Release Notes for MOBOTIX MxManagementCenter Software

Document Information

Contents

MOBOTIX MxManagementCenter is a completely new developed and intuitive video management system for Windows and Macintosh systems. This document contains notes for installing and operating the software as well as a short technical description of the most important system functions.

Software Releases—Overview:

System Requirements

Windows

• Windows Vista or higher
• Processor with at least 2 GHz
• Minimum 2 GB RAM
• Graphics adapter with OpenGL V2.1 support – for subsequent distortion correction in MxManagementCenter and for showing web contents/HTML pages (e.g., the integrated quick help)

Mac OS X

• Mac OS X 10.8 or higher
• Intel processor with at least 2 GHz
• Minimum 2 GB RAM
• Graphics adapter with OpenGL V2.1 support – for subsequent distortion correction in MxManagementCenter and for showing web contents/HTML pages (e.g., the integrated quick help)

Important Information

For more information including "Tips and Tricks" for operating MxManagementCenter, please open the document MxManagementCenter 1.2 Tutorial that is available on the MOBOTIX website in www.mobotix.com/other/Support/Tutorials/MxManagementCenter.

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Release 1.5 of MxManagementCenter

Creation Date: 2017-07-27

Publishing Date: 2017-07-31

Enhancements and Improvements

Multi-Camera Configuration

The edit mode of the device bar now allows selecting several cameras at once (using [Shift]-click or [Ctrl]-click) and right-click to open the new Multi-Camera Configuration dialog. This dialog also allows setting the most important properties for all selected cameras at once, such as the camera access data (user name and password) or the recording path.

"Active" Camera Property

By default, the "Active" property of the Camera Configuration dialog has been disabled to reduce the system load in large projects with many cameras. In addition, this property has been renamed Background Alarms. As in previous releases, activating this option will keep a permanent connection to the cameras that are currently not displayed or whose storage is not accessed. This permanent connection is used to get information about camera events to create MxMC alarms.

Performance on Large Project Data

The system behavior and the response times when working with large project data (several hundred cameras) has been improved. This is most noticeable when using the device bar on the left-hand side of the application window, e.g., when switching grids.

Bugfixes

• Audio when exporting data via the camera:
  Although the Audio option had been activated, the exported file (.AVI or .MXG) sometimes did not contain any audio data.
• Integrated P2 cameras (M12, D12)
  After minimizing the MxMC application window and restoring the window size, live streams of P2 cameras did not run any more. Even clicking on the Update icon in the upper control bar did not help to restore the streams.
• Switching between grids with inactive and/or unreachable cameras
  When switching grids that contained only "inactive" or unreachable cameras, the application sometimes froze.
• Focus window after loading project data
  When loading existing project data from older program releases with MxManagementCenter 1.4, the focus window of a grid sometimes did not show.
• Problems Accessing an MxFFS Card
  When accessing faulty MxFFS archives (writing problems due to a full volume on the server), the application had issues.
• Drag&drop of groups
  When trying to display a camera group in Grid view by dragging a group from the group bar to the Grid view, the group was only displayed properly, when dropping the group onto the focus window of the grid.
• Action icons in Graphic views
  The first click onto an action icon in a Graphic view showed the view as a full image instead of executing the defined action.
• Hyperlinks with unknown certificates and display of results
  When executing https/TLS links to cameras with an unknown certificate, this certificate could not be trusted. As a consequence, a result window (if defined) would remain empty.
• Home icon with missing Home view
  If no Home view had been defined, clicking on the Home icon in bottom left corner of the application window sometimes made the control bars at the upper and lower borders of the application window disappear.
• Help icon in the action log preview
  On Windows computers, the dialog with the print preview of the action protocol contained a help icon in the title bar without function.

Known Limitations

• Search for Cameras with HTTPS under Windows
  The camera search in the Welcome Wizard under Windows shows only cameras that can be connected via HTTP (= standard) or via HTTPS. A search using both protocols at the same time is not possible. So, in order to search and integrate cameras with exclusively HTTPS enabled, the connection type must be explicitly switched from Standard (= HTTP) to SSL (= HTTPS) in the context menu of the Search Cameras icon in the Add Devices dialog.
• Performance of Mac OS X Version
  As compared to the predecessor release 1.3, this release may display performance issues on Mac OS X systems, especially when showing many cameras in one grid (between 15 and 70 cameras, depending on the hardware). Release 1.5 can show less smooth video and slower reaction to user input earlier than the predecessor release. If distortion correction of hemispheric images is not needed, you can switch off the OpenGL option in the MxManagementCenter > Settings > General section to circumvent this issue.
• Export of Data Via the Camera
  When exporting recordings via the camera, it may happen that at max. the first ten seconds of the exported file show colored artifacts (exporting to AVI file) or that the video of this time range cannot be played back at all (exporting to MxPEG clip file).
• Audio Playback
  When playing back recordings with audio, sound dropouts may occur infrequently, especially in continuous recordings. These dropouts only occur when playing back in the Playback and Grid Playback views, but not in the exported video files of the recordings.
• "Mailbox Messages" filter
  If the Mailbox Messages filter has been set, the histogram, which shows the distribution of events over time, currently stays empty and does not show any door station messages.
• Integrated P2 cameras (M12, D12)
  P2 cameras (e.g., M12, D12), which were added manually (i.e., not via the automatic camera search), will again show up in the results of the camera search.
• Translations
  The labels in the new dialog Multi-Camera Configuration are currently available only in German, English and French language. If a different language is selected these labels are displayed in English. The same applies to the option Background Alarms.

