Release Notes for MOBOTIX MxControlCenter

Document Information

Publisher:

MOBOTIX AG

Author:

Bernd Wilhelm
Thilo Schüller
Oliver Kuss

Date:

2014-05-09

Document:

release-notes_en.html

Confidentiality:

public


Contents

These Release Notes contain a short technical description of the most important changes of MOBOTIX MxControlCenter (sometimes also called MxCC for short).

Software Releases—Overview:

Release Version

Creation Date

Publishing Date

MxControlCenter 2.5.3.5 (Release)

2014-03-19

2014-05-09

MxControlCenter 2.5.3.1 (Release)

2013-04-16

2013-04-16

MxControlCenter 2.5.2 (Release)

2012-07-18

2012-07-19

MxControlCenter 2.5.1.1 (Release)

2012-02-22

2012-02-29

MxControlCenter 2.5.0.2 (Release)

2011-07-08

2011-07-15

MxControlCenter 2.4 (Release)

2010-07-21

2010-07-22

MxControlCenter 2.3 (Release)

2010-03-25

2010-04-09

MxControlCenter 2.2.1 (Release)

2009-12-09

2009-12-09

MxControlCenter 2.1 (Release)

2009-07-08

2009-07-14

MxControlCenter 2.0.1 (Release)

2009-02-18

2009-03-13

MxControlCenter 2.0 (Release)

2009-01-29

2009-01-30

MxControlCenter 1.8 (Release)

2008-07-08

2008-07-10

MxControlCenter 1.6 (Release)

2007-12-20

2007-12-21

MxControlCenter 1.5.11 (Release)

2007-09-14

2007-09-18

MxControlCenter 1.5.8 (Release)

2007-05-03

2007-05-03

MxControlCenter 1.3.6 (Release)

2007-01-18

2007-01-18

MxViewer 1.2.50 (beta version)

2006-09-08

2006-09-11

MxViewer 1.2.49 (release version)

2006-09-08

2006-09-08

MxViewer 1.2.13 (beta version)



MxViewer 1.2.7 (pre-production version)



MxViewer 1.1.9 (release version)



MxViewer 1.0 Beta



MxViewer 0.15.39 Beta



Notes

System Requirements

Depending on the intended use, the system requires different hardware to properly run MxControlCenter.


Thin Client

Mini PC

Mid-Range PC

High-End PC

Description of Intended Use

Intended Use

Video wall
(client)

Video wall
(client)

MxCC surveillance system, video wall main computer

MxCC surveillance system, video wall main computer

Max. Number of Displays per Computer

1

1

2

4

Max. Display Resolution

1280x1024

1920x1200

2560x1600

2560x1600

Max. Number of Concurrent Live Camera Streams per Computer

41

121

401

601

Max. Resolution per Camera

QXGA
(2048x1536)

QXGA
(2048x1536)

QXGA
(2048x1536)

QXGA
(2048x1536)

Frame Rate per Camera

30 fps MEGA1,
20 fps QXGA1

30 fps MEGA1,
20 fps QXGA1

30 fps MEGA1,
20 fps QXGA1

30 fps MEGA1,
20 fps QXGA1

Hardware Requirements

CPU

Intel Atom

Intel Core i3

Intel Core i5

Intel Xeon

Clock Rate

1.6 GHz

2 GHz

3.2 GHz

3.2 GHz

RAM

1 GB

2 GB

4 GB

16 GB

Video Card

On-board

On-board

Video card with
1 GB RAM

Video card with
2 GB RAM

Display Ports

1 x VGA/DVI

1 x DVI

2 x DVI

4 x DVI

Ethernet Interface

100 Mbps

100 Mbps

1000 Mbps

1000 Mbps

Operating System Requirements

Operating System

Windows XP SP3
or higher

Windows 7 64 Bit
or higher

Windows 7 64 Bit
or higher

Windows 7 64 Bit
or higher

1 Reduced, if MxControlCenter computer runs additional tasks (e.g. image correction, display scaling, etc.)!

Note: The maximum number of live camera streams that can be shown concurrently will decrease if the MxControlCenter computer needs to accomplish additional tasks (image correction, display scaling, etc.).

Automatic Installation of Language Packages

For MxControlCenter 2.3 and higher, MOBOTIX offers additional language packages. These files are named MxCC_LanguagePack_*_<language[_country]>.exe, where "<language[_country]>" is replaced by the corresponding language and, if required, the country code (for Italian, this would be MxCC_LanguagePack_*_it.exe, for Chinese (China) MxCC_LanguagePack_*_zh_CN.exe). Please make sure that the version number of the language package matches the installed version (e.g. "2.5.2").

Caution: If you have installed the 64 bit version of MxControlCenter, make sure that you also install the 64 bit language package. The 64 bit language packages are easily identified by an additional (x64) in the file name, e.g. MxCC_LanguagePack_(x64)_*_it.exe.

