Video Scramblers

Hindsight

What is HindSight?
HindSight is a system for recording and playing back digital video, but it is more than just a digital VCR! Going digital has allowed us to add features that analogue VCRs just do not have, such as automatic indexing and sending video over a computer network.

HindSight digitises, compresses and stores video onto a hard disk. HindSight can also log supplementary information such as data from a card key and store the data synchronised to the video. HindSight's advanced event and alarm handling features to allow you to record what you want before, during and after an alarm condition. HindSight can distribute the stored information over a local area network and includes powerful tools to convert captured video into standard PC formats which enable you to use a standard PC to display and print video frames, and to view video real-time using a plug-in decompression board.

What Advantages does HindSight Give me?
Pre-trigger capture: HindSight allows you to see what happened before an alarm condition. HindSight will record live video continuously to a buffer. If something triggers an alarm, then the buffer shows what happened before the event and is saved for you to analyse later. You can configure how much video data you want to save before and after the event. If no alarm occurs you can save any proportion of the video in the buffer (like a timelapse VCR) from none to live video.

Synchronised Data Logging: HindSight allows you to log information along with the stored video, for example synchronise the amount rung up on a till with video data, or who operated a card entry system, or an alarm going off. When you want to view the video data our powerful display software allows you to go straight to the point on the recording you want, so you don't have to watch hours of video where nothing happens. Just select a time or an event from the log, and go straight to it! If you have archived the image to tape, the log software can tell you which tape it is on, wind the tape to the correct place and copy it to hard disk for fast access and review. Multiple HindSight systems can be synchronised together or with other systems using a single timing pulse.

Simple Local Operation: You can operate HindSight like a video-recorder (Play, Stop, Variable speed FF and RW, Pause, Single Field Advance, Single Field Back, Reverse Play and PRINT), either by using a keypad or by closing contacts.

Advanced Local Operation: With the addition of a PC monitor, keyboard and mouse HindSight can be configured and operated using easy to use Windows tools. Advanced configurations also can be loaded from a floppy or remotely.

Remote Operation and Viewing: HindSight can be operated from a standard PC across a LAN with various security options. You can even view recorded video on a remote PC whilst continuing to record!

Video Storage:HindSight is available with a number of storage options. Recording can continue uninterrupted while you change removable media! HindSight is currently available with re-writable cartridges (2.6GBytes per cartridge) and tape storage will follow soon.

Digital Recording: Digital recording means no loss of picture quality due to the storage medium and higher reliability. Video can be duplicated with no loss of quality.

JPEG Compression: JPEG gives you the best compression ratios whilst allowing real-time compression and allowing each field to be viewed without reference to other fields. The compression ratio can be easily changed to give the best trade-off between image quality and the length of video which can be saved to hard disk.

Security Features: Password systems to allow remote control /viewing from certain computers only, at certain times of the day / week. Multiple security levels. Proprietary file format makes data unusable without conversion software, and the conversion software enforces password protection. Video encryption option for high security applications. These features help you to keep control of the data and prevent copies being given to unauthorised persons such as TV companies!

PC Gateway Tools: Software tools are provided to enable systems integrators to take advantage of the many options available on standard PCs. Password protected conversion utilities allow conversion of video to AVI format which can be used on PCs to view real-time video (requires hardware compression / decompression card). Video can be split into individual fields which can be viewed and printed on any PC running Windows or Windows95. Events can be used to trigger other programs, for example an alarm can be used to trigger sending compressed video over a modem to a remote site. Video can be stored onto various media, from a few frames on a floppy to many hours on a DAT tape. Sample configurations are provided for common applications.

Windows Tools Provide: Preview of the effect of compression ratios. Alarm handling and configuration tools. Remote control of multiple HindSight capture systems. Viewing of what is being recorded on remote systems. Database utilities for handling events and archived data. Linking events to position in video. Advanced event handling giving timelapse recording rates from 1 field per day to live video (50 fields per second). Templates for common applications. A command language is provided for producing sophisticated applications, and 'C' libraries are available for complete flexibility.

Other Options: Telemetry control of cameras from host PC. Ruggardised version. Disk options up to 8 GBytes.

Typical Applications
Security: Replacement of Timelapse VCRs, and get to see live video of what happened two minutes before the alarm went off! Record the pass number and video everyone who enters a controlled area. Record the amount that was rung up on a till and synchronise it with a video record.

Medical: Record a video of what your patient was doing synchronised with the output from medical equipment.

Industrial: Synchronise video with what your video recognition system thought it saw! Provide video evidence for feedback in process control, with synchronised data from instruments. See what was happening just before that gauge went into the red!

Others: Any time you want to record video data and synchronise it to some external event, HindSight offers new opportunities!

HindSight is a registered trademark of Ovation Systems Ltd.

Ovation Systems Ltd. has a policy of continual product improvement so we reserve the right to change our specifications. Not all of the features listed above are available on all systems.

Video Scramblers-> Hindsight