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Version 1.4 of MxManagementCenter

Creation Date: 2017-04-27

Publishing Date: 2017-04-28

Enhancements and Improvements

Device Bar With Extended Tree Structure for Camera Groups (Nested Groups)

Starting with MxMC 1.3, you had the option to show a device bar on the left-hand side of the window border. The displayed tree structure provides a structured overview, quick selection of elements and simplified management of the video sources. With MxMC 1.4, you can now create a tree structure with several group levels (i.e., with groups and subgroups). Distributing the cameras onto any number of nested subgroups will help to create an easily navigable tree structure even in large installations with many cameras. When using descriptive names for cameras and groups will allow the users to easily find specific cameras. To create a structure with subgroups, make sure that the lock icon is open, then drag&drop the desired cameras.

In addition, the width of the device bar can now be adjusted within a preset range.

New Features and Controls for Configuring the Grid View

To display and arrange the individual cameras of a group in the Grid and Grid Playback views, you can use several options, such as the number of cameras to be displayed, the format of the grid tiles and the scaling of the focus window.

MxMC 1.4 adds two more options to set the grid layout:

• Freezable Auto Grid
  This option allows freezing the layout in the Auto Grid based on the current window size of MxMC and applying the same grid layout to any other window size. When changing the size of the window, all tiles of the grid are scaled accordingly.
• Manual Grid
  This mode allows to position and resize every tile of the group's grid (including the focus window) based on the selected base grid (4:3, 16:9, 8:3).

  When scaling, the tiles are scaled vertically and horizontally using multiples of the base grid tiles. As opposed to the automatic grid mode of the previous release, you can now mix different image formats within a group. When using a base grid of 4:3, for example, tiles can be added that have a format of 4:3, 8:3, 16:3, 4:6, etc. When using a base grid of 16:9, you can create tiles with a format of 16:9, 32:9 or 16:18.

  If space runs out when moving or resizing a tile (e.g., because there already is a tile at that position), MxMC automatically reduces the absolute size of the tiles. By adding rows and columns, the program provides more space to show the tile at the desired position.

  The tile layout designed in this manner is automatically frozen for any window size, i.e., in contrast to the previously used automatic grid adjustment, the grid layout will not change when resizing the window.

To set the grid type (Auto/Manual) and freeze the Auto Grid, make sure that the lock icon is open. Starting with MxMC 1.4, all controls for these tasks have moved from the group bar and the Group Configuration dialog to the control bar in the bottom right corner. Make sure that the window is wide enough to see these controls; if the window is too small, the controls may be hidden from view.

Per-User Settings Stored in Last MxMC Session

By default, the program looks will be the same as when you closed the program the last time. This applies to the views, selected camera group, opened sidebars and sizes as well as window positions of the program. In MxMC 1.4, this has been extended to a per-user setting of the settings. If several users are working at the same computer and login (e.g., several security persons working in shifts), every user will get the same view as when he/she logged out the last time. It is thus unnecessary to manually adjust the program settings after switching users.

User Management With Extended Security Options

In the user management dialog (opened using the button in the top left corner of the program's header bar), the section for entering the user password has been expanded by options to enhance data security:

1. Password expiration
   You can set the password to expire – never, after one or two weeks or after one, three or six months. After that, the user will have to create a new user password at the next login.
2. Prompt user to enter a new password at next login
   You can force a new user to change the standard user credentials and to apply the new extended security settings. This is done by setting an option for new users to change the password upon their first login.
3. Force higher password complexity
   The third new security feature applies to the complexity of the password. Using this option, you can force the user to define a password that follows these requirements:
   • At least eight character in length.
   • At least one digit, one upper-case, one lower-case letter and one special character.
   • The password is not identical with one of the last thirteen passwords of this user.

   As soon as the password complexity requirements have been fulfilled, the frame around the text field changes from red to green.

Improved Format for Project Data

Starting with MxMC 1.4, the project data are stored in a different format (data covers, cameras, groups, etc., but not the user-sepcific settings, such as window positions, etc.). This change has resulted in better performance when loading project data and has also resolved other problems in the same area. Project files created via the File > Save Project as menu command now have the .interchange file name extension instead of .configuration.

The following applies to existing MxMC installations and the corresponding project data:

• Upon launching MxMC 1.4 for the first time, existing project data are automatically converted to the new format.
• When starting the next time, MxMC 1.4 only uses the new project data. Any changes in the program are stored only in the new project file, not the old one.
• When starting the old program version, the changes applied in MxMC 1.4 will not be present. Vice versa, changes applied in the old version will be shown in the MxMC 1.4 installation.

Other Improvements

• Alarm Images in Grid View
  After dragging an alarm image from the alarm bar into the focus window of a Grid view, the program shows the selected alarm image as Instant Playback in the focus window.
• Monitoring Settings
  In the Monitoring section of the File > MxManagementCenter > Preferences dialog, you can now activate and deactivate the action log and you can activate the archiving of the log at regular intervals. Note that when creating new projects in MxMC 1.4, the action log is disabled by default. In addition, the options for creating the automatic snapshot images.
• Additional Remote Control Commands
  For remote-controlling the program, the following new commands have been added:
  • http[s]://<ip>:<port>/message?text=<TEXT>
    Shows a blue dialog box with <TEXT>.
  • http[s]://<ip>:<port>/alarm?text=<TEXT>
    Shows a red dialog box with <TEXT>.
  • http[s]://<ip>:<port>/alarm?ip=<camera (IP address or name)>
    Shows a red camera alarm window with the live stream of the camera. If activated, plays back the selected alarm sound.
  • http[s]://<ip>:<port>/sound
    Plays back the selected alarm sound.
  • http[s]://<ip>:<port>/sound[?name=<name>][&volume=<percent>&duration=<seconds>]
    Plays back the specified alarm sound using the volume and duration.
  • http[s]://<ip>:<port>/alarm?ip=<camera (IP address or name))>&sound=<sound file>
    Shows a red camera alarm window and plays back the specified alarm sound.

