is controllable
using the corresponding menu in View menu. When
some features are not used, corresponding components
can be hidden. Sensor/Alarm nodes menu control if the
sensor and alarm nodes in the tree are to be shown or
hidden. In case sensor/alarm devices are not used, more
concise tree can be obtained by hiding the nodes.
Two User Interface Modes: Live Mode and Record Mode
VMS provides two user interface modes: Live Mode and Record Mode. These
toolbar buttons can be used for switching modes.
Live Mode
Live Mode is used when interactive monitoring of live video is required. Decoding
and video display takes essential CPU loading so the number of cameras to be
viewed simultaneously can be limited according to the video encoding settings for
camera and PC’s performance. In terms of functionality, Live Mode supports the
recording function.
Record Mode
When live monitoring in the VMS PC is not essential, Record Mode is preferred. This
doesn’t require CPU loading for decoding and display and more cameras can be
accommodated for recording and streaming. Another advantage of Record Mode is
that it can run in any display mode with any kinds of graphics cards.

3. Overview of Application Interface and Functions
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Streaming to Remote Clients
VMS internally provides streaming capability for remote client viewers. Remote
clients can connect to VMS to get video, audio and event data. This indirect
relaying reduces the camera streaming load as well as the network load. VMS
Status can be viewed in the Relay Status sub menu within the View menu.

3. Overview of Application Interface and Functions
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Controlling Services
VMS internally runs two services: VMS Recording
Server (recording and streaming) and VMS Remote
Search Server (remote search and playback). They
are automatically started by VMS installation and run
even when the VMS application is terminated.
It is possible to start or stop the services manually
using VMS Service Manager (icon is visible on the
Windows task bar).

4. Live Monitoring
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4.1 Adding Cameras or Video Encoders
A camera or video encoder can be added on the Camera Setup.
1) Open Camera Setup Window.
2) Click Add Camera button to open the camera window.
3) Enter the camera information:
Name: Name the new camera.
Group: Select group name for that camera. Once a group is created, it can be selected
for each new camera.
Type: Select the camera type to be added:
TCAM/TCS : MEI IP camera or MEI video server.
Generic RTSP: Supports IP camera or video server streaming based on RTSP/RTP
protocol. RTSP URLs are dependent on the IP cameras or video servers.
MEI products support the following types of URLs:
rtsp://IP_Address/video1
rtsp://IP_Address/video1+audio1
rtsp://IP_Address/video1s
Onvif: Onvif-compliant cameras can be registered with this type.
Onvif MEI cameras can use the following:
http://192.168.0.117/onvif/device_service

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Address: IP address, domain name or URL of the camera.
Login/Password: Login ID and password of the camera.
Protocol: Protocol for streaming video/audio data.
Channel: Channel number if the video encoder has multiple channels (starting from 1).
Port: Port number to connect.
Primary (Onvif only): Profile of the primary stream.
Secondary (Onvif only): Profile of the secondary stream.
PTZ: Check if PTZ control is best for the camera.
Audio: Uncheck when audio will not be used.
Relay Name: Streaming server name when the VMS is connecting to the specified
camera via streaming.
Relay Address: Address of the streaming server.
Relay Port: Port of the streaming server (default: 2222).
Relay Login: Login ID of the streaming server (default: admin).
Relay Password: Password of the streaming server (default: 1234).
User Info1~3: Additional information for the user.
Click OK.
Camera Discovery – MEI Protocol
The IP Discovery function can detect the cameras, video encoders or video decoders
using the same LAN for MEI products.
1) Click IP Discovery button on Camera Setup window.
2) Select a device to add and click the Select button.
3) Enter addition camera information in Add Camera window.

4. Live Monitoring
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Camera Discovery – Onvif Compliant Cameras
Onvif compliant cameras can be detected by pressing the Onvif Discover button.
Specifically, WS-Discovery is used for finding cameras. This function also works for
the cameras in the same LAN.
Quick Viewing of Added Camera
Once a camera is added, it will be displayed as connected if it is reachable. The
camera node will turn gray in color if it is connected. The video from the camera will
not be displayed on video window until the camera is mapped to a DU (display unit).
The simplest way to map a camera is to use the automatic mapping function.
1. Right click on any position of the video window.
2. Select the Auto Map menu.
3. All cameras in the tree will be mapped to the DUs sequentially (left-to-right, top-to-bottom). If
the tree has more cameras than the screen mode can accommodate, more pages will be
created automatically.

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Automatic mapping operation applies only to the current screen mode.
Changing Camera Information
Pressing Modify button on Camera setup dialog invokes Modify camera dialog which
is similar to Add camera dialog. Double clicking a camera entry in the table also
invokes Modify camera dialog. It is possible to modify some entries of multiple cameras
by selecting multiple entries before pressing Modify button.
Note: Cameras are mapped to DUs automatically without explicit mapping in 1x1 screen
mode. While custom mapping is available for various configurations in multi-display
modes, the mapping can be limited in 1x1 mode. Only automatic mapping is supported in
1x1 mode.

