Monitors and Monitor Groups Reference

Monitors

The video view of a management station consists of a grid-like arrangement of monitors, each of which can be connected to a video source, such as a camera. For details see Video View Reference.

Monitors are created in Engineering mode but the video source connected to a monitor can be changed by the operator, for example by dragging and dropping a camera object onto a monitor in the video view.

The monitors already configured in the system are located under Applications > Video > Monitors.

In Operating mode, when you select any monitor the corresponding video stream displays in the Default tab.

Monitor Groups

The monitor group assigned to a station defines the contents of its video view. The monitors of a group populate the video view layout by rows, starting from left-to-right and then from top-to-bottom.

Two separate monitor groups can be defined for each station that displays video:

Operating monitor group: Used for routine video surveillance. This is the monitor group that displays in System Browser when video objects are selected.
Events monitor group: Used to display video when handling events, for example in Assisted Treatment.

Monitor groups are configured and assigned to stations in Engineering mode see Configuring Monitor Groups).

The monitor groups already configured in the system are located under Applications > Video > Monitor Groups:

In Operating mode, when you select a monitor group the corresponding video streams display in the Default tab.
In Engineering mode, when you select a monitor group the Video tab lists which stations are assigned that monitor group.

Monitor Group Layouts and Station Layouts

Each configured monitor group has an associated layout. This layout is applied only when the monitor group object is selected directly, as in Display a Monitor Group. When the operator selects any other video object (for example, as in Displaying the Video View) the layout applied is the one specific to the station.

Changing the layout of a monitor group will not affect the video view of a station associated to that monitor group. The station-specific layout applied to the video view is independent of the layout associated to the monitor group.
When the layout of a monitor group is changed, the change is also visible on other stations when that monitor group is directly selected.

Default Monitors and Monitor Groups

The default video configuration includes a set of 8 monitors and 2 preconfigured monitor groups assigned to the Desigo CC server station, as follows:

Monitor Group for Operating (monitors 1-4)
Monitor Group for Events (monitors 5-8)

These preconfigured monitor groups provide a default video view for the Desigo CC server station. For any other stations, you must manually assign them a monitor group before they can display video.

You can modify the video view of the Desigo CC server station, or of any other station, by altering its assigned monitor group (for example, adding more monitors, or changing their order), or by assigning it a different monitor group.

Monitor Control Icons

When you select the main Applications > Video node, or any video object under it, the Video Wall in the Contextual pane always displays a grid of icons representing the monitor group of the station you are working on.
If you instead select a monitor or monitor group under Applications > Video >…, the corresponding icon or grid of icons displays in the Monitor Control tab. (The Contextual pane continues displaying the icons for the current station’s monitor group).

You can use these icons to check the status of the monitors, as well as to connect/disconnect video sources. For details see Monitor Control Reference.

Managed and Unmanaged Monitors

The monitors of a station’s assigned monitor group are termed managed (licensed) monitors: They remember their connected video sources. Managed monitors can be used in automatic and manual video operations and support both local and remote control: they can be operated from a station while displaying video images on another station.

You can also have unmanaged (not licensed) monitors that do not belong to a video view and are not supervised. The association to video sources on unmanaged monitors is closed once the monitor is not displayed anymore. Unmanaged monitors are also ignored in automatic video operations like camera sequences, camera group display or replay of recordings.

Tips for Configuring Monitor Groups

Monitors and monitor groups are configured in Engineering mode and cannot be changed by the operators. However, an operator can change the video source connected to a monitor—and this change will propagate to all the stations that include that monitor in their group. The operator can also change the layout of his station’s video view, affecting how many monitors it displays and how they are arranged.

When defining the monitor groups of a station, bear in mind that each of the monitors will correspond to a camera. Apply the following recommendations:

The first (top-left) monitor of the operation group automatically connects to the camera currently selected by the operator. This monitor should typically be unique for each monitor group/station.
The operating monitor groups should be dedicated to the video surveillance zones allocated to the station for daily operations and video guard tours.
The event monitor groups are devoted to alarm handling and used in both investigative and assisted event handling modes.
The total number of monitors should be determined based on the video-view layout that best suits the screen and the requirements of the site.
You can use the same monitor group for multiple stations. However, note that in this case they will all share the same video view. You can also create monitor groups that have only some monitors in common, to obtain video views that partly overlap.