  For more information, please enter http[s]://<ip>:<port>/help.

• Bandwidth Modes
  The Audio Only bandwidth mode has been removed. For cameras that had been set to use this option, the setting HiRes will be used.
• Notifications
  The settings for notifications upon incoming alarms and bell events have been moved from the context menus of the two corresponding icons in the live view to the new Notifications section in the File > Settings dialog.
• Camera and Group Names in Remote Control Commands
  When using remote control commands to show cameras or groups, only Latin characters (ISO-8859-1) could be used for camera and group names. From this release onward, you can use any UTF-8 character, meaning full support of all known languages.
• Supervisor
  If a supervisor login is required for specific purposes (e.g., video search), you can now set an inactivity timer. Once this timer expires, the supervisor will be logged off automatically. The logout will not be performed after the specified (fixed) timespan. For this purpose, the User Management > Supervisor Configuration dialog has the new Timeout option. Before the time runs out, the supervisor can extend the timespan.
• Displaying Grids for Alarms
  For alarm images of the alarm bar, you can now quickly open the grid that shows the triggering camera. Simply double-click on the grid icon that is shown above the alarm images. If the camera is contained in more than one grid, you can select the grid to show. If more that one external monitor is attached, you can also select the monitor to use.

Bugfixes

• Alarm Sound
  After receiving many alarms, the program sometimes did not play the alarm sound any more. If that happened, it was also neither possible to change the alarm sound in the settings nor to play it back.
• Info View and Hyperlinks
  It was possible (but not intended) to add hyperlinks to the Info view, but it was not possible to delete them afterwards. This is not possible any more.
• Import of INI Files From MxCC Installations
  When importing INI files with a hierarchical layout structure from MxControlCenter, the program sometimes did not import all layouts and cameras.
• Automatic User Login
  The Auto Login feature that can be set for a specific MxMC user and that automatically logs in that user, sometimes did not work.
• Contents of Stored Projects
  When saving projects using File > Save Project as in the menu sometimes did not save all current project data (e.g., recently added cameras).
  In addition, the program sometimes showed issues with existing user data and users that tried to use these data for logging in.
• AVI Export With PTZ
  When exporting recordings to AVI files, the program sometimes exported the wrong areas if PTZ had been activated.
• Changing Grids (Using Remote Control Commands)
  When frequently switching between grids (e.g., by cameras that used remote control commands to bring their grid to the front), the program developed higher memory requirements and erroneous behavior if it had been running for a longer period of time.

Known Limitations

• Performance of Mac OS X Version
  As compared to the predecessor release 1.3, release 1.4 may display performance issues on Mac OS X systems, especially when showing many cameras in one grid (between 15 and 70 cameras, depending on the hardware). Release 1.4 can show less smooth video and slower reaction to user input earlier than the predecessor release. If distortion correction of hemispheric images is not needed, you can switch off the OpenGL option in the MxManagementCenter > Settings > General section to circumvent this issue.
• Export of Data Via the Camera
  When exporting recordings via the camera, it may happen that at max. the first ten seconds of the exported file show colored artefacts (exporting to AVI file) or that the video of this time range cannot be played back at all (exporting to MxPEG clip file). In addition, the video stream may sometimes not include the audio channel (.AVI or .MXG) although the Audio option had been activated.
• Loading Project Data
  On rare occasions, when loading project data from an earlier version in release 1.4, the focus window of a grid may disappear.
• Audio Playback
  When playing back recordings with audio, sound dropouts may occur infrequently, especially in continuous recordings. These dropouts only occur when playing back in the Playback and Grid Playback views, but not in the exported video files of the recordings.
• "Mailbox Messages" filter
  If the Mailbox Messages filter has been set, the histogram, which shows the distribution of events over time, currently stays empty and does not show any door station messages.
• Integrated P2 cameras (M12, D12)
  P2 cameras (e.g., M12, D12), which were added manually (i.e., not via the automatic camera search), will again show up in the results of the camera search.

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Version 1.3 of MxManagementCenter

Creation Date: 2016-11-11

Publishing Date: 2016-11-14

Enhancements and Improvements

Tree Structure of Integrated Cameras, Groups and Clips for Administration and Navigation

Starting with MxMC 1.3, you can show a device bar on the left-hand side of the window border. The displayed tree structure provides a structured overview, quick selection of elements and simplified management of the video sources.

The device bar serves the purpose of main navigation and information tool (as an alternative to the camera and group bar) and it is very helpful especially when handling a larger number of cameras and groups. It can be used to accomplish the following tasks (among other things):

• Add new video sources to the system, then use drag&drop to add them to groups.
• Delete video sources from groups or from the system.
• Configure video sources (using the Camera Configuration popover.
• Change the order of the video sources within the groups.
• Switch between the different views for the groups.
• Select cameras or clips for showing them in the Live and Playback views.

