Veo Observer manual

Page 1 of 65 Rev. 01 - 14 - 2003[...]

Page 2 of 65 Table of Contents Chapter 1: Welcome to the Veo Observer ........................................................................................ 4 1.1 Package Contents .................................................................................................................................... 5 1.2 Requirements ................[...]

Page 3 of 65 Appendix F: Motion Sensor Setup .................................................................................................... 56 Appendix G: Frequently Asked Questions, Troubleshooting, and Technical Support .. 58 Appendix H: Estimating Bandwidth Consumption ...................................................................... [...]

Page 4 of 65 Welcome to the Veo Observer Thank you for purchasing the Veo Observer. The Observer combines a high quality digital video camera with Ethernet ready connectivity and a powerful web server to bring clear video to your desktop from anywhere on your local network or over the Internet. The Observer and your home or business network form a [...]

Page 1 of 65 Rev. 01 - 14 - 2003 1.1 Package Contents 1.2 Requirements To connect the camera • LAN – 10Base - T or 100Base TX Ethernet with one RJ - 45 port available To view the camera web page • Web Browser – Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher • PC with Windows 98, Me, 2000, or XP connected to LAN To run the included software applications [...]

Page 6 of 65 Network Activity LED The green LED indicates if there is a connection to your network and router. If there is network activity, the green LED will blink. Motion Sensor Jack Co nnect an external motion sensor* to trigger email alerts with images attached. See the motion detection section for more information. (Optional) External Microph[...]

Page 7 of 65 Camera Setup Before installing the Veo Observer Camera, you should have an available Ethernet LAN con nection (RJ - 45 port). To view the camera’s image or make any manual configuration changes, you will need a Windows PC with Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher, also connected to the LAN. 2.1 Hardware Setup Connecting the Ethernet cable[...]

Page 8 of 65 Turning the camera on Step 6 . Observe the IP address display on the lower left side of the camera and refer to the next section. 2.2 Getting an IP address As soon as you power up your camera you’ll notice that the IP address display starts blinking. This means the camera is sea rching for an IP address using DHCP. After a few second[...]

Page 9 of 65 IP Address - Method A . Install and run the Observer Setup Utility included on the CD - ROM. 1. Refer to Chapter 4: PC Software Installation if you need help installing the software. 2. Click on the Veo Observer Setup Utility icon to run the program. 3. Click the “Search for Camera” button. 4. Af ter a few seconds your camera’s M[...]

Page 10 of 65 2.3 Mounting the Camera The Observer can sit on a flat surface, such a shelf or bookcase, be mounted to a wall using the included bracket, or mounted atop a tripod stand using the standard tripod mount located on the underside of the base. When using the camera free stan ding, be sure to secure the cables. Failing to secure the cables[...]

Page 11 of 65 Accessing the Camera You ca n access Observer cameras from any Windows PC on your LAN. There are two easy ways to access a camera, by browsing the camera’s on - board homepage using Internet Explorer or using the included PC application Veo Observer Studio. The browser method does no t require any special PC software other than an A[...]

Page 12 of 65 3.2 Web Browser Access 1. From any PC on the local network, start Internet Explor er and enter the camera’s IP address in the address bar, as shown below, then press Enter. For help on determining the camera IP address refer to Section 2.2: Getting an IP address. 2. The first time you access the camera it will install an ActiveX co [...]

Page 13 of 65 5. The camera login page will appear. Type in your username and password and click Login . 6. Once you are logged in, the main viewing page will open and the live video will start. Note: The username and password are case sensitive. Note: If another user is currently logged in to the camera you may see a message letting you know that [...]

Page 14 of 65 The following features are available on the Live Video page: Pan/Tilt Clicking any of the yellow directional buttons will cause the camera to move one small step in that direction. Click and hold the left mouse key down to mak e the camera move one large step. When the camera reaches its end of travel, the buttons for that direction a[...]

