Video Wall Magic

Video Wall Magic 

Whenever people talk about CCTV, one of the first associations is video walls. No matter how powerful the servers behind, it is the visual that produces the "wow" effect — even on the most tech-savvy customers. Yet, they often back off, having heard the price. And this is where all EVO Global customers clearly benefit: EVO video wall has just got a major enhancement, and it does not cost you a rupee. EVO by LUXRIOT.

Video walls are widely used everywhere from airports to rock concerts. Traditionally, in CCTV their application includes, but is not limited to, showrooms and control centres. To build a video wall, you take narrow bezel monitors, projectors, or TV sets, and tile them together. Depending on the goal, some or all of them may form one huge screen. This resulting "transformer" display is much better rather than just one large display: it offers customizable shape and size, distributed processing, and superior reliability.

Typically, you would employ additional technologies to make several output devices work as one. EVO Global allows casting a single picture onto a combination of displays from separate workstations. Most importantly: without anything other than just regular Windows display management. EVO is one of the most comprehensive enterprise-level VMS solutions on the market, featuring interactive maps linked to alarms; an advanced event and action manager; analytics tools; video wall support and other components you will definitely appreciate. To ensure the safety of your data, the software also offers edge recording for synchronising all data with IP devices storage, archive replication, advanced system health monitoring and failover, which will reduce the disruption of your video surveillance recordings to zero. SSA Integrate is India Regions business partner.

Fantastic Flexibility

Video walls have been available in EVO Global since its very first versions. So what's different now?

Earlier, we already saw how the Luxriot virtual video wall helps organize collections of displays, including those in different locations. Now, EVO Global offers another option: mosaic display, or, according to a customer, "the real video wall". Previously, you could have a virtual collection of screens, scattered across the place, managed from your office. From now on, EVO Global also gives you an opportunity to combine several local screens into one. Both approaches fit into the video wall definition, yet they have different use case scenarios. And, both retain EVO's convenient and flexible management instruments.

In other words, EVO now acts as your video wall controller — no middleware required. The displays may be independent, maybe even driven by different workstations. But, in EVO they behave as a single canvas. Clever algorithms ensure full synchronization between the screens, guaranteeing zero delays.

Such architecture provides notable flexibility. Not only can you re-arrange the displays or add new ones at any point, but you also are free to use variegated hardware. This is true for both workstations and display brands. While a consistent video wall solution looks best on homogenous LCD/LED panel sets, a temporary replacement or a quick demo set-up becomes a piece of cake.

As you would expect, the rest of EVO Global video wall functionality remains the same. Once configured, any video wall screen contents can be controlled from anywhere in the universe.

Smooth Setup

Let's consider a use case. 

Four display panels tiled contiguously, driven by two workstations. The task for EVO will be to display one high-resolution picture using all four screens. Simultaneously, an extra display in the operator's room should preview the same layout.

Briefly, the plan is: create a video wall, install clients, assign client displays to the video wall screens.

Add a single screen video wall in EVO Console

Detailed description

Step 1: in your EVO Console, add a new video wall. For the current setup, the wall layout will be simply one screen, 1x1 grid. We shall use the same video wall screen for both the showroom and the operator's room.

Step 2: install EVO Monitor on all client workstations. The client application does not require a license, and you can use either 32- or 64-bit packages. Each application instance may have one or several windows. Therefore, the four panels can be split between two, three, or four workstations. Let's assume we have two client PCs here, each driving two displays.

Step 3: link physical displays to video wall screens. In this case, we have only got a single video wall screen, and we shall use it twice.

First, in the showroom, all 2x2 displays will belong to the video wall screen with a "tiled" option. To do this, open the multi-display settings, select a window, tick the Video wall screen setting, then also tick the Tiled display option on the right. In the mosaic preview, enter the grid size and then select the part of the big screen that is occupied by the underlying physical display.

Second, in the operator's room, simply point the monitor to the same video wall screen, without selecting the "tiled" setting. As a result, the same output will be produced on a single preview display.

Create a tiled video wall in EVO Monitor via multi-display setup

Step 4: have fun managing the video wall remotely or with E&A. For manual remote administration, there is a separate tab in the EVO Monitor application called — who would have thought? — Video wall. To start, drag and drop your video wall from the Resources section on the left. And then, place the desired layouts, channels and maps onto the preview area below. All adjustments will take instant effect and you will notice the changes in both rooms. Don't forget to save the current layout as start-up by clicking the "three stripes" button in the upper right corner of the preview area.

Tips & Tricks

To make the most out of the tiled video wall, remember a few aspects:

• make sure the video cards meet the hardware requirements for EVO Monitor
• calibrate your displays to match the brightness and color settings
• use displays with the same aspect ratio and resolution
• choose displays with the near-zero bezel (frame) and minimize the gap between them

Hardware requirements

Refer https://www.luxriot.com/support/hardware-calculator/

Benefits

EVO Global video wall feature is a strikingly simple yet powerful solution for anyone. All the more, we are proud to present the "stretchy" video wall option as a further advantage.

• Feel free to experiment with any size or shape, and re-build your video wall at any time. Any alterations to the original layout only need a few fine-tune clicks on the client side.
• The feature is already included with your EVO Global license - no additional costs involved.
• On top of that, the EVO Global video wall does not have strict requirements for the used display type. You do not have to stick to a particular brand, never mention additional software or hardware drivers. This also means you can start with the existing infrastructure, and the final solution may implore little or no extra investments at all.
• Easy setup and re-configuration.
• EVO Global redundancy covers for video walls, too, — have you set up your mirroring server?
• Control your video walls remotely from anywhere in the world. All changes are effective immediately. For routine scenarios, use our advanced Event & Action management: any video wall contents will pop up and disappear automatically.

