Tag Archives: CCTV

integrated security systems

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Integrated security solutions.

Integrated security systems are becoming an ever more popular security solution for larger organizations today. Many facility managers are fed up with dealing with lots of different companies for lots of different sites and all the associated paperwork and costs involved. It is now a lot easier with the advent of IP security solutions to integrate fire, intruder, access control and CCTV into one simple package covering a multitude of sites.

Integration is the way forward.

Honeywell, Cortec and Risco are just a few of the big manufacturers out there who have recognised that integrated security systems over IP offer the end user huge advantages and exceptional cost savings, once that is the initial outlay is taken into consideration.

So easy.

The beauty of  total integration of security systems is detailed mapping and fault analysis from one location. It is difficult if not impossible within larger organizations to control costs on fragmented security arrangements with lots of different security companies, sorting all the different administration and keeping track of engineer visits. Quite frankly this can be daunting.

Integrated access control.

It is also true that within large organisations and multiple site locations that staff movements and employment changes make it difficult to control and administer access control rights. However one person using one lot of integrated security software in one location will have far more control. This is also true of compulsory fire tests, CCTV maintenance visits CCTV camera outages and so the list goes on. IP has now made it possible to get a realistic view of the whole company suite and keep control of what may have previously been uncontrollable.

Expensive?

So what would you expect to pay for an integrated security system? This is difficult to assess without knowing the full specification of the sites you wish to integrate and the security systems that will be integrated. Most CCTV security software packages have a basic product and then additional bolt ons that require a licence per module. It is crucial therefore that when specifying a fully integrated security system that detailed planning is put into place before any decision is made on the software package you decide to purchase.

Specify an integrated security system.

If you require further guidance or information on integrated security solutions that are out in the market place today, feel free to make contact and we will be happy to help

CCTV Digital Recording – do you really need 31 days?

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Many years ago, the options for CCTV recording were limited

Time lapse VCR, coupled with a Video Multiplexer, meant in essence 1 picture per second per camera maximum…..you couldn’t have different settings for different cameras, it was a global setting……everything backed up to your commonly available VHS tape.

The VCR manufacturers recommended replacing the VHS tapes every 10 uses – but more often than not, calls to a site to fix faulty VCRs led engineers to observe 31 VHS tapes that probably had never been changed since the installation was completed.

But, 31 tapes was convenient……rows of shelves with ‘week 1 Monday’ etc marked neatly on the spine of vertically positioned VHS tapes…..keen operators would add the daily cycle of removing yesterdays tape and replacing with today’s to their early morning to-do list……along with the panic if they were going to be late and the tape would run out leaving the system non-functional until the tape swap – ‘Mike, I’m late, swap the tape in the Video Recorder before Stan finds out’!!!!

Along came clever manufacturers such as Dedicated Micros and Tecton, who introduced amazing digital recorders that meant the daily routine was no longer required…….PC Hard Drives replaced the fragile VHS tapes……high quality images replaced the fuzzy images on used Tapes…..31 days recording at 1 picture per second per camera was now possible in glorious digital !!

Things have changed enormously since those first DVR days…..

DVRs now can have individual settings per camera, meaning important cameras, I.e. Cash office in retail, can benefit from more pictures per second….. Settings can also be time scheduled, allowing cameras to record continuously in one time zone and then motion only record out of hours – thus stretching record durations even further….

Add in the ability to set different qualities of picture resolution and the systems of today are truly flexible by comparison

But why are we still an industry hell bent on 31 days recording ?? Are we really stuck in the 31 day tape shelf mentality?

Too many tenders are released that stipulate ‘minimum 31 days recording’

But ask yourself this, back in the day, when were you asked to review ‘Week 2 Tuesday’ tape for vandalism to the front door?? Because, 9 times out of 10′ it wouldn’t be ignored for 31 days that the front door had been vandalised – more likely the next day at the most before Janice in Accounts let’s you know she couldn’t get in!!