Page 15 of 65 3.3 Camera Configuration 1. Click the Setup button at the top of the main page to access the configuration pages. Camera Information The following settings are found on the Camera Information page: Setting Description Valid Entries Default Camera Name A name you assign to the camera t o help identify it. The name is displayed on the m[...]

Page 16 of 65 User Accounts The User Account page is where you add and remove usernames and passwords. User accounts allow you to control access to a camera. You should change the default username and password immed iately and don’t give this out to anyone. For everyone else, you should set up either User level accounts or Guest level accounts. A[...]

Page 17 of 65 Motion Detection The camera can be triggered by a motion sensor input to send you an email with a snapshot of the current image attached. To enable this capability, check the Enable Detection checkbox and fill in the fields on the page as described below: SMTP server address This is the IP address of the server you use to sen d mail. [...]

Page 18 of 65 Message Any text message you wish to include in the body of the email. Reset Interval Sets the time interval, after an alert, before another detection event can occur. Video Properties Settings on this page affect the camera’s image size and quality and bandwidth consumed by the video stream. Max. Frame Rate Sets the m aximum frame [...]

Page 19 of 65 PC Software Installation In addition to a rich web page interface, the Veo Observer includes sever al powerful PC applications which provide additional functionality. To install the Veo Observer Studio software: 1. Insert the Installation CD into the CD - ROM drive. The initial screen will welcome you to the installation process. Clic[...]

Page 20 of 65 3. You’ll see the License Agreement. Please read this agreement carefully. If you agree to the License Agreement, click Yes to continue. If you do not agree and click No to the License Agreement, the software will not be installed. License Agreement Screen Choose Destination Location Screen 4. The next screen (Choose Destination Loc[...]

Page 21 of 65 Observer Setup Utility The Observer Setup Utility can be used to manually configure the camera’s network settings. It may be necessary to use the setup utility to manually assign an IP address for your camera if your netwo rk does not support DHCP. The utility is also very helpful for finding all the cameras on your network. Search [...]

Page 22 of 65 Step 2. Enter the IP address you wish to use. Make sure the first three sections are the same as the PC and that the last three di gits don’t conflict with any other device on the network. Step 3. Enter the Subnet mask and Gateway. These settings should match the PC. Optionally, you may enter a camera name to help identify this came[...]

Page 23 of 65 5.3 Updating the Camera’s Firmware Step 1 . Visit the Observer support website to download the latest firmware. Place the files on your desktop or in another folder whi ch is easy to get to. If the files are zipped (archived), you will need to unzip them. Step 2 . Run the camera setup utility by clicking the desktop icon. Step 3 . C[...]

Page 24 of 65 Observer Studio PC Application Veo Observer Studio is a suite of applications designed to enhance your Observer experience. View Camera is where you can quickly connect to and control cameras on your local network or anywhere over the Internet. You can also capture snapshots and video to your PC and view up to four cameras at the same[...]

Page 25 of 65 Add a Camera Click the Add button to add a camera to the list. The following window appears: The default settings will appear in their corresponding boxes. Modify the settings as needed for the camera you wish to connect t o. Camera Label A label used to help you to remember which camera this is. (12 character maximum) URL IP address [...]

Page 26 of 65 Group Cli ck the Group button to set up a camera group to easily log in. Once you define a group of up to four cameras, you can log in to the whole group with one click. 1. Select up to four cameras from the list on the left. 2. Click Select to add the cameras to the gr oup. 3. Enter a Group Name in the text box at the top. 4. To remo[...]

Page 27 of 65 6.3 Camera View Controls Pan and Tilt Controls : Click on any of the arrow buttons to move the camera one small step in the direction indicated by the arrow. Holding down a button for a few seco nds will move the camera one large step. D igital Zoom Control 2X Click to zoom in on the image center 1X Click to return to normal viewing B[...]

Page 28 of 65 Click the speaker button to enab le or disable audio streaming. Audio Controls Enabled Disabled Settings Only admin level user may access camera settings. The Settings button is not present when logged in as a non - admin user. Click the Settings button to open the settings w indow. Max. Frame Rate Sets the maximum frame rate that the[...]

