Monthly Archives: June 2011

IP CCTV and the future of the CCTV industry.

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There are many commentators about who are still asking the question where is IP CCTV going in the future? Most are still undecided on how things will develop and there seems to be a three way split on opinion.

1) The first chain of thought and one that holds most weight is that IP CCTV will grow a little more slowly than previously thought. However it will still grow and many feel that it is inevitable that it IP surveillance systems will become the norm for Image related security and management solutions. The idea behind this thinking is down to TCO or total cost of ownership. Based on the fact that IP CCTV can provide unquestionable flexibility and image quality it seems like a no brainer that this technology will come out number 1 over its two other main rivals, but as yet a slow start despite huge investment from the big boys such as Axis, Panasonic ,Samsumg, Arecont and Sony  has suddenly shed a little doubt on just how much this technology can really dominate the market place within the next five years.

ip cameras

2) The reason for this doubt is analogue CCTV. Obvious weakness in this type of CCTV recording and image quality has been tempered by the ever decreasing cost of the products. It was originally thought that IP CCTV cameras would be mass produced bringing an very sharpe end to analogue CCTV dominance and see it disappear faster than the VCR did at the turn of this century. However big manufacturers such as March networks have decided to continue production of some high end analogue DVR products and analogue cameras keep being produced in the far east with endless relentlessness. So when will we see the demise of analogue, at the moment no one is sure but eventually it must be surpassed by IP CCTV solutions, its just when that is now in doubt. We could see analogue persist for another ten years!

CCTV cameras

3) Finally there is there is a new kid on the block. HDCCTV. This consists of HD SDI products that can transmit uncompressed HD images over coax. Suddenly this technology has huge appeal for existing CCTV companies who’s engineers are struggling to get to grips with IP. Its not that the engineers are not clever enough to make the shift to IP . It seems the cost of tooling up the engineers and giving training is holding them back. When the engineer sees 80 analogue CCTV systems to every 20 IP then even with training he will rarely get to apply newly learned skills and this then can easily cause his knowledge to fade. This is now where the HDCCTV plug and play concept becomes so attractive to CCTV installers. They are finding IP cameras and NVRs prohibitively expensive, difficult to deploy and expensive to maintain . Some are having to rely on third party IT support to commission systems or having to go to the extra cost of actually creating thier own IT departments to cope. A very costly overhead indeed. So HDCCTV with all the benefits of HD images suddenly becomes a very attractive option.

HD SDI DVR
HD SDI DVR

It is difficult to see where it will go in the end. Will it be the flexibility and superior image quality attainable by IP CCTV? The tried and tested analogue CCTV solution? Or the new kid on the block, HDCCTV? The jury is out….. but we do think we know!

Avigilon UK limited

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Avigilon is a Canadian based company who specialize in the design of high performance megapixel IP cameras. Their cameras have been deployed in over 50 countries and their Video management system  called Control Centre is one of the first open HD network management systems on the market. HD CCTV is Avigilon’s forte and their megapixel cameras are outstanding in their delivery of actionable image detail.

Avigilon ACC-4.6 Range

 

So what makes Avigilon the company they are? Well at IFSEC this year their staff were helpful and knowledgeable , but most of all the images actually spoke for themselves , they were quite simply stunning and the build quality is superb. In an effort to get installers to upgrade from analogue to IP their codecs are the most competitively priced units on the market.

Avigilon Camera HD Pro
Avigilon CCTV

We look more deeply into Avigilon’s operation and see why they are one of the most successful IP camera manufacturers in the market place.

DIY CCTV is it a threat to the industry?

