Security Cameras, Surveillance Systems – Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange County

If you’re in the market for an IP-based video surveillance system, you’re going to need to know exactly what it is you are looking for, and at. There are a raft of technical terms and the like that you’ll have to be aware of. As there is no one definition on what IP-based actually means, let alone other terms like networked or web-based, you are going to encounter as many different explanations as there are salespeople.

At first, video surveillance was all done with analog technologies like CCTV (closed circuit TV), the video being stored on tape. While perfectly adequate for monitoring and recording activity, no broadcast capabilities were present. This made the technology less than ideal for remote surveillance. And of course, tapes involved an inherent time lag. Worse of all, tapes had to be changed on a regular basis, and the quality of captured video tended to be rather poor.

Digital revolutionizes video surveillance

With the advent of the Internet, and increasing prevalence of LANs (Local Area Networks), there was a parallel leap in surveillance technology in the nineties. Analog cameras began to be phased out in favor of digital cameras, the prices of which dropped to within the realm of feasibility for the average person.

With these advances, video surveillance could now be sent out live over the Internet or a local area network. The new digital cameras offered much higher quality, clearer images, which were also far easier to work with. This was a boon to law enforcement in particular.

The basics of IP-based surveillance

In a nutshell, the digital camera “sees” what it is pointed at, and sends the video data over a local area network to a workstation or server. The server or workstation then handles the data. As needed, the data is displayed, recorder or retransmitted to other computers and networks.

There is software available for data analysis, flagging and almost any other data management function you could want. Video surveillance is a more versatile tool than ever thanks to these accompanying advances in software.

Truly IP-based digital surveillance utilizes CCD (digital to you and me) cameras that break up the video data into packets and stream it over the local area network via an Ethernet (Cat 5) cable instead of a coaxial cable. This allows more bandwidth and true TCP/IP capabilities to be dedicated to the video signal.

IP-based surveillance allows better data mining and retrieval, as well as encryption capabilities for your data in the event you need to keep it away from prying eyes and tampering. This is something which analog based surveillance simply cannot offer.
A new development is digital cameras that have built in web servers, meaning no networked computers are required to run the cameras, the video data is sent to the end location for viewing or recording to be played back later. D-Link and Linksys already have offerings on the market already, with many more to follow.

Halfway there

In between the digital and analog worlds is adding a DVR, or digital video recorder to an existing surveillance system. While not IP-based, a DVR system is a step towards such a system. Now, a DVR system may have the same camera and other older analog technologies in place, but stores video on DVR rather than tape. Unfortunately, the poor video quality of the old analog based systems still is a problem here.

If you’re looking at surveillance systems, always ask if digital refers to the recording medium or the cameras. Many companies will call a system digital based on the DVR storage alone, while still using analog cameras.
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perior to analog

IP-base recording is highly compressed for easier storage and can be transported over a variety of media

Digital images can be encrypted for security purposes

Updates and add-ons are relatively inexpensive through software packages and Internet computer networking

Adjustable frame rates

Remote or shared viewing may be done over the Internet or a wireless connection

Standard IP video compression techniques are used

IP surveillance cameras may be added individually or in groups according to your needs

If you plan to increase or upgrade video surveillance for your company or home, having a handle on how IP-based video surveillance works will make your decision easier. Video surveillance is headed in this direction; although in the short term it may be a little bit pricier, is an investment in superior quality and flexibility over the long run.

About the Author

Mark Allen is a frequent contributor on the security surveillance camera industry.

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