This user manual describes the operation of the HD Helmet Camera.
Initially, the user manual introduces the reader to the camera’s operation.
Hardware interfacing, connecting the camera, viewing video and conguration of the camera’s
functions are all described in detail.
Additionally the use of a range of software tools to both view the video and manage stored
recording les is also covered.
June 2018
This is followed up with a description of mounting options, technical specications and component
dimensions.
All Visual Engineering products are supplied as standard with a 12 month ‘Return to Base’ warranty.
In the event of a suspected product failure, users should contact the Visual Engineering support team on the telephone number +44 (0) 1206 211842 or please email us at:
support@visualengineering.co.uk
Should the fault persist or if the support team are unable to resolve the fault, it may be necessary to return the equipment.
Equipment should only be returned using the RMA (Returns Management Authorisation) process. Users should contact the support team on the above number and request an RMA number.
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Visual Engineering
Introduction
Video solutions. Integrated
HD Cam
The HD Cam is a full HD IP camera which can be connected directly onto a helmet Picatinny rail
mount, making it suitable for use in tactical situations.
The camera integrates directly with the Visual Engineering Body Worn Mesh Radio. When coupled
with the BWM it provides a complete end to end surveillance system.
The camera has exceptional performance in low light conditions and is supplemented with built in
Infrared or white light LED Illumination.
The HD Cam supports variable video resolutions, which ranges from 1920x1080 down to 320x240.
Variable frame rate and bitrate adjustments are also possible. All of these parameters can be
congured via a web browser interface.
The outer casing is CNC machined aluminium, this rugged build together with its IP67
environmental rating produces a camera that is t for deployment into tactical eld operations.
The camera is designed to have ecient use of power, all connections including power and IP video
are combined into one Fisher connector on the rear of the housing.
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A button mounted on the top of the camera controls the activation state of the LED Illuminator. At
initial power on the LED will switch on in low light levels determined by the integrated ambient light
sensor. Following power on if the button is pressed it will disable the LED regardless of light level.
Further presses of the button will cycle the LED to rst switch back to auto state and then o and so
on.
Custom cable assemblies interface with body worn radios from Silvus and TrellisWare.
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Visual Engineering
Connecting the Camera
Video solutions. Integrated
HD Cam
HD helmet cameras are shipped with custom interface cable as per customers specications.
Once the camera is powered and has an IP connection, users can web browse to the camera to
control its functions.
The web browser allows control of camera parameters such as encoder resolution, encoder bitrate, and network settings.
All parameters are non-volatile, meaning they will be remembered after re-powering the camera.
Type the camera’s IP address into the browsers address bar, using the camera IP address
192.168.1.195.
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Camera Login
On trying to establish a connection the user will be prompted for the User Name and Password,
enter the following details:
Default UserName is:
root
Default Password is:
1234
Default IP Address
HD Helmet cameras are by default set with a xed IP address of 192.168.1.195
If the camera is not responding on this address it is possible that the IP address has been changed.
If the new IP address is unknown, the user can use the VE Camera Viewer software application to
locate the IP address. This method is explained in the The VE Camera Viewer section of this user
guide.
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Visual Engineering
Web Browser Control
Video solutions. Integrated
HD Cam
Once a connection is established with the camera on the web interface the user should see the
following camera home page:
The camera’s IP address is typed in here.
In this example the IP address is
192.168.1.193
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Control Menus
On the left side of the screen are the Control Menus which allow the user to congure various
settings in the camera. The functions of these menus are described in the following sections of this
user guide.
User Menu
The user menu page allows users
to congure the user ID and
password of the camera. It is
necessary to conrm the password
to change it.
There is also the option to enable/
disable the following:
• FTP Server Connection
• OSD (On Screen Display)
• Audio Out
Changes are only enabled when
the submit button is pressed.
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Visual Engineering
Video solutions. Integrated
HD Cam
Date Menu
The date menu page allows the user
to synchronise the camera time to
an SNTP server. In this instance it is
necessary to have the PC connected
to a network.
If a network connection is not
available it is possible to synchronise
the camera to the PC time by ticking
the “Sync Camera to PC Time” check
box and pressing the submit button.
The “UTC Oset” can be altered to
align the camera time with the local
time zone. Changes are only enabled
when the submit button is pressed.
To align the camera to the actual PC
time the “UTC Oset” should be made
same as the value displayed in the “PC
UTC Oset” eld.
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Tick this box and press
submit to sync the camera
to the PC time
Update Menu
It is possible to update the
rmware of the camera. There are
three steps to updating the camera
rmware, as shown on the right.
