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CCTV & IP Video Surveillance

Advancements in digital photography have lead the CCTV industry into a massive overhaul with the advent of IP Video (or Network Cameras) in 1996. The pioneer being our partner Axis Communications. Many vendors now manufacturer network cameras including Mobotix, Panasonic and Sony to name a few.

IP CCTV solutions come into their own when used with megapixel cameras, this enables highly detailed images to be zoomed after the recording has been made. A traditional analogue solution is limited with resolution and would distort recorded images when zoomed on.

These types of cameras are attached directly to your computer network and are powered over it saving money on any electrical requirements at the camera end and speeding up the overall installation.

IP cameras coupled with surveillance software from Milestone are our preferred solution. Whilst the initial cost of IP cameras may be more expensive than a traditional analogue camera the benefits are enormous and the quality fantastic.

Some of the key advantages of IP cameras are:

Cost advantages

• Reduced system cost and added functionality due to general-purpose IP networking equipment infrastructure.
• Lower cost of cabling in installations (CAT5e instead of RG-59 coaxial cable).
• Reduced space requirements in large (many camera) CCTV setups because video switching and routing is done via computer and does not need physically large and expensive video matrix switchers. Flexible image format
• Support for a variety of image resolutions including both standard analog CCTV resolutions (CIF, NTSC, PAL, and SECAM) and megapixel resolutions.
• Capability for digital zoom of high-resolution megapixel images.
• Progressive scan (versus interlaced scanning).
• Ability to select specific frame rates and resolution for each camera in a system. Extensible network infrastructure
• Convergence onto new or existing IP cabling infrastructure, including sites with multiple buildings.
• Ability to use Power over Ethernet allowing for one cable to handle power and data.
• Capability for deploying with a wireless bridge.
• Ability to use legacy coaxial cables with appropriate converters.
• Ability to use fiber optic links with appropriate twisted-pair to fiber converters.
• Transmission of commands for PTZ (pan, tilt, zoom) cameras via a single network cable.
• Simple to add one camera at a time to the system.

Greater functionality

• Wireless allows the camera to be placed just about anywhere.
• No limit on resolution inherent in standard analog video formats. Megapixel cameras can far exceed image detail from conventional CCTV cameras.
• On-camera automated alerting via email or file transfer in response to video motion detection or dry-contact alarms.
• Support for different streaming media and compression formats to relieve transmission bandwidth and data storage requirements.
• Encryption of camera control data and audio/video data.
• Support for new embedded intelligent video motion detection (video analytics) with shape recognition and counting applied to objects, people, and vehicles.
• Integration of video surveillance with other systems and functions such as access control, alarm systems, building management, traffic management, etc.
• Remote configuration, diagnostics, and maintenance.
• Future-proof installations with field-upgradeable products due to the ability to upgrade camera firmware over the network.