Both VideoFOCUS Pro 13.1 and VFSource Version 13.1 are now in general release and are available for download and installation under all licenses having a currently-paid maintenance contract*.

Version 13.1 improvements are focused specifically on media export, to include:

• Faster Export: We have engineered significant performance improvement in the export process, which has the net effect of speeding up MP4 export in many circumstances by a factor of 2 or more;
• Export Quality Metrics: Prompted by customer interest in methods or approaches that might be useful to evaluate media quality we have taken the opportunity to leverage the VideoFOCUS export framework to support an ability to calculate and review quality metrics for VideoFOCUS video exports. Video Multi-Method Assessment Fusion (VMAF) is an open source algorithm developed by Netflix to evaluate the impact that video encoding has on the quality of video from the viewer perspective. Detailed information on its implementation in VideoFOCUS Pro (also applicable to VFSource) can be found here;

Features introduced in previous versions of VideoFOCUS Pro, which are all inherited by Version 13.1, include:

• Version 13.0: An initial neural net-based Video Object Search capability has been implemented to enable the examiner to identify and isolate brief appearance of specific objects (people and vehicles) within long periods of surveillance video. To date the challenge has been that the computation required for effective operation was so significant that the media has to be uploaded to run on remote data center based applications; however, recent improvements in techniques and in computer hardware, specifically GPU performance, has enabled us to offer an inbuilt video search capability in VideoFOCUS that runs directly on the examiner’s workstation. Further details and download link for VideoFOCUS Pro 13.0 are available here;
• Version 12.0: The concept of “folders” has been added to the session list for each case, allowing imported media items, processed items, and export items in the session list to be separated into folders rather than having everything in a single “flat” list as in all previous VideoFOCUS versions. Further details and download link for VideoFOCUS Pro 12.0 are available here;
• Version 11.x: A new low-level video processing architecture improves the interactive performance with uncropped HD and UHD media while providing exported output where each operation in the case has been applied at full original resolution. This behavior is entirely transparent to the user and is automatically applied during the export step. Additionally, an initial “toolbar” has been added to the main UI player that implements commonly-used editing operations as direct, single-click actions rather than opening a window. Further details and download link for VideoFOCUS Pro 11.1 are available here;
• Version 10.x: A “QuickClip” feature has been added to allow the user to directly produce MP4 export media from time and view selections of source media that have been imported or captured without the delay or potential quality impact of re-compression. Additionally, the original screen capture functionality that dated all the way back to the original 1.0 version has been completely re-written as the new “Quick Capture” to support capturing any HD or 4K video that is played by another application on the workstation screen, via the GPU resources that are available in modern graphics cards. The user interface has also been greatly improved and streamlined. Further details and download link for VideoFOCUS Pro 10.1 are available here;

Please watch for our automated support messages informing of new releases, and also periodically check our support website for the newest versions of VideoFOCUS as they become available.

* Any previously-purchased VideoFOCUS license is eligible to gain entitlement to all new versions for one future year with the purchase of a 1YR maintenance contract. To request a quotation to renew maintenance on your VideoFOCUS license, please complete and submit the online form and either we or your in-country dealer will respond as soon as possible.

Having completed the initial beta testing period, both VideoFOCUS Pro and VFSource Version 7.0 are now in general release and are available for download and installation under all licenses having a current maintenance contract*.

In addition to numerous improvements to the user interface and support for some additional DVR formats, the new features of VideoFOCUS Pro include:

• Automatic Reporting, which produces a PDF report detailing the properties of each item being reported, all steps required to reproduce, hashes (both SHA1 and SHA-256) for all imported and exported media items, plus user-editable text fields under Case Properties and Session Properties that provide notes for the overall case and each item along with the agency name, examiner name, case number, and case title;
• Macro Function, enabling any set of actions taken on one piece of media to be quickly applied to other similar media, without the user having to repeat the same actions in the user interface;
• Unified Export Window, supporting the simultaneous export of multiple images, video, and audio, with separate tabs allowing independent format selection for each type and a detailed PDF report being automatically produced and saved along with the items (if enabled);
• Improved Item Labeling and Tooltips, providing a more consistent methodology for the labeling of items created by filters, modifications, edits, etc.;
• Independent Time Zone Setting for Each Case under the new File->Case Properties menu item, a helpful function for examiners who work on cases originating from across multiple time zones, and;
• Cases Now Described Through a Standardized Text File, not a version-specific binary file as in previous versions, enabling new cases created in versions 7.0 onward to be opened with later versions.

Please watch for our automated support messages informing of new releases, and also periodically check our support website for the newest versions of VideoFOCUS as they become available.

* Under Upgrade Amnesty, any previously-purchased VideoFOCUS license is now eligible to gain entitlement to all new versions for one future year with the purchase of a 1YR maintenance contract. To request a quotation to renew maintenance on your VideoFOCUS license, please complete and submit the online form and either we or your in-country dealer will respond as soon as possible.