Release Notes for MOBOTIX MxControlCenter

Document Info

Publisher:

MOBOTIX AG

Author:

Bernd Wilhelm
Thilo Schüller

Date:

2009-03-13

Document:

release-notes_en.html

Confidentiality:

public


Contents

These Release Notes contain a short technical description of the most important changes of the MOBOTIX MxControlCenter.

Software Releases—Overview:

Release Version

Release Date

Publishing Date

MxControlCenter 2.0.1 (Release)

2009-02-18

2009-03-13

MxControlCenter 2.0 (Release)

2009-01-29

2009-01-30

MxControlCenter 1.8 (Release)

2008-07-08

2008-07-10

MxControlCenter 1.6 (Release)

2007-12-20

2007-12-21

MxControlCenter 1.5.11 (Release)

2007-09-14

2007-09-18

MxControlCenter 1.5.8 (Release)

2007-05-03

2007-05-03

MxControlCenter 1.3.6 (Release)

2007-01-18

2007-01-18

MxViewer 1.2.50 (beta version)

2006-09-08

2006-09-11

MxViewer 1.2.49 (release version)

2006-09-08

2006-09-08

MxViewer 1.2.13 (beta version)



MxViewer 1.2.7 (pre-production version)



MxViewer 1.1.9 (release version)



MxViewer 1.0 Beta



MxViewer 0.15.39 Beta



Notes:


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Version 2.0.1 (Release) of MxControlCenter

Creation Date: 2009-02-18

Publishing Date: 2009-03-13

Enhancements and Improvements

Bugfixes

Known Issues

Please see version 2.0!


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Version 2.0 (Release) of MxControlCenter

Creation Date: 2009-01-29

Publishing Date: 2009-01-30

Enhancements and Improvements

Completely Redesigned User Interface

This version has a completely redesigned Windows-compliant user interface, including menu bar, toolbar and the new sidebar with context-sensitive function areas (layout list, playback controls, vPTZ controls). The features of the predecessor versions up to version 1.8 have been migrated to MxControlCenter (MxCC) 2.0 for the most part. The most important features required for using MxControlCenter can now be executed using toolbar buttons, all of which also have tool tips (bubble help). Note that you can execute all functions of the new toolbar using menu commands. In addition, some new features can only be executed using the corresponding commands of the new sidebar: layout selection, playback of recordings, vPTZ control.

IMPORTANT:
Note that you can load,edit and save all existing MxCC configuration files (MxCC.ini) in MxCC 2.0. Stored layouts containing both a grid and a background definition are automatically converted to two separate layouts when loading the INI file. Note that MxCC 2.0 always maintains and stores grid and background layouts as separate definitions.

New Sidebar with Context-Sensitive Function Areas

The new sidebar on the left side of the main window contains several context-sensitive areas for executing different functions. The contents of the sidebar changes depending on wether the main window is in standard mode or the Layout Manager has been activated. To activate the Layout Manager, execute either the View > Layout Manager, the Layout > New or the Layout > Edit menu command. Both view modes allow opening/closing the function areas in the sidebar independent from one another. To open and close the function areas, you can either click on the little arrows on the header bars above the areas, using the View menu or the context menu that opens after right-clicking on the corresponding area.

The Sidebar in Standard Mode

When in standard mode, the MxCC sidebar contains these three function areas:

The Sidebar with Activated Layout Manager

When the Layout Manager has been activated, the sidebar contains these three function areas:

Hierarchical Layout Structure and Redesigned Layout Editor

Apart from the new hierarchical layout list already mentioned above, defining and using layouts has been improved in several other ways.

Improved vPTZ Features (Virtual Pan/Tilt/Zoom) and Q22M-Specific Features

Once a MOBOTIX camera has been added to MxCC, you can immediately use the virtual Pan/Tilt/Zoom features of the camera with a MEGATRON joystick (if attached to the computer) or the PTZ Controls area of the new sidebar. The controls and their functions are also context-sensitive, i.e. they depend on the contents of the currently selected display window (yellow frame). This area has four sub areas:

Note: The new vPTZ features can be used with all MOBOTIX cameras running software MX-V3.4.5.4 or higher (see www.mobotix.com/eng_GB/Support/Software-Downloads/).

Optimized Synchronous Playback

The Player area in the sidebar also allows playing back several cameras simultaneously in synchronized manner. The synchronous playback applies to all display windows in a layout that are currently in Player mode. You can switch individual display windows (yellow frame) using the Toggle Player Mode button in the toolbar or for all windows in the layout at once using the All button in the Player area.
Selecting a value in the Synch. Mode box opens a dialog for setting the start time. To control the playback functions, use the buttons in the Player area. The two selectable synchronization modes are working as follows:

Standard System Configuration for Reduced Speed

In order to achieve the playback performance mentioned above, the following settings have been combined with the hardware as listed below:

Recording Parameters
File Server
Hardware of the MxCC Client PC

New Export Features and Export of Data on SD/CF Cards

This version contains a new dialog for exporting recorded video data. At present, this dialog allows reading the recordings via a camera and exporting the video data as MOBOTIX file server structure or as MxPEG clips. This also means that you can use this dialog to export data from internal SD/CF cards of the MOBOTIX cameras. Note that the dialog does not support exporting into AVI format or reading directly from a file server. At the moment, the export dialog from MxCC 1.8 is still used to read the data from a directly accessed file server path, but this dialog only allows exporting individual images and MxPEG clips (see also below under Known Problems).

