Tips for using SmartSentry

Microsoft Windows 2000:

SmartSentry has been successfully tested and performs well with Windows 2000 

Known Problems:

Video Format:

Under certain conditions, changing the Video format while using a Trigger Zone may require SmartSentry to be ended and restarted to redefine the trigger window, this is a known issue and will be resolved in future releases.

Divide by Zero Error:

Some drivers written for graphics cards with  integrated video capture hardware do not fully observe the Microsoft Video For Windows programming guidelines.  This results in a 'Divide by zero' error being reported when trying to set a trigger zone with SmartSentry.

Configuration Settings that have been tested successfully in Colour and B/W:

The following formats listed in order of performance chosen from the 'Configuration . Video Format' menu option : All image dimensions using 24-bit image format; All image dimensions using 32-bit image format; All image dimensions using 15-bit image format.

Tips for obtaining the best Capture performance:

Capture performance is a function of Disk I/O, CPU speed, and the choice of CODEC.  It is also  important to be aware that the 'Configuration' -> 'Video Format' setting is largely independent of the choice of desktop display setting in use. That means that in many cases you can have a low resolution desktop display, but still capture at a high resolution.

Disk I/O:  In general SCSI drives perform better than IDE drives for video capture.

CPU speed: Higher speed CPU systems support higher CODEC performance, which may sometimes compensate for poor disk performance.

Choice of CODEC: Capture performance may vary widely with different CODECs depending on the way you use SmartSentry.  As a general rule, the CODEC that performs best on your system for movie capture will also perform best with SmartSentry. Some other points that are worth noting:

The following CODEC's chosen from the  'Configuration . Compression' menu option:

Recommended settings

The settings below have resulted in good capture performance and provided good quality avi output

Requirements / Ideas? 

Your comments and suggestions are always welcome. If you have a useful application for SmartSentry, or configuration tips tha you would like to pass on,  please tell us about it. mailto:comments@rapidautomation.co.uk