IP Security Cameras
Micro-Point, with a long history in IP technologies and Network Security, is implementing Digital IP Cameras systems. These systems are revolutionizing video surveillance.
It is time for small and mid-sized business to consider installing an IP camera security system. It’s just not that expensive or complicated anymore. The latest software is revolutionizing video surveillance. We now have smart software: Motion triggers, which can tell cameras to track objects; software which can discriminate between a human form and other objects (thus reducing false alarms); applications which link video surveillance to safety systems, so that the surveillance system could call the fire department or help turn on sprinklers.
Traditional CCTV Security camera’s are on the way out as are the Hybrid digital-analog systems that use black-box digital video recorders (DVR’s). The cost of IP cameras have dropped to the point where IP-based technology is the best bang for your buck both monetarily and in terms of security. With IP-based video surveillance using an NVR, you can connect your surveillance camera or cameras to any network or wireless adapter, and you are extremely flexible in your placement of the camera itself. Set-up of an IP-based video system is easy — once you’ve set up an IP address, you’re up and running and it’s extremely stable and reliable. Because this is the technology of the future, it is also upgradeable.
Basics of IP surveillance
A digital camera “views” the scene in front of it, broadcasts the video images as a digitized signal over a LAN line (Local Area Network) where it’s then transmitted to a computer or server. The server in turn manages all of this information. Depending upon the software used to manage the digital images, it can record, display or retransmit the images to anywhere in the world. Fully digital, networked IP-based surveillance is just another node on the IT network. Cameras have IP addresses, controlled centrally with any number of software applications on top of the raw visual data.
It is important to differentiate between DVRs and NVRs, as both are often termed ‘digital’. A DVR digitally compresses analog video feeds and stores them on a hard-drive, the term ‘digital’ referring to the compression and storage technology, not the transmitted video images. The DVR therefore has to be located near the analog feeds. In contrast an NVR stores digital images directly from the IP network. The advantage of architecture based on NVRs is that they can be located anywhere on a network – at the monitoring center, adjacent to camera clusters, on the edge of a network, collected together in a hardened environment, indeed anywhere at all.
Cost-effectiveness
An IP-Surveillance system typically has a lower total cost of ownership than a traditional analog CCTV system. An IP network infrastructure is often already in place and used for other applications within an organization, so a network video application can piggyback off the existing infrastructure. IP-based networks and wireless options are also much less expensive alternatives than traditional coaxial and fiber cabling for an analog CCTV system.
Intelligent video
There is often too much video recorded and lack of time to properly analyze them. Advanced network cameras and video encoders with built-in intelligence or analytics take care of this problem by reducing the amount of uninteresting recordings and enabling users to find critical information quickly. This information can be viewed over the internet. Content can be delivered to PDAs, mobile phones and laptops, enabling mobile workers, to receive data in virtual real time.
Conclusion
A Video surveillance system is a great asset for businesses that want to increase productivity of their employees as well as cut down on security issues such as theft. An owner or manager can get online and view what is happening at work, in their absence. Check to make sure that the employees are doing their jobs and see if anyone is doing what they should not be doing. The same goes for in the home. With a digital solution, maintenance costs are low since it makes use of your existing network infrastructure.
Tags: DVR, IP Cameras, IP Surveillance, NVR, Security, surveillance
