Application Note

Activity Adaptive Streaming

(AAS)

www.vivotek.com

Application Note

AP-FW-13-ActivityAdaptiveStreaming-1.0-20101231 2

© 2011 VIVOTEK Inc. All Right Reserved

VIVOTEK may make changes to specifications and product descriptions at any time, without notice.

The following is trademarks of VIVOTEK Inc., and may be used to identify VIVOTEK products only: VIVOTEK.

Other product and company names contained herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,

including photocopying and microfilm, without permission in writing from VIVOTEK Inc.

Revision History

Version Issue date Author Comment

1.0 2010/12/31 Howard First release

Application Note

AP-FW-13-ActivityAdaptiveStreaming-1.0-20101231 3

Table of contents

Introduction............................................................................................... 4

1. What is Activity Adaptive Streaming (AAS)? ................................................ 5

2. Recording Activity Adaptive Streaming on a device ...................................... 6

3. Recording Activity Adaptive Streaming in ST7501/VAST .............................. 10

4. Benefit: Efficient use of bandwidth and storage ......................................... 14

5. Supporting devices ............................................................................. 15

6. Implementing recording of Activity Adaptive Streaming in your own software .. 16

Application Note

AP-FW-13-ActivityAdaptiveStreaming-1.0-20101231 4

Introduction VIVOTEK provides an extremely useful feature called Activity Adaptive Streaming. This

document on the feature is divided into six sections:

1. What is Activity Adaptive Streaming (AAS)?

2. Recording Activity Adaptive Streaming on a device

3. Recording Activity Adaptive Streaming in ST7501/VAST

4. Benefit: Efficient use of bandwidth and storage

5. Supporting devices.

6. Implementing recording of Activity Adaptive Streaming in your own software

Application Note

AP-FW-13-ActivityAdaptiveStreaming-1.0-20101231 5

1. What is Activity Adaptive Streaming (AAS)? VIVOTEK megapixel network cameras support activity adaptive streaming to dynamically

allocate bandwidth using a configurable frame rate based on particular needs. For example,

during normal monitoring when only recognizable images are needed, the frame rate can be

set low—e.g. 1 fps—to reduce bandwidth usage. In an event-triggered situation, the frame

rate will increase to a higher level—e.g. 30 fps—to allow for smoother, high-quality video

feeds. In this manner, VIVOTEK megapixel network cameras can optimize bandwidth usage

during monitoring while ensuring superior image quality during recording.

Application Note

AP-FW-13-ActivityAdaptiveStreaming-1.0-20101231 6

2. Recording Activity Adaptive Streaming on a device

Step 1. Go to the Audio and video page for the device and click Advanced mode to

view its settings (see the figure below).

Application Note

AP-FW-13-ActivityAdaptiveStreaming-1.0-20101231 7

Step 2. Place a check by the item Enable time shift caching stream.

Step 3. Select the stream you wish to record, which will then be cached.

Step 4. Click the Save button.

Application Note

AP-FW-13-ActivityAdaptiveStreaming-1.0-20101231 8

Step 5. Insert an SD card or go to the Recording Page to assign a Network Attached

Storage (NAS) Server for storing the recorded video (refer to the figures below)

Application Note

AP-FW-13-ActivityAdaptiveStreaming-1.0-20101231 9

Step 6. Go to Recording Page to set up adaptive recording. (see the figure below)

Step 7. Click the Save button.

Application Note

AP-FW-13-ActivityAdaptiveStreaming-1.0-20101231 10

3. Recording Activity Adaptive Streaming in ST7501/VAST

Step 1. Go to the Audio and video page for the device and click Advanced mode

to view its settings (see the figure below).

Application Note

AP-FW-13-ActivityAdaptiveStreaming-1.0-20101231 11

Step 2. Place a check by the item Enable time shift caching stream.

Step 3. Select the stream you wish to record, which will then be cached.

Step 4. Click the Save button.

Application Note

AP-FW-13-ActivityAdaptiveStreaming-1.0-20101231 12

Step 5. Add to ST7501/VAST’s device list

Step 6. Go to Recording Settings (see the figure below)

Step 7. Set the recording stream to the one you selected earlier to be cached.

Step 8. Enable the Activity Adaptive Stream feature.

Application Note

AP-FW-13-ActivityAdaptiveStreaming-1.0-20101231 13

Step 9. Go to the Recording Schedule settings for the device, and set Recording Mode to

Continuous, then click Apply.

Subsequently, during normal monitoring when only recognizable images are necessary,

the frame rate will be set to 1 fps to reduce bandwidth usage. In an event-triggered situation,

the frame rate will increase to a higher level—e.g. 30 fps—to allow for smooth, high-quality

video feeds (see the figure below).

Application Note

AP-FW-13-ActivityAdaptiveStreaming-1.0-20101231 14

4. Benefit: Efficient use of bandwidth and storage With AAS enabled, only a limited subset of the video data is transmitted from the camera

when there has been no triggering event. Once a triggering event has occurred, though, the

camera sends all the data so you can view the full-quality video.

Let's see how this works using the IP7161 as an example.

Conditions:

Frame size: 1600x1200

Frame rate: 10 fps

I-frame period: 1 s

Fixed quality: Good

Bandwidth:

Active Period: about 400~600KB/s

Inactive Period: about 80~100KB/s

Recording Storage:

Full frames: about 50 GB/Day

Enable Activity Adaptive Streaming:

-about 8.5 GB/Day (No event)

-about 12 GB/Day (1 event every 5 minutes)

Using IP7161 as an example;

As an example, with the IP7161, you should be able to achieve around 4 to 7 times

more recording time with the same amount of storage.

Application Note

AP-FW-13-ActivityAdaptiveStreaming-1.0-20101231 15

5. Supporting devices The following VIVOTEK devices support AAS:

MD7560, MD7530

IP7161, IP7361, IP7160, IP7130

Entire 8000 series, such as IP8161, IP8332, etc.

Application Note

AP-FW-13-ActivityAdaptiveStreaming-1.0-20101231 16

6. Implementing recording of Activity Adaptive Streaming in your own software Step 1. Go to http://www.vivotek.com/support/sdk.php to register an account and sign the

NDA.

Step2. After signing the NDA, download the API document for Timeshift Streaming.

Step 3. Unzip the Timeshift Streaming file to obtain the original file,

“timeshift_streaming.pdf”.

Step 4. Refer to “timeshift_streaming.pdf” on how to request a stream using the adaptive

mode from the camera.

Your software should now be able to record the stream that you designated.