Integrated Security Systems- the way forward- have your say,

[kido 0]

Lets share it.

 

I would like to start this with a bit of the past, I would welcome anyone to share a bit of knowledge and feel free, anything

 

Being in the industry for only 10 years, I’m not that old, only 35. I have touched and troubleshoot (Tube CCTV cameras). For those who don’t know what they are... imagine a TV screen that works the other way round, instead of projecting a picture they capture the picture. Yes with CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) like TV. And they used to be very expensive, very heavy and very big. Major problem even on the reliable ones, picture used to get burnt on the reflector which you couldn’t see the reflector because they were placed at the beginning of the tube but you would see the picture burnt like a negative and there was nothing you could do about them, we found one in the N.. MOD archives in the basement back in 2001 in a massive bomb proof dennard PTZ head, me and other engineer decided to have ago, after some problem in finding a reliable 24AC(this one might have been the latest of the kind) we whacked it to the test monitor and voi-la' picture with few milliseconds delay due to shutter speeds? Maybe im not sure. I was so impressed with the size of it that I had doubt about fitting though the boot of my estate car and take it home. Which I should have done so but had some doubts about what my wife would say if I brought junk home so I decided to leave it behind, further attempts to retrieve it where denied by the security after that.

 

But that's all gone, thanks god.

 

CCd just came and bly-me, bloody small. Better and easier to work with.

All our motivation to install a brand new tech at site was a big thing for us, used the very basic tools and do a neat job. Sparking.

 

RS232 and RS485, well i used to know more about switching multiphase then data!!! Computers!!! Don’t know.

 

At that time for me was easier to understand a pure physical connection between two points, not data. Hear this: if you what to move a camera up you use two wire-and+ to a servo, the if you want to move down you invert this wire (obviously you need a speed control that could be achieved with some resistive circuit and some gears, yes?) do you know what I mean?

 

Data?

 

Data= RS232, RS485, optical Fibre, baxall, coax telemetry are just way of achieving what u what which is getting the data across from the control point to the receiving device.

 

Systems could develop further once we got some of the data transmission systems doing a god job, and, now its just one better development after another. A better and faster transmission system leads to develop a system that exchanges and processes information faster will also lead to develop transmission system to be even faster... am I going to fast?

 

end of part one

 

please post your thoughts

[Jasper 0]

See Next post.....

Edited June 28, 2006 by Guest

[kensplace 0]

funny thing is, I find the cabling aspect the hardest (home cctv, but done pro computer systems for many firms in the past) part to do. The actual connections are easy, crimp or solder, but i am no good with diy parts like hiding cables etc.

 

Personally I am used to rs232 etc, so find them easy, but I do think the cctv world in general is for want of a better word, immature, as they have in general not latched on to the fact that if they open their systems up, they will sell more. At present they are relying mostly on the fact that most cctv people dont understand their protocols (and those that do probably cant get data for them, apart from pelco which seems well documented) so they can get away with charging a fortune for stuff that should be cheap.

 

There is also a lack of 'repairability' in modern systems, and this does not apply to just cctv, it applies to pretty much all modern kit - try repairing a board populated with surface mount devices, its impossible unless you have very expensive kit, and expensive people...... Which makes the cost of repair more than the cost of replacement in most cases these days, so everything is just binned when it plays up these days....

 

Why cant manufacturers show pinouts for their equipment, and make the info available to people - many (but not all) manu's either charge a fortune, or refuse entirely to just give simple pinout data for equipment to end users - I cant see the point in that, after all they cant even claim its for security purposes as a 'dodgy' person could easily disable or tamper with a camera in much easier ways than via its connections.

 

Telemetry kit seems VERY expensive, when its pretty simple to design, its just a interface that transmits serial data over wires, then decodes it at the other end to control a set of relays - nothing hard in that, hardest part is probably the transmitting over the wires bit - the rest is a doddle.

 

I shudder at the thought of how much people pay for 'pro' kit, when in just a few years time, even the manufacturer of the item is likely to turn around and say thats obsolete and we dont support it any more.

 

The thing is though, cctv kit is not like a pc, its a camera, recorder, display, and stuff to light it and move it. Non of that stuff should become obsolete in just a few years (apart from major improvements like digital versus timelapse recorders, or ccd rather than tube cameras etc) if the kit is high end, and still does the job, then they should still support it.

 

But the manu's in general are not in it for the end user, or even security, they are in it for money - thats why things are the way they are.

 

Security systems could easily be more integrated, but the cctv world rarely talks to the alarm world (who also seem to be big on privacy, like certain alarm forums refusing to give out engineers manuals to non trade, when even a non trade person like me has every scantronic manual in existance (for older models)) - its just a we know it, we charge you for it scenario.

 

That mindset does not bring innovation into play - it restricts it.

 

Alarms should link to cctv systems, cctv systems should link to home tv systems, easy interfacing is the way forward - not propriatery formats which hinder that.

[CollinR 0]

Agreed, add in communications as well. It's only logical to also contain your firefall for both voice and data.

 

There are options but none are really exceptional, basically the giant interface as nobody has all in one hardware.

 

Check into mrhouse, lots left to desire but overall pretty cool. Keep in mind this guy is running this from his residence open to all on the web. Yours would be much faster.

 

 

EDIT: I guess you could also firwall your incoming video as well.

 

Also check out the Elk alarms, if somebody is going to do it well it will be them.