The device bar has two different modes: a selection mode for selecting cameras, clips, groups, and the views as well as an edit mode for changing the properties of cameras and groups. Note that the new device bar also replaces the camera management that had been accessible from the Live view. The Camera Management icon has been removed from the control bar in this view.

Other Improvements

• Export into individual files
  When exporting several different segments of recorded video at the same time using the export list, you can now choose to export all ranges into one video file or into individual files, one for every segment of recorded video. For this purpose, the Export Profile dialog for choosing all export-related settings has the new Split Clips option.
• Additional camera status information
  Both, the camera bar and the new device bar can show two additional icons for indicating special camera statuses:
  • Limited Functionality: Indicates that this camera is running a firmware lower than 4.0 and that the program can only show the live image and the recordings using direct file server access.
  • Missing camera administrator password: Indicates that this camera has been integrated via public access and therefore does not support all MxMC features.
  Both icons are also described in the Quick Help of the application.
• Definition of the program look (header and control bars)
  Both the Header Bar at the upper window border and the Control Bar at the bottom of the application can now be hidden from view, if required. In the View menu, the new Header Bar and Control Bar entries have been added for this purpose. In addition, you can now customize these two bars in the User Configuration dialog of the Application Handling entry.
• Favorites of Cameras and Groups
  If the edit mode is active for the device bar, you can activate the star icon for individual cameras and groups if you want to use them as "favorites". To show only the favorites in the camera bar, the Filter Cameras slider now has a new Favorites setting. The group bar now has the Filter Groups slider to show all groups or only the favorites.
• Filtering the alarm bar
  Using the Alarm Filter slider, you can now show either all events or only the alarms that have not yet been acknowledged.
• Hyperlink enhancements
  
  • After executing a hyperlink, the program briefly shows the corresponding icon in the image.
  • It is now possible to define hyperlinks that are specific to groups.
  • HTTPS requests and web severs that require HTTP digest authentication are now supported.

Bugfixes

• Post Video Motion Detection (Post VM)
  When playing back recordings from the camera, Post VM detection did not work on time ranges that had been played back previously, immediately before the current playback (forward or backward).
• AVI export by the camera
  When exporting a recording with gaps as an AVI file from the camera, these gaps showed as time ranges without movement in the AVI file. These time gaps have been eliminated when using camera software release V4.4.1 or higher.
• Network shares on Mac OS X machines
  When importing a project file that had been saved from MxMC V1.1.1 into MxMC 1.2 running on Mac OS X, the network shares defined in the project data were invalid and had to be defined from scratch.
• Export improvements
  When exporting some recordings, the export sometimes did not finish properly.
• Access information for P2 cameras
  After adding P2 camera models (e.g., M12, D12) using the Welcome Assistant, the system sometimes did not remember the access information upon the next start of the application.

Known Limitations

• Audio Playback
  When playing back recordings with audio, sound dropouts may occur infrequently, especially in continuous recordings. These dropouts only occur when playing back in the Playback and Grid Playback views, but not in the exported video files of the recordings.
• "Mailbox Messages" filter
  If the Mailbox Messages filter has been set, the new histogram, which shows the distribution of events over time, currently stays empty and does not show any door station messages.
• Integrated P2 cameras (M12, D12)
  P2 cameras (e.g., M12, D12), which were added manually (i.e., not via the automatic camera search), will again show up in the results of the camera search.
• "Fullscreen" display on Windows machines
  If a hemispheric camera has been displayed as Panorama image or a similar view with distortion correction in Fullscreen mode by MxMC on a Windows machine, this mode does not allow using the menu any more. If this happens, close the Fullscreen display mode by pressing either [ESC] or [F11].
• Configuration changes after switching users
  After switching to a different user without restarting the program, configuration changes since the last program start (i.e., creating a new group) may get lost.
• Translations
  The texts of the graphic user interface and the program Quick Help that belong to the new features of release 1.3 are currently only available in English and German. When switching to a different language, these texts are displayed in English.

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Version 1.2 of MxManagementCenter

Creation Date: 2016-06-21

Publishing Date: 2016-06-27

Enhancements and Improvements

Note: For additional information on the new features described in the following, see the document MxManagementCenter 1.2 Tutorial under www.mobotix.com/other/Support/Tutorials/MxManagementCenter or the integrated quick help of the program.

Event Histogram

You can now activate a histogram at the left-hand side of the Playback and Grid Playback views. This histogram shows the frequency distribution of the selected events and cameras/groups within the selected time span. By default, the histogram shows all event types of the current camera or the camera in the focus window (when in the Grid Playback view). Using the sliders at the right-hand border of the histogram, you can select the event types and the cameras that will be examined. The three icons at the bottom right of the histogram allow selecting the display precision, the examined time span and setting a filter for the recorded events. The histogram hence provides a quick overview on how many and which events occurred on one or more cameras. In addition, you can quickly re-position the cursor for examining the times where many events occurred: Simply click into the histogram area to find the recordings closest to that point in time.

Note: The database with the data required for displaying the histogram is stored on the SD cards of the individual cameras. To use this feature, however, the SD card needs to be formatted using a camera with software release 4.3.4.83 or higher and the camera needs to run a software release 4.4.0.31 or higher.

