Axis Communications 216FD Video Streams

Video Streams

The AXIS 216FD 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 216FD 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.

This video compression standard makes good use of bandwidth, and can provide

DVD-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:

Unicast RTP This unicast method (RTP over UDP) should be your

first consideration for live video, especially when it is

important to always have an up-to-date video stream,

even if some images are dropped. 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: There is a maximum of 20 simulta-

neous viewers.

RTP over RTSP This unicast method (RTP tunneled over RTSP) is use-

ful 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.

Multicast RTP This method (RTP over TCP) should be your first con-

sideration for live video, especially when it is impor-

tant to always have an up-to-date video stream, even

if some images are dropped.

Multicasting provides the most efficient

usage of bandwidth, especially when there

are large numbers of clients viewing simul-

taneously. Note however, that a multicast

broadcast cannot pass a network router

unless the router is configured to allow this.

It is thus not possible to multicast over e.g.

the Internet.

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 216FD includes one viewing client license.

Installing additional unlicensed copies of the viewing client is prohibited. To pur-

chase additional licenses, contact your Axis reseller.