The setup file copies the language files into the Languages subfolder and the file for the print templates (PrintTemplates_<language[_country]>.ts) into the Templates subfolder of the MxControlCenter program folder.

Upon the next launch of MxControlCenter, the application will start in the language you just installed. If you would like to select a different language, open Tools > Language and click on the desired language. After restarting MxControlCenter, the application will come up in the selected language.

Automatic Uninstallation of Language Packages

In order to uninstall a language package, open Applications or Uninstall Programs in the Control Panel. Click on the MxControlCenter Language Package you would like to uninstall and follow the instructions. Upon the next launch of MxControlCenter, the application opens the language of the system locale. If the corresponding language package cannot be found, the application falls back to English.


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Version 2.5.3.5 (Release) of MxControlCenter

Creation Date: 2014-03-19

Publishing Date: 2014-05-09

Enhancements and Improvements

Alarm Display under Low-Bandwidth Conditions

Filling the MxCC alarm list has been improved considerably under conditions with low bandwidth for accessing the stored event data. If reading the stored alarm images from the file server took too long due to the limited bandwidth available, the program sometimes produced errors. The application is now much more tolerant against errors of this kind.

Bugfixes

Known Limitations

The same restrictions as for MxControlCenter 2.5.3.1 apply.


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Version 2.5.3.1 (Release) of MxControlCenter

Creation Date: 2013-04-16

Publishing Date: 2013-04-16

Enhancements and Improvements

HD ready - Support of 16:9 Formats in Layouts

In order to improve the support of camera images in 16:9 format, i.e., for the resolutions HD (1280x720) and Full HD (1920x1080) the application now also supports special 16:9 formats. To change the format of a layout, activate the Layout Manager and select either 4:3 or 16:9 from the context menu of a layout. For more information, please read the MxCC User Manual for release 2.5.3.1.

Other Improvements

Bugfixes

Known Limitations


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Version 2.5.2 (Release) of MxControlCenter

Creation Date: 2012-07-18

Publishing Date: 2012-07-19

Enhancements and Improvements

All of the enhancements described in the following are included in the MxControlCenter User Manual V2.5.2, which will be available within the next couple of weeks, first in German and then in English.

Special Integration of the new S14 Camera Models

With the S14D, the Hemispheric technology is now also available in a dual camera. This means that all hemispheric display modes that can be configurated and displayed for a single sensor module (e.g., the Q24M) can now be configurated and displayed simultaneously for both of the two hemispheric sensor modules of the S14D. MxControlCenter supports these settings.

Integration of the Video Analysis Tool MxAnalytics for Q24M Models

With the new image analysis functions of MxAnalytics (with Camera Software Version 4.1.4.11) object movements within the camera image can be detected and analyzed. This includes the illustration of the distribution of object movements in Heatmaps and the analysis of the crossings of Counting Lines by moving objects. The data that is gathered by detection is stored camera internally on SD cards and can thus be used anytime for individual analyses. This version of MxControlCenter supports the configuration of MxAnalytics as well as the analyses of the data generated and stored by MxAnalytics in Q24 camera models. Therefore, MxAnalytics can be configured and used with MxControlCenter without any further usage of the camera web browser. The following enhancements have been implemented:

Other Improvements

Formatting and Encrypting SD Cards for Recording

As described earlier in the section on the integration of MxAnalytics, a dialog for formatting the camera's internal SD card has been integrated. This dialog or rather its function of SD card formatting is independently available from MxAnalytics for all cameras with integrated SD card. In addition, the dialog includes the setup for encrypted data storing on the SD card. To do this, an encryption password can be entered before formatting.

For all cameras with SD card, this dialog can be opened via the MxFFS Volume Partitioning button in the External Recording dialog. The External Recording dialog can be found in Camera Configuration  > External Recording  > Settings button.

CAUTION:
When using MxControlCenter for directly accessing an encrypted SD card with a card reader, the password entered to encrypt the SD card has to be entered also.

Camera Configuration with Definition of Time Servers

The camera time and time servers to be used can now be set with MxControlCenter also. For that, the new Time Server section in the Camera Configuration dialog has been integrated. This new section is especially helpful when configuring many previously selected cameras at the same time. This dialog provides the following functions:

Any GPS boxes connected to the cameras are automatically displayed and also used as time server.

Live Access Right

MxControlCenter now has a specific right, which allows controlling the access to the live images of a camera.

PTZ Control with Keyboard

PTZ actions can now be triggered also by using the keyboard - this applies to PTZ actions for live PTZ control of the camera, as well as for post PTZ actions in MxControlCenter. To do this, the following commands are available:

Key Combination

Triggered PTZ Actions

Limitations

Ctrl + "+"

Zoom in (enlarge)


Ctrl + "-"

Zoom out (decrease)


Ctrl + "."