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I recently fielded a call from a very enthusiastic “customer” who was desperate to employ my skills to install an Access control and CCTV system for him. Was i excited by the prospect ? Well at first yes until that is the chap went on to explain that he had managed to buy all the kit he wanted to install off eBay and expected my “very best price” to put this kit on the wall. He had acquired cameras and what should have been a very expensive piece of recording equipment for peanuts. I had to admire the fact that he knew so much about the kit and what he should have paid for it.

cheap dvr

He sounded most disappointed though when i refused his custom .Why you may ask would i do this. Well firstly the investment involved to be able to buy and install CCTV equipment is huge. There is the vans on the roads, the engineers, wages the investment in IT equipment not to mention getting affiliation to a respected inspectorate! Profit is made by both mark up on the kit as well as labour provided and what about a service agreement?

Its my bet the kit is cheap because it is faulty, second hand or stolen. The minute i touch this kit who then gets the blame when it does not work? Iam thinking probably me! Worse still when i give my price is my new customer going to pay extra as i struggle to get his eBay acquired equipment to work .The answer is no. Most people who go DIY do so to save money. The very nature of this potential customer means that they are unlikely to want to pay for the right kit at the right price or take others advice. So would i turn this DIY CCTV business down? Definitely!

Ultimately who ever takes on this work will get their fingers burned and i doubt the customer will end up with a good job. The secret of a successful install is you must pay for what you get and then you can demand and expect value for money. So for all those eBayer’s out there if you want to do it yourself  then do the whole job cheap and don’t expect someone else to supply the labour and knowledge for you!

Samsung SRD 1630

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Smart, compact, reliable and neat. Just a few words that have been used when describing the Samsung SRD1630. This 16 channel DVR is able to hold up to 6 internal hard drives meaning storage is never going to be an issue. The SRD 1630 is also able to support a smart phone for remote access. H.264 compression and a linux embedded operating system are also features of this DVR.

Samsung HRD 1630

ANPR cameras

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Buy ANPR cameras.

When looking to purchase ANPR cameras there are several features you should ensure that they include before you buy. Remember, picking up number plates is a pretty tricky task and all sorts of considerations need to be taken into account. The speed of the car, the the lighting conditions , sunshine and reflection. The position of the number plate on the vehicle and so on.

ANPR cameras
ANPR cameras

To set up ANPR cameras correctly, the position of the camera in relation to the vehicle number plate is crucial so the first thing we would recommend that you ensure your ANPR cameras include are a zoom lens feature. There is generally two accepted distances you should position the cameras from the target number plate. These are 3-12 metres and 8-20 metres. To ensure a capture rate of above 98% the camera must be high resolution. The Sony EX view is an accepted ANPR camera module used in most versions of the best number plate recognition cameras on the market. In order to get the maximum reflection back from the number plate itself all the bests ANPR cameras come fitted pulsed IR led illumination. This reflects back from the special material used on number plates and means that even when you try to capture the the numberplate head on with the vehicle lights on full beam, the camera is able to filter out the white light and home in on the number plate text itself. This is called optical filtering.

The golden rule of  ANPR cameras and they key to their set up  is that the a full on view is is the best . If you have to set the camera off to one side and create an angle then the number plate in relation to the camera becomes distorted  making it far more difficult to read. As a result the rule is that the camera should be no more than 35 degrees off set from the number plate. The simple reason for this is the IR will not reflect back into the camera lens if there is an any greater angle.

ANPR cameras can also come in many guises, one of the most popular though is the bollard camera ,  the ANPR cameras will sit in a weatherproof housing and capture number plates with a high performance  unit that has anything up to a 1/10,000th of a second shutter speed this ensures that captured plates appear razor sharpe.

 

Of course the ANPR cameras are useless unless running in the background we have some highly efficient ANPR  software. This software is generally run on a PC that will sit in a cabinet adjacent to the ANPR camera system . This ANPR software can be networked and programmed to hold 10’s of thousands of number plates within its database .The software can be used to manage speed, overstay, non returned and banned vehicles.It can open gates , integrate to weighbridge software or time and attendance packages. ANPR software can be modified to welcome customers or used as a defence against terrorism. It is a very powerful tool and one that is finding more and more applications especially here in the UK.

So in summary if you want an ANPR camera system make sure you ask your provider about all the issues outlined above.