Are smart phones killing off CCTV monitoring stations?

As broadband was rolled out across the UK some 10 years or so ago, Central monitoring stations were rubbing their hands at the prospect of a surge of CCTV monitoring connections that looked to be coming their way. Broadband also signalled a rush of new start remote CCTV monitoring stations looking to get in on the action and why not? Each connection was worth a small fortune.

 

Until broadband took off ISDN was the only effective way of monitoring and one product led the way. This was ADPRO. Pretty much every central station ran the video central gold software and it seemed that there was little or no alternative. Many new products tried and failed to break the hold on the market but with limited success.

Honeywell IMMIX

Just when things were looking good for all involved in the CCTV industry along came the recession . This by its very nature cut the number of new connections and depleted those that already existed. In an effort to cut costs customers looked elsewhere,  they were also prepared to take the inconvenience of monitoring systems themselves on their home PC,s rather than pay for monitoring. This habit persisted throughout the recession but as smart phone technology took off so it became easier for an end user to monitor his own CCTV from anywhere.

 

Now this form of monitoring is not safe. It also does not have an audit trail associated with it, you can’t monitor it when you are asleep. To be fair from a security perspective it’s a pretty ineffective way to monitor CCTV and protect your premises. The problem for genuine CCTV monitoring stations is that there is nothing driving end users to use their services. Not insurance companies nor CCTV installers either. Yes bigger organizations will still insist on “proper monitoring  but they are rare and the market is getting fragmented. So are the smart phones winning?

 

Most in the industry will probably tell you that for the time being yes! They are a big part of the sizzle at the point of sale and what salesman is going to push remote monitoring when he can tell the end user he can connect for nothing.

 

A short sighted approach all round though. It means there is no ongoing revenue and a customer that has in effect been left with a system that in reality will just show him what happened yesterday night and not prevent a crime taking place as it is happening.

 

Remote CCTV monitoring is proactive but smart phone monitoring is inevitably reactive. New advances in CCTV mean big companies such as AVIGILON are now talking to software development companies such as IMMIX as they try to bring HD CCTV monitoring to the world. This is exciting for the future. Powerful Avigilon software and HD images mean that remote CCTV monitoring will go to a new level.We anticipate this happening once the economy gets back to normal meaning remote CCTV monitoring will recover its place in the market where it truly belongs. Until then it seems everyone is just happy to fly by the seat of their pants!

 

 

 

What is the point of analogue? HD CCTV is the only way.

Police issue CCTV appeal over rail station bike thefts

12:57pm Wednesday 4th December 2013

The man police would like to speak to in connection with the theft of the mountain bike from Trowbridge railway station

Police have issued this blown up still of a CCTV image captured by an analogue camera following the theft of a bike from a train station in Trowbridge in Wiltshire. Frankly its embarrassing . It makes the industry look ridiculous . This is why we must push HD CCTV solutions for all new installations.

Who is the market leader for HD CCTV?

HD CCTV has been around now for at least 7 years but how has it developed and who can be considered the market leader in the field of HD CCTV today?

 

In the beginning there were two main contenders of note. This was Arecont and Avigilon. Both these manufacturers used the development of IP technology to advance their products. Of course early attempts at HD CCTV were thwarted by lack of bandwidth, it meant that no matter how good the cameras were the systems were only as good as the available bandwidth. IT departments were a constant barrier to HD CCTV. This did not stop our friends at Arecont and Avigilon from developing ever more powerful cameras though. Arecont came up with their 10MP version only to be out done when Avigilon produced a 16 megapixel camera that blew the socks off those who saw the images. There was no doubt the cameras and the software on offer were incredibly impressive but was there a real market place for it at the price these cameras were coming in at?

 

Much thought was being given to this conundrum by all involved and the consensus seemed to be that HD did not have to reach the heights of 16 MP, even 10mp was considered over the top when to most a 2MP camera satisfied the needs of most applications in the market place. This was where the likes of Brickcom and March networks felt they needed be. So the market seemed to know what it wanted but how were the end user going to decide what to buy ? would it be price driven or product driven?

 

All and sundry put their efforts into developing user friendly software and the market split somewhat. There began to develop a distinction between enterprise level equipment and cameras and software that were just HD. Hikivison and Brickcom decided to compete on price whereas the likes of Panasonic ,Bosch and Avigilon went for high end enterprise level equipment.

 

Just as this competition reached a peak,  on to the scene came HDcctv over coax. An HD product that worked over coax. The idea being that coaxial infrastructure was in place in many installations so why not use it. Everfocus pioneered this approach and to this day in the field of HDcctv over coax they are the current market leaders.

 

So back to HD over IP and the race goes on. If you had to choose the market leader right now you would have to pick Avigilon. Overall the cameras are the best value for money and the software is second to none and the variety of cameras covers from 1 MP to 29MP,  by far the greatest range of any manufacturer. Many are hard on the heels of Avigilon but right now for enterprise projects it would be wise to go Avigilon, for anything else, value for money is served best with Hikivison.

 

 

HD CCTV is not just about security

For many years now CCTV has always been about security. This is the main pitch any sales person will make and his boast will be just how much crime CCTV will help to reduce and this means that its installation is crucial to stop a business being hit. Of course the reality is very different. Many companies have reluctantly accepted that by the time they have paid for the CCTV installation and ongoing service this requires that CCTV may in fact be costing them more than it is saving them. After all the odd lost item from the yard or out the stores is almost incidental and easily absorbed. Of course it is always hard to quantify how much CCTV cameras do save but many companies are now making do with their old kit or simply deciding not to have CCTV installed at all.

Now though CCTV is about more than security and reducing crime, still an important aspect but one that can be dwarfed by other benefits. The reduction of false claims against a company that may cost them hundreds of thousands of pounds , improvements in productivity, enforcement of health and safety. All the of these events needs an almost forensic level of detail and this cannot be supplied by analogue CCTV. Now though HD CCTV is making a huge difference. Evidence that could not be gleaned by older cameras is now clearly visible in HD. The ability to zoom in on events without losing clarity is helping prove fraudulent transactions and “slips” that never happened. Improved productivity is helping companies grow out of recession and this is all thanks to HD cameras. Many are seeing this as a time to invest in their business and gain the information they need to make it work efficiently giving them the edge over competitors.

 

HD has to be seen to be appreciated but just like your TV once you have HD CCTV you will wonder how you ever did without it.