Category Archives: CCTV

Buy Cheap or buy Safe? CCTV Suppliers unite

Posted on by

The bitterness of quality is remembered long after the sweetness of price…………

A great saying and so incredibly true……

How many normal purchases do we make that simply do not stack up to our expectations? Buying a TV that ends up with poor sound quality, a mobile phone that lasts 20mins before needing a recharge, a lawn mower that doesn’t quite cut the grass (or indeed cuts so well to scalps the lawn!)

cheap dvr

And yet, so many more CCTV purchases are being conducted at eBay and online Internet sources…….

we discussed recently the advantages of dedicated CCTV Suppliers but this post is more about the potential dangers faced with buying from unknown sources.

Imagine this…….

You’ve just purchased a DVR from ‘The Number 1 DVR supplier in the world’ (aren’t they all!?!?)

You’ve acquired two colour cameras from an Internet site with an Alexa rating of 48,938,999 (who also are the Number 1 DVR supplier in the world so don’t believe the others)

You’ve bought your High Resolution monitor from a far eastern supplier (who REALLY are the Number 1 DVR supplier in the WHOLE world)

You receive them via the nice UPS man (after paying the customs import fees, yep, they don’t tell you about that when ordering your $19 DVR!)

Excitedly opening the package, you scrabble through all the Non-UK power plugs looking for the instructions……..ah, there they are,

‘Take important cable and stick into important slot over and above and below the hole that is inside the slot above the hole inside the other way’

Yes, you got it, pigeon English that means nothing…..but hey, we’re men, we do not need instructions……let’s do it ourselves…….plug in a normal power plug and boot up……..hhmmmm, not sure about the funny characters on the screen, and why is that picture rolling around? and why is it B&W, i have colour cameras connected??!

You see, items bought from UK suppliers are ready to use in the UK!!!! Proper instructions, proper UK plugs, set up for use with UK (PAL) cameras (that’s the answer to the B&W rolling images by the way, look for the NTSC/PAL switch on the rear of the DVR!)………plus, those UK Suppliers have already borne the brunt of the import duties……….

as the saying says………Buy cheap.buy twice!!!

buy cheap buy twice


CCTV Remote Monitoring – is the Security Guard awake?!

Posted on by

It seems to me that the good old Security Guard gets a raw deal…….often depicted as typically old(er), maybe semi-retired…….. even more of a raw deal is that he (or she!) is normally suspected of putting their feet up, watching a crackly old portable TV, sipping a cuppa, in fact, anything other than keeping an eye on the site they are meant to be watching!

Now, before we get complaints from hard working effective Security Guards, that is not our opinion!!!

But…..nonetheless, the Security Guard can be perhaps a second option to today’s advanced technological security systems…..

monitored CCTV solution
monitored CCTV

let’s take CCTV…….. with modern DVR’s, connecting alarm devices is easy……. and once connected and armed, they can used to trigger a connection to a 24/7 monitoring centre, anywhere on the planet, equipped with dedicated viewing staff that will ascertain the problem and alert the required person/authority……

The Security Guard can also do the same thing, but are they potentially in personal danger if they approached the intruder? Are they simply going to do the same as the Monitoring Centre and call the nearest person/authority? If so, perhaps it is safer, quicker and cheaper to employ the services of a dedicated Monitoring Centre instead?

And, as more and more end user sites become automated with barriers/gates etc, clever modern DVR’s also have the ability to trigger relay outputs so as to remotely allow speech, gates/barriers etc to be controlled…..

We are not advocating the end of Security Guards – this country has enough unemployed as it is – but we DO advocate safety and efficiency using the technology that is available to us……

So have a think, could your system be better utilised with a Monitored Centre?

Contact us today and we will put you in touch with the Professionals!

SecurityGuard.jpg

CCTV Predictions for the coming year?

Posted on by

Well, here are our predictions, maybe not in 2011, but perhaps in the next few years?

In a prophetic, Nostradamus style,what is going to be the next big thing in our CCTV Industry?

  • 3D CCTV – 3D might have the ability to increase resolutions on SD (Standard Definition) images, plus offer enhancement for Video Analytics
  • Enhanced Video Analytics – in line with heightened Terrorism alerts, analytics will play a greater part in many CCTV specifications
  • DVRs with solid state HDD’s – as prices for Solid State Drives reduce, increased use in our industry will happen – greater life, reliability and speed
  • HD PTZ Domes – don’t write off the PTZ yet !! Sure, PIXC Megapixels offer superb resolution, but PTZ capture so much more!
  • HD over analogue cabling – what? yes, I know, is that a step back? well, no, it might be a way to smooth the path to quicker/greater acceptance – the ability to use existing cable infrastructures to transmit HD CCTV images
  • Cameras with larger on board storage – IP Cameras with flash storage or in built, ruggedised HDDs to store images at the head – take the strain away from the Network, particularly as more systems go HD
  • More off site recording – as ADSL/Broadband connections get better, expect more and more off site recording solutions to pop up – companies specialising in off site storage

these are just a few of our ideas………….some come from rumours, some come from our imagination, but we wouldnt be surprised if a few of these don’t appear in the market very soon!!

Tell us your predictions for 2011 and beyond!

How much is spent in the UK on CCTV?

Posted on by

How much are councils spending on CCTV in the UK? Well a recent report has shown that over 300 million in the last 3 years. The article suggests that this is a huge waste of tax payers money and says that CCTV does not prevent crime? An interesting point of view of course but with all such sweeping statements it is always difficult to prove how much crime CCTV does prevent. It seems that in many serious criminal cases, CCTV is the very first port of call for police looking for clues. Inevitably many crimes are solved because of CCTV as for the argument does it prevent crime? We think that the minute people know that they are not being watched, crime will rise

CCTV 2011

Posted on by

2011 for the CCTV industry.

No doubt this last year (2010) has been hard for the CCTV security industry, no not hard, in fact, incredibly difficult. We have seen falling sales, smaller margins, and a service revenue drought.

It seemed that every installing company out there was cutting the price of its installations but prices for equipment were still rising not to mention fuel. A deadly combination and one that has seen many security companies go to the wall.

Survival of the fittest.

So how have CCTV security companies survived? Well many would say by the skin of their teeth. Redundancies and wage freezes have been enforced with most employees realizing that there is not much else out there anyway , so no matter how fed up they are they are best to stay put and hang on for better times.

Green shoots.

So are there signs of recovery ? After all the economy came out of recession in the spring. Well there are some small signs that the green shoots of recovery are starting to come through. Manufacturers lead times have risen sharply from what was next day, to in some cases over a week . When asked why, they cited a surge in demand for their products . Secondly enquires for IP CCTV are up . End users who have been hanging onto old out dated and frankly useless equipment are starting to replace this. In addition the IP CCTV revolution is starting to capture the imagination of the general public as they suddenly become aware of the possibilities this technology can bring.

Finally.

Finally, it’s nearly the New Year and there is optimism that we are going to see some reasonable growth, some great new developments within the industry and please, decent profit margins on our installations.