Camera Surveillance System Technologies
The technologies for camera surveillance systems has evolved dramatically over the last 20 years. This article will educate you on basic system technologies currently available. After reading this, you should be able to make the right choices when designing a video camera surveillance system that will meet your expectations.
First, we have to understand the different camera surveillance system technologies, their operations and benefits. The technologies range from 25 year old “Analog” to cutting edge “Digital”. Your goals and what you want to accomplish will dictate which technology is right for you. There are three types of surveillance technologies that you have to consider.
The first is analog recording systems. Basically, these systems consist of the cameras, some sort of muliplexor to comverge the signals, and a VCR. There are many advantages to this type of system. No post processing required in the field/lab. Data storage (VCR tapes) is cheap, $2 – $3 /tape. Changeout time in field is quick, as long as it takes to swap out a VCR tape. Easily display output on analog monitors. Most television repair stations can service the recorders. Sampling techniques can easily be implemented to save storage with the analog camera surveillance system.
The next type is the digital recording camera surveillance system. Digital recording systems can be broken down into two categories, but they have many things in common. Most digital video security systems are intended for short bursts of important data (i.e. the five minutes while an entry is compromised) or for some few hours (i.e. while the robber is checking out the casino without his mask on). The video data being stored on the hard drives is immediately available to the police or security for downloading to the internet, digital storage cards, DVD’s, etc. When the event is over and the small amount of critical data is archived off of the hard drive, the hard drive is then placed back on line to record new video data. At some point in the future, depending on DHD capacity, it will start to write over the data previously recorded but the small amount of security critical data has been saved. Many resolution levels are available and they go to much higher levels than most analog systems. Various compression schemes are available MPEG 2 , MPEG 4, etc. Tremendous range of storage capacities from 20 gig to terabytes. The variety of hard drive video recorders is growing explosively. Systems generally require less power than analog systems. Moisture generally less of a problem because hard drives are sealed.
The two types of digital recording camera surveillance system are PC based systems and hardware based systems. PC based systems are more flexable and have a wide range of functionality. Limitations are that the system runs on a PC with the Windows Operating System and all of its flaws and limitations. Also, users must have average or better computer skills. The hardware based system is built specifically for camera security systems and is much less likely to experience operating system issues. However it is the more expensive of the two options.
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- Trackback: Webmaster on June 10, 2010
Thanks for posting about this, I would like to read more about this topic.