Center image (Center Pan)


Ctrl + "#"

Zoom x 1


"Arrow left"

Pan left

Only works, if the control in the PTZ control section has the focus

"Arrow right"

Pan right

Only works, if the control in the PTZ control section has the focus

"Arrow up"

Tilt up

Only works, if the control in the PTZ control section has the focus

"Arrow down"

Tilt down

Only works, if the control in the PTZ control section has the focus

Bugfixes

Known Limitations


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Version 2.5.1.1 (Release) of MxControlCenter

Creation Date: 2012-02-22

Publishing Date: 2012-02-29

Enhancements and Improvements

For more information on the enhancements and features described in the following, see the MxControlCenter User Manual V1.5. The translations of this manual into other languages will be available within the next couple of weeks.

Improved Support for Defining Exposure and Video Motion Windows on Dual Camera Models

When defining defining exposure and Video Motion windows on Dual camera models in the Camera Configuration dialog, you do not need to switch to either the left or the right image sensor. Instead, you can define the windows directly in the dual image delivered by the camera. When defining exposure windows or video motion windows, you need to select the portion of the dual image you would like to edit by clicking on that part of the image. You can draw new and edit existing windows for Video Motion events directly in the left or the right portion of the image. In addition, you can now adapt the size of the Camera Configuration dialog to your needs. When doing so, the display windows used for defining the different window types are scaled with the dialog.

Special Integration of D14Di-180° Models

In order to support the D14Di-180° camera models, MxControlCenter now basically treats D14Di-180° cameras like 6 megapixel mono cameras.

Note: In order to be able to use the functions described above, the camera needs to run software release 4.1.1.20 or higher.

Other Improvements

Automatic Login/Logout

If you have defined groups and users in MxControlCenter, you can now automatically login specific users when launching the application. if you would like to use this feature, you need to activate the Auto Login checkbox of the corresponding user in the Users & Groups dialog.

On the contrary, the application can automatically log out the current user to protect the system against misuse if it detects inactivity for a specific amount of time. if you would like to use this feature, activate the new Logout user checkbox in the Dead Man's Switch section of Tools > Options > Monitoring. Note that you need to activate the Apply dead man settings right for the corresponding user groups (Tools > Users & groups, Group Rights tab, Application section).

Saving and Loading MxCC Configuration Files

MxControlCenter's handling (i.e., saving and loading) of its configuration files (*.ini) has been changed as follows:

Bugfixes

Known Limitations


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Version 2.5.0.2 (Release) of MxControlCenter (MxCC)

Creation Date: 2010-07-08

Publishing Date: 2010-07-15

Enhancements and Improvements

Predefined Event Searches

With the Event Searches it is now possible to predefine individual search requests for specific cameras, events, and periods of time (e.g., all motion sensor alarms of the previous night in the parking lot) and execute them at the touch of a button. For this purpose, a new section, named Event Searches has been included in the Navigator of the Sidebar. In this section, new event searches can be defined and existing search definitions can be selected for execution. After executing an event search, the event images that have been located on the individual cameras are shown in the display area of MxCC together with the parameters of this event search. The selected search can also be easily modified by changing any of the search parameters and immediately re-executed with the new settings – provided that the user is authorized to do so. The following parameters can be changed:

The search result displays all event images of all camera recordings that match the search parameters in the defined order. Individual events can then be investigated by double-clicking the desired event image to activate the player in the lower half of the display area.

Post Video Motion Detection (Post VM Search)

It is now possible to subsequently search existing video recordings of a MOBOTIX camera and look for image changes via the definition of so-called Video Motion (VM) windows and the execution of a search (which will then look for video motion changes within those windows). For example, if your camera was recording images of a building with a door, you could "draw" a video motion window per click-and-drag over the section of the image where the door is, and when the search is executed, all video motion changes that occurred within that doorway, within the specified timespan would then be displayed in the results as the search executed. These new Post video motion searches are defined essentially the same way as event searches are. The only differences are, (1) the option "Offline search for motion (Post VM)" has to be set as the "Search mode" and (2) only one camera or file server path can be searched at one time.

Attention:
Post VM Searches require recordings in MxPEG format which have been saved with a camera software version 4.0.4.18 or above!

Local Archive

The camera's recording storage is organized as a ring buffer, which when completely filled, will then overwrite the oldest events with newer ones. The new Local Archive allows you to use any folder you wish on your local computer as a sort of manual backup to archive events that shall not be overwritten. Archiving is accomplished by defining the folder (or folders) where you want to store events you want to save permanently and you then add events to the archive simply by clicking the events and drag them to that (or those) folder(s). Currently, any event displayed in a search result, be it a regular Event search or a Post Video Motion Search can be added to the Local Archive via this method. The clips created via the Live Recording function (explained in the next section) can also be archived in the same manner.
Data in Local Archive folders can only be deleted by users; they can and will not be deleted automatically by the MxControlCenter. The location of the Local Archive is configured in the General tab of the Options dialog. Any desired folder structure can be created within the Local Archive and the entire structure of the archive can be examined via click the LOCAL ARCHIVE section in the Navigator of the Sidebar. Data stored in the Local Archive can, just like like any other camera recording, also be exported.

