Add Devices Using Autodiscovery

Use automatic device discovery feature to find all available devices. This method is of great help when dealing with large amounts of cameras, and also when exact addresses of devices are not available.

To access the configuration dialog box from Macula Console, open Configuration section and select Devices in the menu on the left; in the upper panel, click down arrow near New device button and then select Find devices.

Scan Parameters

First, select scan mode; the following options are available:

• scan IP address range: specify a continuous LAN segment to be scanned

• scan network adapter address range: select one or more network interfaces to be fully scanned

• scan attached devices: the local hardware system will be scanned for capture boards and Direct Show video sources

If you have chosen to search for IP video sources, you should review additional connection settings and change or update them, if required:

• ports: HTTP ports, comma separated

• user credentials: pairs of comma-separated user names and passwords, one pair per line

Use the Reset button below to discard all changes and start entering scan parameters again. When you are ready, press OK button below to begin scanning.

Device Autodiscovery

After scanning has been completed, you will be taken to the Device Autodiscovery dialog box, which will allow you to review the found devices and their channels, and enter/modify related settings. Use the Search field in the upper-right-hand corner to find a specific device by name, model, IP, port or hardware ID (for IP devices, ID includes MAC address).

There are two types of selection in the item list: checkboxes and color highlight. Checkboxes are used to choose the items to be added to server configuration after you close the dialog box; highlighted items are subject to immediate properties changes. Use CTRL+click or Shift+click to select all or several items at once to change their settings.

Click a device in the item list to load its settings into the Device Properties window. Note that some settings may be missing for some of the automatically found devices; this depends mostly on device and whether user data was correctly provided. In such cases, simply fill in the missing data manually and click the Apply button below to save the configuration changes.

If device is not integrated with the software (native support), it may be detected as generic type (e.g., ONVIF). If you think some devices have not been discovered, check if they have different HTTP ports; also, try adding them manually.

If the device cannot be matched with a model in the list and it also does not respond as generic ONVIF, it may be discovered as Unknown; in that case, try settings its model manually to the closest one (from the Suggested models), or try Generic RTSP and specify an RTSP URL in the channel settings. This may happen to devices that are not listed as an exact model and are also old enough not to support ONVIF Profile S.

Setting	Description	Default value
Device name	User-defined video source name	Autodetected model + IP, empty if not detected
Model	Device manufacturer and model, or generic type	Autodetected vendor and model, empty if not detected
Host	Device IP address	Autodetected
Port	Device HTTP port	Autodetected
Username	Device user credentials; note that you have to provide administrative profile credentials in order to be able to change device settings via software interface	Appropriate username from provided list or autodetected
Password	Device user password	Appropriate password from provided list or autodetected

Make sure you select all the devices you wish to add by putting a checkmark next to them. Devices with missing configuration (model and/or IP) are unchecked by default and will not be added to active server configuration.

If the autodiscovery does not find any cameras or all of them are Generic ONVIF instead of proper models:

• check models

• check IPs and passwords and ports

make sure that the UPnP Device Host service is functioning properly on your system.

Switch to Channels tab to review the detected video channels of the discovered devices: this is particularly important if you are using multichannel devices, e.g., capture boards and encoders. Use the Search field in the upper-right-hand corner to find specific channels by name or device name.

Here you can edit the channel name and assign recording configuration. By default, recording is enabled for all channels: click the Change button near Recording settings to manage recording profiles and assign them to your channels. To add a new recording profile, click the + New recording configuration button below; you can find more details about recording profiles in the corresponding section. Click OK to save and return back to devices and channels; click Apply to save configuration changes.

After changing the channel recording configuration, do not forget to click Apply, otherwise the changes will not take effect.

Recording configuration here is assigned to the main streams of the target channels. In order to set up substream recording, please go to channel configuration.

Click the Start device search button above at any time to restart device discovery.

All previously discovered devices and all configuration changes will be discarded if you restart camera autodiscovery.

When you are ready, click the Add selected devices and channels button below; all checked devices will be added with selected corresponding channels. Newly added devices and channels will be added to the item list.

Use the buttons on the upper panel to manage your devices. You can now add new devices and/or device groups, launch autodiscovery again, assign devices to groups, as well as removing both devices and groups.

When deleting devices, remember that corresponding channels will not be removed at the same time and therefore your newly discovered devices may not be added due to license limitation. Go to the Channels tab to manage them separately.