jimmayor007

Originally video surveillance was done based on analog technology -- closed circuit television (CCTV) and recording on video tapes. This was fine for recording what was going on, but it didn’t broadcast actual live information, so it wasn’t practical for monitoring stores, for instance, from a remote location. It simply provided what happened after the fact. The picture quality wasn’t great and it relied on human reliability as well -- someone had to remember to change the tapes regularly, etc.

Digital revolutionizes video surveillance

With the Internet revolution and the ever-increasing presence of Local Area Networks, technology took great strides in video surveillance in the 1990’s. Analog camera tubes were replaced with CCD (Charged Coupled Devices) and digital cameras became affordable for most people.

This combination meant that video surveillance could do two things: go live over the Internet or a closed network for surveillance and provide clearer, crisper images that could be tracked and manipulated easily. For law enforcement, digital surveillance meant it was much easier to zoom in on images, track particular scenes and enhance features.

The basics of IP-based surveillance

A digital camera “views” the scene in front of it, broadcasts the video images as a digitized signal over a LAN line (Local Area Network) where it’s then transmitted to a computer or server. The server in turn manages all of this information. Depending upon the software used to manage the digital images, it can record, display or retransmit the images to anywhere in the world.

The software package can easily be upgraded to allow for analyzing data, selecting specific “flagged” items to watch for and a host of other functions, making it a truly customizable security tool.

True IP-based digital surveillance uses CCD cameras that use signal processing that send packetized video streams over the LAN through a Cat 5 cable rather than a coax cable network, utilizing greater bandwidth and standard TCP/IP communication.

It also provides more intelligent data mining and information retrieval. If security is an issue, full digital surveillance also offers the added advantage of data encryption opportunities to protect against image tampering -- something not possible with analog recording.

Recently, a few companies such as D-Link and Linksys have also developed fully digital cameras that actually have completely integrated, built-in web servers so that no external computers are needed for operating them. The signal is transmitted directly to the terminal location for storage or play-back.

Halfway there…

The “middle of the road” of video surveillance is upgrading video surveillance by utilizing a Digital Video Recorder (DVR). A DVR system is not really fully IP-based, but is step toward the more advanced IP technology. In actuality, a DVR system uses the same camera and structures for cabling as the older CCTV analog systems, but the old VCRs have been replaced with DVR for storage of the data. The data is converted to digital so that it can be stored on hard disks, but the quality of the images captured remains analog since this is how it originated.

When shopping for a system, be sure to ask if the system is digital based on the recording (DVR) or on the camera, since many manufacturers consider a system digital by virtue of the DVR storage system even if the camera recording the images is still analog.

Going all the way

Some people will move to the hybrid models of a CCTV/DVR system when they first move beyond an analog system because it seems like the next practical evolutionary step in video surveillance. However, shifting to this method largely ignores how IP-based video surveillance works.

With CCTV/DVR surveillance you have actually simply delayed the inevitable by adding on a relatively new technology (hard disk, digital storage) to an old technology (analog video over coaxial transmission lines). Rather than moving forward into something new, you have prolonged the demise of the old.

Advantages of IP-based video surveillance

The leap into completely IP-based technology is the best bang for your buck both monetarily and in terms of security by far. Digital surveillance can be done over a LAN network, of course, but TCP/IP transmittal of surveillance makes sense for remote monitoring of multiple locations and for remote recording of data onto back-up servers and hard disks for long-term storage.

With IP-based video surveillance, you can connect your surveillance camera or cameras to any network or wireless adapter, and you are extremely flexible in your placement of the camera itself. A typical PC-attached video camera, while providing digital picture image quality, still has to be within approximately ten feet of the computer itself.

...read the full guide with pics here

matrim

Put one in the grow room in front of ppm/ph/temp gauges

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swordfish

Is there a boxed plug and play system minus the computer and moniter? Are you also saying the surviellance cameras can only be placed within 10ft of the computer and or wireless adapter to be effective and transmit usable images? Please elaborate on the distance a computer can be in relation to the cameras?

Just Yak

yup thats a great idea, has been talked about before but I wouldnt feel comfortable putting a live camera on anything but those gauges only

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tranc3r

Part of my job is to setup survellience systems for business.

While there are some advantages of going to IP, its far more expensive than CCTV.

you can have CCTV cameras for less than $200 each, have them all wired to a CCTV card in a computer to which you could remote desktop and view them, also all video is stored on the PC. *shrug*

IP cameras you can access via the network or if you port forward them, the internet.

In RE: Wireless IP cameras, the distance is limited by a few things, including the quality of the cameras wireless attenna and output, the Accee points antenna and output, interference and line of sight obstructions.

A decent N-series Acess Point with a decent camera will run nicely over 30ft if there isnt to many brick/masonary or metal walls in the way, i actually have a wireless camera going alot further and through a whole building still reciving 40% signal and get a nice stream from it.

I also have to disagree with the "more secure via IP", IP is actually hackable via so many different ways, where cctv you would have to actually tap into the cable's signal which cant really be done from outside.

I can recommend the following brands for IP cameras -
Axis , Pixord and IQEYE.

The pixord and IQEYE are more professional, they have interchangable lenses and support Ifra-red very well, allowing you to setup a IR Lamp and see in the dark.

Sharp CCTV Cameras are also great.

penguin

Good advice, tranc3r.

IP is very hackable. One member here seems to have run into a problem a few years back because the wrong people got access to his IP surveillance feed.


penguin

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Punani JAck

Im all for IP based web cams. You can find some cheap ones for around $100. If you have a computer and wireless network already the cost is minimal. Also being paranoid about hackers taking control of your camera is a little silly if you take the right precautions. Yes there are super hackers out there who can break 128bit encryption, but most likely they are not going to be wasting thier time on you... And there are ways around having a static IP address. Its called FREEDNS FreeDNS - Free DNS - Dynamic DNS - Static DNS subdomain and domain hosting

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tranc3r

Just to add to the encryption, anyone using wireless should have their encrpytion set to WPA-PSK with a decently long pass-phrase.

Using WEP is bad, very bad. Any kid with google and wireless card will have access to your network within 10mins if you use WEP.