When you're shopping nearby for an Ip-based video surveillance system, you will need to be particularly cautious about what exactly you're looking at and what the personel terms mean. How Ip-based video surveillance works is open to interpretation as far as some video surveillance and safety salespeople are implicated -- not because they are trying to confuse the issues, but because there is no genuine consensus on what the term "Ip-based" or related ones such as "networked" or "web-based" means.
Originally video surveillance was done based on analog technology -- finished
circuit television (Cctv) and recording on video tapes. This was fine for
recording what was going on, but it didn't broadcast actual live information, so
it wasn't practical for monitoring stores, for instance, from a remote location.
It simply in case,granted what happened after the fact. The photograph potential wasn't
great and it relied on human reliability as well -- man had to remember to
change the tapes regularly, etc.
Camera Also Comes With Five
Digital revolutionizes video surveillance
With the Internet revolution and the ever-increasing proximity of Local Area
Networks, technology took great strides in video surveillance in the 1990's.
Analog camera tubes were substituted with Ccd (Charged Coupled Devices) and digital
cameras became affordable for most people.
This aggregate meant that video surveillance could do two things: go live
over the Internet or a finished network for surveillance and supply clearer,
crisper images that could be tracked and manipulated easily. For law
enforcement, digital surveillance meant it was much easier to zoom in on images,
track single scenes and heighten features.
The basics of Ip-based surveillance
A digital camera "views" the scene in front of it, broadcasts the video
images as a digitized signal over a Lan line (Local Area Network) where it's
then transmitted to a computer or server. The server in turn manages all of this
information. Depending upon the software used to manage the digital images, it
can record, display or retransmit the images to everywhere in the world.
The software box can for real be upgraded to allow for analyzing data,
selecting definite "flagged" items to watch for and a host of other functions,
making it a truly customizable safety tool.
True Ip-based digital surveillance uses Ccd cameras that use signal
processing that send packetized video streams over the Lan straight through a Cat 5 cable
rather than a coax cable network, utilizing greater bandwidth and proper
Tcp/Ip communication.
It also provides more curious data mining and facts retrieval. If
security is an issue, full digital surveillance also offers the added benefit
of data encryption opportunities to safe against image tampering -- something
not inherent with analog recording.
Recently, a few fellowships such as D-Link and Linksys have also industrialized fully
digital cameras that for real have wholly integrated, built-in web servers
so that no external computers are needed for operating them. The signal is
transmitted directly to the concluding location for warehouse or play-back.
Halfway there...
The "middle of the road" of video surveillance is upgrading video
surveillance by utilizing a Digital Video Recorder (Dvr). A Dvr principles is not
really fully Ip-based, but is step toward the more industrialized Ip technology. In
actuality, a Dvr principles uses the same camera and structures for cabling as the
older Cctv analog systems, but the old Vcrs have been substituted with Dvr for
storage of the data. The data is converted to digital so that it can be stored
on hard disks, but the potential of the images captured remains analog since this
is how it originated.
When shopping for a system, be sure to ask if the principles is digital based on
the recording (Dvr) or on the camera, since many manufacturers reconsider a principles
digital by virtue of the Dvr warehouse principles even if the camera recording the
images is still analog.
Going all the way
Some habitancy will move to the hybrid models of a Cctv/Dvr principles when they
first move beyond an analog principles because it seems like the next practical
evolutionary step in video surveillance. However, shifting to this method
largely ignores how Ip-based video surveillance works.
With Cctv/Dvr surveillance you have for real simply delayed the clear by
adding on a relatively new technology (hard disk, digital storage) to an old
technology (analog video over coaxial transmission lines). Rather than curious
forward into something new, you have prolonged the demise of the old.
Advantages of Ip-based video surveillance
The leap into wholly Ip-based technology is the best bang for your buck
both monetarily and in terms of safety by far. Digital surveillance can be
done over a Lan network, of course, but Tcp/Ip transmittal of surveillance makes
sense for remote monitoring of many locations and for remote recording of
data onto back-up servers and hard disks for long-term storage.
With Ip-based video surveillance, you can join together your surveillance camera or
cameras to any network or wireless adapter, and you are highly flexible in
your placement of the camera itself. A typical Pc-attached video camera, while
providing digital photograph image quality, still has to be within practically
ten feet of the computer itself.
Set-up of an Ip-based video principles is easy -- once you've set up an Ip
address, you're up and running and it's highly carport and reliable. Because
this is the technology of the future, it is also upgradeable. You won't be
outgrowing an Ip-based video surveillance principles any time soon because new
developments are based on enhancing this market. Therefore, you will be able to
add on and heighten this principles for years to come while older, Cctv+Dvr hybrids
will dead-end and become obsolete.
Comparing analog and Ip-based video surveillance
A best way to understand the differences between analog and Ip-based video
surveillance may be to compare the two and how they work:
Analog or Cctv+Dvr video surveillance
o Easy to use -- operates like a Vcro Changing cassettes and rewinding usually means human error often interferes with effectiveness
o Image potential is poor
o warehouse tapes wear out over time
o Broadcasting images live isn't practical
o warehouse is bulky
o Uses analog recording, recording in low-grade photograph potential and inability to search and track easily
o Adding Dvr systems must be done in 'blocks' of 16 channels
Ip-based video surveillance
o Ip-based recording means instant transmittal of images everywhere in the worldo Can monitor multiple cameras from one remote location
o No decrease in recording potential over time or with repeated replays
o Digital photograph potential far classic to analog
o Ip-base recording is highly compressed for easier warehouse and can be portable over a variety of media
o Digital images can be encrypted for safety purposes
o Updates and add-ons are relatively reasonable straight through software packages and Internet computer networking
o Adjustable frame rates
o Remote or shared viewing may be done over the Internet or a wireless connection
o proper Ip video compression techniques are used
o Ip surveillance cameras may be added individually or in groups agreeing to your needs
If you are contemplating increased or upgrading video surveillance for your
company or home, understanding how Ip-based video surveillance works will make
your decision easier. It is the hereafter of video surveillance and, although in
the short term may be a bit more expensive, is obviously an venture in
superior potential and flexibility.
This article on "How Ip-based Video surveillance Works" reprinted with
permission.
Copyright © 2004-2005 Evaluseek Publishing.
How Ip-based Video surveillance Works -- Way Beyond Analog