Live Recording

Independent of what the camera is currently configured to record, what you see the camera displaying as a live video stream in a layout's display window of the MxControlCenter can be directly recorded simply by selecting the desired camera and clicking a button. This Live Recording will then continue indefinitely, until the user either explicitly stops it by re-clicking the button (so long as the same layout is displayed). Selecting a new camera in the same layout with the button depressed continues the recording using the live stream of the newly selected camera. So it's now possible, for example, for the department store detective to record the complete path of a suspicious person as he/she walks through the store and in the process moves out of the field of view of one camera and into the field of view of the next camera. The recording of these live streams is stored as an MxPEG clip in a subfolder of the Local Archive named Live Recordings and that same detective (from our example) can then export this clip to be used as evidence for prosecution of the criminal.

Improved/Enhanced Data Export

With this release of MxControlCenter several improvements and enhancements for exporting recorded video have been implemented:

Improvements in the Player

With this release of MxControlCenter several improvements and enhancements for exporting recorded video have been implemented:

Playback of Recordings and Search with Low Bandwidth (Preview Images)

Instead of using the stored original images, it is now possible to use smaller preview images to search and display recorded data. Since the preview images are much smaller and need less bandwidth for transmission to MxControlCenter, a search and display of the recorded data is now also possible with low bandwidth. With this version of MxCC preview images can be generated with the software component MxRemotePreview as well as with the camera. To activate and configure preview images, open the dialog Properties for <camera name>, select the Access Data tab and click on Change.

Flexible Definitions of Users, Groups, and Access Privileges

Up until this release, it was only possible to define program logons and access rights for specific functions at the group (role) level and there were only four groups. With Version 2.5, it is now possible to define program logons and access rights for as many users and user groups as desired. Access rights are still assigned on the group level. The access rights for individual functions, however, can be defined more precisely. In addition, a two man control function has been implemented for some functions. This guarantees that those functions, e.g., a video search or data export, can only be carried out in the presence of an additional user such as a Data Privacy Officer. To define program logons and access rights, select Tools -> Users & groups.

Activity Log

With this version, MxControlCenter now logs automatically all user activities and system messages in a "Action Log". To configure the log, select Tools -> Options and open the Action Log tab. In order to display the log, select Tools -> Show Action Log. The entries in the log can be filtered, exported to XML files, and printed.

Other Improvements

Revision of Sidebar and addition of the Navigator

The Navigator Section was added to the Sidebar and contains the following items (trees):

All sections that contained the different user added MxControlCenter objects and do not have their own controls are now grouped in the Navigator panel.

Saved Views

You can now store the current program window configuration and the display settings as Saved Views. In addition to several predefined Views, you can define as many Views as you wish. User- and pre-defined Saved views are saved and loaded via the menu item View -> Saved views.

Camera Softbuttons

The camera Softbuttons section of the sidebar can now be shown or hidden via the menu item View just like the other sections in the sidebar.

Display of Dual Images

When using dual sensor cameras, such as the M12, you can choose a dual image for the display of video streams, which is defined in the camera. The dual image depicted in MxControlCenter could not be altered up until now. From this version on you can choose to display only the left or the right part of the dual image in MxControlCenter. This does not affect the camera live image. For this purpose, additional drop down option menus to select the desired display mode have been included in the subsections Camera Display Mode" and MxCC Display Mode in the PTZ Control section of the Sidebar.

Generic Definition for Insertion of Foreign Make Cameras

The dialog Add Camera now includes the addition of a Generic IP camera selection for the camera Type. This now makes it possible to add any foreign make cameras, without adding specific support for a particular camera manufacturer, a method, which heretofore (and still does) necessitated a change to the MxControlCenter. The dialog has been expanded to provide fields for the purpose of entering the necessary URLs for (important!) M-JPEG streaming and PTZ control via HTTP requests. To insert a foreign make camera as Generic IP camera is a two step process: First, it is inserted via the Add Camera as previous described and then the Properties dialog must be opened to enter the necessary URLs for streaming and PTZ control.

Notes:

Audio Announcement to Camera via Redirection (to a Different Camera)

To send an audio announcement over the loudspeaker of a MX camera in the current layout it is now no longer necessary to select exactly this camera beforehand in the layout. Several cameras often survey the same area (e.g. a parking lot), these are usually also grouped together into one layout, and only one of the cameras is to be used for an audio announcement, because it may, for example have an Ext IO connected. In this particular case it is often difficult to remember to click on precisely that particular camera before and then click on the Activate Audio announcement to camera button in time. Now, though, with the ability to configure redirection of the audio path, all cameras in the layout can individually be configured to send (redirect) the audio announcement to a particular camera. And, if desired, you can, naturally, select the camera itself as it's redirection path. Afterwards, any one of the cameras can then be clicked to send the audio announcement and the announcement will issue from the desired camera. Configuration of this is via the Properties dialog in the Display tab.