Export Enhancements

• Export List
  The new export bar allows compiling an export list that can comprise more than just one recording of a camera. Such an export list consists of a collection of time ranges in the recordings of one or more cameras. These recordings will then be exported in the same order in which they appear in the export list into one or more video files. To collect video clips for exporting in an export list, the alarm bar is used in the Playback, Grid Playback and Research views. Simply click on the bottom border of the alarm bar to turn it into the Export bar. To add a video clip to the export bar, drag an image into the export bar and the corresponding time range is added automatically. Another way to switch an active alarm bar to the Export bar is to drag an image into the bar, thus adding the corresponding time range to the export list. Using the icons above the images on the export bar, you can easily control the export settings, i.e., include or exclude audio and the current PTZ settings of the playback in the exported video. In addition, you can further refine the time ranges of the video clips by right-clicking the images in the export bar. The context menu now allows selecting the desired time range.
• AVI Export of Video Data
  The resulting video can now be saved as an AVI file with different resolutions, frame rates and video qualities using the M-JPEG codec. Select one of the entries Mobile, PC and Custom in the context menu of the Export icon.
  Note:

  • The size of the exported AVI file(s) is directly influenced by the settings for resolution, images per second (i.e., the frame rate) and the quality. Thanks to the M-JPEG codec used, using only half of the frame rate generates a file with more or less half the size.
  • AVI files can be max. 2 GB in size. If this size is reached when exporting, the program automatically produces subsequent files with incremented numbers, such as <file name>_nnn.avi.

Action Log (User Log)

When creating a new MxMC project, the program automatically creates a file that logs all significant actions of the current user. To view this log, open Window > Action Log in the menu; this dialog also allows filtering by search text and exporting the displayed log as a PDF file.

Configurable Alerting

The Alarms option in the Camera Configuration dialog has been extended by additional settings. You can now define individual sets of event types for each camera, which will prompt MxMC to alert the user. In addition, the entire alerting mechanism can now be scheduled. For this purpose, you can define weekly schedules and assign them to individual event types. An alarm will apply red color to the event images, the alarm bar and the alarm info bar in the display windows of a grid. if activated, an alarm message will pop up.

The alarm bar contains the new Alarm filter slider. Use this slider to show all event images in the alarm bar (default) or only the event images that have also been activated as alarms.

Important: The alerting mechanism is a program setting that is individual to each installation; it is not a general setting that is stored in the camera. This means that events can occur, which will not trigger an alarm. On the other hand, there is no alerting without an event, since they are used as alarm triggers. Independent of the current alarm settings, you can always access all recorded events of the integrated cameras using the (Grid) Playback and Research views in MxMC.

Connection Monitoring (Lost Connection Detection)

The connections to all cameras that have been integrated into MxMC and are active are monitored constantly; a warning dialog will list the lost connections. The program indicates lost connections by showing a red exclamation mark in the top right corner of the program window. Clicking on the icon will show detail information on the cameras with lost connections. In the Monitoring section of the MxManagementCenter > Preferences dialog (Mac) or the File > Preferences dialog (Windows), you can select different options for the audio-visual alarm indicators. In addition, the program can add current snapshot images of all cameras that will be shown automatically for the corresponding camera if that connection is disrupted. This means that even in case of vandalism or theft of a camera, you will always have meaningful images at hand.

Post VM (Post Video Motion Detection)

Using this new feature, you can search recordings retroactively for changes in the images. To do so, click on the new Plugins icon in the Playback or Grid Playback views and select Post Video Motion detection from the context menu. Use this dialog to set the search options and to define one or more search windows in the video image. Next, play back the recording in any direction and with the desired speed. If the plugin detects a change in the defined search windows that fits the specified criteria, playback stops. You can repeat this process as often as you like, until you have found the image with the change you looked for (e.g., a missing object).

Performance Improvements

This version of MxManagementCenter can display a lot more camera live images at the same time in one or more grids as the predecessor version. This is especially true if the integrated cameras are triggering many events on a regular basis that have to be processed by MxMC. Depending on the hardware and the same number of detected events, MxManagementCenter can now show up to twice the number of live cameras with unlimited frame rate on a grid than its predecessor.

Other Improvements

• Proxy Server
  You can now connect to cameras via a proxy server. Open MxManagementCenter > Preferences (Mac) or File > Preferences (Windows) and enter the settings for the proxy server in the new Network section.
• Display Area Scaling
  The General section of the MxManagementCenter > Preferences dialog (Mac) or the File > Preferences dialog (Windows) contains the new Display Area subsection. This section contains two options that control the scaling of the display area when opening the bars at the top or the bottom. Activate the options for the Camera/Group bar and the Alarm/Export bar to always see the entire (scaled) display area.
• Accessing Recordings
  In the Playback and Grid Playback views, you can now temporarily switch the data access from direct access on the file server to Via Camera. To switch, simply click on the hard disk icon that is shown in front of the timestamp of the recording in the camera image while playing back. The icon now shows an SD card; click again to switch back to the defined recording path. Note that this switch is only temporary. It only applies to playback functions and does not influence the export of video data. This method can be used as a temporary fix for connection problems, for example.
• "Camera Management" Dialog
  The Camera Management dialog now has a new slider at the bottom for sorting the camera list by camera names or IP addresses.
• User Rights
  The Application Usage item of the user rights now contains the additional entries Export bar, Action Log and Switch Environments.
• Alarm Notification
  If the program window has been minimized, any inbound alarm that triggers an alarm notification will automatically restore the window to its original size.
• New Remote Control Commands
  For MxMC remote control, two new commands have been added:
  • show?group=<group name> shows a camera group.
  • show?camera=<camera name> shows a camera.