Page 29 of 65 Recording a Video 1. Adjust the volume using the Audio Leve l Slider . 2. Click [ Record ] to record your video. Click the Stop button any time to end recording. 3. After the recording stops, the following buttons will appear on the bottom of the screen: [ Save Frame ] - Saves the current frame as a picture file. [ Trim Video ] - Trim[...]

Page 30 of 65 6.4 Using the Gallery The Gallery is an album application you use to store and access snapshots and video clips captured with Observer cameras. It can also manage other types of media for you such as sound bites and animations. Viewing Pictures in the Gallery 1. Click the View Gallery button. The Gallery Display Panel opens up. 2. Sel[...]

Page 31 of 65 [ Add A New Scene ] Add a new video or picture to your movie. You can either add an existing video/picture from your computer or record a new video/picture from your Veo camera for insertion. [ Add Background Music ] Add music to your movie. [ Remove Music ] Remove music from your movie. When you are done, click Continue . Note: By de[...]

Page 32 of 65 e) To send your movie to a friend: 1) Click E - mail Movie To A Friend . 2) Type in the requested infor mation. 3) The default name given to the movie is Default.wmv. To rename the movie before sending, click on the words “Default.wmv” in the attachment text box and click [ Rename ]. 4) Click to send your movie. Note: Refer to Sec[...]

Page 33 of 65 Autoplay [ Page Link ] - Link an object/image/page to another page. Linking to Anothe r Page If you want to include a function on your page that allows you to click on a text/picture to link to other web pages, follow the steps below: a) Select the text or picture on the Main Screen that you want to link . b) Click on [ Page Link ]. c[...]

Page 34 of 65 Full Internet Name Enter sub - directory Enter default name of homepage 7. Select the background music. Click [ Set Background Music ]. 8. Choose your background music. To listen to the music before selecting, place your cursor on without clicking. You may click [ Mute ] to turn the background music on and off. Note: When you change t[...]

Page 35 of 65 Flip image upside down Drag to resize image Display more commands Return image to original size Applying Text, Images, Videos, and Animated Characters Adding and Editing Text a) Click [ New Text ] to add new text to the scene/page. b) D ouble - click on the text to edit it. A screen similar to the one below appears: S elect font color[...]

Page 36 of 65 When you click , the following box appears: Adding Sound Effects to an Animated Character You can add a sound effect to an animated character either by inserting a .wav file from the Sound Effects folder and then click . Note: Sound Effects are only applied when the animated character is mov ing along its defined path. If you have not[...]

Page 37 of 65 6.7 Configuring your E - mail Program to S end Files In order to send your files directly from the Veo Observer Studio, you must change your default mail agent, otherwise known as Messaging Application Program Interface (MAPI) . For E - mail programs that do not support MAPI (i.e. AOL, web - based E - ma il programs), you need to atta[...]

Page 38 of 65 3. Under "E - mail" select the e - mail provider that you normally use to send e - mail. (i.e. America Online, Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail) Note: If you do not see America Online, Hotmail, or Yahoo! Mail listed under the “E - mail” section, you’ll need to install the latest version of America Online (if using America Online [[...]

Page 39 of 65 Accessing Cameras Over the Internet If your home or business LAN is connected to the Internet through a high speed (broadband) Internet connection, with at least 128 kbps upload bandwidth, you can access your cameras by web browser from anywhere on the Internet. To do this you need to: 1. Know your WAN (Internet) IP address. This is t[...]

Page 40 of 65 7.3 Port Forwarding All TCP/IP (In ternet) networking uses software ports. Ports can be thought of as channels on your television. By default, all web page traffic is on channel (port) 80. By default, the Observer uses port 80 to deliver its web page to your browser and port 1600 to send vi deo. Therefore, both of these channels (port[...]

Page 41 of 65 You camera is now live on the Internet. Browsing your camera from the Internet is the same as browsing on your LAN except that you must enter your WAN IP address (or camera domain name if you’ve set up a DDNS service) instead of the LAN IP address. 7.5 Accessing Multiple Cameras over the Internet When accessing multiple cameras over[...]

