What’s new in Omnicast 4.5 SR1

The service release contains more features that usual for a Service Release. This service release is free for any 4.5 owners, the 4.5 GA license will be still valid.

This article focus only on improvements since 4.5 GA, refer to this previous post for more information on 4.5 GA.

Release of 4.5 SR1: December 2009

Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

It's now official, Omnicast 4.5 SR1 officially supports Windows 7 platforms. Windows 7 was a lot easier than moving to Windows Vista; we had only few minor issues to resolve. Many developers moved to Windows 7 because it seems a lot more stable than Vista.

I have been running Windows 7 since October and I love it. It runs faster than Vista on my laptop and I just got a few compatibilities issues with third party software but nothing close to the issues I had with Vista.

Major Video Decoding Improvements

We improved the video decoding engine; the performance improvement varies with OS, graphic card and computer. We measured a 30% gain in CPU for some workstations using windows XP.

I suggest upgrading to 4.5 SR1 just for this.

Multi-unicast streaming without multicast

Omnicast has always supported unicast streaming through the gateway. In 4.5 SR1, the gateway has the options to longer use multicast, no more multicast on your local LAN if you don't want to.

Decentralized recording with Bosch VRM

The Bosch Video Recording Manager manages edge-recording Bosch IP Video from a central user interface. You basically assign series iSCSI disk to a bunch of IP Camera or Encoder and the software will decide automatically which cameras is recorded where. The Video recorder stream goes directly from the camera to the iSCSI system without any software application involved in the recording pipeline.

When using VRM with Omnicast, all the standard functions for Bosch cameras are available but recording is done automatically by the camera.

It's already possible to leverage Bosch's decentralized recording capabilities with Omnicast but recording configurations (Schedules, disk...) must be done in each unit's Web Interface.

For details on adding a VRM using the Bosch extension, see "Archiver extensions" in the Omnicast Administrator User Guide.

Audit Trail improvements

You can now find out who reviewed video at a specific time. Any time video is played back in Omnicast, a "playback" event will now be recorded in the directory log and database log. The application name, user name, camera viewed, and viewing time will be available.

Anti-jitter buffering for Live Streaming

A new streaming option is now available in the Live Viewer and Config Tool to reduce any jittering that may occur when playing back or viewing live video. This option is useful if you stream live video over a Network with a lot of throughput fluctuation. (Ex: Internet, 3G Wireless Networks).

For more information, see "Video options" in the Omnicast Live Viewer User Guide, or the Omnicast Administrator User Guide.

Axis PTZ protocol improvement

The Axis PTZ protocol now supports the following functionalities for position data return on Axis PTZ units:

Current position query.
Automatic refresh of the current position at fixed intervals.
Changing pan, tilt, and zoom to an absolute or relative position.

IoImage PTZ protocol is now supported

Omnicast now supports the following PTZ control features for IoImage units:

Pan/Tilt with speed control.
Zoom In/Zoom Out.
Go to, set, and clear presets.

Panasonic PTZ Protocol improvement

The Panasonic PTZ protocol now supports the following functionalities for position data return on the NS202, NS954, and NW964 models:

Current position query.
Automatic refresh of the current position at fixed intervals.
Absolute positioning.

Pelco MPEG-4 dual streaming!

MPEG-4 dual streaming is now supported on the following Pelco units:

IP110
IP3701
Spectra IV-IP
Spectra Mini-IP
NET5301T

Sony 5th generation are supported

Omnicast now supports 5th generation Sony units and the following features:

Three video streams for SD units.
Two video streams for HD units.
Tampering alarms.
Video Motion Filter (VMF) object search on Distributed Enhanced Processing Architecture (DEPA) units.
New serial ports (RS-232, RS-422, RS-485, and RS-485FD).