  Note that you can also combine these commands:
  show?group=<group name>&camera=<camera name>&grid

Bugfixes

• Playback of recordings of P2 cameras
  When playing back recordings from a P2 camera (M12, D12, etc.) via direct file server access, the program showed an SD card icon in the center of the image.
• Playback of exported MXG files
  It was not possible to play back exported MxPEG files (.MXG) under Windows using VLC or Windows Media Player (with installed MxPEG DirectShow codec).
• Slider for Hemispheric display modes
  After activating the quick help using the Help (?) icon, the slider for selecting the display mode of a hemispheric camera in the focus window of a grid disappeared even though the quick help had been closed in the meantime. Also, the display and the icon of the slider did not match the currently displayed camera. The slider did not always show for hemispherical cameras. For non-hemispherical cameras, the slider sometimes showed but did not function.
• MxMC installations on different Windows systems
  You can now set up MxMC in Windows installations with the same Windows product ID on different computers and then use the program as a remote station for door stations. For registering MxMC with the camera, the program now uses a different unique ID rather than the Windows product ID.
• "Audio Playback" user right
  Users without the Audio Playback right were able to hear the audio track in the Playback and Grid Playback views, if the camera had recorded audio beforehand.
• Live image display on second monitor
  Double-clicking on a grid tile displayed the camera's live image on a second monitor, but sometimes showed a gray tile in the program window.
• Adding cameras to a grid
  When adding new cameras to a grid in edit mode, one tile sometimes contained more than one camera.
• Audio settings
  The Push to talk setting in the Audio section of the MxManagementCenter > Preferences dialog (Mac) or the File > Preferences dialog (Windows) was not stored and had to be re-applied every time after starting the program.

Important Notes for Installing on Windows Systems

If you intend to install this version on Windows Vista, Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 systems, you need to make sure that the Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015 package has been installed.

Please observe the following hints:

• The installation wizard (file MxManagementCenter_1-2-win64/32_Setup.exe) will automatically install this package in the last step of the setup process. If you cancel the wizard before completing this step, you will need to install the package manually. To so, download the package from the Microsoft website (file vc_redist.x64.exe for 64 bit or vc_redist.x86.exe for 32 bit systems) and install it. You may have to remove a package that had only been installed partially in a previous attempt.
  Remark: If the Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015 package is not installed, MxSoftPanel will show an error message after starting that the file api-ms-win-crt-runtime-1.0.dll is missing.
• Additional prerequisites on Windows 7 systems for installing the Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015 package:
  • Make sure that the Service Pack 1 has been installed.
  • Install the newest version of Internet Explorer for the system.
  • Make sure that all security updates have been installed using Windows Update.

Known Limitations

• Post Video Motion Detection (Post VM)
  When playing back recordings from the camera, Post VM detection does not work on time ranges that had been played back previously, immediately before the current playback.
• Audio Playback
  When playing back recordings with audio, sound dropouts may occur infrequently, especially in continuous recordings. These dropouts only occur when playing back in the Playback and Grid Playback views, but not in the exported video files of the recordings.
• "Mailbox Messages" filter
  If the Mailbox Messages filter has been set, the new histogram, which shows the distribution of events over time, currently stays empty and does not show any door station messages.
• AVI export by the camera
  When exporting a recording with gaps as an AVI file from the camera, these gaps will show as time ranges without movement in the AVI file. Instead of using one large time range with gaps (e.g., from an event recording), you should add several small time ranges to the export list for exporting.
• Integrated P2 cameras (M12, D12)
  P2 cameras (e.g., M12, D12), which were added manually (i.e., not via the automatic camera search), will again show up in the results of the camera search.
• Fullscreen display on Windows machines
  If a hemispheric camera has been displayed as Panorama image or a similar view with distortion correction in Fullscreen mode by MxMC on a Windows machine, this mode does not allow using the menu any more. If this happens, close the Fullscreen display mode by pressing either [ESC] or [F11].

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Version 1.1.1 of MxManagementCenter

Creation Date: 2015-12-17

Publishing Date: 2015-12-18

Enhancements and Improvements

Exporting With Direct File Server Access

If direct file server access has been defined for browsing and playing back recordings, exporting will now also use the direct file server access. Until now, the data for exporting had been handled via the camera, which also provided the actual data. Using the direct file server access perceptibly increases export speed.

Note: Currently, the progress indicator does not show a fully completed export when using direct file server access. The indicator stops at 99%, although the exported file has been written completely. If the indicator stops, you can cancel the export. Next, you can manually add the exported file to the application (using drag&drop) for playback.

Alarm Handling

Using the new Alarms option in the Camera Configuration dialog, you can set up MxMC to interpret new events received by individual cameras as alarms. An alarm will apply red color to the event images, the alarm bar and the alarm info bar in the display windows of a grid. if activated, an alarm message will pop up.

Message Distribution Using MxMessageSystem

From this release onward, you can define special hyperlinks to send messages using the MxMessageSystem of the integrated cameras and their MxBus modules. The hyperlinks are defined using the following syntax:

mxmsg://<camera IP address>/<message>
 or
mxmsg://<camera name>/<message>
 instead of when using regular URLs
http://<camera IP address>/<URL>

Note that you can only use IP addresses and names of cameras that have already been integrated into MxMC and that have also been activated.

