IP Video Surveillance

There is a lot of interest in IP video surveillance. Most all major manufactures have developed some form of an IP system, NVR (Network Video Recorder) and camera. However, there are a LOT of misconceptions with IP Video Surveillance.

I cannot tell you then number of horror stories I have heard with organizations that attempted to deploy IP video surveillance with integrators that did not know the difference between static and dynamic IPs. In other words, most of today’s CCTV integrators do not have the skills nor experience to properly install and implement an IP based video surveillance system.  As a result, the extra benefits that you should get for the extra cost for IP is not seen, In fact, most of the time it ends up being worst than an old MPEG2 DVR system.

The next couple of posts I am going to dedicate to IP Video Surveillance. As way of introduction I am going to start with the misconceptions of IP video surveillance. Please understand, I do think IP is the next generation of technology and over 90% of the projects we do are IP. However, there are several misconceptions that need to be addressed!

Misconceptions:

-          IP Video has better video resolution.

o   On the surface this does seem to be true. With the use of Megapixel cameras the resolution has improved, noticeably. However, for 98% of the projects I work on, megapixel cameras are not used. The reason, cost and bandwidth! They are more than double the price of a typical, hi end analog camera. Also, they require massive amounts of bandwidth which most networks would never be able to handle. In some applications they fit, but in most general surveillance environments they do not.

o   Other than the 2% that may use megapixel cameras, IP cameras typical do not have better resolution; in fact, most of them have lower resolution, due to compression, and image quality than their analog counter parts. The reason for this is manufactures have spent years and millions of dollars in developing the technology behind analog cameras. IP cameras have not quite caught up. I do see this changing which I will address in future posts.

-          IP Video has higher ROI (Return on Investment)

o   Again, this is a push by manufactures trying to push their products into the market. There is the ROI for having a system that is on the leading edge of technology, but what most manufactures do not tell you is, there are huge recurring, maintenance, software, licensing and service costs with their systems. I have seen some systems cost as much as $30,000 per year for software updates.

-          IP Video can sit on your existing network

o   If anyone tells you this, politely ask them to leave and never call them back. They have NO idea how IP works or the consequence of putting video onto your network. I watched a school go through this, they chose the lowest bidder and they installed the cameras on the network… and the network crashed! They are can hardly run 1ips without crashing the school’s network. This does not work!

These are a few of the misconceptions, there are more. As I continue I will address these issues specifically as well as provide a foundation for a proper system design.