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Here’s Looking at You

by Norman K. Willis Just about every business, even a small business, has to give some thought to security. This is especially true for companies that produce high dollar value products---the threat of theft is always very real. Given that reality, business owners have to answer a very important question---“How do we protect our business, and our employees?” For sure, having a physical security presence is an effective way to deter criminals from making off with merchandise or engaging in other unsavory activities around a place of business. The truth is, however, it isn’t always practical or cost effective. Even if physical security is a good solution during business hours, what about after hours, when no customers or employees are present? In addition, security officers, though many of them are very professional and competent, sometimes don’t show up for work, make mistakes, or have lapses in attention. In light of that, employing video surveillance may be the best solution for some businesses to protect themselves and their resources. So if you’re a business owner and you’ve made the decision to utilize video surveillance, where do you start? There are many important components to a surveillance system---monitors, cabling, video recorders---but the workhorse of the system is the camera. Choosing the right camera for your application can make the difference between having a system that does what you want it to do, or an expensive toy that just dents your pocketbook. Indoors vs. Outdoors A key factor in choosing the right camera is whether or not it will be for indoor or outdoor use. Cameras designed to operate outside will have special features that will protect them from the elements, so this is an important consideration. Be [...]

By | 2018-03-08T19:08:16+00:00 April 28th, 2014|blog|0 Comments

Analog vs Digital Security Cameras

Introduction The security camera market has always been a rapidly changing market from a technological perspective, and one the most significant changes in recent years has been the introduction of digital or “IP” cameras (the IP standing for Internet Protocol). This move naturally reflects the larger cultural and global business shift from analog to digital technology. Because many companies still have an investment in legacy systems that employ the traditional technology, analog-based (or Closed Circuit TV) based systems that utilize DVRs (Digital Video Recorders) are still in wide use. In addition, the more expensive IP solution may be cost prohibitive for smaller companies (although IP cameras prices have fallen and will continue to fall as use widens). Even given that, because of the advantages that IP-based solutions offer, there is little doubt among industry experts that eventually IP security solutions will be the standard. Overview With the traditional CCTV or analog setup, security cameras take an analog video signal and pass the signal over a coax cable to a DVR. The DVR will then convert the analog signal to digital, and then store it on a hard drive where it can be retrieved at a later time. The digital signal is compressed for more efficient use of space on the hard drive. In order to allow for use with analog TVs, the camera’s signal complies with TV broadcast standards. For viewing, monitors are connected to the DVR, which can be broadcast over the Internet to computers, mobile phones, and other devices that can accept the images. In the IP-based scenario, the camera captures images as analog, but then converts them to digital. The digital images are then broadcast over a LAN (Local Area Network). The [...]

By | 2018-03-08T19:00:57+00:00 April 5th, 2014|blog|0 Comments