Summary
This article outlines the steps necessary to set up and record videos in the research labs. These instructions are specific to the Brickcom cameras but can be used for other camera types as well.
Environment
- Psychology research labs
- iSpy v6.7.6.0
- Windows
Directions
Adding the camera in iSpy
- Open the iSpy program to load the iSpy Surface. If no cameras are configured this loads to a grey background work space.
- Click the Add button on the top left, then select Add IP Camera With Wizard to load the Connect to IP Cameras window.
- Check the Listed button and type 'brickcom" to filter the list of cameras. Select the model Brickcom camera you are using from the list, the click Next.
- Enter the username and password for the camera, then click Next
- Enter the 10.xxx.xxx.xxx IP address of the camera, then click Next
- iSpy now scans the camera for available feeds. The Brickcom camera uses Open Network Video Interface Forum (ONVIF) standardization and FFMPEG to transcode multimedia files.
- Select the Brickcom:WCB-100Ap:FFMPEG rstp://admin:admin@10.xxx.xxx.xx/ONVIF/channel2 radio button then click Next.
- Video from the camera is now displayed in the iSpy surface along with an edit Camera popup windows.
Configuring the camera for recording videos
Configure the camera as follows using the tabs.
Camera
- Under Video Source section:
- Change the name to the camera name as entered in inventory (i.e. cmr-mfarquha01)
- Change the Timestamp to {Camera} {0:G}
- Under the Microphone section, ensure the default camera name is listed next to Microphone. We will change the microphone name later.
Motion detection
- Under Recording Mode, set Use Detector to None.
- Under Recording settings, set Max. Recording time to 3600 (1 hour), or to your desired recording session time.
Recording
- Set the Recording mode to No Recording.
Storage
Create a directory for the recorded videos, preferably in the research storage location. this will be used as the temporary storage location where the videos will be tagged reviewed and then moved into the study folders.
- Click the browse button next to Media Location
- Click the Add button, then the browse button next to Directory. Select the directory you created above. Ensure the Storage management is unchecked and click OK, then OK again to create the mapping the the storage location.
- Change the default Directory name to name name of the camera, e.g cmr-mfarquha01, then click Finish. iSpy copies the files from the old folder to the folder using the following directory structure: NamedVideoFolder/video/cmr-mfarquha01/videoFile. For multi camera setup, all videos from one camera are saved under that camera's name within inside the video sub folder.
Recording videos
- Click the All On button in the bottom right iSpy window
- Next, click the record All button to start recording videos on all cameras at once. A small red circle appears on the top-right of the video during the record mode.
- Once the recording session has ended, click the Stop Record button to stop the recording and save the video.
- Browse to the video save location and label (tag) the video file
External Resources
Refer to the "iSpy User Guide" for more details.