Page 42 of 65 The Internet uses DNS servers to lookup domain names and translate them into IP addresses. Domain names, such as www.veo.com, are just easy to reme mber aliases for IP addresses. A dynamic DNS service is unique because it provides a means of updating your IP address so that your listing will remain current when your IP address changes[...]

Page 43 of 65 Restoring Factory Default Settings Press and hold the Power button down for 6 seconds to reset the ca mera to the factory defaults. You will see “300” displayed in the IP Address LCD display to indicate that the camera has been reset. Release the Power button to reset the camera. Appendix A Note: You will need to reconfigure your [...]

Page 44 of 65 External Microphone If you would like to use an external microphone (not included), you can attach any standard 1/8” (3.5 mm) microphone to the Veo Observer’s external microphone connection port located on the rear of the camera. Using an external microphone will automatically disable the camera’s built - in microphone. The use [...]

Page 45 of 65 Network Utilities Microsoft Windows includes various network information ut ilities to determine various network configurations. To determine your IP address and network settings, follow the steps below, depending on your operating system. C.1 Determining your IP Address and Network Settings Windows 98/Me: 1. Click on Start - >Ru n[...]

Page 46 of 65 3) If there is a camera, or a PC or other network device online and using this address you will see: Pinging 123.123.123.123 with 32 bytes of data: Reply from 123.123.123.123: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128 Reply from 123.123.123.123: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128 Reply from 123.123.123.123: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128 Reply from 123.12[...]

Page 47 of 65 Router Configuration The following section describes the initial configuration of the router and po rt forwarding for four of the most common routers, 3Com 3C855 Cable/DSL Gateway, NETGEAR Cable/DSL Router Gateway RP614, SMC Barricade Broadband Router SMC7004VBR, D - Link DI - 604 Ethernet Broadband Router , Linksys EtherFast Cable/DS[...]

Page 48 of 65 5. Click on LAN Settings . 6. A ctivate the DHCP Server option, select Enable the DHCP server with the following settings: and specify the IP pool range. The largest available co ntinuous IP pool will be automatically entered. If this is not appropriate, make the required changes. At this time you should choose between opening selecte[...]

Page 49 of 65 4. Select Other. Enter the name of the camera. 5. Trigger: 80 6. Incoming Ports: 1600 7. Click Add to save the settings. Veo Observe r as a DMZ Server 1. Click on the Firewall button. 2. Select Redirect Request to Virtual DMZ Host. 3. Enter the IP address for the camera in the field labeled IP Address for DMZ . 4. Click Apply. The Veo[...]

Page 50 of 65 5. To set the router for DHCP click on LAN IP Setup . 6. Select Use Router as DHCP server . 7. Enter a Starting IP Address and an Ending IP Address. 8. Click Apply . 9. On the Main menu in the Maintenance section click on Attached Devi ces. Write down the IP address assigned to the camera. 10. Click OK . Veo Observer as a Virtual Serv[...]

Page 51 of 65 Veo Observer as a DMZ Server 1. On the Main menu in the Advanced section click on Security . 2. Click Default DMZ Server . 3. Type the IP address for the camera. 4. Click Apply . The Veo Observer should now be configured to work with your network and be accessible to the Internet. SMC Barricade Br oadband Router SMC7004VBR The SMC Bar[...]

Page 52 of 65 5. Click Firewall. For Enabled or Disabled Firewall features click Enabled. Click Apply . 6. Click on DMZ . Enter the camera IP address for the Client PC IP address . Click Apply . The Veo Observer should now be configured to work with your network and be accessible to the Internet. D - Link DI - 604 Ethernet Broadband Router The D - [...]

Page 53 of 65 5. Click Advanced. 6. Click on Applications. Trigger Name: Enter the name of the camera. Trigger Port: 80,1600 Trigger Type: TCP Public Port: 80,1600 Click Apply. 7. Click on Tools - >Ti me. Make sure the time is properly set and then click Apply. The Veo Observer should now be configured to work with your network and be accessible[...]

