Talk:Privacy Button 2020-Present

Overview

From time to time an IVS customer may have the need to use one of their VALT Rooms without the capacity to view live or record. Or, they may run sessions that contain sensitive information from time to time, which they do not captured in a recording. In this case, we can configure cameras for Privacy Mode, which blankets the screen with a black video overlay and omits all audio from the stream.

The Privacy Switch is a customizable solution for placing VALT cameras in Privacy Mode - a physical button to engage this option.

These instructions are written for use with a camera with 4 I/O ports (6 pin phoenix connector). Port 1 and 2 (pins 3 and 4) are reserved for use with the VALT Recording Start/Stop button.

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Compatible Cameras and Wire Diagrams

The privacy switch should be usable with any AXIS camera with at least one free input and one free output. The camera must be running firmware version 5.50 or higher.

Click on the  icon to see the diagram. 

Axis P1364/65

Axis P3235-LVE

Axis P3245 or 3265

Axis P3301

Axis P3304

Axis P3364/P3365*

Axis P3374-V/P3375-V*

Axis Q3504/05 MK II

Axis Q3518

Axis P3935-LR

Axis F41 or F91

Axis P5414-E/P5415-E

Axis M5525 or 5526

Axis P5635-E MK II

Axis P5655

Axis Q8414-LVS*

* These cameras can only be used with a single ancillary device (ie: Button or privacy switch). To use these with a camera that does not have 4 I/O ports, you will need to adjust the event rules.

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Required Parts and Tools

• VALT Privacy Switch and Face Plate
• Mud Ring or Single Gang Box
• Wire Cutters/Strippers
• 22/4 solid unshielded plenum cable
• Jab Saw (used to cut hole)
• Wire fishing poles or tape

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Installation Instructions

1. Determine if the button will be mounted outside the entrance of the room or at a specified location in the room.
2. Using a stud finder, scan the mounting location to ensure the device is not mounted on a stud.
3. Cut a hole into the drywall, large enough to fit the mud ring into it securely.

   

4. Cut a hole in the wall where the privacy switch will be mounted.
5. Insert the mud ring into the hole, and attach it.
6. Run 22/4 from the camera to the hole.
7. Strip the outer insulation from both ends of the 22/4.

   

8. Strip approximately 1/4 inch of insulation off of each wire in the 22/4 on the camera side

   

9. Insert the wires into the IO connector on the camera according to the chart below. (For a camera with a 4-pin I/O phoenix connector, use pins 3 and 4 instead of 5 and 6.)

   

   Pin 1: Green

   Pin 2: Red

   Pin 5: Yellow

   Pin 6: Black

   See the chart at the end of this section for a direct mapping between the switch and I/O connector

10. Strip approximately 1/2 inch of insulation off each wire in the 22/4 on the switch side.

    

11. Attach the switch to the mud ring.
12. Splice the wires to the switch according to the chart below.

    

* Connections should be made with B connectors

Wiring Map

Privacy Switch	Lead Color	Phoenix Connector
Switch	Green	Pin 1
+	Red	Pin 2
Switch	Blue	Pin 5
-	Black	Pin 6

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Configuring a Privacy Switch

Prepare all Cameras

On each camera in the room:

1. Set the I/O Ports
2. Set the PTZ Presets
3. Set the Privacy Mask

Set the I/O Ports

The Input/Output (I/O) ports will be wired to the Privacy Switch. These are used to determine which mode the camera should be in and outputs power to the Privacy Switch to light up the LED.

1. Go to System → Accessories^🖼️.
2. Ensure that Ports 1 & 3 are set as Input and 2 & 4 are set as Output.

Port 1	Input		Port 2	Output
Port 3	Input		Port 4	Output

✎

Some cameras will only have ports 1 & 2.

Image Example

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Set the PTZ Presets

If there are any PTZ cameras in the room, you will need to set the preset positions on those cameras. These locations will help drive the camera to its Privacy Position and Home Position.

1. Pan/Tilt/Zoom your camera to the desired angle.
2. Go to PTZ → Preset Positions^🖼️.
3. Select Preset Positions → Create preset position^🖼️.
1. Home
• Set a typical angle that would capture the room normally.
✎
The Home preset may already exist. If this is the case, hit the Edit button on the existing Home preset instead of creating a new preset.
• In the Name field enter Home.
2. Privacy
• Typically, this involves having the PTZ face the wall.
✎
The exact position does not matter for functionality, but having the camera visibly face the wall can help to ensure visual privacy even if the mask is off.
• In the Name field enter Privacy.

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Set the Privacy Mask

The Privacy Mask will be used to block the view

While your camera is in the Privacy Position:

1. Video → Privacy Masks^🖼️ → Hit the plus (+) button to add a Mask.
2. Have the mask cover the entire view.
3. Name the mask Privacy.

Make sure this is the first/only mask.

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Add Recipients

The privacy switch is driven by custom rules/events created on the camera. These rules are sent to all cameras through Recipients.

Add Self

1. Go to System → Events^🖼️ → Recipients^🖼️.
2. Select Add Recipient.
3. In the Name field, enter Self as the name of the camera.
4. In the Type^🖼️ field, select HTTP.
5. The URL^🖼️ of the recipient will be in the form:

http://CAMERA_IP/axis-cgi/param.cgi

Image Example

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Add Remote Cameras

If there is more than one camera in thme setup, be sure to add additional recipients. This will allow you to create additional rules later to tell thme remote cameras what to do when privacy is enabled/disabled.