Example:
mxmsg://10.17.143.93/OpenGarageDoor

Bugfixes

• Subsequent distortion correction and vPTZ in MxMC
  When using vPTZ actions in MxMC with subsequent distortion correction of hemispherical camera images on a grid in edit mode, the stored positions had not been applied properly upon re-opening the grid.
• Playback of recordings with long pre-alarm
  When playing back event recordings with audio and a pre-alarm of > 5 seconds recorded by a camera with software release 4.3.4.50 or 4.3.4.66, the pre-alarm had not been shown in playback when accessing the recording directly from the file server. You can play back the recordings in the playback view via the camera, provided the camera is running software release 4.3.4.80 or higher.
• Time searches with recording gaps
  If you had been searching for a specific point in time (using the calendar icon or by entering a search time) and there had not been any recordings at that time, the playback view did not jump to the image that was closest to the specified time. Instead, the playback view always jumped to the last image before this point in time.

Known Limitations

• Alarm handling and changing of grids
  When integrating many cameras (> about 30) that generate many events (alarms), problems may occur when often changing grids while showing the alarm bar.

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Version 1.1 of MxManagementCenter

Creation Date: 2015-11-19

Publishing Date: 2015-11-20

Enhancements and Improvements

Direct File Server Access

For browsing and playing back recordings, the program can now access the data directly on the file server using SMB/CIFS (e.g., a NAS system). This includes direct access to the data stored in MxFFS archives or in the classical MOBOTIX folder/file structure. As a result, the playback of recordings is independent of the camera and – most often – a lot faster than when accessing the data via the camera.

To use the direct file server access, the corresponding file server paths are defined in the File > Preferences > Recording Paths dialog. Next, these paths are assigned to the individual cameras in the Camera Configuration dialog. Depending on the setting, MxMC will access the recordings either via the camera or directly on the defined file server. When playing back the recordings from the file server, the Player now shows an additional > icon below the image. It is used to browse the recordings to a maximum of 30 seconds before and after the current image.

Several Languages Supported

The user interface and the integrated quick help of the program are available in the following languages: English, German, French, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Turkish.

If available, the program will automatically use the same language as the operating system. If the language is not present, English or the second system language will be used. Note that you can manually select other languages in the File > Preferences > General dialog.

Grid View With Option for Performance Optimization

The Group Configuration dialog (right-click on a group or the Camera Management icon) now allows setting a maximum frame rate. Doing so will limit the live cameras that are displayed in the grid tiles to the specified frame rate. Depending on the number and the frame rates of the cameras, this will result in a significant reduction of processor load in the application. Likewise, the required bandwidth used for transferring the images from the cameras to MxMC will drop. This means that you can show even more cameras at the same time. Note that this setting does not affect the focus window of a grid.

Grid Export

When exporting recordings from a grid, you can now select individual cameras after starting the export.

Joystick Calibration, Axis Adjustment and Behavior

To calibrate a joystick and to adjust its axes and its behavior, open the File > Preferences > Joystick PTZ dialog and change the settings as desired.

Known Limitations

• Subsequent distortion correction and vPTZ in MxMC
  When using subsequent distortion correction of hemispherical camera images in MxMC, some display modes (e.g., Panorama ceiling-mounted) are not yet supported. In addition, after executing vPTZ actions with a grid in edit mode, the stored positions are not applied properly after storing and re-opening the grid.
• Playback of recordings with long pre-alarm
  When playing back event recordings with audio and a pre-alarm of > 5 seconds recorded by a camera with software release 4.3.4.50 or 4.3.4.66, the pre-alarm will not be shown in the player when accessing the recording directly from the file server. You can play back the recordings in the player via the camera, provided the camera is running software release 4.3.4.80 or higher.
• Time searches with recording gaps
  If you are searching for a specific point in time (using the calendar icon or by entering a search time) and there is no recording at that time, the player will not jump to the image that is closest to the specified time. Instead, the player will always jump to the last image before this point in time.

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Version 1.0.1 of MxManagementCenter

Creation Date: 2015-06-29

Publishing Date: 2015-06-30

Enhancements and Improvements

Windows Support

As opposed to release 1.0 of the software, this release also supports Windows systems with Windows Vista or higher (32 and 64 bit).

OpenGL and Image Quality Settings

The Preferences dialog, General section contains two new options:

• OpenGL: In order to subsequently correct the distortion of hemispheric camera in MxMC, the computer must have "OpenGL" support. If you are observing problems when displaying (many) camera images and you do not need subsequent distortion correction, you can deactivate OpenGL. Note that this will also slightly reduce the processor load. The corresponding icons of the user interface for configuring distortion correction are not available any more. If the automatic test after launching the program determines that there is no valid OpenGL version (2.1 or higher), this option is disabled and cannot be re-enabled any more.

  Note:
  Due to the differences in hardware support, this option has been activated on Mac OS X systems and deactivated for Windows systems by default.

• Quality: Use this option to show scaled-down camera images (e.g., in the small display windows of a grid) in either high or normal quality. Note that using high quality will create a significantly higher system load, especially when showing many camera images at the same time. You should thus deactivate this option on systems with lower performance to reduce the system load and to improve the reaction speed of the user interface. By default, this option is set to High" on Mac OS X systems and to "Normal" on Windows systems.

In addition, release 1.0.1 contains many error corrections and smaller improvements as compared to release 1.0.

Known Limitations

• Player with camera access
  The player currently always accesses the recordings via the camera when searching and playing back recordings. It is not yet possible to directly access the recordings stored on a file server. It is hence recommended to use the camera's integrated SD card for storing the recordings.
• Displaying/changing camera configuration settings
  Changing the camera configuration settings in the Configuration view is not yet supported by this release.
• Online Help
  The online help of this release is only available in English and German. Note that the help is not yet complete.

