Videofied / Frontel GI setup
Videofied panels are video-verified alarm panels: each MotionViewer detector records a short clip when it triggers, so an alarm arrives with footage attached rather than just a zone number.
They are also set up differently to every other communicator in CleverOps, because the panels never talk to CleverCam directly. They report to the customer's own Frontel server — a Windows machine on the customer's side — and that server forwards everything to us over a single permanent connection.
So Videofied is set up in two parts:
- The Frontel server connection — created once in Settings → Alarm Receivers. This is the customer's Frontel installation, not a panel.
- Each panel — added to its site from the site's Add hub flow, using the panel's serial and account code.
CleverCam receives events and video, and can fire the panel's relay outputs from the control room — sirens, strobes, fog generators, spray units, gates. See Relay outputs below, including the setup steps, because outputs are off until you turn them on per site.
Arming and disarming are not wired up. The protocol supports a full arm and a full disarm, but nothing partial — no perimeter arm, no per-area arm — so it is deliberately not exposed rather than shipped as a button that only half works.
Part 1 — the Frontel server connection
Settings → Alarm Receivers → Add receiver → Videofied (Frontel GI)
The form shows the exact values the customer's IT or alarm technician needs to enter in FrontelConfig on their server. They are copy-able one by one.
| Where | Setting | Value |
|---|---|---|
| GI → Server | GI Server 1 | tcp-1.clevercam.co.za |
| GI → Server | Port 1 | 5031 (or leave 1556 — we accept both) |
| GI → Advanced | Protocol Format | 3 |
| GI → Advanced | Mode | Events + files |
| GI → Advanced | Frame format (Inc. S/N) | ticked |
| GI → Advanced | Date / Time | YYYYMMDDhhnnsszzz |
| GI → Advanced | Heartbeat interval | 60–120 seconds |
If Mode is left on events-only, alarms still arrive but no video ever does — which removes the entire reason for choosing Videofied. Confirm this setting before signing off the installation.
Four flags also need adding to C:\Frontel2\config\Frontel.ini on the Frontel server, followed by a restart of the GI service. They are off by default:
GIProtocolSendGetcam=1
GIProtocolSendAction=1
GIProtocolSendAreas=1
GIProtocolSendDisconnectionCause=1
The account code is a credential
The Frontel connection has no password, key or certificate of its own. Nothing in the protocol authenticates the customer's server to us.
A static IP is not required — most Frontel servers sit on ordinary business broadband with an address that changes, and requiring a fixed one would rule out most installations. What protects the lane instead is the serial and account code pair: a panel presenting a pair no site has claimed is dropped, and never creates anything.
That makes the 8-character account code the thing standing between an open port and a forged alarm on a real site. Treat it the way you would treat a password:
- unique per panel — never reuse one across customers or sites;
- not guessable — avoid sequences, the site name, or the account number from another system;
- not shared outside the people who need it to configure the panel.
Serials are printed on the hardware and are not secret. The account code carries the protection.
Repeated connections presenting unrecognised serial/account pairs raise an alert. During an installation a few are normal while an engineer corrects a typo; a sustained run of them is treated as someone probing.
Part 2 — adding each panel
Site → Add hub → Videofied (Frontel GI)
The tile first opens a TX number step for the line: type the panel's account code and click Continue with <code> — it lands in the TX number (account code) field on the form below — or Continue without a TX number and type both values there. A panel already registered on any line of the control room comes up on that step to pick instead; see Adding an alarm panel by TX number.
Enter two values, both of which appear in the panel's Frontel configuration:
- Panel serial — 16 characters, e.g.
E030000013080001 - Account code — up to 8 characters, e.g.
12345678
Think of them as a username and a password. The serial names the panel; the account code proves whoever is registering it has access to that panel's configuration. Both must match, or the panel's signals will not reach the site.
CleverOps checks the pair as you type and tells you what it finds:
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| ✔ Serial and account code are available | Good to add. |
| ✖ This serial and account code combination is already registered | Someone has already claimed this exact pair. See below. |
| ⚠ This serial is already registered under a different account code | Allowed, but usually means a typo in the account code — check it before continuing. |
If the combination is already registered
This is the one blocking case. The remedy is to change the account code on the panel (in its Frontel configuration) and enter the new one here.
If the existing registration is on your own control room, CleverOps names the hub so you can go and find it. If it belongs to another control room, you will simply be told the combination is taken — we do not reveal who holds it.
What you get from a Videofied panel
| Events | intrusion, tamper, panic, duress, smoke, medical, supervision faults, low battery, mains loss, jamming, arm/disarm, periodic test |
| Video | a short clip per triggering MotionViewer, pulled automatically |
| Stills | on request, per camera |
| Panel log | the panel's own recent history, useful during an incident |
| Camera names | as configured on the panel, so clips are labelled |
Relay outputs
If the panel has relays enrolled — a siren, a strobe, a smoke cloak, a spray unit, a gate — the control room can switch them from the event screen.
