Axis Communications 210-211 User Manual

AXIS 210/211 Network Camera

User’s Manual

About this Document

This manual is intended for administrators and users of the
AXIS 210/211 Network Camera, and is applicable for
software release 4.20. It includes instructions for using and
managing the AXIS 210/211 on your network. Previous
experience of networking will be of use when using this
product. Some knowledge of UNIX or Linux-based systems
may also be beneficial, for developing shell scripts and
applications. Later versions of this document will be posted to
the Axis Website, as required. See also the product’s online
help, available via the Web-based interface.

Intellectual Property Rights

Axis AB has intellectual property rights relating to
technology embodied in the product described in this
document. In particular, and without limitation, these
intellectual property rights may include one or more of the
patents listed at http://www.axis.com/patent.htm and one or
more additional patents or pending patent applications in the
US and other countries.

This product contains licensed third-party software. See the
menu item “About” in th e pro duct ’s u ser i nterf ace f or more
information.

This product contains source code copyright Apple Computer,
Inc., under the terms of Apple Public Source License 2.0 (see
http://www.opensource.apple.com/apsl/). The source code is
available from:
http://developer.apple.com/darwin/projects/rendezvous/

Legal Considerations

Video and audio surveillance can be prohibited by laws that
vary from country to country. Check the laws in your local
region before using this product for surveillance purposes.

This product includes one (1) MPEG-4 decoder license. To
purchase further licenses, contact your reseller.

Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC)

This equipment generates, uses and can radiate radio
frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance
with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio
communications. However, there is no guarantee that
interference will not occur in a particular installation.

If this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or
television reception, which can be determined by turning the
equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct
the interference by one or more of the following measures:
Re-orient or relocate the receiving antenna. Increase the
separation between the equipment and receiver. Connect the
equipment to an outlet on a different circuit to the receiver.
Consult your dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician
for help. Shielded (STP) network cables must be used with
this unit to ensure compliance with EMC standa rd s. If the I/ O
terminal connector is used, a ferrite core (available e.g. from
Axis) should be fitted around the wires in order to ensure
compliance with EMC standards.

USA - This equipment has been tested and found to comply

with the limits for a Class B computing device pursuant to
Subpart B of Part 15 of FCC rules, which are designed to
provide reasonable protection against such interference when
operated in a commercial environment. Operation of this
equipment in a residential area is likely to cause interfer ence,
in which case the user at his/her own expense will be
required to take whatever measures may be required to
correct the interference.

Europe - This digital equipment fulfills the

requirements for radiated emission according to limit B of
EN55022/1998, and the requirements for immunity according
to EN55024/1998 residential, commercial, and light industry.

Japan - This is a class B product based on the standard of

AXIS COMMUNICATIONS

<Product Name> Quick User’s Guide

the Voluntary Control Council for Interference from Information
Technology Equipment (VCCI). If this is used near a radio or
television receiver in a domestic environment, it may cause radio
interference. Install and use the equipment according to the
instruction manual.

Australia - This electronic device meets the requirements of the

Radio communications (Electromagnetic Compatibility) Standard
1998 AS/NZS 3548.

Liability

Every care has been taken in the preparation of this manual.
Please inform your local Axis office of any inaccuracies or
omissions. Axis Communications AB cannot be held responsible
for any technical or typographical errors and reserves the right to
make changes to the product and manuals without prior notice.
Axis Communications AB makes no warranty of any kind with
regard to the material contained within this document, in cludin g,
but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and
fitness for a particular purpose. Axis Communications AB shall
not be liable nor responsible for incidental or consequential
damages in connection with the furnishing, performance or use of
this material.

Trademark Acknowledgments

Boa, Ethernet, Internet Explorer, Linux, Microsoft, Mozilla,
Netscape Navigator, OS/2, UNIX, Windows, WWW are registered
trademarks of the respective holders. Java and all Java-based
trademarks and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of
Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries.
Axis Communications AB is independent of Sun Microsystems
Inc. UPnP™ is a certification mark of the UPnP™ Implementers
Corporation.

Support

Should you require any technical assistance, please contact your
Axis reseller. If your questions cannot be answered immediately,
your reseller will forward your queries through the appropriate
channels to ensure a rapid response. If you are connected to the
Internet, you can:

• download user documentation and firmware updates

• find answers to resolved problems in the FAQ database. Search
by product, category, or phrases

• report problems to Axis support by logging in to your private
support area

• visit Axis Support at www.axis.com/techsup/

Safety Notice - Battery Replacement

The AXIS 210/211 uses a 3.0V CR2032 Lithium battery as the
power supply for its internal real-time clock (RTC). Under normal
conditions this battery will last for a minimum of 5 years. Low
battery power affects the operation of the RTC, causing it to reset
at every power-up. A log message will appear when the battery
needs replacing.

