Subscriber Discussion

Universal Surveillance Joystick?

TF
Tiago Fioreze
Aug 27, 2013

Is there an "universal" joystick that: 1) can be integrated with most well-known VMSes (Milestone, Genetec, and Avigilon to be more precise) and 2) supported by most OSes (Windows, Linux, and Mac OS)?

Some joysticks I'm aware of, such as AXIS T8310 and the CH products, seem to be widely used, but not universal in the sense it can be programmed to operate various VMSes and supported by various OSes.

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Jon Swatzell
Aug 27, 2013
IPVMU Certified

Most likely you will need to write a middleware applicaiton and map the commands coming out of the keyboard (HEX probably if its a traditional CCTV keyboard, and DirectInput if its a USB keyboard) to the interface that the camera or the VMS exposes to control telemetry and/or VMS GUI layout.

In general you should be able to do this with DirectInput and an off-the-shelf USB joystick, Visual Studio has libraries for it.

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Carl Lindgren
Aug 27, 2013

It's not the joystick, it's the VMS. Joysticks like the Axis T8310 are basically universal (as are other USB joysticks), however, the VMS must be able to accept commands from them. Therein lies the problem. Many VMS manufacturers either would prefer to sell their own proprietary joystick or one for which they have specifically written drivers.

TF
Tiago Fioreze
Aug 28, 2013

That's is an interesting information, gents! I was not aware of it. I thought it was the other way around to be honest.

Thanks for sharing it!

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