Metal Mickey CCTV Camera

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MIC external security camera.

A  new on-line product selector is a tool has recently been released to assist customers and specifiers who wish to purchase the MIC camera manufactured by Bosch. The selector tool is to aid quick and accurate selections of the exact camera that is required. This has been driven forward because of confusion when ordering MIC parts and cameras in the past.

Production moved to Portugal.

Since manufacturing has been moved to a new purposely designed manufacturing facility in Ovar, Portugal, Bosch have decided to take this action in order to rationalise product codes and aid manufacturing and quality. As the product range has increased this has led to over 750 different part codes and at times some confusion when customers try to order. The implementation of the selector tool has enabled Bosch to drastically reduce delivery times from an unacceptable 6 weeks to an impressive 4 days for more popular models. Even more specialist versions can be delivered within14-18 days. In addition The new selector tool has helped to reduce the number of models now down to just 125.

Big improvements

This has been a long term plan that is now beginning to pay dividends. The ability to build an order using the selector tool will mean the right model can be ordered correctly every time. Whether it be white, explosion prove,the right bracketry or software the new system means the correct selection of associated parts can be assured. It will be effectively be like creating your own shopping list for those who are about to place an order. For those who need to make an order the product selection tool can now be found at the MIC website.

Over 1000 per month.

The new facility in Portugal has helped to make some big improvements. Bosch now have the ability to produce more than 1000 cameras per month and new testing procedures mean failure rates have been improved. The Metal Mickey (MIC) camera was the first of its kind and continues to find itself a popular choice for external security cameras. These improvements will undoubtedly help this success continue.


CCTV.

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Integrated CCTV.

Integrated CCTV seek to answer all your questions on CCTV security, Access control, Biometric solutions, Hybrid security systems and much more. We have over a hundred Blogs on our site that explain new products and different security scenarios that can help you make the right decisions BEFORE you spend your money on an integrated security system.

Search the site.

Browse the site or simply post your question and we will ensure that we will find you the answer you need. Alternatively if you already have a system and want to make an improvement or simply want to find out how you can integrate IP cameras, HD CCTV or Megapixel cameras into existing security systems, we are here to help.

Buying a cheap DVR?….then prepare to buy twice

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What DVR to buy?

What do customers want and expect from a CCTV solution when they are originally sold the the concept?

Clear crisp images.

Well most customers will expect crisp, clear live images to watch during the day and to be fair pretty much all camera systems are capable of producing this. A pre-installation demonstration can illustrate this well and most customers are happy to buy on what they have seen.

The pitfalls.

However what most end users fail to realize is that the live images are just a small part of the overall solution. So many times after an incident has occurred that they find out too late that they have purchased a system that is quite frankly totally unacceptable.

Why?

How can this be? Well often they discover to their cost that the DVR has let them down , no matter how good the pictures look “live” it is the play back and the information that can be gained at this crucial point that makes the difference between a good CCTV system and what can only be described as quite simply a white elephant..

What goes wrong?

Several things can go wrong when the customer comes to review an incident. One of the most common we have come across is that the hard-drive has failed. Cheap DVRs have no internal monitoring of the hard-drive health and no visible or audible indication that it is failing or worse, has failed. The consequences are obvious ..no pictures to review.

Other problems.

Other problems are that the DVR images are are a pale replica of what the customer has been used to watching live. This is because the picture quality that has been laid down onto the disc has been reduced to save hard-drive space. Either the pictures are jerky or pixelated and any attempt to zoom in on the incident is met with a mass of pixelated squares. Worse still the installer may have made the picture quality too good, so we have great images but find that we have recorded over the incident we are looking for. It may turn out you will have only one or two days recording.

Unhappy customers.

All this leads to customer dissatisfaction and in many cases the customer will find he spent a lot of money and achieved nothing. Correct advice is essential to ensure that the correct DVR is purchased in the first place . This may of course cost quite a bit more money at the time of the original purchase , however it seems  pointless to buy a DVR that is effectively useless!

Buy cheap, buy twice!

So think hard when deciding what you want to achieve from your CCTV system , Some applications may only need the very limited recordings that cheaper DVR’s will give you , but if you need a CCTV solution that you can rely on to give you the highest quality and lengthy service, its worth shopping around for the DVR that will actually give you EVERYTHING that you want.

