Clear Up That Grainy Video
Another day in Atlanta…another story of a smash and grab burglary. These types of burglaries are very hard to stop because the burglars wait until a business is closed (usually a retail business is the target) and then smash the front window and grab everything they can in a very short period of time.
So, the best thing a business owner can do to combat this type of crime is to help the police identify the perpetrators so they can get them off of the streets. And, a good video surveillance system is the best tool to use.
Unfortunately, it is all too often the case that businesses are using inferior video surveillance systems (also called CCTV systems) to protect their premises. You have all seen the results–murky, grainy video that can’t be used to identify the bad guys. Take a look at this video from a recent smash and grab burglary in Atlanta for an example of video that could be improved:
The good news is that video surveillance technology continues to improve and there are better and better alternatives available as time goes by. You do not have to be stuck with inferior, low-quality surveillance video cameras!
Just as megapixel technology has transformed the still camera market, it is beginning to transform the video surveillance market. Megalpixel IP surveillance cameras will eventually take over the entire video surveillance market and will replace traditional analog video surveillance cameras.
Honeywell 3 Megapixel Camera
The difference is that megapixel IP cameras can generate much better video pictures than traditional analog surveillance cameras.
A traditional VGA-quality analog surveillance camera can generate a picture with approximately 300,000 pixels (pixels are picture elements). A one megapixel IP surveillance camera can generate 1,000,000 pixels which is an increase of over 230%!
In the past, the challenges with IP surveillance cameras have been cost, bandwidth requirements, and storage requirements. One by one, these challenges have been overcome. While megapixel IP surveillance cameras are a bit more expensive than analog cameras, the cost of megapixel cameras has come down dramatically and they are much more affordable now. Since the megapixel cameras use Internet Protocol (IP) transmission, the cost of cabling for these cameras is also lower. And, with the availability of more sophisticated encoding methods (like H.264), the bandwidth and storage requirements have been reduced significantly.
So, we believe that now is the time to explore the possibilities of megapixel IP cameras. The good news is that it is not necessary to completely convert an existing system to all megapixel IP cameras. There are hardware options available that allow us to mix and match analog and IP cameras and standard resolution cameras with megapixel resolution surveillance cameras.
One example is the RapidEye Hybrid Video Recording system from Honeywell (see picture below).
Honeywell RapidEye DVR
This is an easy-to-use system that we can install that can record and manage traditional analog surveillance cameras alongside newer IP surveillance cameras. Honeywell has a line of megapixel IP cameras that are fully compatible with the RapidEye recording system.
So, there are options that can help you dramatically improve the quality of your video surveillance systems. And, the best part is that all of these systems can be viewed remotely over the Internet so you can keep tabs on what is happening real-time.
We are here to help – let us know if you have questions or want to see a product demonstration.
It is time to clear up that grainy video!
-Scott Hightower, Verified Security