Seeking Video Analytic PTZ Camera

[MiamiRob 0]

Hello.

 

In 2010, my condominium installed a new security system. Because my career is in Technology, I had an IP-based camera and access control system installed rather than an analog system. Many members of this forum gave me excellent advice about that system and I continue to be very appreciative of that help.

 

IN BRIEF:

I am posting to ask if anyone knows of a camera manufacturer who sells PTZ video analytic cameras. I am trying to replace two broken Ioimage PTZ cameras. Ioimage no longer sells PTZs, they only sell fixed cameras. I would like to find another video analytic PTZ vendor.

 

IN DETAIL:

About fifteen of the sixty or so IP cameras installed the property of the condominium at which I live are Iomage video analytic (VA) cameras. Five of the cameras are PTZs. Two of these five PTZ cameras are broken and cannot be fixed. (The cameras were damaged in a strong storm.) Ioimage no longer sells video analytic PTZs. They only sell fixed VA cameras. Ioimage has offered to replace the two broken cameras with new PTZs for $2,500 which is we paid for the cameras originally. In that Iomiage no longer sells PTZs, I would prefer not want to use their PTZ product. I would like to find another video analytic PTZ manufacturer that is committed to the PTZ VA business. I would like video analytic cameras that perform the video analytics within the camera itself, not using a central server. The Ioimage have internal analytics software and this has worked well. Ideally the PTZ cameras from another vendor would accept "hand-offs" from our existing Ioimage fixed video analytics.

 

The Ioimage cameras have worked very well in terms of their video analytic capabilities. However, there have been reliability issues. Over time, we have had problems with both the Ioimage fixed and PTZ cameras. With the fixed cameras, the infrared filters have all had to be replaced. Because of a manufacturing defect, the IR filters would move into place but then not retract. At first, our security company was sending the cameras back to Ioimage one-by-one for repair as the filters failed. However, when Ioimage finally realized that there was a widespread problem, they sent someone to our building to replace the filters in all our fixed Ioimage cameras. Prior to the current PTZ failures, we have had two of our five PTZs fail at various points. The PTZs just kept spinning continuously. Because the PTZ failures happened in the first year under the warranty, Ioimage replaced the cameras free of charge.

 

Our building is totally sold on the value of video analytic cameras. We feel that the cost is well justified. The ability of the cameras to make intelligent decisions about events and alert our guards only when required has been tremendously valuable. The "hand-off" from fixed cameras to the PTZs works very well. (Assuming the PTZs are functioning properly.) I have personally spent hundreds of hours learning about and configuring the cameras. I have done everything from performing the initial camera set-up to configuring the system to alerts the guards when the video analytics detection rules send the guards alerts about intruders and other events. The initial setup of the camera requires some work. The slope of the ground, height of the camera, etc., all must be entered correctly or the video analytics does not work well. I am sure that many of you who are professionals are better versed in these cameras, but I thought I would take the liberty of telling you some of what I have learned:

 

Ioimage considers the gold standard in video analytics to be fixed cameras. They view video analytic PTZs as "gravy". In the mind of Ioimage, ideally a property would be totally covered by fixed VA cameras because the fixed cameras have better resolution. Of course, complete coverage with fixed VAs is expensive so my building went with a combination of fixed and PTZ. The fixed cameras, based on how they are programmed, "hand-off" to specific PTZs. This works well except...

1) there are issues with determining priority in terms of which event (detected person) should be tracked. In that the fixed camera could detect another event while the PTZ is already tracking another event, it is possible that the PTZ could be instructed by the fixed camera to move away from an intruder to track something non-critical like a resident walking a dog when Security would rather the cameras track a stranger walking on the sidewalk a hundred feet away.

2) Fixed cameras can hand-off detected events (e.g., an intruder) to other fixed cameras and to PTZ cameras, but PTZs are NOT able to hand-off events to other PTZs or to fixed cameras. In other words, in terms of telling other Ioimage video analytic cameras what is going on, PTZs are dumb.

3) Once a event is handed-off by a fixed cameras to a PTZ, if the tracked subject moves out of PTZ camera range and is not detected by another VA fixed camera, tracking will stop. UNLESS another PTZ camera happens to be in a position to view the subject and is enabled to autonomously detect and track. In this case, tracking of the subject by the second PTZ will begin. BUT if a fixed camera configured to hand-off events to the PTZ instructs the PTZ to monitor another event, the subject\intruder initially being tracked will be dropped by the PTZ and the new instruction from the fixed camera will become the priority. In other words, fixed video analytic cameras run the show. PTZs follow instructions from fixed.

4) a PTZ camera can function without accepting a hand-off from fixed cameras and can perform its own video analytic detection and, when an event is detected, the PTZ will start tracking. This works well, however the loss of the PTZs ability to accept hand-offs from fixed VA cameras is a loss of functionality. Ideally there are enough cameras so it is that all PTZs work in hand-off mode.

5) Note: Rules can be set up to allow a PTZ to do its own video analytic detection as well as accept detection hand-offs from fixed cameras, but this setup can create big problems with detection priorities between fixed and PTZ cameras. If multiple events are detected simultaneously, the PTZ can end up quickly jumping between detected events.

 

I sincerely appreciate any info or advice that anyone can provide about video analytic camera vendors. While I would like to know about video analytic PTZ cameras, I am also interested in hearing people's experiences with fixed video analytic camera brands other than Ioimage.

 

Thank you.

 

Rob