Page 54 of 65 4. On the Home page click on Advanced . 5. On the next screen, click on Forwarding . You can then set the Ports and IP Address for the camera on the following screen: Line #1: Customized Applications: VeoCamWeb Ext. Port: 80 to 80 Protocol: TCP IP Address: 192.168.1.101 Enable: Checked in Line #2: Customized Applications: VeoCamVid Ex[...]

Page 55 of 65 Internet Explorer Security Settings The Veo Observer web page communicates with the camera using a combination of JavaScript and an ActiveX control. The ActiveX control must be downloaded from the camera and installed on your PC. There are four things that your Internet Explorer security settings must allow for the web page to work co[...]

Page 56 of 65 Motion Sensor Setup By connecting the optional motion sensor to the camera’s motion sensor jack, you can enable motion detection alert emails with an attached image. After connecting the sensor as shown, you must configure the c amera’s motion detection settings. Refer to Section 3.3 Camera Configuration of the U ser ’s G uide f[...]

Page 57 of 65 1. Locate the motion sensor connector at the rear of the camera. The holes for inserti ng the sensor wires are labeled 1 through 4 from left to right. 2. Use a small screwdriver to depress and latch down the orange tabs over holes 1, 2 and 4. 3. Insert the red wire into hole #1 until the insulation just reaches the back of the camera.[...]

Page 58 of 65 Frequently Asked Questions, Troubleshooting, and Technical Support Problem or Question Resolution or answer What username and password do I use the first time I access the camera or after a factory default reset? Username = admin, password = password (all lowercase) What do I do if I can’t remember my username and password? Restore [...]

Page 59 of 65 Internet connection to camera: 1. Confirm that IP address is correct. If you have a dynamic address, it may have changed since you last checked it. Refer to Section 7.1: WAN IP Address . 2. Since you are actually pinging the WAN IP of the gateway/router connecting the camera to the Internet, make sure that the gateway/router is config[...]

Page 60 of 65 Technical Support: While we hope your experience with the Observer network camera is enjoyable, you may experience some issues or have some questions that this User’s Guide has not answered. To obtain the latest info rmation and support for your Observer network camera, please visit our webpage at: http://www.veo.com/observer/suppor[...]

Page 61 of 65 Estimating Bandwidth Consumption Here is a guide to help you understand the bandwidth requirements for your camera. Bandwidth is equal to the average frame data size in kilobi ts multiplied by the average frame rate in frames per second. Frame data size, or the number of bits comprising a single video frame varies a great deal from de[...]

Page 62 of 65 Technical Specifications Veo Observer Network Camera Technical Specifications Resolution VGA (640 x 480) Type CCD Color depth 24 bit Streaming Sizes 160 x 120, 320 x 240, 640 x 480 Compression Motion JPEG (in hardware ) Frame rate 160 x 120 10 fps 320 x 240 10 fps 640 x 480 5 fps Image Sensitivity 1 lux Aperture F2.0 Construction 5 el[...]

Page 63 of 65 Glossary Term Explanation Relates to camera how DDNS Dyna mic Domain Name System. DNS service which self - updates periodically to deal with changing IP addresses. If you don’t have a static IP address, you need a DDNS to simplify remote access. DHCP Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. Allows network connected de vices to set their[...]

Page 64 of 65 networking and all of the Internet. URL Uniform Resource Locator. The complete specification that your web browser needs to locate a resource (web p age or other) on any TCP/IP network. Your camera’s URL looks like “http://IP address:port number”. The port number is 80 by default. WAN Wide Area Network. Several LANs which are in[...]

Page 65 of 65 A Technical Support Representative will determine if your problem is covered under this warranty agreement. If the problem is covered, you will be issued a Return Merchandise Authorization number (RMA) with specific instructions regarding how the product must be returned to Veo for repair or replacement. At this time, replacement or r[...]