Bugfixes

Known Limitations


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Version 2.4 (Release) of MxControlCenter

Creation Date: 2010-07-21

Publishing Date: 2010-07-22

Enhancements and Improvements

Improved and Expanded Configuration Options when Adding Cameras

The configuration options for adding cameras to MxControlCenter have been improved in several locations.

Support of the Pelco D Protocol for PTZ Heads

When using PTZ (pan/tilt/zoom) heads via a MOBOTIX camera, you can now also use the Pelco D protocol. To use this protocol, set Type to Pelco D on the PTZ/Rotor tab of the Edit MOBOTIX Camera dialog.

Note, that when using the Pelco D protocol, you can also activate the Mechanical zoom checkbox (this is not possible when using the other protocols). If this checkbox is activated, the zoom commands from a joystick or the MxPEG ActiveX control are not used to control the camera's digital zoom, but the camera instead transfers the commands to the control unit of the PTZ head using the Pelco D protocol. Note that you should only activate this option if the control unit can also actuate a mechanical zoom (besides controlling the pan/tilt movements). Using this approach, you can control the CS Mount lens with motor zoom of a MOBOTIX camera via the external control unit.

If the Mechanical zoom checkbox has been activated, the PTZ Controls section of the sidebar gets an additional Focus slider, which allows adjusting the focus of the lens. The focusing itself is also accomplished by the PTZ head control unit using the Pelco D protocol.

Other Improvements

Version 2.4 of MxControlCenter has been improved and enhanced in these areas:

Bugfixes

Known Limitations


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Version 2.3 (Release) of MxControlCenter

Creation Date: 2010-03-25

Publishing Date: 2010-04-09

Enhancements and Improvements

Integration of the MxRemotePreview Component (File Server Access Using Low-Bandwidth Connections)

MxRemotePreview is a software component that provides improved access for MxControlCenter to file servers when using low-bandwidth connections (e.g. via the Internet or VPN connections). MxRemotePreview is installed as a CGI module in a web server environment of a Windows computer. Note that this computer needs a fast connection with high bandwidth to access the file server recordings of the MOBOTIX cameras.

When using MxRemotePreview, MxControlCenter does not get the original audio/video data from the file server. MxControlCenter instead sends a request to the web server, which in turn calls MxRemotePreview for specific file types. MxRemotePreview reads the original (large) files, reduces their size by recoding the video contents with a reduce frame rate, resolution and JEP quality and sends the reduced data to the MxControlCenter computer. Instead of the original data, the application only gets the much smaller data back over the network. Thanks to this approach, MxControlCenter gets the data fast enough to build an event list and to play back the video sequences.

For additional information on this component and the system requirements, see MxRemotePreview in the MxControlCenter download section.

In MxControlCenter, you have two ways of using an MxRemotePreview component:

Free Scaling When Displaying Grid Layouts

When displaying grid layouts, you can use the View > Free Scaling menu entry to expand the display to the entire display area. In conjunction with the free scaling of the entire MxControlCenter application window, you can adjust the display of the layout to best fit your monitor.

Free scaling of a grid layout to any size of the display area also means that the individual display windows within the layout will be scaled freely – as opposed to the fixed grid sizes (CIF, VGA, etc.) used before. This re-scaling can be achieved using different interpolation methods. To set these methods, activate the Layout Manager and select the desired method from the context menu for each display window. Beginning with the first method, each subsequent method listed below delivers higher quality while also requiring more computing power (i.e. creates higher CPU load) on the computer running MxControlCenter.

Further Improvements of the Layout Display

Improved "Options" Dialog

The Options dialog has been restructured and expanded. It now contains the following tabs:

Other Improvements

Version 2.3 of MxControlCenter has been improved and enhanced in these areas:

Bugfixes

Known Limitations


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Version 2.2 (Release) of MxControlCenter

Creation Date: 2009-12-08

Publishing Date: 2009-12-08

Enhancements and Improvements

Localization Process and Individual Program Translations

Integration of Overland Storage Snap Server Products

Release 2.2 of MxControlCenter supports Overland Storage Snap Server NAS devices with more recent production dates. These devices need to run on a firmware (GOS) version 5.2.056 or higher! Just like when adding MOBOTIX cameras as new video sources, Snap Servers with a corresponding GOS version will be shown in the Video Sources list with the type, name and the GOS version. In addition, you can change the network data of a Snap Server in this list (just like for MOBOTIX cameras).

Regardless of whether the Snap Servers have been added with or without cameras, Snap Servers will appear in the Storage Devices folder of the Video Sources section in the sidebar. In order to change the settings of a Snap Server, open its context menu and select the Configure command. This will open the Configure Snap Server dialog. This dialog allows modifying the most important settings of the Snap Server, which are relevant for using it as a storage target of MOBOTIX cameras.

