Tag Archives: Ip Camera

ONVIF Standards for IP based security products

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ONVIF global open interface standard

CCTV integrators have long struggled to integrate CCTV security products together because of all the different protocols and platforms out there developed in isolation by individual manufacturers.

IP CCTV and CCTV software.

With the growing influence of IP cameras and CCTV software ONVIF have bought together the larger manufacturers and integrators to embrace a protocol that will help form standard platform for CCTV integration in the years to come.

Why?

Well quite simply it makes it easier for manufacturers to sell their products. The installers are not hampered by constantly trying to integrate together several different products that are not compatible and the end user gets a better deal and is not beholden to the installer for the life time of the equipment.

What does the standard do?

Well essentially it looks at the network interface , specifically the network layer and looks to ensure all products conform in the following areas:

Real time viewing

Device discovery

Device management

Media config

Event handling

PTZ control

Security

Video analytics

IP configuration

Future proof.

The standard allows flexibility and does not prevent innovation and of course should a manufacturer who uses ONVIF compliant equipment go out of business then there are plenty of others there to pick up the pieces and most importantly the end user is not left with a system no one else can integrate IP CCTV equipment into.

When.

The first product that conformed to ONVIF was released in August 2009 and by the time IFSEC 2010 arrives there will be over 70 products from 10 manufactures to check out.

Three founder members Bosch AXIS  Sony

The 3 founder members were Bosch AXIS and Sony since then more have joined including:

Cannon

IDIS

IndigoVision

Panasonic

March Networks

Samsung

Siemiens

Texas Instruments

Hik Vison

Cisco

Alhua

There are many others now contributing to this standard.

IP Access control.

ONVIF also have now announced that they will be extending their scope to incluse IP access control products to. With so much integration going on between the two technologies it will be interesting to see what manufacturers jump on board and how quickly they do this.

Conclusion.

Open platform standards really do help everyone in the end. They allow innovators into the market place and give stability to the industry and value to the end user. As IP security products become the dominant force in the security industry we applaud this bold step forward.

ZX55-IP Perimeter security solution

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ZX55 Infrared Imager.

The Bosch ZX55 Infrared Imager is a camera specifically designed for perimeter protection. It is ideal where the end user has long fence-lines that would require perhaps 3 or 4 standard CCTV cameras to take in the same coverage and critical information.

Powerful camera lens.

The ZX55 is fitted as standard with a powerful 9-90 mm lens and uses Black Diamond infrared technology for illumination. Bosch claim that with the correct field of view, identification can be achieved at up to 100m however usable images can be achieved at up to 300m making this camera a very high performance unit.

Analytics

If you require alarm event notification there is the ZX55-IP it has all the features we have listed above but in addition has on board analytics . Together with the Black diamond illumination, night-time pictures are excellent. The IR technology  helps eliminate hot-spot foregrounds as well as underexposed backgrounds. Black diamond technology also is effective at reducing image noise, this means better compression increasing storage and reducing costs.

All weather construction.

The camera is designed to perform in all weathers as you would expect and has a rugged design to suit all needs.It has been designed to survive a 250km/h wind loading.

Conclusion

Although the camera is not cheap you would not expect this with all the technology and the specification. It wins on performance and reduces costs because this one IP camera solution can be deployed in place of 3-4 standard cameras fitted with IR technology and sensor detection . Visit  Bosch IFSEC IP cameras for more information on both the ZX55 and the ZX55-IP camera solution.

The new 200 series IP camera range from Bosch

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The perfect IP solution.

The perfect all in one new 200 series IP camera range from  Bosch has been designed to take on Axis in the market place that uses on board camera recording rather than a DVR or a CCTV software recording solution.

Straight out the box.

The package comes as an all in one solution straight out the box. It is designed to be fitted into reception areas and other isolated locations within a building that may involve lone workers or staff who have exposure to the public that may potentially escalate into a violent or dangerous situation.

Audio alarm.

On board audio alarm means that a normal working sound level can be set that when exceed, perhaps because of shouting or a cry for help, the CCTV software will generate an alarm in order to alert a third party.

In addition.

Add to this built in motion detection to enable the 16 gigabyte SD card to capture only the required events and we have a very powerful IP camera.

More for your money.

Finally we have the benefits of POE but most importantly the quality of the image produced from this camera. As expected it is very good as with most Bosch products and with a lack of competition in this particular IP camera type, Bosch must expect some strong sales.

Samsung v Videosphere-Wide dynamic v Megapixel

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Case study.

Integrated CCTV were recently asked to carry out a very interesting camera comparison in order to establish prior to an installation the effectiveness of  two different types of cameras and how they performed when used for two different applications.

Solutions must be found.

