Multi-stream Capabilities

Beginning in version 25.12, Orchid VMS supports three types of active streams: Analytics streams, Default View streams, and Secondary streams. Each of these streams has a specific role, and may be configured with different settings such as recording style, resolution, and frame rate. Since Orchid Recorder and Orchid Hybrid VMS support multiple active streams, Administrators may enable any of these streams for each camera (with different stream settings), to accommodate different recording and viewing requirements. This also provides Users with a variety of streams to choose from when viewing video on the Stage.

Camera Stream Types

Analytics streams (formerly known as Primary streams), provide important data for the system to use. The Recorder uses this data to support motion detection. The Orchid Recorder Analytics Service uses this data to support Orchid AI. If you consider this stream in terms of Orchid AI, it may be set to a low resolution (typically VGA) because Orchid AI doesn’t need anything higher. This low resolution makes the decoding process much cheaper, allowing for a greater number of AI streams on the server. (This additional AI capacity is also boosted by hardware video decoding for NVIDIA GPUs.)

Default View streams, introduced in version 25.12, allow Administrators to configure which camera stream will be viewed on a Player by default. These streams may be configured for higher resolutions for viewing (as opposed to the lower resolution Analytics streams). Users will still have the ability to select a different stream for the Stage, but this provides them with the recommended choice. (Camera summary information for the Default View stream is now used on the Camera Configuration screen, the Servers screen, and the Camera Bag. The system also obtains the preview image from the Default View stream rather than the Analytics stream.)

Secondary streams provide an additional option for recording and viewing video. This option may be best suited for remote viewing. A Secondary stream with a resolution that falls somewhere in the mid-range would be a great choice; the quality is good enough for viewing, but not so high that it is wasted on a screen with 20 other Players.

Overall, IPConfigure recommends the following configuration strategy:

• Set your Analytics streams to a resolution of 640×480 (VGA).
• Set your Default View streams to a higher resolution (suitable for on-premises video review).
• If used, set secondary streams to a resolution around 720p (a mid-range value suitable for remote viewing).
  

*The use of Secondary streams is optional. Additional recording streams will cause an increase in video storage requirements. Consider evaluating your system’s capabilities before implementing secondary recording streams. Check out the “Tips” section below for more information.

Additional Tips

Here are some important things to consider when configuring multiple active streams.

• If you decide to use multiple active streams, and plan to record all of these, keep in mind that all of these streams will consume some amount of disk space.
  • The IPConfigure Design Tool (at calculator.ipconfigure.com) may be used to estimate the amount of disk space you will need to accommodate the streams you are planning to configure. The key parameters to select for each calculation are: number of cameras, image resolution, frames per second, and number of days of storage.
• If you decide to enable secondary streams, consider adding identifiers such as “analytics,” “default,” and “secondary” to the stream names (which will make them easier to identify in places like the System Report.)
• Motion detection can only be performed on Analytics streams. (If a single stream is both the Analytics and the Default View stream, motion detection is available.)
  • Analytics streams may be configured with any of the five available Recording Styles.
  • Secondary streams must be configured with one of the following Recording Styles: Continuous Recording Without Motion Detection or Proxy Only (no video will be recorded).
• Since high-resolution camera streams are more likely to cause problems, consider using lower resolution streams where it suits your needs.
  • The Analytics stream doesn’t need to be high resolution to do its job.
• When you export video on a camera with multiple active streams:
  • You will be able to select which stream to export.
  • If you do not make a selection, the system will export the stream with the highest resolution.