There are two possibilities for exporting the data:

Other Improvements

Known Issues


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Version 1.8 (Release) of MxControlCenter

Creation Date: 2008-07-08

Publishing Date: 2008-07-10

Enhancements and Improvements

New Print Dialog

This new dialog offers flexible options for printing single camera images from the main window or the video search dialog. To open this dialog, right-click into the main window and select Print... from the context menu or click on the Print current and post-processed image button in the Video Search dialog. You can change the following settings (among others):

Enhancements to the Video Search and the Player

Virtual Pan/Tilt/Zoom (vPTZ) for all MOBOTIX Cameras, including the Q22M Models

Once a MOBOTIX camera has been added to MxCC, you can immediately use the virtual Pan/Tilt/Zoom features of the camera if a MEGATRON joystick is attached to the computer.

Other Improvements

Bugfixes


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Version 1.6 (Release) of MxControlCenter

Creation Date: 2007-12-20

Publishing Date: 2007-12-21

Changes to Event Search Features

Player Functions and Video Search

Video Export

Adding and Controlling Cameras

Adding Cameras of Other Manufacturers

Bugfixes


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Version 1.5.11 (Release) of MxControlCenter

Creation Date: 2007-09-14

Publishing Date: 2007-09-18

User Interface and General

Changes to Event Search Features

Changes in Layouts and When Creating Layouts

Status Symbol and 'MxStatus.exe' Application

First, add a Status symbol and connect it to the camera (IP address). The symbol is then displayed as a colored circle with "fans" that indicate the directing of viewing and the angle of the lens, for cameras with one or two lenses. The colors have the following meanings:

Focus Window

In addition to the status symbols, you can add one or more Focus windows to the layout. When clicking on a status symbol, the corresponding camera will be shown live in the focus window, if only one focus window exists. If several focus windows are present in the layout, simply click into the desired focus window, then click on the camera.

Adding and Controlling Cameras

When clicking on the Search/open video sources you can now add Merit Li-Lin IP PTZ dome cameras. For now, the current model PIH-7625IP has been integrated.

CAUTION:
In order to store the Merit Li-Lin video stream as M-JPEG in the MOBOTIX files structure, you need to use MxServer version 1.0.34 or higher.

Bugfixes


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Version 1.5.8 (Release) of MxControlCenter

User Interface

Camera Search and IP Configuration via Bonjour

When starting MxControlCenter without a default layout, the application automatically searches the network for MOBOTIX cameras. Apart from the "broadcast search", which only found cameras on the same subnet, MxControlCenter now uses the recently integrated Bonjour service. The application thus automatically finds Bonjour-enabled MOBOTIX cameras (software version >= 3.0.8.7) in other subnets, as long as they are using the same physical network and are not blocked off by firewalls. In addition, the MOBOTIX cameras found using Bonjour can be reconfigured directly from MxControlCenter either to use the specified IP addresses or to use DHCP to obtain their network addresses. Opening the Admin Menu > Ethernet Interface dialog in the browser interface of the cameras to reconfigure the network address is not required any more. The same search is also conducted every time you open the Open Video Sources dialog later on.

New "Camera Configuration" Dialog

Clicking on the Camera Configuration button opens a new dialog, which allows to conveniently change various parameters in different sections of the camera settings. The following sections are currently available:

Hint:
Exposure windows cannot be managed using this dialog – yet, but this will supported in a future version of MxControlCenter.

CAUTION:
All changes to the settings in the "Camera Configuration" dialog will always be stored in the camera's permanent memory!

Update Assistant

The Update Assistant is the tool for simultaneously updating the system software of one or more cameras. It automatically finds all MOBOTIX cameras using the Bonjour service (activated by default on the cameras), even if they are on a different subnet. You can also add and remove cameras manually and you can also store and load the compiled camera list.

In addition, you can store the configuration of one or more cameras for backup purposes and load the configuration back into the cameras.

Changes to Video Search Features

Performance Enhancements in Software Pan/Tilt/Zoom (PTZ) and Image Post Processing (PP)

Bugfixes


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Version 1.3.6 (Release) of MxControlCenter

Note:

Starting with release 1.3.6, MxViewer has been renamed to MxControlCenter. The renaming does not have any influence on existing layouts, which had been created and managed using MxViewer. All existing MxViewer*.ini configuration can be loaded, edited and saved in MxControlCenter. The basic functionality and the user interface have not changed a lot from MxViewer.

New Features Software Pan/Tilt/Zoom (PTZ) and Image Post Processing (PP)

Changes to Event Search Features

Changes to Image Display Features

Changes and Enhancements to Camera Integration and Configuration

Changes to Remote Control Features


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Version 1.2.50 (Beta) of MxViewer

Changes and Enhancements to the Configuration and the User Interface


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Version 1.2.49 (Release) of MxViewer

Note: This version does not contain the extended event search. You should try the MxViewer Beta version 1.2.50 (see above) to try out some of its features.

Changes and Enhancements to the Configuration and the User Interface

Bugfixes


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Version 1.2.13 of MxViewer

Changes and Enhancements to the Configuration and the User Interface


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Version 1.2.7 of MxViewer

MxPEG Viewer Renamed to MxViewer

In order to find a more concise name for this MOBOTIX client application, MxPEG Viewer has been renamed to MxViewer.

Changes and Enhancements to the Configuration and the User Interface


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Version 1.1.9 of MxViewer

Changes and Enhancements to the Configuration and the User Interface

Enhancements of Alarm Processing

Bugfixes


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Version 1.0 (Beta) of MxViewer

Changes and Enhancements to the Configuration and the User Interface

Enhancements to Camera Control and Monitoring

Enhancements of Alarm Processing

Bugfixes


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Version 0.15.39 (Beta) of MxViewer


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