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AXIS 212 PTZ - Video Streams
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Video Streams
The AXIS 212 PTZ 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 212 PTZ provides access to Motion JPEG and MPEG-4 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.
Stream Types
Motion JPEG
This format uses standard JPEG still images for the video stream. These images are then displayed and updated
at a rate sufficient to create a stream that shows constantly updated motion.
The Motion JPEG stream uses considerable amounts of bandwidth, but provides excellent image quality and
access to each and every individual image contained in the stream. The recommended method of accessing
Motion JPEG live video from the AXIS 212 PTZ is to use the AXIS Media Control (AMC) in Microsoft Internet
Explorer in Windows.
Note also that multiple clients accessing Motion JPEG streams can use different image settings.
MPEG-4
This is a video compression standard that makes good use of bandwidth, and which can provide high quality
video streams at less than 1 Mbit/s.
Note: All clients viewing the MPEG-4 stream must use the same image settings.
The MPEG-4 standard provides scope for a large range of different coding tools for use by various applications
in different situations, and the AXIS 212 PTZ provides certain subsets of these tools. These are represented as
Video object types, which are selected for use with different viewing clients. The supported video object types
are:
• Simple - sets the coding type to H.263, as used by e.g. QuickTime™
• Advanced Simple - sets the coding type to MPEG-4 Part 2, as used by AMC (AXIS Media Control)
When using MPEG-4 it is also possible to control the bit rate, which in turn allows the amount of bandwidth
usage to be controlled. CBR (Constant Bit Rate) is used to achieve a specific bit rate by varying the quality of the
MPEG-4 stream. When using VBR (Variable Bit Rate), the quality of the video stream is kept as constant as
possible, at the cost of a varying bit rate.
Important!
MPEG-4 is licensed technology. The AXIS 212 PTZ includes one viewing client license. Installing
additional unlicensed copies of the viewing client is prohibited. To purchase additional licenses, contact
your Axis reseller.