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MxManagementCenter Version 1.0 − Mac OS X Only

Creation date: 2015-06-03

Publishing date: 2015-06-03

Content

The MOBOTIX MxManagementCenter is a completely newly developed, intuitive video management system for Windows and Macintosh systems. This document describes how to install and use the software and includes a brief technical description of the essential system functions as well.

The First Program Start and a Demo Configuration

• The MOBOTIX website contains a file named MxMC-Demo.configuration which contains a pre-defined MxManagementCenter configuration along with several MxPEG video clips. When loaded, this configuration will give you an overview of the program structure and the most important functions of the MxManagementCenter without having to add cameras to try it out.
• This release of the program comes with an English, German, and French user interface. If possible, the program will launch with the same language as your operating system language. You can change this setting manually in the File > Settings menu. If the language is not supported, the program will start in English.
• When the MxManagementCenter starts you are presented with a MxManagementCenter Welcome dialog and by clicking on the icon named Open Project you can then select the previously saved MxMC-Demo.configuration file and the Program will load and start with that configuration.
• If you have already started the MxManagementCenter with another configuration or created a new Project, you can still load this configuration and try it out it via the menu item File -> Open Project or via the Open function available in the menu displayed by clicking on the Projects and network environments icon.
• The MxManagementCenter Welcome dialog also provides a function to import an existing MxControlCenter ini file or a list of cameras from a MxEasy.ndb out of an existing MxEasy installation. In both cases, the cameras are automatically added to the MxManagementCenter using the access information stored by the MxControlCenter(MxCC) and MxEasy. And if you have selected import of an MxControlCenter ini, not only will the cameras be added to the MxManagementCenter, but any layouts you created using the MxControlCenter will be automatically added to the MxManagementCenter as well. Each layout will be added as an individual Group of cameras. For each background layout additionally the existing background image along with icons representing the cameras is used for the corresponding Graphic view in the MxManagementCenter.

Main Functions

The MxManagementCenter is a video management software with a focus on a simple and intuitive interface. Full screen display of a camera via mouse click, multi-monitor support, a clear representation of events and alarms, the control of door stations as well as the execution of many actions by "drag and drop" are just some examples of the many program functions.

Main Functions

Out of the above already mentioned many possibilities for viewing and control of cameras and door stations of your video surveillance system, the most important functions are the following ones:

• Addition of an unlimited number of cameras.
• Touchscreen-optimized operation.
• Camera groups with representation in Grid and Graphic Views.
• Grid Views with a focus window and many controls.
• Quick display of particular cameras in the focus window by "drag and drop" from the camera bar.
• Graphic Views with freely definable icons, "soft buttons" used to execute any URL, and live windows.
• Quick switching between Grid- and Graphic-Views.
• Optical and audible alarming of new events.
• Quick switching to the Playback-View to allow playback of events and continuous recordings.
• The Instant Player that allows for quick viewing of the latest events during live video monitoring operation.
• A special Research View for easy viewing of a large number of events.
• Easy use of multiple monitors by double-clicking on the live image, grid or event image.
• A camera sequencer.
• Door-station functions (Intercom, open door, turn light on/off, etc.)
• Data export.
• Subsequent distortion correction of hemispheric camera images - in live images and in recordings

Notes for Operation

• Integrated online help
  Clicking the "?" icon at the top right will display a context-sensitive Quick Help. This Quick Help shows an abbreviated functional description of all icons and other controls in the current view.
• 
  In the Windows version of the program, the menu bar is hidden by default, but it can be displayed (and hidden again) via pressing the "Alt" key. Almost all icons have a dual function - if you click on the icon a particular pre-defined function will be executed and if you click and hold down the left mouse button or click with the right mouse button on the icon a menu will be displayed. Icons with a dual function are almost always marked as such using a small triangle in the lower right corner of the icon.
• 
  Working with the MxManagementCenter is done via different Views (Live, Player, Grid, Graphic, etc) that are switched into the main program window. This switching is executed either via the icon Switch View in the lower left corner of the application window or the menu item View. Inside the different Views along the top and bottom edges (dependent upon the View) there is often a film strip which can be clicked upon to open it. When opened it provides a quick method of selection of items used in each view. The film strip at the top allows for quick selection of cameras and camera groups, and the film strip at the bottom allows for quick selection and display of event images.
• 
  The Welcome dialog provides an easy-to-use dialog for convenient addition of cameras to the MxManagementCenter as well as for storing and loading configurations. It is accessed via the menu item File -> Welcome.
• Integration of cameras and definition of camera groups
  The addition of cameras and door stations to the MxManagementCenter is most easily done via the Welcome dialog, but it can also be done via the context menu of the Camera Management icon, available in the Live , Grid and Graphics Views. The definition of camera groups can only be done via the context menu of this icon.
• Displaying camera images
  By default, MxManagementCenter fits all camera images to fill the entire image area. This often results in images being shown as zoomed in, so there are no grey/empty borders. A Zoom icon "+" on the slider below the display area for the image allows the user to zoom out (and in) so that the entire visible image of the camera can be viewed. The mouse wheel or touch pad can also be used to zoom in and out as well.

Known Limitations

• Player with camera-only access to recordings
  The player used to browse and playback camera recordings currently always accesses the recordings via the camera regardless of where the recordings are stored. Direct access to a file server that is used to store recording is not yet possible. Playback of recordings stored on the camera's internal SD card is, therefore, the most effective method in this beta version of the program.
• Display and change of camera configuration
  Changing the camera configuration in the Configuration view is not included in this release.
• Online Help
  The online help in this release is only available in English and German. Please note that the online help is not quite complete.