The battery should not be replaced unless required!
If the battery does need replacing, please observe the following:

• Danger of Explosion if battery is incorrectly replaced

• Replace only with the same or equivalent battery, as
recommended by the manufacturer.

• Dispose of used batteries according to the manufacturer's
instructions.

AXIS 210/211 User’s Manual
Revision 3.0
Part No: 23621
March 2005
Copyright© Axis Communications AB, 2004-2005

AXIS 210/211

Contents

Product Features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

AXIS 211 - Extra Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Accessing the Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Access From a Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Setting the Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Accessing the cameras from the Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Focusing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

The Live View Page. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Video Streams. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Stream Types. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

MPEG-4 protocols and communication methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

How to stream MPEG-4?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

The AXIS Media Control. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Other methods of accessing the video stream. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Accessing the Setup tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Overview of the Setup tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Video and Image settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

AXIS Media Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

3

Live View Config. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

HTML Examples. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

External Video. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Sequence Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Event Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Event Servers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Configuring Event Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Motion Detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Port Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

System Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Date & Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Network - Basic TCP/IP Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Network - Advanced TCP/IP Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

SOCKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

AXIS 210/211

4

SMTP (email). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

UPnP™ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

RTP (multicast) MPEG-4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Ports & Devices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

LED Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Advanced. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

The I/O Terminal Connector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Technical Specifications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

General performance considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Optimizing your system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Frame rates - Motion JPEG and MPEG-4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Bandwidth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Glossary of Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

AXIS 210/211 - Product Features

Product Features

The AXIS 210 and the AXIS 211 are part of the latest generation of fully featured Axis
Network Cameras, all based on the AXIS ARTPEC-2 compression chip. The AXIS 211
features a DC-Iris and support for Power over Ethernet (PoE). All instructions and
information in this manual are valid for both cameras unless otherwise stated.

The video streams from the cameras are made available on the network as real-time, full
frame rate Motion JPEG and/or MPEG-4 video streams. The cameras include Video Motion
Detection, which can be used to trigger e.g. image uploads when there is activity in the
video image. Uploads can also be scheduled to run at specified times. Security features
include IP address filtering and multilevel password protection.

The cameras are equipped with an alarm input and an output, which can be connected to
various external devices, e.g. door sensors and alarm bells.

5

Video can be viewed in various different resolutions. Up to 20 viewers can access a camera
simultaneously when using Motion JPEG. If MPEG-4 multicast is used, the number of
viewers is unlimited, but each viewer still needs a separate MPEG-4 decoder license. There
is one license included in the product, and additional licenses can be purchased separately.

The cameras have their own built-in web server, providing full access to all features
through the use of a standard web browser. The built-in scripting tool allows the creation
of basic applications. For advanced functionality, the cameras can be accessed via the
AXIS HTTP API (more info at www.axis.com/developer).

AXIS 210/211 - Product Features

6

AXIS 211 - Extra Features

DC-Iris

The AXIS 211 features a varifocal
DC-Iris, which automatically
regulates the amount of light
entering the camera. Tele/wide
and focus are adjusted manually
with the aid of the pullers
mounted on the lens.

Power over Ethernet (PoE)

Supporting PoE network transformers conforming to IEEE 802.3af, the AXIS 211 can be
powered directly from the network cabling.

Overview

AXIS 210/211 - Product Features

7

Status
indicator

AXIS 210

Underside

Mounting screw
hole

Serial number
Control button

Power indicator

Tele/wide puller

Status
indicator

Focus puller

DC-Iris

DC-Iris control cable
(AXIS 211)

Power connector

AXIS 211

Control
cable

Rear panel
AXIS 211

I/O terminal
connector

Network connector

(and PoE for AXIS 211)

Network indicator

Power Connector - For connection of the PS-K power adapter (included).
I/O Connector - The I/O terminal connector provides the physical interface to one

transistor output, one digital input and an auxiliary connection point for DC power. For
more information, see The I/O Terminal Connector, on page 42.

Network Connector - The camera connects to the network via a standard network
connector. Supporting NWAY, the camera detects the speed of the local network segment
(10BaseT/100BaseTX Ethernet). This socket can also be used to power the AXIS 211 via
PoE (Power over Ethernet).