Luxriot Evo Global, is not only offering 64-bit speed and all the necessary tools for setting up an absolute situational alertness system aimed to respond quickly to events, but also introduces a central server governance hierarchy of all the components. To know more on this, can mail to ssaintegrate@gmail.com

Fiber media converters For Video Surveillance Cameras

As a kind of Media Converter, Fiber media converters this known as fiber transceivers or Ethernet media converters, are quite obvious networking devices those make it possible for connecting two dissimilar media types such as twisted pair Cat-5 or Cat-6 cable with fiber optic cabling. They may be essential in interconnecting fiber optic cabling-based systems with existing copper-based, structured cabling systems. Fiber ethernet media converters support many different communication protocols including Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, as well as multiple cabling types such as twisted pair, multi-mode and single-mode fiber optics. Fiber media converters can connect different Local area network (LAN) media, modifying duplex and speed settings.

For video security and surveillance professionals, analog video-based CCTV systems have been the tried-and-true technology for many years. However, these same professionals are the first to recognize the migration of Ethernet into new applications beyond the typical office LAN and how Ethernet is playing a role and introducing new challenges to video security networking.

For years, Transition Networks has been talking about the benefit of fiber optic cabling and how media converters can provide a cost effective method of deploying fiber in local area networks and overcome the limitations and drawbacks of copper UTP cabling. These same benefits can be realized by security and surveillance professionals when they integrate fiber into their video networks.

For example, switching media converters can connect legacy 10BASE-T network segments to more modern 100BASE-TX or 100BASE-FX Fast Ethernet infrastructure. For instance, existing Half-Duplex hubs may be attached to 100BASE-TX Fast Ethernet network segments over 100BASE-FX fiber. When expanding the reach with the LAN to span multiple locations, fiber transceivers are useful in connecting multiple LANs to form one large campus area network that spans more than a wide geographic area.

Fiber media converters support a variety of data communication protocols including Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, T1/E1/J1, DS3/E3, as well as multiple cabling types for example coax, twisted pair, multi-mode and single-mode fiber optics. Media Converter types range from small standalone devices and PC card converters to high port-density chassis systems offering many advanced features for network management.

On some devices, Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) enables proactive management of link status, monitoring chassis environmental statistics and sending traps to network managers in case of a fiber break or perhaps link loss on the copper port.

 

Fiber media converters can connect different Local area network (LAN) media, modifying duplex and speed settings. Switching media converters can connect legacy 10BASE-T network segments to more recent 100BASE-TX or 100BASE-FX Fast Ethernet infrastructure. For instance, existing Half-Duplex hubs can be linked to 100BASE-TX Fast Ethernet network segments over 100BASE-FX fiber.

When expanding the reach of the LAN to span multiple locations, media converters are of help in connecting multiple LANs to make one large campus area network that spans more than a limited geographic area. As premises networks are primarily copper-based, media converters can extend the reach from the LAN over single-mode fiber approximately 130 kilometers with 1550 nm optics.

The coaxial cabling utilized in analog CCTV networks suffers from transmission distance issues. The accepted distance for coax is 185 meters. While this has worked well in the past, the demands for increasing the surveillance coverage have pushed camera locations beyond the standard distances.

As for Ethernet and IP cameras, this distance is even more restrictive at 100 meters. Offering transmission over greater distances, fiber cabling is starting to play a signifigant role in surveillance networks. Fiber cabling supports transmission distances up to 2km on multimode fiber without the need for repeaters or signal boosters - with even greater distances available on single mode fiber.

Indoor applications with florescent lights, electric motors, and other sources of electromagnetic interference (EMI) along with sources of radio frequency interference (RFI) can cause disruptions and poor picture quality issues for video over Coax and UTP cabling. The transmission from cameras located outdoors is susceptible to these same conditions as well as the effect from electrical/lightening storms. Due to the nature of how data is transmitted over fiber optic cabling, it does an excellent job of blocking

this electrical interference and protecting the quality of the data.

Wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) technology in the LAN is very beneficial in situations where fiber is at limited supply or expensive for provision. In addition to conventional dual strand fiber converters, with separate receive and transmit ports, there are also single strand fiber converters, which can extend full-duplex data transmission approximately 70 kilometers more than one optical fiber.

Other benefits of media conversion include providing a gentle migration path from copper to fiber. Fiber connections can help to eliminate electromagnetic interference. Also fiber media converters pose being a cheap solution for many who need it switches for use with fiber along with have enough money to pay for them, they can buy ordinary switches and make use of fiber media converters to make use of making use of their fiber network.

As a fiber optic media converter, you can use it anywhere in the network to integrate newer technology with existing equipment to support new applications, technologies and future growth. Fiber Converters are key aspects of Optical Networking because its long distance operation, high bandwidth capacity and reliablity make fiber optics probably the most desired channel for data communications. Instead of costly, across-the-board upgrades, media converters can extend the productive lifetime of the existing cabling along with the active equipment. FiberStore offers a wide variety of professional fiber optic media converters for Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, Serial Datacom interfaces and E1 or T1 voice/data communications.

  

To aid in the deployment of fiber in these security and surveillance networks, Transition Networks has specifically designed a copper to fiber media converter for analog video applications. These converters are available to support both fixed-focus cameras as well as pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) cameras. As IP cameras begin to replace analog cameras, traditional Ethernet media converters can be used for the fiber integration. Most IP cameras also support power-over-Ethernet (PoE) technology which makes installation of the cameras easier since the camera can be powered over the UTP Ethernet cable. PoE switches, PoE injectors, and PoE media converters are all available to create the functional network needed in today’s hybrid video security and surveillance applications.

Also Visit: http://arindamcctvaccesscontrol.blogspot.in/2013/12/the-role-of-fiber-in-video-networks_1043.html