Only update the camera
with les that have
been approved by Visual
Engineering.
Use of other les will render
the camera inoperable.
1. Select the
Update tab
Following a Submit the camera will update the rmware and display the following text:
Programming in Progress...Do NOT remove power
Wait until the web page clears this text before trying to move away from the current web page or
powering o the camera. Updates typically take approx 3 minutes to complete.
A camera encoder can be given a software reset at any time by pressing the “Reset” button on the
right hand side of the page.
3. Submit the le
2. Browse to the le
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Visual Engineering
Video solutions. Integrated
HD Cam
Video Menu
The Video Page is where all the
camera’s IP encoder parameters
are controlled.
The encoder supports two
encoding formats, H.264 and
MJPEG. The choice of the format
is initiated by the user when the
stream is enabled.
To initiate a H.264 stream from
a camera with an IP address of
192.168.1.195 the URL is:
rtsp://192.168.1.195/h264
To initiate an MJPEG stream from
a camera with an IP address of
192.168.1.195 the URL is:
rtsp://192.168.1.195/jpeg
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The Video page contains parameters for each encoder type. The Camera has two fundamental
modes of operation:
• Constant Bitrate. This will output a constant bitrate IP video stream, as set in the Bitrate eld.
• Constant Quality. In this mode the bitrate is varied in a eort to maintain a constant quality.
The target quality is set using a number between 0 to 51, the lower the number the higher
the quality, this is set in the quality eld. Amendments to this value are only allowed when the
constant quality mode is enabled. In this mode the ‘ceiling’ bitrate is controlled by the value set
in the Bitrate eld, the encoder will attempt to limit the maximum bitrate to this value.
Other video encoder parameters include:
H.264 Resolution
The maximum resolution is 1920x1080, users can select lower resolutions if there is restricted
bandwidth available for the camera’s connection.
H.264 FPS (frames Per Second)
The maximum frame rate is 30fps, users may choose to select lower frame rates, thereby reducing
the bandwidth required.
H.264 IDR Frame changes the I frame interval in the H.264 stream by setting the parameter, this
balances the stream’s quality against latency. The default value is 30.
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Video solutions. Integrated
HD Cam
Recommended Settings
Bitrate AvailableResolution Frame Rate
5-10MB/s1920x108030
4-5Mb/s1920x108015
3-4Mb/s1280x72030
2-3Mb/s800x60030
1-2Mb/s800x60015
512kb/s-1Mb/s640x48015
256-512kb/s320x24015
Video Flip can be useful when the camera is installed upside down or hanging from a ceiling.
Video Reverse can be useful when viewing the image via a mirror.
Night Video mode will increase the sensitivity of the camera under low light conditions.
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Video Flicker
The camera’s light exposure can be set to be either outdoor natural sunlight or indoor mode which
eliminates video icker created by articial lighting at the frequency of the local mains supply (50Hz
or 60Hz).
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Visual Engineering
Video solutions. Integrated
HD Cam
June 2018
View Menu
Viewing the video from the camera can be possible from the web browser by selecting the view
button. Users can return to the main menu by selecting the Back button.
Recent web browser releases have stopped supporting the VLC video plug-in,
as such the video will not be displayed.
In this instance view the video using either the The VE Camera Viewer or the VLC media player.
Alert Control
Motion and light level triggers can
be congured such that an audible
tone and a visual alarm alerts the
viewer.
These controls can also be set
using the The VE Camera Viewer
Motion and dark to light level
triggers can be used to trigger an
OSD (On Screen Display) event.
If users require this they should
enable the Motion or Light OSD.
The level of motion required to
invoke a trigger can be set with the
Trigger Sensitivity. Four options of
O, Low, Mid or High sensitivity
may be set.
The duration of the alarm event will be the duration of the motion event plus the time set in
seconds in the Trigger Duration eld, values from 0 to 100 seconds are valid.
Users should press the submit button to enable changes.
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Visual Engineering
Video solutions. Integrated
HD Cam
Ethernet Menu
Network parameters can be set on
the camera by selecting the Ethernet
menu.
The camera can operate with a xed
IP address, or can be allocated an
IP address from the network, these
modes are controlled using the
DHCP button enable/disable.
Users should press the submit
button to enable changes.
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UPnP Menu
The Universal plug and play menu
allows the user to set the Device ID
and Camera Name.
Users should press the submit
button to enable changes.
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Visual Engineering
Video solutions. Integrated
HD Cam
June 2018
Recording Menu
The integral SD Card in each camera node has a capacity of 32GBytes, this oers 17 hours of
continuous recording at a total IP bit stream of 4Mb/s or 34 hours at 2Mb/s, etc. If recording
capacity is achieved there is a user option to either stop recording or overwrite. The recording web
page menu is shown below.