The dialog offers three different methods for configuring a Snap Server:

Once the Snap Server has been added to MxControlCenter and configured properly, it can be used immediately as a file server for camera recordings. Open the Camera Configuration dialog, select the Recording section and open the External Recording dialog. Select the server from the list box according to its name and set it as a storage target for the cameras selected before. The same dialog also offers to use the shares and users, which are defined on the Snap Server.

Enhancements to Export and Video Search Features

The export of stored recordings has been enhanced and improved in various ways. No changes have been made to how the export itself is started and how camera recordings are exported.

Camera and Action Monitoring

This section presents functions for improved monitoring of camera failures and also features, which allow "monitoring" the alertness of MxControlCenter users.

Update Assistant and Software Updates

Automatic updates of the software (Software Update) for cameras as well as the MxControlCenter and MxEasy applications have been improved. MxControlCenter can now check for new software versions, download new software and also install it automatically. To start a manual search for new software, click on Tools > Software Downloads in the menu. Click on the Settings button in the Software Downloads dialog to activate the automatic check for new software every time MxControlCenter starts.

Besides the Software Downloads dialog, the Update Assistant now also includes an additional section for showing and applying new software versions. This new panel is displayed in the top right corner of the Update Assistant. Click on Tools > Downloads in the menu to activate/deactivate this panel.

Configuring Camera Network Messages (IP Notify)

The new Network Messages section has been added to the Camera Configuration dialog. This section allows sending network messages to an MxControlCenter computer or other recipients if triggered by specific events on one or more cameras. By default, the IP address of the MxControlCenter computer has been set as Alarm Target for these network messages. This dialog also allows activating the events, which will trigger such a message. You can also activate an acknowledgement action of such a network message. If acknowledgement has been activated, the user needs to acknowledge a network message within 60 seconds. If this is not the case, the cameras will send the network message to the next Alarm Target defined in this dialog. To acknowledge such a message, the user needs to click on the corresponding alarm image in the alarm list. Opening the Admin Menu > IP Notify Profiles dialog in the browser interface of the cameras is not required for this application scenario any more!

When setting up network messages for one or more cameras, MxControlCenter will also be configured automatically to accept these network messages. Note that MxControlCenter will automatically use the port defined in the Network Messages section for the cameras, if no other port had been set up before. Note that you can verify and change these automatic settings in the Options > Alarm Settings > Alarm Messages dialog. This section also allows fine-tuning the MxControlCenter behavior when receiving alarm messages.

Improvements in the "Options" Dialog

In order to improve the grouping of the different settings in the Options dialog and to make it more user-friendly, additional tabs have been added to this dialog and some sections of the General tab have been moved to these new tabs.

Known Limitations


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Version 2.1 (Release) of MxControlCenter

Creation Date: 2009-07-08

Publishing Date: 2009-07-14

Enhancements and Improvements

Login Process With User Groups and Definable Group Functions

MxControlCenter now supports four user groups, which allow assigning specific rights for executing the individual functions: Guest, User, Owner, Administrator. Open the File > Authentication dialog to set individual passwords for every one of these user groups. The passwords for these user groups are also stored in the MxCC.ini configuration file. Once you have assigned a password to all user groups and have stored the settings, you will have to select a user group and enter the corresponding password upon the next launch of MxControlCenter. If you have not set passwords for one or more user groups, MxControlCenter will automatically use the highest group without password upon the next launch.

To switch to a different user group while running the application, open the File > Authentication dialog. Any user can open this dialog anytime while the application is running. Note that you need to be logged in as Administrator to change the passwords.

By default, every user group can execute specific functions. You can open the Tools > Access control dialog anytime and change the function matrix for the individual user groups according to your needs. If a user group does not have the rights to execute specific functions, the buttons for these functions are removed from the toolbar. The corresponding menu commands and elements of the sidebar are visible, but deactivated (grey).

Display of Camera Softbuttons

The softbuttons defined in the MultiView screen of a camera are automatically displayed in the new Softbuttons section of the sidebar. Like the other sections, this sidebar section is also context-sensitive and always shows the softbuttons of the selected camera in the current layout. In addition, you can show and hide this section.

Enhanced Export Features

MxControlCenter version 2.1 can load and export the audio/video data either directly from an external file server or via the camera. Apart from the File Server Structure and MxPEG Clips, MxControlCenter can also export the audio/video data as AVI Clips. As in version 2.0, you can start the export either from the Player or the Event Search dialogs.

Enhanced Camera Configuration

The Camera Configuration now offers additional features for displaying and changing the camera settings without having to open a web browser.

Improved Management of Layouts and Video Sources

The creation and management of layouts has been greatly improved in several ways:

Improved Features for Live Display and Playback of Recordings

Enhancements and Improvements of the Update Assistant

Other Improvements

Version 2.1 of MxControlCenter has been improved and enhanced in these areas:

Known Limitations


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Version 2.0.1 (Release) of MxControlCenter

Creation Date: 2009-02-18

Publishing Date: 2009-03-13

Enhancements and Improvements

Bugfixes

Known Limitations

Please see version 2.0!


