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OnSSI Ocularis Connector

The OnSSI Ocularis connector enables HVS to communicate and integrate with Ocularis. Video from Ocularis will be seamlessly integrated and displayed within the HVS interface. Within HVS Ocularis can then be correlated to be used with other HVS features. The integration relies upon the capabilities of the Ocularis SDK to provide feature accessibility within HVS. 

Prerequisites and Configuration Considerations

  • Ocularis VMS version 5.x integration is supported in HVS version 5.0.0 or later.
  • Ocularis Connector runs on a Windows machine (64 bit).
  • Ocularis Runtime SDK must be installed and this SDK package is available for download on TISC.  
  • Ocularis SDK version is v5.4.0.128 x86 (provides backward compatibility for Ocularis VSM v5.3.0.859, v5.1.2.232, v5.1.0.173, and v5.0).
  • Windows Message Queuing (MSMQ) for Windows 2012 or 2016 must be installed.
  • Version 3.5 and 4.6 of .NET Framework must be installed for Windows 2012 or 2016.
  • Presets need to be created in the Ocularis Recorder Manager application.

Features

See Video Connector Matrix for the supported VMS features for this connector. 

Terminology

The following are OnSSI Ocularis components: 

  • Ocularis Event Proxy: Exposes events related to system and cameras
  • Ocularis Administrator: Manages entire system and bind events to its objects
  • Ocularis Recorder Manager: Manages video and video devices

Fixed Issues

The following issues have been resolved in HVS. 

Reference Number Description Fix
PS-4980 Cannot stream a videowall from multiple clients A videowall can be streamed from multiple clients as the connector creates one ffmpeg process per camera, which is shared by multiple clients. This, for instance, allows an HVS user to open a videowall in multiple browsers. 
Play Live returns slow response Livestreaming performance was improved by optimizing CPU usage.
Logs are insufficient The connector logs additional information that can be used in troubleshooting use cases. 
Need to enhance security  The connector no longer logs user credentials with DEBUG and INFo Level. 

Known VMS Limitation

The following list describes the limitations of the Ocularis VMS.

Exporting a clip takes too long

Exporting a clip can take about twice the length of the clip due to the transcoding process.

Workaround: Not available at this time. We suggested to create shorter clips.

Known Problems

The following describes the known problem with the connector. 

Ghost ffmpeg (PS-4547)

When camera is stopped or a browser is closed HVS should terminate the ffmpeg instances, but in some situations the instances do not close and stay until the connector is restarted. This affects CPU and memory usage, and consequently video streaming as the number of ffmpeg instances reaches the max that is supported by a gateway. HVS video player will then display an error message; "Error streaming video". 

Workaround: Restart the connector. Configure the task scheduler to automatically restart the connector daily. See How to Create a Windows Task Scheduler to Restart HVS Connector?

The playback may show latency (PS-3356)

When you start playback, the video may start with a delay of about 20 seconds. This is due to the known delay generated to transcode the video. The connector starts to process frames with correct timestamp, but first 20 seconds are lost due to the delay.

Workaround: Playback from 30 seconds prior to where you want to playback. For example, if you want to playback from 1:00:00, playback from 12:59:30.

Camera status is not supported. All cameras are shown as online in HVS (PS-4992, PS-4983)

The connector does not support camera status and show the status of all cameras as online even if the camera cannot be reached, has been removed, and/or disabled. 

When trying to stream camera which is actually offline returns and error message; "Error streaming video."

Workaround: Not available at this time. 

Camera changes in VMS are not pushed to HVS (PS-4985)

Changes in VMS, such as adding new cameras and renaming cameras, are not reflected in HVS.

Workaround: Refresh Ocularis Administrator and restart the HVS OnSSI Ocularis connector.

Deleted camera are still shown in HVS as online (PS-4969)

HVS continues to show a camera as online after it was removed from VMS. Once added, the camera cannot be deleted from HVS. 

Workaround: Disconnect VMS from HVS once and then reconnect it with HVS. Disconnecting VMS will lose all the camera locations. Contact the HVS Sustaining for more information.

Presets changes in VMS are not pushed to HVS (PS-4719) 

Changes in VMS, such as adding new presets, renaming presets, and deleting presets are not reflected in HVS.

Workaround: Restart the HVS OnSSI Ocularis connector (presets must be created in the Ocularis Recorder Manager).

The recording option in VMS does is not available in VMS (PS-4987)

The recording option in VMS is not enabled for all cameras and changes in VMS will not get pushed to HVS. 

Workaround: Enable the recording option for each camera in the Entity Management window or contact the HVS Sustaining.