4. Live Monitoring
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4.2 Display Management
Camera – DU Mapping
The DU (Display Unit) is a rectangular region consisting the video window.
For Example: 2x2 mode consists of 4 DUs and 4x4 mode consists of 16 DUs.
To view the camera, it should be mapped to one of the DUs.
A camera can be mapped to a DU in three ways:
(1) Drag and Drop: Drag a camera from the tree and drop on a DU.
(2) Use Map Camera menu on a DU.
(3) Use Auto Map to map all cameras to DUs in a screen mode.
Automatic mapping is convenient for mapping all registered cameras to all screen
modes with one click. It creates required pages in each screen mode and maps
cameras to DUs in left-to-right and top-to-bottom order, starting from the top-left DU.
Automatic mapping can be modified later by manual mappings according to specific
needs. It is possible to map a camera to multiple pages in a screen mode.
The position of a camera in the video window can be changed instantly by dragging and
dropping a DU on a different DU. If the destination DU already has another camera
mapped there, the positions of the two cameras are exchanged.
A DU can be released from camera mapping by using the Unmap menu found by right
clicking over the DU.

4. Live Monitoring
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Page Operations
A page is defined as a set of DUs which can
be displayed simultaneously in a specific
screen mode. For Example: a 4x4 page
contains 16 DUs. When the number of
cameras is greater than the number of DUs
on a page, more than one page is required.
Automatic mapping creates required pages
automatically.
More flexibility in mapping cameras to DUs
can be achieved by allowing manual
creation, renaming, and repositioning of the pages. A menu for the page operation can
be found by right clicking over the page title tab.
Full Screen
Full Screen mode is displayed by clicking the button. The ESC key is used for
returning to the previous screen mode. For sites where the keyboard is not used,
returning only with mouse operation is supported. Press the wheel of the mouse for
returning to previous screen mode.
Controlling Camera Video Encoding for Effective Multi-Channel Display
Video Encoding Settings for Individual Cameras
The Video Encoding tab within the Display Setup allows the camera to be set up for
video encoding. When camera settings are modified, the effect will be shown on all
connected clients and data will be recorded by the VMS.
Use Propagate To All function by right clicking on a value then set the same value to
all cameras.
Settings can be retrieved, saved to a local configuration file, and set on the camera.

4. Live Monitoring
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Initial Settings When a Camera is Added
When a camera is added, settings are read from the camera on the first connection.
These values are saved to the local configuration file. ‘-‘ is shown until it is connected.
Get From Cameras Operation
Settings can be read from the camera using the Get From Cameras button at any time.
When several cameras are connected and/or the network connection is poor, it may
take considerable time. If Get Settings Whenever Display Setup is Opened is
checked, the VMS reads the camera settings on the display.
Applying Settings to Camera and Save Configuration File
If Send Modified Settings Only is checked, settings can be changed manually or the
Get From Cameras selection will be applied and saved to the configuration file by
clicking OK or Apply. Otherwise all settings in the table are applied unconditionally. It is
recommended to use this setting only when necessary.
The Propagate To All function is displayed by right clicking on a value. When selected,
the same values will be set for all cameras.
Automatic Control of Video Encoding for Various Screen Modes
With standard video encoding, it is not possible to view several HD videos
simultaneously. But when viewing an HD video in a small NxN screen mode (not ideal),
VMS controls video encoding automatically based on the current screen mode.
Note: When the display and recordings are configured to use the same stream (primary or
secondary), changing the video encoding settings in one setup will change the settings in the
other. It is preferable to configure only one setup when the same stream is used for both.

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This feature is more useful if the camera or encoder supports dual stream encoding.
One stream can be configured with fixed settings to get consistent recording quality,
while the other can be controlled dynamically according to the screen mode to get
smooth display with fast CPU load. Restricted Mode is useful when the PC display
resources are not adequate. In this mode, decoded frames are dropped without display
based on the framerate specified.
Video On/Off Control
Video streaming from a camera can be turned off
using the camera menu tree or the DU. The event
handler provides an option to turn on the video
automatically for selected events. The Video on/off
menu allows event-based video viewing.
Additional Settings for Video Display
The Video Display setup contains additional settings related to video viewing.
Image for Unassigned Window
If no camera is mapped, the DU displays a black screen. A customized image can be
displayed in this setting.
Note: Automatic control is useful only when the Decode Visible Channel setting is selected.
If this setting is OFF, all channels are decoded regardless of the screen mode. CPU loads
will be almost the same in any mode.

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Decode Visible Channels Only
When selected, the VMS doesn’t decode invisible channels. For Example: the maximum
of 4 channels are decoded in a 2x2 screen mode. When the screen mode is changed to
view channels which are not visible, it will take a few seconds to access the video for
these invisible channels in current mode. If the PC allows decoding of all the channels
simultaneously, quicker video display is shown by disabling this setting.
Stop Video Display While Search Application is Running
When selected, the VMS stops the displayed video if True Search application is
running. This option reduces the CPU load time for efficient searching.
Keep Aspect Ratio (ALT+F5)
When selected, the video display in a DU keeps the encoded steam width-height ratio
instead of scaling to fit to the DU and the empty area turns black.
Deinterlacing
Select the deinterlacing option.
Display Buffer
Set the number of frames for decoding and display. Larger values produce a smooth
display but the latency increases.
Sequencing
When enabled, pages in a screen mode are displayed with a specified intervals.
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