All Remote Recipients

Repeat the steops from Add Self, but change the Name to Remote.

Remote PTZ Recipients

For remote PTZ cameras, separate PTZ Control recipients need to be made alongside the standard recipient of the form:

http://CAMERA_IP/axis-cgi/com/ptz.cgi

Image Example

1. Enter in the corresponding Username and Password for the recipient camera.
2. Hit the Test button.
3. If the camera responds that everything is okay, hit the Save button to save your recipient.
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Repeat this process on all PTZ cameras in the room that the privacy switch would be activating.

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Add Privacy Event Rules

Privacy On

1. Go to System → Events^🖼️ → Rules^🖼️.
2. Select Add a rule.
3. Set Name to Privacy On.
4. Set Condition to Digital input is active or I/O → Digital input. (Firmware Dependent)
5. In the Port section, select the port the privacy switch trigger is connected to (white wire).
6. Set Action to Send notification through HTTP.
7. Set the Recipient.
8. The Query string suffix will be of the form name=value for each parameter name and value, with an ampersand (&) between each name/value pair.

The suffix should be composed of the following pairs:

Fixed & PTZ
Name	Value
action	update
Image.I0.Overlay.MaskWindows.M0.Enabled	yes
AudioSource.A0.InputGain	mute
PTZ Only
Name	Value
PTZ.Various.V1.PanEnabled	false
PTZ.Various.V1.TiltEnabled	false
PTZ.Various.V1.ZoomEnabled	false

Image Example

The completed suffix should be (ignore word wrapping):

action=update&Image.I0.Overlay.MaskWindows.M0.Enabled=yes&AudioSource.A0.InputGain=mute&PTZ.Various.V1.PanEnabled=false&PTZ.Various.V1.TiltEnabled=false&PTZ.Various.V1.ZoomEnabled=false

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Privacy Off

1. Go to System → Events^🖼️ → Rules^🖼️.
2. Select Add a rule.
3. Set Name to Privacy Off.
4. Set Condition to Digital input is active or I/O → Digital input. (Firmware Dependent)
5. Check the box Invert this condition.
6. In the Port section, select the port the privacy switch trigger is connected to (white wire).
7. Set Action to Send notification through HTTP.
8. Set the Recipient.
9. The Query string suffix will be of the form name=value for each parameter name and value, with an ampersand (&) between each name/value pair.

The suffix should be composed of the following pairs:

Fixed & PTZ
Name	Value
action	update
Image.I0.Overlay.MaskWindows.M0.Enabled	no
AudioSource.A0.InputGain	0
PTZ Only
Name	Value
PTZ.Various.V1.PanEnabled	true
PTZ.Various.V1.TiltEnabled	true
PTZ.Various.V1.ZoomEnabled	true
autofocus	on

Image Example

The completed suffix should be (ignore word wrapping):

action=update&Image.I0.Overlay.MaskWindows.M0.Enabled=no&AudioSource.A0.InputGain=0&PTZ.Various.V1.PanEnabled=true&PTZ.Various.V1.TiltEnabled=true&PTZ.Various.V1.ZoomEnabled=true 

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Set AudioSource.A0.InputGain to the amount of gain necessary for the room. For example, if the camera's input gain would normally be set to 15 dB, the name/value pair should be AudioSource.A0.InputGain=15.

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LED Toggle

On the Host Camera:

1. Go to System → Events^🖼️ → Rules^🖼️.
2. Select Add a rule.
3. Set Name to LED Toggle.
4. Set Condition to Digital input is active or I/O → Digital input. (Firmware Dependent)
5. In the Port section, select the port the privacy switch trigger is connected to (white wire).
6. Set Action to Toggle I/O while the rule is active.
7. Set the Action Port to the port the privacy switch LED is connected to (black wire).
8. Set the Action State to Active.

Image Example

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PTZ Rules

The following rules will be used to move the camera to a privacy location when privacy is enabled, and then move to a home location once privacy is disabled.

PTZ Privacy

1. Go to System → Events^🖼️ → Rules^🖼️.
2. Select Add a rule.
3. Set Name to the camera name with PTZ Privacy Position.
4. Set Condition to Digital input is active or I/O → Digital input. (Firmware Dependent)
5. In the Port section, select the port the privacy switch trigger is connected to (white wire).
6. Set Action to Send notification through HTTP.
7. Set the Recipient to be the proper PTZ Controls Recipient.
8. The Query string suffix should be: gotoserverpresetname=Privacy

Image Example

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PTZ Home

1. Go to System → Events^🖼️ → Rules^🖼️.
2. Select Add a rule.
3. Set Name to the camera name with PTZ Home Position.
4. Set Condition to Digital input is active or I/O → Digital input. (Firmware Dependent)
5. Check the box Invert this condition.
6. In the Port section, select the port the privacy switch trigger is connected to (white wire).
7. Set Action to Send notification through HTTP.
8. Set the Recipient to be the proper PTZ Controls Recipient.
9. The Query string suffix should be: gotoserverpresetname=Home

Image Example

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