Serial Number - This number is used during installation.
Control Button - Press this button to install using the AXIS Internet Dynamic DNS Service

(see page 11) or to restore the factory default settings, as described in Resetting to the
Factory Default Settings, on page 41.

AXIS 210/211 - Product Features

8

LED Indicators

After completion of the startup and self test routines, the multi-colored Network, Status,
and Power LED indicators flash as follows:

Network Amber Steady for connection to 10 Mbit/s network. Flashes for network activity.

Green Steady for connection to100 Mbit/s network. Flashes for network activity.
Red Flashes rapid red, together with the Status indicator, for hardware error.
Unlit No connection.

Status

Power Green Normal operation.

Green Shows steady green for normal operation. Can be configured to flash green at intervals

whenever the camera is accessed. See the online help for more information.
Unlit When configured for “no flash” on camera access.
Amber Shows steady amber during reset to factory default or when restoring settings.
Red Slow flash for failed upgrade (see Emergency Recovery Procedure, on page 45).

Rapid flash, together with the Network indicator, for hardware error.

Amber Flashes green/amber during firmware upgrade.

AXIS 210/211 - Accessing the Camera

Accessing the Camera

To use the AXIS 210/211 on your network, it must first be installed. Please see the AXIS
210/211 Installation Guide, supplied with the product, or available from www.axis.com

The cameras can be used with most standard operating systems and browsers. The
recommended browser is Internet Explorer with Windows, and Mozilla with other
operating systems. See also the Technical Specifications, on page 49.

9

Notes:

•To view streaming video in Microsoft Internet Explorer, you must set your browser to allow
ActiveX controls and allow the AXIS Media Control (AMC) to be installed on your workstation.
AMC is required to view MPEG-4 video streams. If your workstation restricts the use of addi­tional software components, the cameras can be configured to use a Java applet for updating
JPEG images. Please see the online help for more information.

•The AXIS 210/211 includes one (1) decoder license for viewing MPEG-4 video streams. This is
automatically installed with AMC. The administrator can disable the installation of the MPEG-4
decoder, to prevent unlicensed copies being installed.

Access From a Browser

1. Start a browser (e.g. Internet
Explorer, Mozilla)

2. Enter the IP address or host
name of the cameras in the Location/Address field of your browser.

3. If this is the first time the camera is accessed, see Setting the Password, on page

10. Otherwise enter your user name and password, as set by the administrator.

4. The camera’s Live View page is now displayed in your browser.

Note:

If the layout of the Live View page has been customized to meet specific requirements, some of the exam­ples and functions featured here may differ from those displayed on your own Live View page.

AXIS 210/211 - Accessing the Camera

10

Setting the Password

1. When accessing a camera for the first
time, the ‘Configure Root Password’
dialog will be displayed on the screen.

2. Enter a password and then re-enter it, to
confirm the spelling. Click OK.

3. The ‘Enter Network Password’ dialog will appear. Enter the User name: root
Note: The default administrator user name root is permanent and cannot be
deleted.

4. Enter the password as set in step 2 above, and click OK. If the password is lost,
the cameras must be reset to the factory default settings. See page 41.

5. If required, click Yes to install the AXIS Media Control (AMC). You will need
administrator rights on the computer to do this.

Accessing the cameras from the Internet

Once installed, a camera is accessible on your local network (LAN). To access the camera from the Internet you must
configure your broadband router to allow incoming data traffic. For security reasons this is usually done on a specific
port. Please refer to the documentation for your broadband router for further instructions.

For more information, please visit the AXIS Internet Dynamic DNS Service at www.axiscam.net or, for Technical notes
on this and other topics, visit the Axis Support Web at www.axis.com/techsup

AXIS 210/211 - Accessing the Camera

Focusing

To focus the AXIS 210, simply turn the adjustment ring on the lens until the focus is
satisfactory.

To focus the AXIS 211, follow the instructions below.

1. From the Basic Configuration page in the setup tools, open the Focus adjustment
page.

11

2. Set the DC-Iris to Disabled
and click Save.

Zoom puller

(Tele/wide)

AXIS 211

3. Unscrew the zoom puller on
the lens by turning it
anti-clockwise. Adjust the

Focus puller

zoom setting as required.
Re-tighten the zoom puller .

