Integrated CCTV

It has been muted that HD CCTV is at the heart of the reason that new regulation on privacy has been introduced across England and Wales yesterday. The fact that HD CCTV is capable of producing images far superior to that which has been achievable by analogue cameras previously has got some members of the public concerned over civil liberties and their privacy in general.

It is true that HD CCTV can now be purchased on line by anyone who feels they are capable of installing it. There has been a huge rise in domestic systems and its true again that some cameras are positioned in such a way that they do intrude into others premises. However the new regulation covers local authorities and government organizations only, industry and private domestic installations are unaffected. Add to this the fact that the CCTV commissioner has no powers of enforcement or powers of investigation and it seems that this legislation is just a meaningless piece of paper.

Do we need HD CCTV to protect the public?

Also do the new regulations supercede the data protection act as the legislation seems very similar with regard to the CCTV aspect? No one has really come forward to the industry to consult or explain.

The new code of practice for the use of surveillance cameras in England and Wales that has been introduced by the Home Office and state that CCTV cameras should be used to protect and support people, not to spy on them.

The code also states that: “The purpose … will be to ensure that individuals and wider communities have confidence that surveillance cameras are deployed to protect and support them, rather than spy on them.

“The Government considers that wherever overt surveillance in public places is in pursuit of a legitimate aim and meets a pressing need, any such surveillance should be characterised as surveillance by consent.”

It seems a sensible approach but is it overkill?

There are more than 1.85 million CCTV cameras are in operation across the UK and few are complying with current regulation. No one has ever stepped forward to enforce the data protection act or even champion it.

Of course most CCTV cameras are operated by private companies, businesses and individuals and the rush to install HD CCTV equipment has perhaps prompted the move to introduce the new regulation.

With regard to publicly operated systems it is estimated that some 51,600 CCTV cameras are operated by local authorities, while 2,107 schools have a further 47,806 cameras. In addition over 100,000 cameras are used on transport systems to help protect the travelling public, most who are questioned welcome this protection and few complain each year about the “big brother issue”.

So what do civil liberty campaigners say? well they seem to complain that the code does not go far enough.

Emma Carr, from civil liberties group Big Brother Watch, said “CCTV remains a vital issue”.

“We’re getting an increasing amount of phone calls and letters from people who are concerned about their neighbours putting up CCTV cameras in their gardens, which cover their own private areas and sometimes look into their houses,”.

“And then there’s also the technological development in terms of CCTV. Facial recognition and HD CCTV cameras. These are all available online to pretty much anybody.”

|This is of course true but many want more rather than less cameras especially now HD CCTV can provide conclusive proof of identity where previously analogue cameras failed.

So will the regulation make any difference? The answer we feel is a resounding NO.

Why use Clarius IR illuminators?

Inappropriate lighting will result in very poor video quality of CCTV cameras at night. In order to resolve this CCTV experts and domestic CCTV installers have turned to Clarius IR illuminators. CCTV cameras are perhaps relied upon more at night than during the day so it makes sense to ensure images don’t deteriorate when you need them most. of course there are some excellent low light cameras out there but when you use dual chip cameras, adding Clarius IR illuminators makes a huge difference to the pictures you can record. After all if the pictures are unusable due to lack of definition then there is little point in installing the cameras in the first place.

What are Clarius IR illuminators?

Clarius Infrared illuminators are devices that emit low frequency IR light. This is in fact a form of electromagnetic radiation, It is invisible to the human eye but when using your CCTV camera in mono mode (black and white ) the IR light is detectable and enhances the image with great effect. So Clarius IR illuminators are used widely together with the night vision cameras to achieve this high quality, clear images in the dark.

They work best with dual chip cameras and do not work with colour only cameras. However, a dual chip camera is able to switch modes between colour and mono and this enables the Clarius IR illuminators to perform as designed.

IR illuminators is a better Solution With CCTV Systems.

Clarius Infrared illuminators offer one of the best solutions on the market. They are a quality build with a patented self cleaning lens in addition they offer exceptional reliability and performance. As Raytec’s closest competitor they can be purchased for less but ultimately offer more. Claruis IR illuminators are a must in conjunction with your CCTV system when you need night time images.

IR illuminators will eliminate the need for outdoor lights entirely so no light pollution. Clarius IR illuminators are also able to offer covert recording if this is a necessity. All in all a clever device and one that can ease the pain of poor night time images.

Buy Claruis IR illuminators

Clarius white light illuminator

Its catching on fast. White light LED illuminators are replacing halogen lighting at a rate that is taking the industry by surprise.

White-Light enhances colour cameras performance at night, a real benefit when customers are trying to achieve accurate colour images for identification purposes during the hours of darkness. In addition white light acts as a visible deterrent this helps to discourage intruders especially when used in conjunction with PIRs. Add to this the fact that a white light illuminator has low running cost and minimal maintenance.