HD security cameras – HiDef or Megapixel ?

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HD or not HD – that is the question

It’s 2010 and our industry is once again pondering the inevitable
question ‘when will IP catch on’!!??

For the past few years, experts have been predicting the demise of the
analogue camera and the true embrace of networked connected IP
cameras…….but with no-one really sticking their neck out and
stating when it will actually happen.

And this is, in part, because the industry is a wash with so many
fragmented technologies that installers and end users alike are
confused as to what is really available.

Take the latest greatest IP encoder and you are hooked on the quality
and ease of installation….then you ask what recording options are
available and you find yourself hooked into the same manufacturer to
ensure complete compatibility…….

What happened to using the Panasanyo camera with the Dedicated
Research DVR along with the Ademcobrain monitor?? Analogue, old
technology but at least compatible with each other!

Perhaps things are a changing……ONVIF is around the corner and
promises to ensure that any company that signs up has to ensure it
offers compatibility with other ONVIF contributors – we wait and
see……

Megapixel? Whats best? We are brought up to believe that the more the
number the better the specification…..a 5megapixel camera has got to
be better than a 2megapixel camera surely? Sure, but at what expense?
You need more HDD to store it (expense) and you need a good bandwidth
network to transmit it (expense) – of course, you can scale everything
back, throttle, dual stream, encode in CIF and all the other ways of
making the good quality image smaller and faster, but is that not like
buying a Ferrari and then only ever driving it at 30mph???

HD might change all this, at least in part to start with……High
Definition….. The very name smacks of expected quality…. If you
view a HD image, you are expecting a beautiful picture…..you want to
see the blade of grass on the ground and the badly shaven face of the
Serbian footballer on ITV 1 World Cup broadcasts (not wishing to spark
controversy but great result Serbs against the Germans!)……you want
to see the beads of sweat on the brows of ageing rockers on BBC
Glastonbury……..and HD delivers just that…….

And yet…..HD is merely 720p or at best, 1080p…… A mere 2
megapixels…… Pretty much at the maximum of what a really decent
monitor can display anyway…….but HD nonetheless

We saw a sneak preview of some of Sony’s IP opinions recently – HD is
their intended marketing vehicle……they think end users understand
HD…..they know that HD is embraced in the domestic sector…..and so
they are focussing their Security products as HD in order to gain a
quicker acceptance – and we think they are absolutely right

So why do we need more pixels? Maybe we don’t……just how many more
blades of grass do we need to see? Just how many more tufts of facial
hair on those footballers? And really, do we need to see more
perspiration on those rockers? If they are there, we just need to see
them and maybe even record them……for playback later……..just
like our security cameras

HD…..maybe that will kick us toward IP quicker!

Siemens Access Control Si-Pass Range

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Siemens – Si-pass range.

Siemens are famous for many different products both inside and outside the security industry.
They have now produced a range of access control solutions that aim to compete at the highest level with some of their competitors more recognised for access control manufacturing. Their Si pass Entro 6 software is the latest access control solution and is packed with features. It is able to handle up to 512 doors with up to 40000 users and can support 480 access groups. The access control software is able to allow 240 time schedules and has additional benefits such as alarm bypass roll call and anti pass back to ensure door security and to help maintain a high security level. The software is windows compatible on machines that run 2000 /vista and x/p as well as Vista. Other benefits include the ability to integrate the Siemans Sistore DVR and photo I’D.

Access door controller.

Together with software comes the SI- PASS SI 351-8 which is a door controller. The controller sits at the heart of the Entro system and can operate independently without the software. In the case of a network failure it acts as a disaster recovery system and can hold up to 10000 events that will instantly update once the failure is resolved. An excellent tool and one that can save lots of time and money.

SC7 smart card reader.

Siemens also have released the SC7 MIFARE smart card reader that can be used where access control is not the sole use of the smart card. It is integrated seamlessly into the entro controllers is IP 67 rated .The reader can recognise all industry standard smart cards and has been cleverly designed to be future proofed for new technologies that may be forthcoming onto the market.

Conclusion.

SI-PASS access control solutions have clearly been designed to compete along side some of the very best current technology on offer and there are also plans in place to integrate to CCTV and intruder alarms to give a complete integrated package. Worth following the product to see how this it progresses in the market place