Don’t get me wrong, there are applications that simply must have long term archives – banking and retail have policies that require transactions are accessible for long periods after they occur…..but in the main, most CCTV installations are designed to offer visual verification for ‘now’ or ‘nearly now’ incidents…..

With Hard Drives getting cheaper, the only real problem facing DVR manufacturers is the physical size available to hold HDDs inside…..most DVRs allowing 4 or 6Tb of internal storage without the need for external additional storage……

But, cameras are getting higher resolution…..megapixel IP Cameras, PIXCs, HD cameras, call them what you want but higher file sizes are what they offer……

Surely it would be better to record at the highest resolution and fastest picture update than to record for durations that simply aren’t needed? Reduce the duration to a week, maybe 2 if there are holidays, and see the recorded footage in the quality the manufacturers want you to see it in.

Don’t worry, the door will still get vandalised, Janice from Accounts will still let you know, but now it will be in glorious, high resolution, near real time quality!!

Let us know what you think – but get off the 31 day train !!!

CCTV kit

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CCTV kit.

Is there an argument that as an end user it is better to buy a CCTV kit from a wholesaler and then install the system either by yourself or get an electrician to carry out the work? Well it would save on costs there is no doubt about that. But CCTV kits available on the Internet tend to be imported from the Far East and tend to be of a lower spec than a CCTV installer would use.

Home CCTV.

For home CCTV it is defiantly a market that is growing, the average domestic customer is simply looking to install a CCTV system to enable them to see who is there without leaving the safety of the home. To this end the CCTV systems that are available in Kit form will suffice. Commercial users though often have CCTV cameras installed for more reasons than just observation purposes and this is where good recording and quality cameras will make a difference.

CCTV kits

Most companies have little or no resources to just have someone watching CCTV images, so inevitably all the information that the CCTV system gathers will need to be reviewed from a recording. This is where the main difference between CCTV kits and a professionally installed CCTV system will tell.

CCTV system.

A CCTV System in kit form will have little or no flexibility on the number of frames per second it can handle or the image quality unlike a more expensive DVR solution. Lets be honest though some high end spec DVRs can cost upwards of £6000 they will have many features and some of these would be over the top for many small or domestic installations.

Buy CCTV.

At the end of the day when buying CCTV kits you really need to think hard about why you really want it, to observe or to actually produce usable images after an event has occurred. Review what is out there and take advice. It could save you spending hard earned cash on something that at the end of the day turns out to be a white elephant.

Emizon IP CCTV communicator solution

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IP CCTV monitoring communicator.

Over the last 15 years one of the biggest growth areas in CCTV and security has been remote CCTV monitoring. A fantastic concept, it has been an easy sale once a customer is convinced a third party will be looking after his site for him for a fraction of the cost of a security guard. Over many years, the ISDN telephone line was the only way to carry enough data over the network to give a presentable picture to the operator viewing images at the central station. The one weak point never addressed however by either installers or the end users was, what If the line was cut? This effectively rendered the system useless.


As time has moved forward, we have had the broadband revolution. Manufacturers have continued to  strive to improve picture quality to central stations, now using clever compression techniques and the ever expanding bandwidth available, means operators sitting in the central station are now given some brilliant images to work with. It seems the criminals now have no chance? However we need to go back to an earlier point. What happens if the line is cut or simply goes faulty?  The intruder quite simply has all the the time in the world to effectively empty the customers premises, at his leisure …well not quite. There is now a simple cheap and effective solution.
Emizon IP have bought out their IP broadband communicator that can notify the central station of a broadband line failure. By using a secondary GPRS path a signal can be sent to the central station informing them that immediate action is required to restore the broadband link. When the Emizon is also connected to the premises intruder alarm all the signals will be received giving the central station enough information to call the police should this course of action be required.


The Emizon comes in the form of a TDC and also has relay outputs to re-initialize remote DVRs if required. It is always on and is also 8148 compliant, this means that thousands of legacy monitored systems would dramatically benefit by upgrading their signalling. Clearly using  Emizon has many advantages.


More on this product soon. And why we see Emizon being the leading dual path broadband monitoring solution for the future.