Dedicated Micros Notes For Total Control

1st - Which DM Products do we support?

Some products are NetVu Compatible.  They support some of the more basic video methods (listed with the video resolution issue below in our application).  These are the products in the list below (NetVu-Compatibility Chart) – well at least the ones that have firmware releases on them.  No other products are in this category.

Some products are NOT NetVu Compatible and do not support any of the video method our application uses.  That would be those products that have no compatibility planned (as below) as well as other assorted products that are older or have some type of niche market and the average person will not run into them.

NetVu-Compatibility Chart

The Rest...

• As of v1.7 in Iphone app we handle video stretch directly so you don't have to worry about widescreen issue anymore.
  • See here for details: Iphone Video Stretch Tutorial
• We do NOT support PTZ controls for DM.  They do not provide remote control methods the same as everyone else and their method is not compatible with what we are doing on mobile phones.  We do support PTZ controls in our application but it needs to conform to the same method all of the other manufacturers use.  We have put in a feature request with DM and will update this faq if/when there is an update on this.
• For DM best practice you need to have a 4:3 aspect video resolution. 
  • For Iphone/Itouch around (352x256, 352x288, 352x240), etc.
  • For Ipad around (704x576, 704x480), etc.
• DM has three branches of units.
  • NetVu Connected
  • NetVu Compatible aka Classic
  • Non NetVu - No Compatibility with our application at all.  aka NOT SUPPORTED
• On full NetVu Connected (NOT Classic - Netvu Compatible) you can adjust the 'resolution picture size'.  As you can see from this snippet from a new DS2 (DS2AD) manual you have the ability to choose a picture resolution size of 176x128, 352x256, 704x256, or 704x512.  In addition you can map each of those resolutions to an 'Alias' of High, Medium, or Low streams.
  • 
  • Alias:  For the Alias you can setup the resolution picture size to either default, Hi, Med, or Lo streams respectively.  DM is agnostic on what size you setup the Alias picture size to so it is up to you to choose which label will provide which size video.  In other words you can make Lo stream actually show the largest resolution of 704x512 and the Hi stream provide the lowest picture resolution of 352x256.  It is up to how you set these options.  Whatever you choose to make the 352x256 stream please match that in our application.  For Iphone you will see a listing for following.  Just match whichever alias is going to use 352x256 to the same selection in the app as shown below and add your channels in.
    • Dedicated Micros MJPG
    • Dedicated Micros MJPG LO
    • Dedicated Micros MJPG MED
    • Dedicated Micros MJPG HI
• On NetVu Compatible aka Classic you can only adjust the resolution 'file size' not the actual picture size directly.  The manual will say that adjusting the file size will change the picture size but for live streaming it does not.  It only changes the file size.  In these cases the live video stream size is hard coded to one size only for that unit.  Each unit may vary on this hard coded size but typically it will be 704x256.  As you can see from this snippet from an Eco9 manual this particular model only supports changing the 'file size' for resolution; not the actual picture size directly.
  
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So what does all of this mean for Total Control support of Dedicated Micros units?

• Iphone - Itouch - Ipad

  
  
  • As of v1.7 in Iphone app we handle video stretch directly so you don't have to worry about widescreen issue anymore.  Otherwise read on below.
    • See here for details: Iphone Video Stretch Tutorial 
  • On this interface we keep the aspect ratio of the video coming from the DM unit.  The typical aspect ratio is like a regular television.  You have 4:3 aspect ratio which is a regular square shape and 16:9 which is your typical movie widescreen format.  For the Iphone/Itouch since we keep the aspect ratio you will prefer a 4:3 squared video over the 16:9 widescreen video.  In fact for the widescreen video on Iphone/Itouch it will only be of any use in landscape mode.  4:3 video will be useful in both portrait and landscape mode therefore this is the preferred aspect ratio of video coming from a DM unit.
    

    • 4:3 Square Examples

      • Portrait
      • 
      • Landscape
      • 

    • 16:9 Widescreen Examples

      • Potrait
      • 
      • Landscape
      • 

• Blackberry

  • On this interface we have the following:
    • Only jpg refresh support on DM.  You must use mode jpg.  You CANNOT use mode mjpg.
    • By default we stretch/squeeze jpg/mjpg video to fit the screen of the blackberry.  So no matter what size the video is we will fit it to the screen.  So in this case the aspect ration does not really matter.  By default this function is turned on but you can toggle it on/off via the control icons.  It is the blue lcd tv icon which is 3rd from the right in the control icons picture below.  To view the control icons just click the trackball or screen for storm while viewing a live video feed.  To get rid of the control icons scroll to the red X on the right side and click it.
      
      • 
    • Most Blackberry will only support resolution picture sizes of 640x480 or smaller however so in the end you may still need to have a NetVu Connected unit and change one of the stream sizes to 352x240.  Results will vary on bb but there is a free trial demo to trial out ahead of time on the website under the Blackberry Vidcam Section so feel free to try it regardless.
    • Alias:  For the Alias you can setup the resolution picture size to either default, Hi, Med, or Lo streams respectively.  DM is agnostic on what size you setup the Alias picture size to so it is up to you to choose which label will provide which size video.  In other words you can make Lo stream actually show the largest resolution of 704x512 and the Hi stream provide the lowest picture resolution of 352x256.  It is up to how you set these options.  Whatever you choose to make the 352x256 stream please match that in our application.  For Blackberry you will see a 'resolution' option in the main camera setup screen.  Just match whichever alias is going to use 352x256 to the same selection in the app and add your channels in.

• Android

  • Two options here.  One option is same as Iphone notes.  See above.
  • 2nd option: By default on Android we stretch the video in landscape mode to fit the screen similar to Blackberry notes above.  You can toggle this on/off and/or select which view to stretch (portrait - landscape).  To do this hold down the blue arrows icon on the main viewer page as shown below for a couple of seconds until you get a pop up.  On the Pop Up check or uncheck Portrait - Landscape options and click 'Return' button after making your selections.  Rotate the phone once from portrait to landscape or vice versa to initiate the change.  NOTE: There is a tradeoff for video stretch.  When video stretch is on it takes extra resources to resize the video instead of just displaying it as soon as it comes to the device so the video will be slower when using video stretch mode.  You can test the difference by stretching one view (Portrait or Landscape) and then comparing to the non stretched view as you rotate the Android device.  If the video is too slow for you then you will need to use Option 1 above if available.  If option 1 is not available then the video stretch is the only option to fit the video to the screen.
    
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• Winmo

  • No specific notes at this time.  Should work fine under mjpg or jpg mode.