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Setting up and Configuring vDisplay IP Engines
Configuring Channels
When configuring your vDisplay IP engine unicast or multicast video network, you can create up to 32
streaming channels to display images from multiple video sources on
one
display device. A streaming
channel is defined as a UDP destination port and a destination IP address and is created to allow you to
view streaming video from a specific video source.
The options for creating channels are available only in the
Guru
and
Expert
visibility level.
The video stream for a selected channel can be displayed if you have previously configured the camera, or
other video source, to stream the video to a specific port and IP address; you must also have configured
the vDisplay IP engine to receive the video stream at that specific port and IP address.
Bandwidth Considerations
The vDisplay IP engine has a single Gigabit link. When you configure and use multiple vDisplay IP
engine channels, you should consider the impact these channels have when they share the Ethernet
bandwidth.
Channels receiving unicast streams from cameras always receive data, even when the channels are not
selected and displayed.
Channels receiving multicast video transmissions use the Ethernet bandwidth more efficiently. Only the
selected multicast channel receives streaming video from the multicast group. When you switch from a
channel that is currently receiving a multicast video transmission, the vDisplay IP engine sends an
IGMP
Leave
message to the switch, indicating that this channel is leaving the multicast group. When the
network switch receives the
IGMP Leave
message, it removes the current vDisplay IP engine channel
from this multicasting group. If the new channel is receiving a multicast video transmission, the vDisplay
IP engine sends an
IGMP Join
message to the network switch. When the network switch receives the
IGMP Join
message, it adds the vDisplay IP engine to the multicasting group, and the video streams from
the multicasting group flows to the new vDisplay IP engine channel.
In some cases, some smaller switches do not handle IGMP messages properly and, after switching one
multicast channel to another, the previous multicasting stream is still sent to the to the vDisplay IP
engine. When unselected channels receive video streams, the vDisplay IP engine ignores these packets but
they still share the bandwidth of the single Gigabit link. This could impact the latency or performance of
the selected channel.
