DW Spectrum User Manual

It is possible to import offline video files (from wearable cameras, action cams, drones, etc.) into DW Spectrum archive and associate that footage with a virtual camera which can be viewed and processed like any other camera in the System. (However, the FPS and bitrate recording options are inactive.)

Note: To be processed as a virtual camera, a device must produce video file types that have timestamp data.

As with any other camera, virtual cameras can be opened, deleted, and renamed. Virtual camera images can be rotated 0, 90, 180, or 270 degrees, can be dewarped to correct fish-eye distortion, and can be analyzed and searched to detect motion. Like camera streams recorded by DW Spectrum, videos uploaded using the virtual camera feature remain in archive even if the camera is removed from a server.

IMPORTANT: Motion detection for virtual camera footage must be enabled during upload or it will not be available subsequently.

Once storage blocks for a given time period are filled with virtual camera content, they cannot be overwritten. For example, if file "A" was recorded from 11:32 to 11:37, and file "B" was recorded from 11:35 to 11:38 on the same day, if one of the two has already been uploaded, the other file will not be, as they occupy some of the same storage blocks in archive. If the selected file covers a period for which video is already uploaded, you can upload it to a different virtual camera instead.

To Add a Virtual Camera

1.Open the Main Menu and select New > Virtual Camera.

2.In the dialog that opens, select a server from the pulldown menu.

IMPORTANT: Make sure the server you select has enough storage space for the files being uploaded (see "Analyzing and Predicting Storage Usage"). If there is not enough available storage, the oldest existing archive may be deleted. Or, if the virtual camera footage is older than anything in archive, it can be uploaded but instantly deleted.

3.Enter a name for the virtual camera in the Name field.

  Note: If you do not enter a name, the default name "Virtual Camera" will automatically be appended with an integer that increments by 1.

4.Click OK to save or Cancel to exit without saving.

5.In the Camera Settings dialog that opens, you can proceed to upload files immediately or at a later point.

To Upload Files to a Virtual Camera

Once added, the virtual camera will be displayed in the server Resource Tree, and files can be uploaded.

IMPORTANT: Once uploaded, virtual camera files cannot be overwritten.

1.From the camera's context menu choose Camera Settings.

IMPORTANT: In the Camera Settings dialog, make sure to enable all upload setting first. Upload begins as soon as a file or folder is selected and you will not be able to enter settings such as motion detection or fixed archive length at that point.

2.If desired, use the Default rotation option to rotate the virtual camera footage by 90, 180 or 270 degrees.

3.If desired, use the Ignore timezone in uploaded files option to make the uploaded file use the Desktop Client's local time instead of the time information found in the file.

4.Check Enable audio to include any audio tracks in the original footage.

5.Use the Fixed Archive Length fields to assign high or low priority to the virtual camera (see "Configuring Minimum and Maximum Archive Storage").

•If there is not enough room in server storage, setting a Min Days value will cause archived content with lower priority to be deleted in order to successfully upload files from the higher priority virtual camera. This setting can be crucial for a virtual camera, since oldest footage is deleted first and the virtual camera footage may be much older than material already in archive.

•Max. Days sets an archive duration after which records will not be saved for the virtual camera.

6.If desired, check Detect motion in uploaded video, which will parse motion detection during file upload. Note that this option adds significant processing time.

•If motion detection is checked, you have the option to also adjust the Sensitivity setting (see "Setting up Motion Detection").

7.Select Upload File to select a single file or Upload Folder to select all video files in a given directory.

•If there is limited storage space on the server, you will get a warning message with a prompt to continue or cancel. There is also an option to cancel upload from Camera Settings once upload is launched. If upload is canceled, any files that have already been uploaded will remain in storage.

•Upload will begin as soon as the file or folder is selected, and runs in background so you can perform other tasks simultaneously. An upload progress bar displays at the top of the Camera Settings dialog, and progress percentage is also shown in the Resource Tree.

8.Once upload is complete, the video will launch and play automatically.

•If only virtual cameras are open in the layout, the Timeline will scale to show only the time interval spanning archive from those cameras. This is especially helpful when virtual camera footage is old and would be difficult to locate with the Timeline fully expanded to the present.

•If an audio track exists but is not audible, make sure Enable Audio in Camera Settings > General is checked.