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Version 2.0 (Release) of MxControlCenter

Creation Date: 2009-01-29

Publishing Date: 2009-01-30

Enhancements and Improvements

Completely Redesigned User Interface

This version has a completely redesigned Windows-compliant user interface, including menu bar, toolbar and the new sidebar with context-sensitive function areas (layout list, playback controls, vPTZ controls). The features of the predecessor versions up to version 1.8 have been migrated to MxControlCenter (MxCC) 2.0 for the most part. The most important features required for using MxControlCenter can now be executed using toolbar buttons, all of which also have tool tips (bubble help). Note that you can execute all functions of the new toolbar using menu commands. In addition, some new features can only be executed using the corresponding commands of the new sidebar: layout selection, playback of recordings, vPTZ control.

IMPORTANT:
Note that you can load, edit and save all existing MxCC configuration files (MxCC.ini) in MxCC 2.0. Stored layouts containing both a grid and a background definition are automatically converted to two separate layouts when loading the INI file. Note that MxCC 2.0 always maintains and stores grid and background layouts as separate definitions.

New Sidebar with Context-Sensitive Function Areas

The new sidebar on the left side of the main window contains several context-sensitive areas for executing different functions. The contents of the sidebar changes depending on wether the main window is in standard mode or the Layout Manager has been activated. To activate the Layout Manager, execute either the View > Layout Manager, the Layout > New or the Layout > Edit menu command. Both view modes allow opening/closing the function areas in the sidebar independent from one another. To open and close the function areas, you can either click on the little arrows on the header bars above the areas, using the View menu or the context menu that opens after right-clicking on the corresponding area.

The Sidebar in Standard Mode

When in standard mode, the MxCC sidebar contains these three function areas:

The Sidebar with Activated Layout Manager

When the Layout Manager has been activated, the sidebar contains these three function areas:

Hierarchical Layout Structure and Redesigned Layout Editor

Apart from the new hierarchical layout list already mentioned above, defining and using layouts has been improved in several other ways.

Improved vPTZ Features (Virtual Pan/Tilt/Zoom) and Q22M-Specific Features

Once a MOBOTIX camera has been added to MxCC, you can immediately use the virtual Pan/Tilt/Zoom features of the camera with a MEGATRON joystick (if attached to the computer) or the PTZ Controls area of the new sidebar. The controls and their functions are also context-sensitive, i.e. they depend on the contents of the currently selected display window (yellow frame). This area has four sub areas:

Note:

In order to use the full vPTZ functionality, you need to make sure that tall cameras are using at least software version MX-V3.4.5.4 (see www.mobotix.com/eng_GB/Support/Software-Downloads/).

Optimized Synchronous Playback

The Player area in the sidebar also allows playing back several cameras simultaneously in synchronized manner. The synchronous playback applies to all display windows in a layout that are currently in Player mode. You can switch individual display windows (yellow frame) using the Toggle Player Mode button in the toolbar or for all windows in the layout at once using the All button in the Player area.
Selecting a value in the Synch. Mode box opens a dialog for setting the start time. To control the playback functions, use the buttons in the Player area. The two selectable synchronization modes are working as follows:

Standard System Configuration for Reduced Speed

In order to achieve the playback performance mentioned above, the following settings have been combined with the hardware as listed below:

Recording Parameters
File Server
Hardware of the MxCC Client PC

New Export Features and Export of Data on SD/CF Cards

This version contains a new dialog for exporting recorded video data. At present, this dialog allows reading the recordings via a camera and exporting the video data as MOBOTIX file server structure or as MxPEG clips. This also means that you can use this dialog to export data from internal SD/CF cards of the MOBOTIX cameras. Note that the dialog does not support exporting into AVI format or reading directly from a file server. At the moment, the export dialog from MxCC 1.8 is still used to read the data from a directly accessed file server path, but this dialog only allows exporting individual images and MxPEG clips (see also below under Known Limitations).

There are two possibilities for exporting the data:

Other Improvements

Known Limitations


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Version 1.8 (Release) of MxControlCenter

Creation Date: 2008-07-08

Publishing Date: 2008-07-10

Enhancements and Improvements

New Print Dialog

This new dialog offers flexible options for printing single camera images from the main window or the video search dialog. To open this dialog, right-click into the main window and select Print... from the context menu or click on the Print current and post-processed image button in the Video Search dialog. You can change the following settings (among others):

Enhancements to the Video Search and the Player

Virtual Pan/Tilt/Zoom (vPTZ) for all MOBOTIX Cameras, including the Q22M Models

Once a MOBOTIX camera has been added to MxCC, you can immediately use the virtual Pan/Tilt/Zoom features of the camera if a MEGATRON joystick is attached to the computer.

