After successfully getting accepted as a mature technology with a field proven record the IP video market is clearly growing at a fast rate. Due to its numerous cost and performance benefits the IP networking of security systems will eventually penetrate the majority of the security market.

What makes IP Video so special?

By looking at the disadvantages of analog CCTV the advantages of IP video can best be highlighted. The conventional coax or fiber-based video systems are limited in many ways. Deployment costs over large areas are too expensive and the number of observation stations is inadequate due to the investment required to duplicate costly switching systems. The component that provides control room flexibility for analog CCTV systems is the analog matrix however this too cannot be easily upgraded and enhanced without adding new hardware systems. Not to mention that it also depends on the location. Consequently, the general scalability, including the price of development, is meager. Despite the fact that the introduction of DVRshas enhanced the recording abilities of analog CCTV, these too are restricted and inadequate. They have to physically be installed near the analog matrix, and not to mention that frame rate and image quality are often disregarded.

Most businesses require a single, scale-able, incorporated solution, which offers high-quality video supervision across any number of their sites or offices; this is what IP video provides.

The IP video technology also offers a high level of redundancy for enterprise systems. The control and monitoring capability can be easily transferred to any other point on the network either on or off site in the event of an emergency. Even if one link or switch goes down the redundant networks allow the system to keep operating. Even if one recorder fails or is destroyed Redundant NVRs permit recordings to carry on. The combinations of all of these features allow IP video systems to deliver a level of reliability far higher than what is achievable with analog CCTV solutions.

By having everything based around a single network allows system-wide diagnostics to guarantee that everything is running as planned. If anything fails each and every device can be constantly monitored and an alarm initiated. It is more than obvious that this is not possible with an analog system where camera feeds have to be physically supervised in order to make sure that all the operations are running smoothly, and the potential exists for a fault to go unnoticed for an extended period of time. This represents a potential problem with DVRs, due to the fact that fault will not necessarily be flagged and recordings for all cameras can be mislaid or, again for extensive periods of time. The Analog security systems can employ limited diagnostics, but this depends on the diverse components used and is not a fundamental component of the system.

Constructing an IP Interface
The matrix is the key element in an analog CCTV system. The network and the software management becomes the virtual matrix in an IP system. The IP video systems function over customary corporate interfaces. This is due to the fact that these networks span entire organizations, IP video solutions can hook up to them. Due to the fact that the traditional control room equipment can be substituted by a PC, it is feasible, and even appealing, to be able to supervise live and recorded video from any camera from any location on the system. Every camera is linked up to the network via a receiver/transmitter unit that compresses the analog video into DVD-quality MPEG-4 digital video for broadcasting over the entire set-up. The visual digital footage can then be observed, evaluated and captured. This is attained with Windows & reg-based PCs running video and alarm control applications, as well as the NVRs that are deployed all around the network.

Due to the fact that access to the system is available from any PC hooked up to the network, IP video systems deploy complicated user profiles to control this access ability. These limit or facilitate access for operators on every single camera.

The receiver/transmitter device enables any type of CCTV camera to be hooked up to the network, guaranteeing that all existing devices can be fully operated. Conversely, for new deployments one option is a dome or IP camera. These bring together a professional full-function high-quality CCTV color camera with an IP Video broadcasting/receiver in one device, which can be hooked up directly to the interface. Through installing the incorporated camera devices in place of conventional analog video cameras and a detached IP transmitter/receiver unit significant cost savings can be attained.

Fortunately, there are now plenty of diverse IP-ready products available from different manufacturers, such as IP cameras and DVRs with connections to the network. On the other hand, the only way to guarantee compatibility and get the most from the superior features that IP video has to offer is to operate a single incorporated system from one supplier.

Constructing the Interface

The suppliers of IP video device offer excellent tools for assisting IT professionals and security design digital CCTV systems and, specifically, compute the network bandwidth necessities. The process is truly a simple one. All what you have to do is choose how many cameras are required, choose what video quality for viewing and recording is necessary, and then choose how many days of recording is required. These can then be utilized to verify the requirement of bandwidth and recording space.

Upon doing so each device hooked up to the network is then assigned an IP address, guaranteeing they are all on the same sub-net and can consequently monitor each other. After that, the site builder software tools provided cross-examine the network and detect all the appropriate devices, and automatically build a recording schedule and site database.

Generally speaking, by removing the need for additional cabling, the bandwidth requirements can be accommodated on the existing corporate LAN/WAN, thus giving the proposed IP video system another advantage over analog CCTV. This also translates to the ability of sharing a network with the standard IT traffic and facilities such as Voice over Internet Protocol technology.