The panel tells us what it has. On each connection it sends its relay list, and CleverCam creates one output per relay, named exactly as the installer named it on the panel. You do not enter them by hand.
How an output gets a type
Each relay is classified from the name the installer typed on the panel: SMOKECLOAK becomes a fog output, PEPPER SPRAY a spray, SIREN a siren, GATE 1 access. The type decides which control-room button the output appears under and whether firing it asks for confirmation.
The classification happens once, when the output is first seen, and is never re-derived — so a correction is permanent and the panel's next reconnect will not undo it.
Classification reads a string an installer typed. It has no way to know what the relay is physically wired to. Before outputs are enabled for a site, someone should confirm on site that each one does what its name claims — particularly anything that classified as a spray or fog unit.
Turning outputs on for a site
Outputs are off until they are enabled, and there are three gates. All three are deliberate — a one-click pepper spray is not something to leave switched on by default.
- The hub must be in managed mode. A monitor-only hub receives signals but accepts no commands. Videofied hubs are created as monitor-only.
- The reverse-command lane must be enabled for the deployment. Ask CleverCam — this is a per-deployment switch, not a per-site one.
- Each output must be marked control-room accessible, on the hub itself. Only the ones marked are offered to operators.
Where to do it
Site → Hardware → the panel's Edit button → Control-room outputs.
The panel lists every relay the Videofied panel has reported, and for each one:
- What it is — the type. Change it if the guess is wrong.
- Control room — tick Allowed to offer that output to operators, or untick to withdraw it.
Both take effect immediately; there is no separate save.
This is not limited to gates. A siren, a strobe, a fog generator, a spray unit, site lighting — any of them can be handed to operators. The type does not decide whether an output can be offered, only how it is presented once it is: which button it appears under, and whether firing it asks for confirmation.
The name shown is the one the installer gave the relay, and it is not editable here — a Videofied panel confirms a relay switch by name, so renaming it on this side would stop those confirmations matching. Rename it on the panel and it updates on the next connection.
GIProtocolSendAction=1 is what closes the loop
Without this flag on the Frontel server the panel still receives commands, but never confirms them. Operators see sent and nothing more, with no way to tell a working siren from a dead one. It is in the flag list in Part 1 — worth checking specifically if commands appear to go nowhere.
The three-minute window
Outputs on a Videofied site are only usable while the panel is connected, and a panel hangs up after about three minutes of inactivity. There is no way to call it back — the panel dials us, never the other way round.
In practice this means outputs are available during and shortly after an incident, which is when they are wanted. Operators see a live countdown while the window is open and a disabled button with the reason when it is not.
A command that cannot be delivered in time is failed, never queued for later. A deterrent firing at whoever happens to be on site an hour afterwards would be worse than the command not running.
About the video
Clips are short, low-resolution and greyscale — Videofied MotionViewers are built to confirm whether someone is there over a slow radio link, not to produce broadcast footage.
A Videofied panel does not keep its clips. Once its connection ends, anything not yet downloaded is gone permanently — there is no way to fetch it later. CleverCam pulls clips automatically and keeps the panel online while it does, but a panel that loses signal mid-transfer will lose whatever was still outstanding.
Troubleshooting
Nothing arrives at all. Confirm the GI service is running on the Frontel server and that the host and port in FrontelConfig are right. If the connection is up but a specific panel is silent, the serial/account pair is the usual cause — see below.
Events arrive but no video.
Mode is on events-only. Set it to Events + files in FrontelConfig → GI → Advanced.
One panel's signals never appear, others are fine. The serial and account code on the hub do not match what the panel is sending. A mismatch is silently dropped rather than routed to the wrong site — re-check both against the panel's Frontel configuration.
Everything stops at once. All of a customer's Videofied panels share one connection from their Frontel server. If that server or its internet connection goes down, the whole estate stops reporting together. CleverCam raises an alert when the connection goes quiet.
The control room's output buttons are always greyed out. Work through the gates in Relay outputs: the hub must be in managed mode, the outputs must be marked control-room accessible, and the panel must be connected right now. The tooltip on the disabled button says which one is missing.
Outputs fire but never confirm.
GIProtocolSendAction=1 is missing from Frontel.ini, or the GI service was not restarted after it was added.
An output is on the wrong button. Its type was guessed from the name the installer gave the relay. Correct it under Control-room outputs on the panel's Edit screen; the correction is permanent and the panel's next connection will not undo it.
No outputs appear for a panel that definitely has relays. The relay list arrives with the panel's connection. If the panel has not connected since it was added, CleverCam has not seen its relays yet.