PACIFIC Communications has launched a new software management package for the company’s popular PDR range of DVRs. IMap allows users to monitor remote sites using a map-based GUI incorporating hyperlink functionality – this means handling remote guard tours could scarcely be easier. A hyperlink is an element in any electronic document that joins the page to any other place anywhere on the Internet. Hyperlinks are the most essential ingredient of all hypertext systems, including the World Wide Web, and incorporating them in a map-based GUI with global surveillance application is a very smart idea. Managing the IMap GUI is a straightforward affair. Clicking the preview launches the IMap Viewer which comes up giving a range of location options. You then click into each option – a single click takes you to a full interactive map of the desired on a sub-screen. This screen incorporates status icons, and importantly, an event list so you don’t have to go off hunting for alarm footage. Once you’re going through the event list, clicking a Next Picture button moves through to the next screen. You can see live footage from a camera just by clicking on that icon or the screen will pop up by itself in the event of an alarm. Depending on what’s required you can set the system up to show video images associated with a camera linked to a sensor in alarm. At this point you can select the video of the relevant camera to pop up on screen when you click a sensor icon on the IMap Viewer. Other settings include setting up the branch name and IP addresses of DVRs associated with particular devices and colour settings relating to status on the IMap Viewer. Colours can be set to denote whether a device is unplugged, turned off, has malfunctioned, whether or not there is video loss, motion detected, alarm-in detected or alarm-out detected. The PDR range of DVRs To appreciate the importance and flexibility of IMap, you need to fully understand the nature and feature set of Pacific Communications’ PDR series of DVR solutions. The PDR series Recorders can be split into two types, one being the Standalone Linux series and the other being the PC Windows XP series. The Standalone PDR’s offer customers a complete range of 4, 9 and 16 channel Digital Recorders with global recording speed of up to 100 ips, which make them suitable for a wide range of applications. Recorded video can be backed up to an internal CD-RW drive and also to external USB devices. The 9LX and the 16LX also come with a remote control which makes programming easy and also means the unit can be installed in a location that does not require physical human intervention. Programming is also made easier by using a USB type mouse. For the budget conscious, Pacific Communications also have a 16 Channel Linux PDR that will record up to 50 ips. The PC Windows XP series consist of a range of 16 Channel Digital Recorders with global recording rates ranging from 100 ips upto 400 ips (real time), to suit any application. Features include: Customised multiple recording modes: Time Lapse, event-driven and pre-event recording. There’s also Dual Scheduling: In addition to the Normal Scheduling, and Advanced Scheduling for after-hours, on alarm and on priority alarm can be configured. PDR DVRs are also strong on search and playback. There’s Fast Retrieval which allows users to find and retrieve critical events instantly using various search filters – then there’s Calender Search, Go To Search, Recording Status Bar Search and Search by Object. Other features include various camera display: Single-screen, full-screen,quad, 3+4, 3×3, 2+8 and 4×4, Image enhancement including Brightness, interpolation, blur and sharpness; Programmable Motion Detection; Archiving to provide auto/manual backup to DVD R/W and USB storage devices; PTZ Control, supporting various receivers & dome cameras; and Web Monitoring, which allows users to monitor live video images on the PDR16-RMT through the internet web browser any time from virtually anywhere using the remote web monitoring program, WebGuard. Along with all this there’s Time Synchronisation; Multitasking, which gives simultaneous viewing, recording, playback, remote monitoring & archiving; igh recording speed with a global frame rate of 200ips for the PDR16-RMT-X and PDR16-RMT-LIVE-X Compression is the ML-JPEG protocol, an advanced compression technology used to maintain high quality images and to maximise recording duration. And the whole range includes a Hardware & Software Watchdog function that offers self system restart in case of critical system error conditions. System security is provided by a range of features including image authentication – a Chained Fingerprint enabling provides a solid chain of evidence ensuring images cannot be altered or modified. There’s also a tiered system of password protection. The on-screen display includes Camera ID, recording status and recording mode. Simple intuitive graphic user interface print: Supports all kind of printers using Windows to print the image. You also get a Bookmark feature which allows users to add a specific image on the bookmark list for user-defined searching. The Minibank save lets operations archive any video clip file as an “.exe” file containing a self player program, so review of the video clip can occur without installing any special software on your PC. Other features include programmable alarm priority, separate recording speed, recording image resolution and recorded image quality for high-priority alarms. A pre-alarm of up to 1 minute, remote monitoring, remote playback and remote configuration through LAN, PSTN and ADSL. Importantly units in the PDR range are designed to vigorously support point-of-sales applications. The PDR16-RMT supports up to 16 channels of text-in data. The text-in feature allows serial devices such as cash registers to be connected to the PDR16-RMT to enable display and recording of transaction data overlayed onto camera inputs. This is a solid feature set in anyone’s language and the IMap software is designed to provide a link across different types of operating systems across a network in a simplistic user friendly GUI – a link that allows leveraging of the existing capabilities of the PDR range. According to Pacific Communications sales manager, Rob Rosa, Pacific Communications is further committed to the development of IMAP with the future Road Map that will see the incorporation of a large number of additional features. “First will be PTZ control,” says Rosa. “Then we’ll be looking at the ability to use the Tab key to go through property fields, the ability to use the Tab key to go through the property fields, the ability to clear hyperlink images without deleting hyperlink itself, the ability to overlay the hyperlink name on top of hyperlink image or position it somewhere, and the ability to sort the event log panel at the bottom by the heading. “A combination of current and future abilities combined with the capabilities of the DPR range make IMap a streamlined and intuitive solution,” Rosa says.