jhonovich

Note: I recently released a new article on top 5 problems of IP Cameras: http://ipvideomarket.info/review/show/156. This might be interesting for further discussion.

The PAL standard has a frame rate of 25. NTSC is 30. Because Axis is digital, they do not need to conform to those standards. As such, they can do more than 25/30 fps. The question is: why would you need more frames? High frames rates are helpful in casinos, missile launches, etc - applications where things are moving very very quickly. For the overwhelming majority of applications that are viewing general activity, 5 - 15 fps should be more than enough.

Yes, plus it seems they only have that one form factor, no domes, etc. If you are stuck with GE DVRs, I guess you are locked in. For new deployments, you should seriously consider going to non-GE products. GE is way behind the curve in IP/megapixel.

By the way, is this the GE camera you are being sent: http://www.gesecurity.com/portal/GESDownload?ID=3360&DID=17256&documenttype=Data%20Sheet If it is, i think they are OEMing a Lumenera camera

Hi Randy, If you are using GE and Clinton, a key challenge will be getting IP/megapixel cameras to work with your existing DVRs. I think GE has some limited support for their own cameras on some of their DVR lines. I would check with GE. IP/megapixel can be better than analog but it is often significantly more expensive. If you are just starting off, try ACTi (http://www.acti.com). They have very inexpensive cameras (1.3 megapixel box cameras at $355) that work well. ACTi provides free NVR software so you can get a full test going for very cheap. Ultimately, you may want to use enterprise class NVR software or different cameras, but this might be a good start. Please let me know if this helps or if you have further questions. Best, John

Have you seen this one? http://www.aimetis.com/Company/Press_Releases/06-27-2008.aspx

Here's one: http://www.use-ip.co.uk/ Have you already talked to an Avigilon manufacturer's rep or internal sales person? I think you should do that. Avigilon is not like other megapixel camera vendors in that you need to use their NVR. I have a review of Avigilon at http://ipvideomarket.info/reviews/show/130

I bet a lot of you know Bruce Schneier, the very famous security guru - http://www.schneier.com/blog Every so often Bruce bashes CCTV. It's weird because he obviously knows little about cctv systems, what they do, how much they cost, how they are being used. Nevertheless, every so often he bashes CCTV. He did it again this week and I felt the need to respond: http://ipvideomarket.info/review/show/139 Thought you might be interested. What do you guys think of Schneier's arguments?

Schneier's site, by viewership, is the biggest in all of security. He is originally an Information Security specialist but now he comments on all things security.

I recently released a new review on ioimage's video analytics. I have used ioimage used in the field as well as researched the product extensively. The review focuses on explaining ioimage's approach and the benefits of it. http://ipvideomarket.info/review/show/138 Please let me know if you have any feedback or questions.

Pelco now has an IP PTZ: ftp://ftp.pelco.com/ProductSpecs/SpectraIV_IP_Sales_Sheet.pdf It is their traditional Spectra IV unit with an internal encoder module.

Sony makes popular IP PTZs - http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/cat-securitycameras/cat-ip/

A third party consulting company has released a 20 page review on Axis' IP video management/ NVR software "Camera Station." I have done a quick article on it and linked to the review. You can find my article at: http://ipvideomarket.info/review/show/137 I think a lot of you already now about this product. It's essentially an entry level system for use only with Axis cameras. Axis just put out a new release and they say a number of search and usability functions have improved. Nevertheless, it certainly is not a competitor to the bigger and more sophisticated NVR offerings. I have not deployed "Camera Station." Anyone who has, please offer thoughts.

I know a number of people on the forum have discussed avigilon during exchanges of megapixel cameras. I just finished an analysis of Avigilon that you might find useful. Coming in to the review I was very focused on their 16 MP camera, once I finished researching on pricing and functionalities, I have now become convinced that Avigilon is quote attractive for general video surveillance/video management. You can read the 4 page paper but here is the summary of key advantages/risks: Advantages Overview * Reduces Cost of Megapixel Cameras and Storage * Increases Usability of Viewing and Investigations * Makes System Integration Simpler Risks Overview * Benefits from Avigilon are maximized when using megapixel cameras. If you do not plan to use many megapixel cameras, obviously, Avigilon's business case is reduced. * Avigilon is not scheduled to support other manufacturer’s IP cameras until early 2009 and it will be limited to only the top selling models. * Certain advanced video management features are still in development and you will need to verify with Avigilon on these points. What do you think?

I agree. Those are good books. My book is not targeted at the same use as those books. Those books are excellent guides to the technology. They are great for the working engineer or technician who really needs to know how things work. My book is quite bad at that objective. The title of my book is "Security Manager's Guide to Video Surveillance" and the emphasis is on understanding what is out there, what are the high level tradeoffs and where the industry is going. It's made more for the user, buyer, designer or sales person. My hope is that my book complements the excellent texts already available for cctv and video surveillance. Thank you for sharing those resources.

Analog is a huge part of the industry and will continue to be for many years to come. I do encourage you to contribute analog pieces especially for the tutorials section. While a lot of industry insiders read the reports and analysis, more people read the tutorials on camera basics, etc.

Scoprion! For you, I would pay you to take one! Have any interest in contributing an essay or two??

http://ipvideomarket.info/book On that page, the link to download is in the center in the box. The link says "Download the Book." Do you see now?

Hi Walter, As long as your DVR supports IP cameras and supports the models you want to use, you do not need any additional cards, etc. For instance, in a DVR that supports Arecont, you would simply plug the Arecont camera onto your network and then go to your DVR and configure the DVR to receive the Arecont stream. That being said, you need to check whether 1) Your Geovision model supports IP cameras 2) Whether Geovision supports Arecont cameras (and which models). Finally, if you are going to use megapixel cameras, be prepared to buy significantly more storage or to only store the video from the megapixel cameras for a few days. Please let me know if you have feedback or further questions. Best, John

There are probably 100 (or more) DVR/NVR suppliers out there. In terms of sales, I think alnet is a minor player. While it's hard to make a recommendation based on a cursory review of a website, it seems they may lack some advance features such as scalability, video analytics, 3rd party system integration, etc. Whether, alnet is good for you, I do not know. That being said, there is safety in terms of ongoing support and expansion by going with some of the more well known companies. Please let me know if you have feedback or questions.

I have been pulling together some thoughts on my experiences with video analytics, especially on the matter of where the problems or gotchas are. I wrote a review on the key problem with video analytics that you might find interesting. The 3 I list are: - false alerts - maintenance problems - high cost for systems that work What have your experiences been? Would you change the list? Add others to it? By the way, I do not see a category for analytics on the forum. Is that the case?

Hi Guys, I tried to search for video surveillance / cctv tutorials and could not many good results. I decided to set up a directory so that people could easily find tutorials. Can you take a look at the video surveillance tutorials I have up so far? I am sure there are other tutorials out there that are good and I should include. If you have any favorites you think I should include, please let me know. Best, John

Thanks, Rebco. I don't know. I like to work all the time I see you are an integrator. If you have any feedback on what information you want to see added or are looking for, that would be great feedback and I could work on that . Thanks.

I just added a tutorial explaining the basics of codecs including h.264, mpeg-4 and mjpeg. I know many people ask questions about codecs so hopefully this helps.

See this thread for info: http://www.control.com/thread/1026204047