Note: Recording is temporarily paused during activity on the camera’s web interface.
Timed Recording
There are 4 options for timed
recordings, these are; O,
Continuous, Once and Daily.
O = No recording takes place.
Continuous = Recording
Continuously.
Once = Record once when the
start time is reached and record
for the set duration.
Daily = Record daily starting when
the start time is reached and
record for the set duration.
Trigger Recording
Trigger Recordings can be triggered by either motion or light level change.
Trigger recordings are disabled by default, if enabled, a recording will be made.
The duration of the recording will be the duration of the motion event plus the time set in seconds
in the trigger duration.
SD Card Management
In the event of the SD card becoming full, there are two options for Overwrite Control. One option
is to have the recordings stop when the SD card is full, or the other option is to have the oldest
material to be overwritten when the SD card becomes full.
Following any changes made in the menu the user must press the submit button . Wait until the
camera nishes re-conguring before powering o the camera.
Erase and Format
The SD card will be completely erased and formatted if the Erase button is used. The user will be
asked to conrm that this is the intention before the SD card memory card is actually erased.
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Visual Engineering
Recovering Recordings
Video solutions. Integrated
HD Cam
Record Format
Recordings are stored on the SD Card as individual 10 second duration .avi les. This is for
a maximum frame rate of 50fps, lower frame rates will increase the length of the stored le
proportionately. For example a frame rate of 25fps will create a 20 second video clip.
Video clip lengths are kept intentionally kept short, this allows integration with The VE Camera
Viewer so that recent events can be played back with a low data upload overhead.
The le size is proportional to the total bitrate selected by the user.
The les follow the a naming convention of:
YYMMDDHHNNSS
For example a le with the name of: 170801134611 would have the meaning:
YY = Year is 2017
MM = Month is 08, August
DD = Date is 01, the 1st of the month
HH = Hour is 13, 24 hour format
NN = Minutes is 46
SS = Seconds is 11
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Additionally les containing motion will have an ‘m’ appended on the end. This is so any video clips
with movement in the video can be easily identied. When searching motion les it is advisable to
also check for activity in the video in the le preceding any motion tagged le.
For the le described above with motion in the video it will have the complete le name of:
170801134611m.avi
Recordings are stored in directories for each individual hour, the directory has the form:
YYMMDDHH
Since each le is 10 seconds long there will only ever be a maximum of 360 les in each directory.
Recordings can be accessed and downloaded via FTP (File Transfer Protocol) using either The VE
Camera Viewer or an FTP application such as FileZilla.
The VE Camera Viewer is available to download from the VE website at:
www.visualengineering.co.uk/supportdownload/26
FileZilla is a free application and can be downloaded from
http://sourceforge.net/projects/FileZilla/
If using FileZilla, downloaded recordings can be played in players such as VLC either individually by
selecting Play stored File or in groups by creating a play list.
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Visual Engineering
Video solutions. Integrated
HD Cam
Using FileZilla
With FileZilla downloaded, installed and running it will appear as shown below.
Set the Host = IP Address of Camera, default IP Address of 192.168.1.195 is shown here
Username = Camera Username, the default is root
Password = Camera Password, the default is 1234
Then press ‘Quickconnect’
June 2018
Files can be dragged across to the location selected on
the local computer
File structure on the SD card
of the camera
Recordings on the camera will be stored in the directory structure: SD/YYMMDDHH/ as shown
above. Individual les can then be selected and downloaded or dragged across to the storage
location selected on the local computer.
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Visual Engineering
Using VLC to Play Streams
Video solutions. Integrated
HD Cam
Users wishing to access streaming video from the camera will need a video player application.
The camera is compatible with many players, a simple freeware player is VLC Media Player.
Users should download VLC Media Player and run the application.
VLC is a free media player and can be downloaded from:
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.en_GB.html
• Enable the VLC Media Player application.
• From the Media menu select the ‘Open Network Stream’ as shown below.
June 2018
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Visual Engineering
Video solutions. Integrated
HD Cam
• Enter the camera URL and stream type, eg: rtsp://192.168.1.195/h264
The URL depends upon the IP address of the camera and the stream type,
eg: h264 or jpeg. This is shown below
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• Press play and the video stream will appear, as shown below.
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Visual Engineering
The VE Camera Viewer
Video solutions. Integrated
HD Cam
The VE Camera Viewer is a software application used to display the video from all cameras in the
system. It will auto detect any VE cameras that are on the network and populate a list on the left
hand side of the player.
