Audio with Vivotek VS7100 (video server)

PAguy
PAguy
edited September 2013 in SecuritySpy
Hi,

I've been using SecuritySpy with various cameras for years and I love it. The only issue I'm having is trying to bring in audio with a Vivotek VS7100. It offers the possibility of audio in either GSM or AAC format, but when setting up the server in SS, my only options for bringing in audio are the usual Built-In Mic (i.e., my computer/server) or Soundflower. Other IP cameras I use have their own audio feeds show up as an option.

Is there something I'm not configuring/setting correctly to get audio from the server? If audio isn't available, is there a similarly priced video server that I should use instead?

(My current server/computer is a 2013 Macbook Air, with OS X 10.8.4, but I've tried it with my other macs as well. SecuritySpy version 3.1.1. I know the Vivotek is meant to be used with Windows, but I had no trouble setting it up initially with my Mac, and the video portion of the Vivotek works just fine with SS).

Thanks!

Comments

  • PAguy
    PAguy
    Oh, I should add this because I'm sure it matters: Video on the VS7100 works great if set for JPEG. If I set it for MPEG-4, SecuritySpy no longer gets video. That again makes me think I have something configured incorrectly. Thanks!
  • Ben
    Ben
    Hi,

    Can you please try this: set the video server to MPEG-4 mode and in the Video Device Settings window in SecuritySpy, select "Vivotek Multi-Stream Fixed" as the device type and "MPEG-4 RTSP" as the format. You should then have an option in the Audio section of the Camera Settings window called "Network audio" that will pull in the audio from the device.

    Does that work?
  • PAguy
    PAguy
    Yes that seemed to do it! Thanks Ben!
  • Ben
    Ben
    Great, thanks for letting us know. I'll enable these features (MPEG-4 and audio) for the actual VS7100 profile in the next version of SecuritySpy (3.1.2, out soon), but for now there's no disadvantage using the generic Vivotek profile you are now using.
  • PAguy
    PAguy
    Thanks so much, I really appreciate it!

    One other note: when I record with the Vivotek after you helped me, it all works nicely. There's a slight high-pitched whine in the tone, but frankly that may well be an issue with the Vivotek itself. I have to bring home my work PC tomorrow to upgrade the firmware on the Vivotek since I can't on my Macs.

    Anyway... recording works great. However, when I monitor the audio from my Mac by pressing the speaker icon in the Camera Status window, there's a shrill pulsing sound and the sound in that room is sped up very quickly, almost as if listening to an old audio tape on fast forward--very strange. Perhaps the firmware upgrade will fix that too, but I just thought I'd mention it.
  • Ben
    Ben
    The high-pitched whine sounds like it's down to the video server, however the shrill pulsing sound could be a problem with the way that SecuritySpy is interpreting the audio data for live playthrough. Does this occur with all the available streaming formats on the video server? You mentioned that you can choose between both GSM and AAC - please try them both.

    If it is a problem with SecuritySpy then ideally we'd like to get this fixed, however we don't have one of these devices here to test with. If you are able to put your device online for us temporarily so that we can test it, please email us, as this would be very helpful.
  • PAguy
    PAguy
    Interesting...

    I tried what you said, and in fact after updating the firmware I had a third option for audio, which is G.711.

    So, even after updating, the AAC method still makes the audio come through at triple or more speed (but is still fine on recordings). The GSM option makes the audio coming though the server sound like streaming music on a 14.4k modem--in the right pitch but very garbled. G.711 (which I've never heard of before today) makes it come through essentially perfectly. There's a lower-pitch hum than with the AAC--I'd estimate around 360 Hz or so; the AAC whine was like 2k Hz or so--but it's not that loud compared to the audio in the room itself. (And again, the recordings made with the G.711 option sound fine.

    In fact, the high pitched whine in AAC is probably the same one I'm hearing in G.711 just sped up exactly like the rest of the audio.

    Not sure how I could put you through to the Vivotek online without breaching security protocols here, but I'll give it some thought.

    Thanks again!
  • Ben
    Ben
    Very interesting! G.711 is a nice low-bandwidth 2:1 compression format which is OK quality and very quick to encode and decode, so it's a good choice.

    AAC is much more sophisticated and there must be something with the way that SecuritySpy deals with this audio that is causing the playback strangeness. Don't worry about putting your device online for now, I'll try testing with all the Vivotek devices we have here to see if I can reproduce the same problem with the AAC audio. It must be something simple, since the recorded files sound fine.

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