Clarius white light illuminators are among the market leaders they allow users to adjust the output angle of a white light illuminator on site in order to achieve precise directional lighting. Clarius white light illuminators include patented self cleaning lenses to deliver optimum performance year after year and enough flexibility in the range to cover most applications.To ensure that your system has the White lighting solution for your premises Clarius is an ideal light for your business.

Clarius white light illuminators will give the end user longer illumination distances and allow CCTV systems to produce better images than traditional halogen lighting at much reduced running costs.

Clarius also provide illuminators that are available in Infra-Red. Both IR and White-Light and are powered directly from 12-24V or or if its preferable POE

Why would you spend £150 on something that you could buy for £15 from B&Q? That’s the question facing everyone who has or wants to have outside lighting around their homes or businesses.

What are we talking about you may ask? Well we currently have our traditional halogen 500 watt light fitting. You will see these on just about every house and every industrial unit in the country. They have provided lighting for security, health and safety, deterrent and working light for all of us over the years.

Around 20 years ago the Tungstan halogen light was a hard wearing reliable piece of of kit. For around £45 you could buy a fitting that would last perhaps 5 years if subjected to “normal” working conditions. Although the fitting was of exceptional quality the bulbs themselves can only realistically be expected to survive a year or so. This meant annual maintenance and ongoing cost.

Then came the era of the ultra cheap halogen light fitting. This unit was manufactured to a low standard, it was cheap and it burnt out quickly. The nipples that spring onto the bulb disintegrated after just a few weeks or months. It made a very poor security light as it never seemed to work and the cost of replacing both the bulb and the fitting was prohibitive. Not such a cheap option in the long run. what was worse is it made the good quality halogen lights extinct!

Of course the problem with both the good halogens and the bad halogens is that however long they lasted they are very expensive to run. Half a bar of an electric fire for those old fashioned ones of you reading this and you could have several of these lights burning away all night long. Not efficient or very clever, add to this the light pollution they cause and nobody is happy really!

So what is the solution? Well it’s simple. White light LED illuminators. This technology uses ultra bright LEDs to achieve the same level of brightness or LUX level as our old 500 watt halogen and at a fraction of the running cost. Yes currently white light LED illuminators are more expensive in the first place but you will get a return on your investment within a year and the lights can self clean and go un-maintained for up to 10 years so no more cherry pickers at £300 a time just to replace your bulbs.

We strongly recommend the Clarius white light illuminator. With patented self cleaning lenses and high quality parts used in the manufacturing process, you don’t just get good value for money you also get a unit that looks atheistically pleasing to the eye and looks good on any building. With Heath and safety playing a major role in all business today the directional light satisfies the needs for working light, safe light, light pollution campaigners and those who foot the bills for cherry pickers (a real hidden cost for industry today). Add in the real money saver in the form of reduced electricity cost and it seems like a no brainer.

Taking in consideration that halogen lighting is in sharp decline (1000watt bulbs are not even made anymore) it makes sense to look out for the Claruis white light illuminator, probably the best in the industry.

BUY A CLARIUS WHITE LIGHT ILLUMINATOR

If you have ever tried to follow a subject using a dome camera that is effected by latency then you will realize that in effect the latency issue renders the tracking feature useless. Up until recently IP had been the only way produce HD images so what happened if you wanted an HD PTZ dome? Well the HD aspect was quite brilliant but the latency meant that guards tended to not use the manual control feature as the latency mean tracking became difficult if not impossible.

Then came HD SDI dome cameras. HD SDI is not effected by latency and the dome responds perfectly to the operator’s needs and as a result we are able to now offer a solution.

This is also true when reviewing recorded images over a network. IP has many benefits but again where there is latency there are problems. The solution of course is to up the bandwidth and reduce the frame rate and picture quality but does this then not defeat the the object of HD ?

Still as time goes by the latency issues of IP HD are being addressed. We soon expect that as networks become more efficient and sophisticated latency will start to reduce perhaps one day it will be un-noticable.

However until then HD SDI offers the solution to the latency issue and gives HD images to boot. Not bad for a technology that until three years ago was more or less unheard of.

Of course other advantages of HD SDI are more obvious , easy to install and understand, effectively its plug and play. In a world where installers are being squeezed from every angle a job that goes in well is likely to be a profitable job and that can make a huge difference to installing companies survival.

Integrated CCTV

News, reviews and noise on security related issues.

Will new CCTV regulations make any difference? Is HD CCTV the catalyst

Clarius IR illuminators to enhance your night time images

Clarius white light illuminators light up the security industry

White light LED illumintors have a bright future

HDcctv means no latency

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