The customers main issue was that he needed to identify if stock became damaged on his premises while being loaded or unloaded onto his vehicles. The problems he had encountered in the past was that while looking out from his warehouse into the rear of the lorries the sunlight adversely affected the camera picture and his ability to view the stock inside the trailer. In addition, when replaying any events, when he zoomed in to get more detail, the picture became pixelated and unusable. Also cameras inside his warehouse viewing staff, never gave him the detail required for the wide angle view he wanted and so incidents frequently were either missed or when replayed, offered no real information that he could use.

Wide dynamic or Megapixel IP camera.

With this in mind, we chose to trial two cameras, the SCC-b2335p Samsung wide dynamic static camera and the Videoshpere 1080p Megapixel IP camera from March Networks.

Camera lenses.

To get the best comparison we used very similar lenses, the 2.8 – 8mm on the wide Samsung camera and the 2.2-6mm on the 1080p Megapixel IP camera. We set both cameras up on a tripod and powered the 1080p with POE as designed. The Samsung camera was converted to IP using the March Networks encoder so we were able to bring both cameras back into the Videosphere VMS CCTV software for recording purposes and then after the trial, demonstration of our results to the customer.

The test.

Firstly we positioned our vehicle in the loading bay and pointed both cameras out through the warehouse door. The boot of the vehicle was left open so all the goods inside could be seen. Or at least we hoped they could be seen but on initial power up, both pictures proved to be very disappointing. It was a very bright day and the warehouse had limited natural lighting and no artificial light at all . As a result, we could see little or nothing of the contents within the car, the reason of course was the huge difference in light levels between inside and out. We then turned on the back-light compensation feature within the Samsung wide dynamic camera. This made a huge difference. The Samsung camera then gave us a clear, crisp image of the boot contents and we were considerably impressed. We looked for a similar feature within the Videosphere 1080p but there seemed no adjustment we could find that would improve the picture and despite the progressive scan that we had hoped would help, the images had  to be classed as un-useable.

Playback.

We then played the Samsung images back on the VMS CCTV software we found we could zoom in to the boot contents up to 2x before any pixelation occurred and we deemed that with the camera position we could attain using brackets hanging from the warehouse roof ,we would be able to deploy the Samsung camera successfully.

Looking at movement inside the warehouse.

Onto our next issue, this was getting detail from a wide angle view of staff movements inside the warehouse. The areas that needed to be covered by each individual camera were approx 25m by 50 meters and the number of cameras had to be kept within reason to keep costs within budget.

Looking into the dimness!

Both cameras were turned round to take in the view described above. We identified a few distinctive objects at certain distances to help us compare the pictures. Both cameras offered up good pictures but the image quality from the Videosphere Megapixel IP camera could only be described as stunning. The clarity was incredible considering how low the light level and the distance we were asking it to look. However we were to be even more impressed when we looked at the playback . Even when zooming right to the back of the warehouse the pictures were of superb quality.

Image storage issues.

We must not however forget that with this quality comes certain issues. Data storage when using IP Megapixel cameras runs in several terabytes and this pushes up the cost.

Customers opinion.

We then took the opportunity to show the customer the results of the trial he was very impressed with the results of the Samsung B2335P. For a long time he has been looking for a camera that can cope with extreme lighting issues and he now finally has a solution. With regard to the Videosphere Megapixel IP camera the pictures quite simply sold themselves as he said “it’s a no brainer I have got to have these in my warehouse”. Of course there are price issues, this sort of quality cannot come without cost implications.

Conclusion.

In conclusion the review and testing highlighted the fact that there has never been a clearer example of the fact that there is always the need for the right camera for the right job. Careful testing and specifying will ensure we get a happy customer at the end of the day. The Samsung wide dynamic camera definitely performed as designed and as for Megapixel Ip camera technology the picture quality was fantastic . This can only help to make these cameras a very popular choice with  forward thinking customers.

Bosch release new IP camera 200 series

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IP camera 200 series.

Bosch have just released their new 200 series IP camera range that they are calling “the perfect all in one IP solution“.

Two new IP cameras

They have launched two new models the 225 and 255 IP camera that comes complete with an SD memory card so that no DVR or server are required to store recording and they claim several days of clear crisp images can be achieved. Viewing is achieved by using surveillance software that is is included in the package price and together with the boast that they come out of the box ready to use, the attraction of the IP camera 200 series is very apparent.

Other features include.

Features to talk about include built in motion detection together with tamper and audio alarms.  a choice of fixed or verifocal lens. Most importantly power over Ethernet P-O-E. Compression wise the IP camera 200 uses H.264 which increases storage capability.

Conclusion.

Bosch have always produced quality products and this latest series comes with the 16GB SD card included. This offers excellent picture quality and very good value for money.