The VE Camera Viewer software can be downloaded from the VE website support page:
www.visualengineering.co.uk/supportdownload/26
June 2018
Viewing Video
The VE Camera Viewer is intuitive and simple to use. Any camera on the network will be displayed
in a list on the left hand side of the player. The video can be viewed by clicking the “Eye Icon” next
to the camera’s name. The video panel selector can be used to select how the video panels are
arranged, this is useful when several video feeds are in the system.
Video Panel
Selector
Camera List
Eye Icon
Video Panel Options
The top of the video panel displays information on the playback mode of the displayed video. In the
above instance the video playback is a Live stream, it can also be noted that the camera is currently
recording since the REC icon is shown. Since the camera does not contain an integrated battery the
power source will be displayed as a DC input.
If the mouse is hovered between the video panel and the above information the player will oer
the user the option to enter Settings or Play a Recording.
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Visual Engineering
Video solutions. Integrated
HD Cam
June 2018
Settings
Under Settings the user can ip or mirror the video feed.
The Motion Sensitivity can also be set to a value between 0 to 100. A value of 0 sets the motion
trigger to o, a value of 100 sets the motion to maximum sensitivity.
The Trigger Duration sets the duration of the audible tone and the red trigger icon displayed in the
player.
Play Recordings
If the Play Recording option is highlighted and selected as shown below the player will allow the
user to select a recording to playback.
The player will nd all available les that are stored
on the SD card in the camera. The update screen as
shown on the right will be displayed until all les are
discovered.
Users can then select a segment of recorded video to
be played back from memory. Options are from 30
seconds to 10 minutes.
The full range of download periods is only available in
advanced mode.
To access the advanced mode the user needs to
hold keyboard keys “A”, “D”, and “V” then click on the
padlock icon next to the Advanced User text.
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Visual Engineering
Video solutions. Integrated
HD Cam
Select “Other” to choose a specic period
of timed recording.
Select the required date, days that don’t
hold recordings are greyed out.
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Select the required month, months that
don’t hold recordings are greyed out.
Select the required hour of day, hours
that don’t hold recordings are greyed out.
The les will then be downloaded, after
Select the required start and end time
from the time dial. Press the play icon.
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which time the video recording can be
viewed in the video panel.
Visual Engineering
Video solutions. Integrated
HD Cam
June 2018
Video Panel Coloured Border
The video panel is edged in a colour, the meaning of which is described in the following table.
Video Panel Edge ColourMeaning
RedA trigger alarm has occurred
BlueThis panel is selected for Pan Tilt Zoom Control
GreyNo trigger alarms & not selected for PTZ Control
Trigger Alarms
The trigger alarms are enabled either via the player or the web interface. Once a trigger event
occurs it will be displayed and sounded in the player. The video panel will have a red edge border
and an icon will be shown in the bottom left corner. The trigger icon is either a motion trigger or a
low to high light level change as described in the table below.
Trigger IconTrigger Source
A low light level to high light level transition has been detected.
Motion has been detected in the video.
Pan, Tilt & Zoom Control
Only for cameras that support remote control of Pan, Tilt and Zoom.
Select a camera from the Camera List, this will cause the selected
camera description being edged in blue, as shown on the right. The
video panel for the camera will also be edged in blue.
• Pan Control: left & right arrows
• Tilt Control: up & down arrows
• Zoom in: + symbol
• Zoom out: - symbol
Advanced User
To access the advanced mode, which allows full access to the stored
recordings, the user needs to hold keyboard keys “A”, “D”, and “V”
then click on the padlock icon next to the Advanced User text.
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Visual Engineering
Mounting
LED Illumination Control
Video solutions. Integrated
HD Cam
The button which is mounted on the top of the HD helmet camera controls the activation state of
the LED Illuminator.
At initial power on the LED will switch on in low light levels determined by the integrated ambient
light sensor.
Following power on if the button is pressed it will disable the LED regardless of light level. Further
presses of the button will cycle the LED to rst switch back to auto state and then o and so on.
The camera is designed to mount directly onto a Picatinny helmet rail mount, as shown below.
June 2018
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Visual Engineering
Dimensions
Specications
Video solutions. Integrated
HD Cam
Specications
Camera Sensor1/3” CMOSConnectorFisher
Camera Sensitivity
Max Resolution1920 x1080pRecording OptionMicro SD card
Video EncodingDual H.264 and MJPEG Weight
Streaming ProtocolRTSP over TCP or UDPEnvironmentalIP67