7.4 Video Snapshots

Snapshot button

You can send a still frame from any of your site's local video sources to the other site(s) using the SNAPSHOT button on the ViewStation remote control.

This mode lets you send snapshots from one camera and live video from another simultaneously. It is therefore very useful for video presentations. Far sites can see the presenter continuously on one monitor and the snapshot frames on the other. Single snapshots also make small fonts easier to read at the far site(s).

To initiate snapshot mode:

• Press the SNAPSHOT button
• Select a camera by number using the numeric keypad on the remote unit
• Position/zoom the selected camera as required
• Press SNAPSHOT again to send the image to the other sites.

Once the snapshot mode is enabled, a far site will see your still frames on the monitor that normally shows its own outgoing signal, and your live video on the monitor that normally shows its incoming signal. Their own outgoing video will be displayed in a small picture-in-picture screen on their incoming signal monitor, after a few seconds.

If you pick up your ViewStation remote while you have initiated snapshot sending, there will be a still camera icon at the top right of your incoming signal monitor, and an icon representing the video source whose frames are being sent as snapshots at the top left. If your live video is coming from the main (ViewStation) camera, your own live video signal will also appear in a picture-in-picture window on your incoming signal monitor. (Both displays end if you put the remote down.)

This mode is initiated by the site that sends the snapshots. It can be cancelled at a receiving site by activating that site's NEAR camera. Receiving sites will therefore lose the currently displayed snapshot if they adjust their own cameras while snapshots are being sent. The first new snapshot arriving from the sending site will re-establish snapshot mode at the receiving site, however. The mode also times out at the receiving site(s) if the snapshot does not update for several minutes.

The site that is sending snapshots can switch to NEAR camera control without affecting the current snapshot display at the far site(s) (a) in calls placed through the hub or (b) when the sending site's secondary camera is the one providing the live video. If two ViewStations are connected in a point-to-point call and one is sending live video from its main camera, both sites enter normal video display mode if the sender switches to NEAR camera control. (Note that the sender does not need to do this in order to view its outgoing video signal, as that is available in the picture-in-picture preview in this setup).

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