Tag: HD CCTV

DVR CCTV recording v CCTV software recording solutions

 Digital recorders are they a thing of the past?

 Digital recorders have been a huge step forward for the CCTV industry. When they first appeared to the mass market seven years or so ago they were hailed as the ultimate recording solution. To some degree this is true however they do have limitations and the black box is slowly but surely about to give way to VMS CCTV software as the primary way of recording CCTV images.

In the beginning.

At first the DVR’s that hit the market place were small 4 or 9 way boxes with what would now be considered  ludicrously small hard drives around 40 – 80 gig. They tended to be unstable and fail with relative frequency something that gave Security installers quite a headache in the early days. Things however moved fast. Soon remote connectivity became a must have feature as broadband begun to become more wide spread and IT managers got less and less concerned about streaming the data across their internal networks.

Front end CCTV software.

 CCTV software for DVR’s began to look and behave in a more user friendly way and once the central stations moved to remotely monitor some of the DVRs out there, it seemed that this technology would be here to stay.

Things change so fast.

Things however have suddenly shifted to a different level . This is being driven by IP camera solutions especially HD CCTV and Megapixel IP cameras. CCTV software in the form of VMS is quietly becoming the preferred way forward for those who appreciate the benefits of IP cameras and know how IP solutions are shortly going to dominate the market place. The flexibility and the way that software becomes cheaper the more cameras a system has is going to drive sales but most importantly the picture quality that is quite simply stunning will persuade customers to invest in the IP way forward.

Is it the end for DVR CCTV recording solutions?

So is it shortly going to be the end for the black box DVR , well quite simply no. The DVR is still a relatively cheap purchase and many smaller installations simply do not require the sophistication and larger costs of Megapixel IP security cameras and the accompanying CCTV software. So we are are a long way from seeing the discontinuation of the DVR CCTV solution but the amount of investment and development from manufacturers will start to fall away in favour of  various CCTV software products.

CCTV footage will be good enough to secure convictions with IP CCTV

IP CCTV cameras supply the solution.

The police and courts are being encouraged by the picture and recording quality that is now available from both HD CCTV and Megapixel IP cameras. For too long now we have had recorded images that simply are not good enough to secure convictions.

Highlighted in recent report.

This was recently highlighted in an internal report from the Metropolitan police who have compiled figures to prove that for every 1000 CCTV cameras that are positioned across the capital just one crime is solved. Add to this the comments made by a representative of Scyron the company who help the police analyse footage, as he said, as many as half of all of the CCTV cameras across the UK are of no use whatsoever.

Analytics.

Police are also encouraging the use of analytics on existing analogue cameras to ensure that only images are recorded when required ie. when loitering is taking place in known drug dealing areas or fighting outside drinking establishments. This encourages the public that they are not being watched constantly by the Big brother state.

Things must improve.

All the above will help improve every aspect of  CCTV and surveillance in the UK customers will finally get the picture and recording quality they deserve and criminals will find themselves faced with indisputable CCTV evidence to convict them in court. Once people realize the clarity and usability of the pictures then ultimately crime will be reduced . A benefit to us all.

Moving sales forward with IP camera solutions

A new sales opportunity.

So how do we pursued customers to upgrade to new camera systems? . Well of course firstly we have the lever that no forward thinking business is gong to want  to get left behind with their security solutions. With the advent of HD CCTV we have a consumer led technology that people want to jump on board with, this technology is good  but megapixel technology offers some even more amazing picture quality as long as the network that is is in place has the ability to handle the amount of data that is going to pass through it.

So much to offer but who is ready?

It seems that we have cameras that can do more than we could ever imagine but customers generally don’t have the bandwidth to handle it. Add to this the hundreds of different and incompatible recording solutions and we find that on many occasions we have to compromise on the  CCTV software. We need CCTV software that  can handle most if not all the  manufacturers cameras. Analytics will only work with analogue cameras that have been converted by codecs, we see this as a completely unsatisfactory scenario. Analytics for HD and mega pixel cameras are a must.

What the industry wants.

What we want is a recorder/CCTV software that can do analytics, record the best quality that the best cameras on the market can supply and no network restrictions , This is still a long way off  but without doubt within the next 3 years an IP solution will emerge that will take the market place by storm . If the manufacturer who can fulfil all the above criteria does emerge then  they will dominate the market for many many years to come.

Integrated CCTV System

Integrated CCTV systems.

What are the elements involved in a fully integrated CCTV system?  Starting with the a basic CCTV system we will always have the cameras , the DVR and the monitor. this is what people generally understand when they ask to have a CCTV system installed.

Lots of applications.

We can have an internal CCTV system, an external CCTV system or we can have a mixture of both. Until recently CCTV systems tended to be restricted to a fairly small number of cameras usually up to about 16. Of course there has always been a need on bigger sites for more cameras but there was always the restrictions. The number of frames per second per camera that a DVR could process for instance. The more FPS the more expensive the DVR tended to be to accommodate. Then of course we have the picture quality. Analogue CCTV cameras have always been restricted as to how many lines they can produce to make up the image we see on the screen.

Better picture quality.

Although cameras have advanced to allow more lines,  420 TVL would be typical for instance. It does not stop there, we are then restricted by the monitors and the picture quality they can produce . With the introduction of IP we now have the exciting development of HD CCTV and this means mega pixels and in turn a huge advance in picture quality that we can expect from our recorded images in the future.

Integrated CCTV solutions provide so much more.

Integrated CCTV systems though consist of more .They can be hybrid CCTV systems part analogue, part IP. They can be Integrated to access control systems and linked to central stations. They can be linked to external alarm systems. Sensors, fixed beams and so on to give us many different security solutions and the ability to generate alarms.

CCTV in the future.

Most integrated CCTV systems of the future however will be able to incorporate analytics to generate alarms. This could be used to warn of a terrorists threat such as abandoned luggage and suspicious behaviour etc. The CCTV systems can be integrated to ANPR software that will allow number plate recognition to control barriers and access control and the  police are able to track suspicious vehicles across the country by using this ANPR technology. CCTV systems can now integrate to biometric readers to allow faces to be linked to finger prints this offers companies a huge upgrade of security within their organisation.

In summary.

In summary CCTV systems on their own will be a thing of the past. Integrated security in its many forms is the way forward for the future. IP cameras and the improved picture quality they bring together with analytics and more flexibilty are just around the corner , things are moving fast!

Cisco, Chubb, ADT who will come out top in the battle of IP CCTV?

IP CCTV the next generation of CCTV

IP CCTV is where the next generation of CCTV and integrated security is going. We have to wait and see though who will be providing the CCTV solutions of the future. Will it be the big IT integrators or the giants of the security installing industry?

There can only be one real winner

Both cant come out on top and there is huge potential with the introduction of HD CCTV that is set to change the face of the video surveillance market place forever.

Our view

We have reviewed the situation and ask that you click here to see how we think this battle will develop.