Eco Live View in ACTi NVR 3: Intelligent Multi-Stream Live View Optimization
ACTi’s NVR 3 introduces Eco Live View, an advanced live view optimization mechanism designed to reduce the decoding and rendering workload on client workstations. The feature addresses a common operational challenge in video management environments: maintaining smooth, real-time multi-channel monitoring when operators display a large number of concurrent camera feeds.
In conventional VMS architectures, live viewing typically relies on either the primary recording stream (high resolution) or a secondary stream (lower resolution) from the camera. While traditional dual-stream strategies significantly improve decoding efficiency compared to single-stream designs, system performance can still degrade when the live view includes high channel counts. In these scenarios, the client computer may experience excessive CPU usage, memory saturation, and reduced responsiveness, often resulting in poor frame rates or unstable live view playback.
Eco Live View extends the dual-stream concept by leveraging the capabilities of modern IP cameras that support triple-streaming or multi-streaming. NVR 3 dynamically evaluates the selected live view layout—such as 4×4, 6×6, or 8×8 grids—and determines the effective display size of each camera tile. Since the required display resolution differs significantly between layouts, the system intelligently selects the most appropriate camera stream for each tile based on the stream’s resolution and the grid cell size.
For example, in an 8×8 layout, each camera view occupies a relatively small portion of the screen. In this case, NVR 3 may automatically select a lower-resolution stream—such as a fourth stream at approximately 240×160—when available. This resolution is often sufficient for the tile size while dramatically reducing decoding requirements. As a result, the workstation maintains stable performance, smooth frame rates, and reliable usability even during high-density live monitoring.
By contrast, in systems without Eco Live View, resource limitations are often handled through reactive degradation. When workstation resources become insufficient, live view playback may drop to extremely low frame rates (e.g., 1 fps), which negatively impacts situational awareness and operator efficiency.
Eco Live View also preserves investigative capability by supporting automatic stream switching. When an operator clicks a camera tile to enter a larger single-channel view, NVR 3 automatically transitions to a higher-quality stream (typically the recording stream) to provide maximum visual detail for close inspection. When the operator returns to a multi-channel layout, the system reevaluates the grid configuration and resumes live view stream optimization.
Eco Live View is supported across the majority of ACTi camera models. More than 95% of ACTi’s current camera portfolio supports at least triple-streaming, and many models provide additional stream options. Furthermore, for third-party cameras connected through ONVIF, NVR 3 can detect available streaming capabilities and apply the same adaptive selection logic to optimize client performance.
