User's Manual

13
AXIS 207/207W - Video Streams
Video Streams
The AXIS 207/AXIS 207W provides several different image and video stream formats. The
type to use depends on your requirements and on the properties of your network.
The Live View page in the AXIS 207/AXIS 207W provides access to MPEG-4 and Motion
JPEG video streams, as well as to single JPEG images. Other applications and clients can
also access these video streams/images directly, without going via the Live View page.
How to stream MPEG-4
This video compression standard makes good use of bandwidth, and can provide
high-quality video streams at less than 1 Mbit/s. Note that the image settings of the
MPEG-4 stream are the same for all clients.
Deciding on the combination of protocols and methods to use depends on your viewing
requirements, and on the properties of your network. The available options in AMC are:
Unicasting is used for video-on-demand
broadcasting, so that there is no video traf
-
fic on the network until a client connects
and requests the stream.
Note: The maximum number of simulta-
neous viewers is 10 for the AXIS 207W and
20 for the AXIS 207.
Unicast RTP This unicast method should be your first consideration
for unicast live video, especially when it is important
to always have an up-to-date video stream, even if
some images are dropped.
RTP over RTSP This unicast method is useful as it is relatively simple
to configure firewalls to allow RTSP traffic.
RTP over RTSP over HTTP This unicast method can be used to traverse firewalls.
Firewalls are commonly configured to allow the HTTP
protocol, thus allowing RTP to be tunneled.
Multicasting provides the most efficient
usage of bandwidth, especially when there
are large numbers of clients (i.e. more than
the unicast maximum) viewing simulta
-
neously.
Note that a multicast broadcast cannot pass
a network router unless the router is config
-
ured to allow this. It is thus not possible to
multicast over e.g. the Internet.
Multicast RTP Multicasting should be your first consideration for live
video for large numbers of clients. especially when it
is important to always have an up-to-date video
stream, even if some images are dropped.
AMC will negotiate with the camera to determine exactly which transport protocol to use
in the order listed above. This order can be changed and the options disabled, to suit any
specific requirements.
Important!
MPEG-4 is licensed technology. The AXIS 207/AXIS 207W includes one viewing cli-
ent license. Installing additional unlicensed copies of the viewing client is prohibited.
To purchase additional licenses, contact your Axis reseller.