Other Improvements

Bugfixes


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Version 1.6 (Release) of MxControlCenter

Creation Date: 2007-12-20

Publishing Date: 2007-12-21

Changes to Event Search Features

Player Functions and Video Search

Video Export

Adding and Controlling Cameras

Adding Cameras of Other Manufacturers

Bugfixes


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Version 1.5.11 (Release) of MxControlCenter

Creation Date: 2007-09-14

Publishing Date: 2007-09-18

User Interface and General

Changes to Event Search Features

Changes in Layouts and When Creating Layouts

Status Symbol and 'MxStatus.exe' Application

First, add a Status symbol and connect it to the camera (IP address). The symbol is then displayed as a colored circle with fans that indicate the directing of viewing and the angle of the lens, for cameras with one or two lenses. The colors have the following meanings:

Focus Window

In addition to the status symbols, you can add one or more Focus windows to the layout. When clicking on a status symbol, the corresponding camera will be shown live in the focus window, if only one focus window exists. If several focus windows are present in the layout, simply click into the desired focus window, then click on the camera.

Adding and Controlling Cameras

When clicking on the Search/open video sources you can now add Merit Li-Lin IP PTZ dome cameras. For now, the current model PIH-7625IP has been integrated.

CAUTION:
In order to store the Merit Li-Lin video stream as M-JPEG in the MOBOTIX files structure, you need to use MxServer version 1.0.34 or higher.

Bugfixes


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Version 1.5.8 (Release) of MxControlCenter

User Interface

Camera Search and IP Configuration via Bonjour

When starting MxControlCenter without a default layout, the application automatically searches the network for MOBOTIX cameras. Apart from the broadcast search, which only found cameras on the same subnet, MxControlCenter now uses the recently integrated Bonjour service. The application thus automatically finds Bonjour-enabled MOBOTIX cameras (software version >= 3.0.8.7) in other subnets, as long as they are using the same physical network and are not blocked off by firewalls. In addition, the MOBOTIX cameras found using Bonjour can be reconfigured directly from MxControlCenter either to use the specified IP addresses or to use DHCP to obtain their network addresses. Opening the Admin Menu > Ethernet Interface dialog in the browser interface of the cameras to reconfigure the network address is not required any more. The same search is also conducted every time you open the Open Video Sources dialog later on.

New Camera Configuration Dialog

Clicking on the Camera Configuration button opens a new dialog, which allows to conveniently change various parameters in different sections of the camera settings. The following sections are currently available:

Hint:
Exposure windows cannot be managed using this dialog – yet, but this will supported in a future version of MxControlCenter.

CAUTION:
All changes to the settings in the Camera Configuration dialog will always be stored in the camera's permanent memory!

Update Assistant

The Update Assistant is the tool for simultaneously updating the system software of one or more cameras. It automatically finds all MOBOTIX cameras using the Bonjour service (activated by default on the cameras), even if they are on a different subnet. You can also add and remove cameras manually and you can also store and load the compiled camera list.

In addition, you can store the configuration of one or more cameras for backup purposes and load the configuration back into the cameras.

Changes to Video Search Features

Performance Enhancements in Software Pan/Tilt/Zoom (PTZ) and Image Post Processing (PP)

Bugfixes


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Version 1.3.6 (Release) of MxControlCenter

Note:

Starting with release 1.3.6, MxViewer has been renamed to MxControlCenter. The renaming does not have any influence on existing layouts, which had been created and managed using MxViewer. All existing MxViewer*.ini configuration can be loaded, edited and saved in MxControlCenter. The basic functionality and the user interface have not changed a lot from MxViewer.

New Features Software Pan/Tilt/Zoom (PTZ) and Image Post Processing (PP)

Changes to Event Search Features

Changes to Image Display Features

Changes and Enhancements to Camera Integration and Configuration

Changes to Remote Control Features


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Version 1.2.50 (Beta) of MxViewer

Changes and Enhancements to the Configuration and the User Interface


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Version 1.2.49 (Release) of MxViewer

Note: This version does not contain the extended event search. You should try the MxViewer Beta version 1.2.50 (see above) to try out some of its features.

Changes and Enhancements to the Configuration and the User Interface

Bugfixes


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Version 1.2.13 of MxViewer

Changes and Enhancements to the Configuration and the User Interface


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Version 1.2.7 of MxViewer

MxPEG Viewer Renamed to MxViewer

In order to find a more concise name for this MOBOTIX client application, MxPEG Viewer has been renamed to MxViewer.

Changes and Enhancements to the Configuration and the User Interface


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Version 1.1.9 of MxViewer

Changes and Enhancements to the Configuration and the User Interface

Enhancements of Alarm Processing

Bugfixes


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Version 1.0 (Beta) of MxViewer

Changes and Enhancements to the Configuration and the User Interface

Enhancements to Camera Control and Monitoring

Enhancements of Alarm Processing

Bugfixes


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Version 0.15.39 (Beta) of MxViewer


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