4. Unscrew the focus puller on
the lens. Adjust the focus as
required. Re-tighten the focus
puller.

5. From the Focus adjustment page, set the DC-Iris to Enabled and click Save.

Note:

The DC-Iris should always be disabled while focusing the camera. This opens the iris to its maximum, which
gives the smallest depth of field and thus the best conditions for correct focusing. When the focus is set
with this method it will then be maintained in any light conditions.

AXIS 210/211 - Accessing the Camera

12

The Live View Page

Depending on whether or not the Live View page has been customized, the buttons
described below may or may not be visible.

To resize the video image, click the View Size buttons: half-size (x
full-size (x1), x2 or x4. Note that this does not change the video
image’s resolution, but simply how it is displayed. Changing the View
size is not available in Sequence Mode.

The Video Format drop-down list allows the video format on the Live
View page to be temporarily changed.

The Output buttons control the output directly from the Live View page.
These buttons are configured under Setup > Live View Config > Layout.

Pulse - click this button to activate the port for a defined period of time, e.g. to
switch on a light for 20 seconds.
Active/Inactive - click these buttons to manually start and stop a connected
device, e.g. switch a light on/off.

1

/2),

These buttons start and stop the Sequence Mode. This mode is created in
Setup > Live View Config > Sequence mode, and automatically displays the
view from 2 or more video sources at set intervals.

From the Source list, select the desired external video source. Note
that Sequence Mode must be stopped before selecting a source from
this list.

The Action buttons can trigger an event directly from the Live View page.
These are configured under Setup > Live View Config > Layout.

The Snapshot button saves a snapshot of the video image currently being
displayed. Right-click on the video image to save it in JPEG format on your
computer. This button is primarily intended for use when the AMC viewer
toolbar is not available.

AXIS 210/211 - Accessing the Camera

The AMC viewer toolbar (AXIS Media Control) is available in Microsoft Internet
Explorer only. It displays the following buttons:

The Play/Stop button starts and stops the live video stream.

The Snapshot button saves a snapshot of the video image currently being
displayed. The Snapshot function and the target directory for saving snapshots can
be configured from the AMC Control Applet in the Windows Control Panel
(Internet Explorer only).

Click the View Full Screen button to make the video image fill the entire screen
area. No other windows will be visible. Press Esc (Escape) on the computer
keyboard to exit full screen.

13

AXIS 210/211 - Video Streams

14

Video Streams

The AXIS 210/211 provides several different image and video stream formats. The type to
use depends on your requirements and on the properties of your network.

The Live View page in the AXIS 210/211 provides access to Motion JPEG and MPEG-4
video streams, as well as to single JPEG images. Other applications and clients can also
access these video streams/images directly, without going via the Live View page.

Stream Types

Motion JPEG

This format uses standard JPEG still images for the video stream. These images are then
displayed and updated at a rate sufficient to create a stream that shows constantly updated
motion.

The Motion JPEG stream uses considerable amounts of bandwidth, but also provides
excellent image quality and access to each and every individual image contained in the
stream.

Note also that multiple clients accessing Motion JPEG streams can use different image
settings.

MPEG-4

This is a video compression standard that makes good use of bandwidth, and which can
provide high-quality video streams at less than 1 Mbit/s.

Notes:

The MPEG-4 standard provides scope for a large range of different coding tools for use by
various applications in different situations, and the AXIS 210/211 provides certain subsets
of these tools. These are represented as Video object types, which are selected for use with
different viewing clients. The supported video object types are:

• Simple - sets the coding type to H.263, as used by e.g. QuickTime™.

• Advanced Simp le - sets the coding type to MPEG-4 Part 2, as used by AMC (AXIS

When using MPEG-4 it is also possible to control the bit rate, which in turn allows the
amount of bandwidth usage to be controlled. CBR (constant bit rate) is used to achieve a
specific bit rate by varying the quality of the MPEG-4 stream. When using VBR (variable
bit rate), the quality of the video stream is kept as constant as possible, at the cost of a
varying bit rate.

•MPEG-4 is licensed technology. The AXIS 210/211 includes one viewing client license.

Installing additional unlicensed copies of the viewing client is prohibited. To purchase addi­tional licenses, contact your Axis reseller.

•All clients viewing the MPEG-4 stream must use the same image settings.

Media Control)

AXIS 210/211 - Video Streams

MPEG-4 protocols and communication methods

To deliver live streaming video over IP networks, various combinations of transport
protocols and broadcast methods are employed.

