media sdk getting started

Getting started with the Media SDK

The Media SDK (Genetec.Sdk.Media.dll) adds video and audio to a .NET application: live and recorded playback, decoded frames, archived export, file inspection and conversion, PTZ control, audio output, and camera-blocking checks. It is an extension of the Platform SDK. A Media SDK workflow that works with Security Center video and audio runs on a Platform SDK Engine that is logged on to a Directory and uses the entities the Platform SDK resolves. The Platform SDK provides the connection, authentication, and entities; the Media SDK uses them to deliver video and audio.

What you need

• The Security Center SDK installed on the development machine and on every machine that runs the application. Reference the assemblies in place from the installed SDK; the application loads them from that installation at runtime. For the reference pattern, see Referencing SDK assemblies.
• Two assembly references, both from $(GSC_SDK) with Copy Local disabled (<Private>False</Private>): Genetec.Sdk.dll (the Platform SDK) and Genetec.Sdk.Media.dll (the Media SDK).
• An application that targets .NET Framework. The Media SDK is supported only for .NET Framework applications. Target .NET Framework and reference the Media SDK through GSC_SDK (the .NET Framework SDK path), not GSC_SDK_CORE (the .NET 8 path). The DAP Media SDK samples target net481.
• An SDK certificate and a Security Center license that includes Media SDK access.
• The Security Center privileges for the operation you run, such as live video, playback, export, PTZ control, or audio transmission. Media SDK operations run as the logged-on user, so grant that user the privileges each operation needs.

Online and offline components

Most Media SDK components are online: they reach Security Center through a Platform SDK Engine that is logged on to a Directory as a user with the required privileges. Create and log on the Engine with the Platform SDK, then supply it to the component. For the connection, see Getting started with the Platform SDK.

A few components are offline and work on local files alone: MediaFile, the G64 and G64x converters, and FileCryptingManager.

WPF and native resources

MediaPlayer is a WPF control that derives from System.Windows.Controls.UserControl. Host it in a window to render video with the native Security Center codecs.

The headless components, such as VideoSourceFilter, AudioVideoSourceFilter, MediaExporter, PlaybackStreamReader, and the file converters, deliver media to your code and hold native media resources. They implement IDisposable, so dispose each one when its work is done, for example with a using statement.

Next steps

• About the Media SDK: The full component list and when to use each one.
• Getting started with the Platform SDK: Create and log on the Engine that the Media SDK uses.
• About MediaPlayer: Display live, recorded, and local-file video in a WPF application.