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Edge recording is one of the most promising emerging video surveillance technologies. In many scenarios, it is highly desirable to record video (at least temporarily) on the camera. For instance:

You have a remote site that only needs a few cameras. Rather than purchasing and deploying a recorder, it would be easier and cheaper to record video 'inside' the camera itself. Only when you need to watch the video would you recall the video from the camera.
You are concerned about losing video during network outages. Usually, when a network (or connection from a camera to a VMS system) goes off line, video during that time period is lost. With edge recording, the camera could keep recording video and then send it back to the VMS.
You have a situation where the camera is mobile and is not connected to any network. If you can record video on the camera and then synch it up later when you get back to your facility, operations are greatly simplified.

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Background

Historically, implementing edge recording has been challenging.

Traditionally, all video recording was 'centralized'. Cameras generated video. The video was streamed to recorders (DVRs, hDVRs, VMS systems, etc. ) and then the video was stored in the dedicated recording system. While users could deploy many recorders, video was always stored in one of those recorders (or connected storage systems). No video was stored in cameras / at the 'farthest' edge.

On the other hand, IP cameras are computers, specialized appliances of course, but computers nonetheless. Like any computer, IP cameras can manage storage. While all IP cameras always have some level of storage on board, it was generally rare for cameras to have significant storage (e.g., SD cards or hard drives).

In the last few years, support for SD cards on IP cameras has become increasingly commonplace. For example, nearly half of the 500+ cameras in our IP Camera Database support on-board storage.

However, VMS support for on-board storage has been limited. Most VMS systems offer no support for a camera's on-board storage. This meant that users deploying cameras with on-board storage would either have to use the cameras's web interface to manually recall stored video or, worse, pull the SD card from the camera. A few VMS systems offer support for a camera's on-board storage but only for the manufacturer's own cameras (e.g., March, Mobotix, VideoIQ). The most well known of these approaches is from Mobotix who emphasizes the benefits of their 'decentralized' architecture (see our Mobotix edge recording test results).

Testing Genetec Quickbooks pro 2009 serial key.

Genetec's 'trickling' feature is the first VMS offering to provide 3rd party IP camera storage support. Trickling is designed to support camera only recording or periodic transferring of recorded video from the camera to their VMS archivers.

In this test, we wanted to better understand the complexity of using trickling and the usability of accessing on-board storage. We tested Genetec's Omnicast 4.7 VMS with an Axis IP camera to better understand the interoperability between 3rd party VMS and IP camera vendors.

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For background on Genetec's VMS, review our Genetec Omnicast VMS test results. This is not necessary for understanding Genetec's edge recording support but can help provide an overall background to Genetec's approach to video management.

Recommendations

We believe Genetec's edge recording functionality will be very attractive for a number of reasons:

The feature is available in any Genetec VMS version at no additional cost. Even those using the entry level Genetec VMS version can make use of this 'out of the box'.
Video playback and video transfer from camera to recorder/archiver worked well.
Trickling supports both 'pure' edge only recording and using edge recording for temporary / off-line storage
It is designed and worked with 3rd party cameras (such as Axis)

However, a number of important issues / concerns should be kept in mind:

Setting up edge recording can be time consuming as configuration is required on both camera and VMS side
Two problems exist with integrating Axis cameras: currently, a registry edit needs to be done on the server side and continuous recording requires a 'hack' (both explained in the detailed sections below)
Traffic / bandwidth management should be carefully consider as simultaneously trickling of many cameras can significantly increase load
Genetec currently supports Axis and Bosch directly and other devices that integrate on board storage through their Genetec Protocol; users should check to see and note the limitations in overall 3rd party camera support

If you are already a Genetec user and comfortable with Genetec's overall complexity, this should not be a problem. However, if you are new to Genetec and find complexity to be a problem, you should carefully consider these issues (and review our Genetec test report).

Comparisons to Milestone and Mobotix

Two edge recording offerings that are cited often are Milestone and Mobotix:

Milestone offers edge storage functionality [link no longer available] for its XProtect Corporate VMS version 4. While Milestone has been promoting this feature for more than a year [link no longer available] and includes the feature in its Corporate 4.0 release, Milestone does not currently support any IP camera's on-board storage in production (confirmed directly March 2011). As such, the feature is essentially not available. Secondly, the feature is limited to only redundancy recording and only for their most expensive VMS version. As such, the Genetec version is significantly superior as it includes 'pure' edge only recording and for any VMS version.

Mobotix offers edge recording as a standard feature across its IP camera line. Two important positives for the offering are (1) no VMS licenses / no software costs at all and (2) edge recording is essentially plug n play as Mobotix is connecting to its own cameras. The key problem we found in our Mobotix test was issues with the quality of playback (stuttering, delays, etc.) and the complexity of using their VMS client.

Administration and Configuration

In this video we examine how to set-up and configure Omnicast's Trickling. Configurations are required on both the VMS side and the camera side. We start on the VMS by restricting video recording to the edge device only. Next, we explain the three methods for trickling - manual, on-schedule, and on-connection. We'll then walk through the available filters to selectively transfer or trickle video from camera to VMS/Archiver. Finally, we go directly into the camera unit to configure motion based recording of video to the camera's SD card.

Live and Playback Video

In this video we examine the workflows of live viewing and playback in a trickling environment. First, we show cameras configured for 'trickling' or edge only recording are still available for live viewing. We point out that live viewing and edge recorded video quality settings are configured independently (e.g., live view at 720p and record on edge at VGA). Next, we'll demonstrate the Archive Player directly query the camera's storage for video incidents/clips, and play them back directly from the camera through the Archive Player as well. Lastly, we'll demonstrate an actual 'trickling' operation to select/filter and transfer video from camera to VMS/Archiver.

Implementation Considerations

We recommend you keep a number of important implementation considerations in mind when considering or deploy

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