The bench test (2): Quality hardware, weak software

The Netwave from Aspro Europe fits into the latter category; inside the huge, heavy and quite possibly bomb-proof case there lurks a more or less routine Windows PC with a 1GHz Athlon processor, 256Mb of RAM and a hard disk drive with a capacity of 80Gb (or more, depending on the model). The operating system is Windows NT and it is available with up to three plug-in video processor boards, allowing a total of 16 channels of video for simultaneous record, playback, transmission and archiving (the latter to hard disk or an optional CD-R/W drive).

Managing the whole kit is Netwave Server, a utility and control program responsible for video processing, scheduling, alarms and communications. The video side breaks down into several distinct areas (including displaying the camera inputs in a variety of formats and compressing the data before it is recorded), playback, searching and data archiving.

At the higher compression settings the supplied 80Gb drive should hold several weeks worth of data, which can be overwritten or archived either when it's full or at regular intervals. Scheduling covers a lot of ground, including setting recording times and archiving. The Alarm facilities include up to 16 external alarm inputs and outputs, built-in motion detection for each camera channel and event logging. Communications facilities include linking the unit to a local area network or the Internet for remote control and access plus alarm notification via email, fax or printer. Additionally it can control PTZ cameras. There are nine levels of security and because it is based on standard PC architecture it is a relatively easy matter to update or upgrade the system or components.

The rack-mount case is extraordinarily well built and weighs a ton. Access to the front panel controls, CR-ROM (CD R/W in our case) and floppy drives is via a locked hinged flap. Around the back we encounter the first of several problems. The rear panel is largely familiar, with the usual array of PC-type connections (VGA monitor output, keyboard and mouse sockets, serial, parallel, USB ports etc). The extras are the alarm input ( via a 25-pin D-Sub socket) and the video input/processor boards. Each has a pair of BNC sockets and a 15-pin D-Sub connector. For some bizarre reason, on a three-board/16 channel setup camera inputs 1, 2 and 3 are assigned to three BNC sockets while the rest have to go via three custom-made 'breakout' cables, each with a D-sub plug on one end and five 'flying' BNC line sockets. The three remaining BNC sockets carry switched video from all camera inputs. This kind of arrangement is over-complicated, inconvenient, does nothing to improve reliability and suggests hasty or careless design.

Inside the case the standard of construction is impressive, with a heavy-duty chassis and bracing struts everywhere. It is built to withstand anything it is likely to encounter in an industrial/commercial installation, probably including small earthquakes, judging by the gauge of the metalwork. Setup and installation are largely taken care of by the operating system and software. The system boots up to a normal NT Workstation desktop before the Netwave software is loaded. The operator is then required to enter a password and ID. While Netserver is running, Windows NT retreats into the background and becomes inaccessible until the program is exited, which helps reduce the likelihood of an accidental or deliberate interference. The Netwave desktop has two basic 'views'; in normal use it fills most of the screen area with live off-camera images, which can be in single camera full-screen, quad, 4 x 4 or a variety of customisable multi-screen layouts. In this mode the menu and taskbars, showing a number of status indicators, remain on display.

In the setup or control mode the camera window shrinks and additional tool and control boxes appear down the side and along the bottom of the screen. Much of the screen is taken over by a disproportionately large row of camera selectors on the right side that occupies almost a third of the screen area. It is used to set up the layout of the camera display, by dragging and dropping the 'buttons' into the position you want the image to appear. It is a cumbersome method, not quick or easy to use. The other toolbar, at the bottom of the screen, is also wasteful of space and crudely implemented, with buttons for selecting the screen layout and a disk usage bargraph on the left, and camera controls (PTZ etc) on the right.

To get Netwave into the record mode it is necessary to click the Record icon then select the cameras from the list, set record quality and the OK button. Outwardly this doesn't appear to be a problem but there are two concerns; firstly the settings are not remembered so if you come out of record mode for any reason you have to go through the whole palaver again. Secondly, if there is a power interruption the way the software is configured it can't reboot to a fail-safe recording mode. Playback is equally convoluted, though for different reasons. Clicking the Play icon brings up a useful Search window that lists all recorded events by time and date criteria. There is also an AutoSearch mode tied into the motion sensing utility. However, once a recorded block has been selected a non-resizable viewing window appears on the screen. Unfortunately its not very large (around 1/3 full screen), it only shows one camera at a time and there are no quad or multi-screen options. The only alternative is 'All' where the camera channels are flashed in rapid sequence. This is compounded by crude playback controls; to use the variable speed playback control or move quickly to another part of the recording using a 'timeline' slider, playback has to be paused. The upshot of all this is that it makes analysing a sequence of events captured by several cameras a major operation; even playing back detail from a single camera channel can be hard work on the mouse finger!

Archiving is another unexpectedly awkward operation. The inclusion of a CD-R/W drive looks promising and it should be an easy way to download files to a CD-R disk. Sadly Netwave's own archiving abilities appear to be confined to shifting data between partitions on the hard disk drive as it failed to recognise the CD-writer as a storage device. This may explain why a copy of the CD recording utility Nero Burning was bundled with the system. Netwave uses the JPEG compression scheme but it looks like a proprietary encoding system as recordings cannot be played back using standard viewer software. Moreover recordings held on CD-ROM cannot be played directly from disk but have to be imported back to the hard disk as 'clip' files. The manual doesn't go into detail about any of this (the program's own Help files are even vaguer), assuming the operator will know all about finer points of recording CD-ROMs. Nor does it have anything to say about how or why recordings are organised as two files per clip (one info, the other data). This is just one of several problems we encountered with the Instruction Manual; we hope the one we were issued with was a very early draft.

The wordy prose makes it harder to read and the layout could do with tidying up, as in several places diagrams and text do not marry up. And it appears to be in need of revision as several of the menu screens were significantly different to the ones shown and this included part of the window concerned with setting the record frame rate. Some of the menus and dialogue boxes are poorly thought out, not very intuitive, or they disappear before you have finished with them. It can get annoying, especially if you are used to the slick presentation of commercial Windows software.

  Not being able to set the recording frame rate separately seems like an oversight but the amount of data recorded can be adjusted using the 'recording quality' slider in the Record setup window. At the highest setting it is very good, comparable with S-VHS tape and most other rival hard disk recording systems, however, it is difficult to make too many comparisons on a PC monitor due to the limitation on re-sizing the replay screen. At the lowest quality setting the contrast range narrows noticeably, leaving colours blotched and blocky and there is a marked reduction in detail. Nevertheless the image is quite useable and still better than a well-used VHS time-lapse recorder. The image is normally very stable though our sample appeared to be quite touchy with video input levels and the image on one camera input channel occasionally lost lock (on both live view and replay).

What the manufacturer says ...
The Netwave offers all of the features of today's digital video recorders and more – without the high price tag. This makes it the ideal digital CCTV solution, especially for installations making the transition from an analogue system to a digital one. From one to 16 cameras, the Netwave combines the functionality of a recorder and a multiplexer into a high quality, fully featured digital video management system without the bulky tapes or continuous maintenance. With a minimum of 80 GB hard drive space, the Netwave can be configured to record up to four to six weeks continuously. Available in six, 12 or 16 input configurations, the Netwave is ideal for both large and small installations. Scalable architecture allows the Netwave to manage virtually any number of cameras from any number of sites. Additional features include: user-friendly interface; context sensitive help system; multiple camera views; secure system administration with operator lock-out; AccuSearch (motion search); multi-task scheduling; flexible system configurations; and multiple event logging.