• RTP (Realtime Transport Protocol) is a protocol that allows programs to manage the
real-time transmission of multimedia data, via unicast or multicast.

• RTSP (Real Time Streaming Protocol) serves as a control protocol, to negotiate which
transport protocol to use for the stream. RTSP is thus used by a viewing client to start a
unicast session, see below.

• UDP (User Datagram Protocol) is a communications protocol that offers limited service
for exchanging data in a network that uses the Internet Protocol (IP). UDP is an alterna­tive to the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). The advantage of UDP is that it is not
required to deliver all data and may drop network packets when there is e.g. network
congestion. This is suitable for live video, as there is no point in re-transmitting old
information that will not be displayed anyway.

• Unicasting is communication between a single sender and a single receiver over a net­work. This means that the video stream goes independently to each user, and each user
gets their own stream. A benefit of unicasting is that if one stream fails, it only affects
one user.

• Multicast is bandwidth-conserving technology that reduces bandwidth usage by simul­taneously delivering a single stream of information to multiple network recipients. This
technology is used primarily on delimited networks (intranets), as each user needs an
uninterrupted data flow and should not rely on network routers.

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How to stream MPEG-4?

Deciding on the combination of protocols and methods to use depends on your viewing
requirements, and on the properties of your network.

RTP+RTSP

This method (actually RTP over UDP and RTSP over TCP) should be your first consideration
for live video, especially when it is important to always have an up-to-date video stream,
even if some images do get dropped. This can be configured as multicast or unicast.

Multicasting provides the most efficient usage of bandwidth, especially when there are
large numbers of clients viewing simultaneously. Note however, that a multicast broadcast
cannot pass a network router unless the router is configured to allow this. It is thus not
possible to multicast over e.g. the Internet.

Unicasting should be used for video-on-demand broadcasting, so that there is no video
traffic on the network until a client connects and requests the stream. However, if more
and more unicast clients connect simultaneously, the AXIS 210/211 will at some point
become overloaded. There is also a maximum of 20 simultaneous viewers to be considered.

AXIS 210/211 - Video Streams

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RTP/RTSP

This unicast method is RTP tunneled over RTSP. This can be used to exploit the fact that it
is relatively simple to configure firewalls to allow RTSP traffic.

RTP/RTSP/HTTP or RTP/RTSP/HTTPS

These two methods can also be used to traverse firewalls. Firewalls are commonly
configured to allow the HTTP protocol, thus allowing RTP to be tunneled.

The AXIS Media Control

The recommended method of accessing live video (MPEG-4 and/or Motion JPEG) from the
AXIS 210/211 is to use the AXIS Media Control (AMC) in Microsoft Internet Explorer in
Windows. This ActiveX component is automatically installed on first use, after which it
can be configured by opening the AMC Control Panel applet from the Windows Control
Panel. Alternatively, right-click the video image in Internet Explorer.

Other methods of accessing the video stream

Video/images from the AXIS 210/211 can also be accessed in the following ways:

• If supported by the client, the AXIS 210/211 can use Motion JPEG server push to dis­play video. This option maintains an open HTTP connection to the browser and sends
data as and when required, for as long as required.

• As single JPEG images in a browser. Enter e.g. the path:
http://<ip>/axis-cgi/jpg/image.cgi?resolution=320x240

• Windows Media Player. This requires AMC and the MPEG-4 viewing client to be
installed. The paths that can be used are listed below in the order of preference.

• Unicast via RTP: axrtpu://<ip>/mpeg4/media.amp

• Unicast via RTSP: axrtsp://<ip>/mpeg4/media.amp

• Unicast via RTSP, tunneled via HTTP: axrtsphttp://<ip>/mpeg4/media.amp

• Unicast via RTSP, tunneled via HTTPS: axrtsphttps://<ip>/mpeg4/media.amp

• Multicast: axrtpm://<ip>/mpeg4/media.amp

Note:

<ip> = IP address

AXIS 210/211 - Video Streams

Other MPEG-4 clients

Although it may be possible to use other clients to view the MPEG-4 stream, this is not
guaranteed by Axis.

For some other clients, e.g. QuickTime™ the Video Object Type must be set to Simple. It
may also be necessary to adjust the advanced MPEG-4 settings.

To assess the video stream from e.g. QuickTime™ the following path can be used:
rtsp://<ip>/mpeg4/media.amp
This path is for all supported methods, and the client will negotiate with the video server to

determine exactly which transport protocol to use.

Note:

<ip> = IP address

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