Axis Communications 213 PTZ Security Camera User Manual


 
14
AXIS 213 - Video and Audio Streams
Notes: •MPEG-4 is licensed technology. The AXIS 213 includes one viewing client license. Install-
ing additional unlicensed copies of the viewing client is prohibited. To purchase addi-
tional licenses, contact your Axis reseller.
•All clients viewing the MPEG-4 stream must use the same image settings.
MPEG-4 protocols and communication methods
To deliver live streaming video over IP networks, various combinations of transport
protocols and broadcast methods are employed.
RTP (Realtime Transport Protocol) is a protocol that allows programs to manage
the real-time transmission of multimedia data, via unicast or multicast.
RTSP (Real Time Streaming Protocol) serves as a control protocol, to negotiate
which transport protocol to use for the stream. RTSP is thus used by a viewing cli
-
ent to start a unicast session, see below.
UDP (User Datagram Protocol) is a communications protocol that offers limited
service for exchanging data in a network that uses the Internet Protocol (IP). UDP
is an alternative to the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). The advantage of
UDP is that it is not required to deliver all data and may drop network packets
when there is e.g. network congestion. This is suitable for live video, as there is no
point in re-transmitting old information that will not be displayed anyway.
Unicasting is communication between a single sender and a single receiver over a
network. This means that the video stream goes independently to each user, and
each user gets their own stream. A benefit of unicasting is that if one stream fails,
it only affects one user.
Multicast is bandwidth-conserving technology that reduces bandwidth usage by
simultaneously delivering a single stream of information to multiple network
users. This technology is used primarily on delimited networks (intranets), as each
user needs an uninterrupted data flow and should not rely on network routers.
How to stream MPEG-4
Deciding on the combination of protocols and methods to use depends on your
viewing requirements, and on the properties of your network. Setting the preferred
method(s) is done in the control applet for AMC, which is found in the Windows
Control Panel. When this has been set, AMC will test all the selected methods in the
specified order, until the first functioning one is found.