tg said:
paul your advice is useless, that's why I posted my original questions,
which you haven't answered at all. Of course some cams have an ethernet
connection and some are wireless, what do you think I am an idiot? I
expect some cameras will only work when controlled by a PC, and others
may have their own web interface/control panel. I was hoping to find out
which ones would work on their own.
Well, why not use the services of some of the staff
of these companies, and get answers to your questions ?
This page, allows you to draft a pre-sales question.
http://www.axis.com/request/index.php?r=Pre sales questions
Pick a model of camera, like this one, and ask them whether it'll
fit into your framework or not.
http://www.axis.com/files/datasheet/ds_214ptz_33006_en_0809_lo.pdf
You're applying constraints to the situation. That's fine, you're
the customer.
I see two possibilities.
1) Totally seamless product. They send you a camera, a software CD.
You provide a dedicated computer to act as the server or whatever.
Then, there are no questions about setting it up. It just works.
In other words, they take care of all the details, and you don't
have to lift a finger. All you have to judge, is whether the
whole package, meets your needs.
2) The other option, is you "have it your way". Now, it's a
question of integration. What piece or pieces of software
are required ? That's what the pre-sales people are for.
To answer those very questions.
Nobody will know those products, as well as their pre-sales people.
The camera above, has the ability to:
1) Control plane - it has an interface for control purposes,
which works over the network. As far as I know, that software
is free. You talk straight to the camera.
2) Data plane - the camera itself serves the stream. You prepare
your web page somehow, with a reference to the IP address that
the camera is using. The MPEG4 decoder software they sell, is
the final step in getting an image at your desk. The IP stream,
comes straight from the camera, to the user. The camera data
stream, doesn't use your Linux server (*unless you want it to*).
Now, when your Linux server serves a web page, perhaps it
has a frame in the middle of the page. If the product
supports a browser plugin, that plugin could be launched
on the end user's computer, when they access that particular
web page. Then, the stream that is sent to the user computer,
has the live feed displayed in the web page.
If the decoder software they sell, is a dedicated player application,
you could still set up the web browser, to launch that application
as a helper. A window would then open, outside the browser. And
it would present what the camera sees.
Camera <---------- control plane ----------- Boss user
| ^ PTZ controls
| | Client authorization
| | session
| | Linux web server --------- client browser, triggers
| | plugin or helper application
| | <--- authentication
| +------------------------------------ helper or plugin sends password
+---------------------------------------> Data stream for viewing
Data --->
For that particular camera, the Data stream is a broadcast protocol.
That's how they can make the statement, that the solution scales up.
When a new user is added for viewing the camera, the multicast protocol
has to add that user, as a destination for the Data stream.
And the pre-sales people are going to be able to answer those
questions. As to whether the end-user software can be
integrated with web browsers (plugin or helper application).
How authentication is handled. Also, they might be able to tell you,
whether your own MPEG4 decoder of some sort could be used (I don't
think it can, but you can ask).
Paul