Furthermore, the IP video also has features, which ensure that the bandwidth impact is maintained on the smallest level possible. Deploying NVRs locally to an appropriate camera clusters can improve redundancy and reduce network traffic. The compressed video can be transmitted across the network using UDP Multicast protocols, TCP, or UDP Unicast. The benefit of Multicast is that it utilizes the same quantity of network traffic for one thousand operators to view a camera in the same manner that it would for one operator.

Another feature designed to reduce network traffic is activity controlled frame rate. This feature depends on processing information at the camera IP transmitter/receiver device. The bandwidth used is dramatically reduced if no movement is detected in the camera view range. This feature is efficient in places where low activity occurs such as in passageways, on fire escapes or in structures that are untenanted in the late afternoon hours.

Looking through the recorded visual footage can be a time-consuming process a due to an increase in network traffic. On the other hand, the search facilities of thumbnail can be supplied by the video and alarm administration applications. The solution can examine movement in a scene and exhibit thumbnail images that represent frames from recordings retaining the particular action. Replaying a specific section of video can simply be done by clicking on one of the thumbnails. In just a few seconds this feature can search 24 hours of recorded video and display the thumbnails. The operators now have the ability to sift through vast quantities of recorded material quickly and efficiently due to the altering the search variables. The use of thumbnails enables an immense quantity of video to be analyzed with little extra impact on the interface.

Managing the Security Devices

With its scalability and flexibility, it is clear to see the benefits of IP video for large enterprise systems. But in reality, it's a solution for clever CCTV solutions and, in particular, for upgrades to existing deployments. When upgrading from an existing analog system the outdated device, such as the DVRs and matrix, can be changed, but all the keyboards, cameras, domes, and monitors can be reserved. All existing cameras and monitors can be interconnected through using IP transmitter/receiver units. If truth be told, all the existing control room configurations can largely stay untouched. Not to mention that all the advanced features of IP CCTV can be made available without the need to change the familiar surroundings of the control room upon the addition of a couple of PCs. It's easy to expand the system in the future once the migration is finished. The reality of that matter is that using IP video systems to expand existing analog CCTV systems based on cost alone has become a common practice amongst many patrons this is due to the fact that it's often just too costly to cable in new cameras from distant vicinities.

Moreover, the IP video enables prospective end users to easily trial the system firsthand without commitment to large-scale modification from the first day. Although IP video is a recognized technology, users will always want to switch to new technology at their own rate.

The incorporation with the access control systems and intruder alarm is also providing benefits as they move to IP interface. Many of these systems are also seeing the advantages and flexibility of exchanging cable with a network of security. The information and CCTV video from these systems can share the network without any real troubles whatsoever. In reality, this standard of incorporation provides some interesting abilities. For instance, a security notification can supply an input to the IP video system, which directly moves a camera to cover the incident and projects the video feed on a display screen in the control room together with a map of the position, providing multiple perspectives on the event.

Digital Video Recording

Differentiating between DVRs and NVRs is very important, especially since both are often are referred to as digital devices. Compressing analog video feeds occurs digitally in a DVR. The DVR then saves them on a hard drive unit. Although many might misinterpret the term, but the usage of the word "digital" here refers to the compression and storage technology, not the broadcasted visual footage. For that reason the DVR unit has to be located near the analog feeds. On the other hand, an NVR saves digital pictures straight from the IP interface.

For that reason, the most apparent difference between the NVR and DVR is that the DVR captures analog streams from analog cameras, whereas the NVR captures video streams that have already been programmed at the units. Consequently, you find no video hook ups anywhere on a NVR; its outputs and inputs are IP information, comprising of encoded and compressed visual footage. The NVR units can be either dedicated standalone units or PC software-based.

Probably the biggest advantage of an architecture based on NVRs is that they can be positioned practically anywhere on a network, at the main supervision facility, adjacent to camera clusters, on the edge of a network or gathered together in a rough atmosphere. While they are operating, their location is apparent to a security observer and the captured video stream from any camera can be viewed by any operator at any point on the interface. The NVR units can record and replay all at once, no to mention that recordings on any one machine can be remotely viewed by a number of authorized operators stretched across the network concurrently, all totally independently and without affecting the operations of any other unit.

An important factor is the independence of physical location. The impact of video streaming on bandwidth usage can be minimized through calculating the required network traffic and strategically placing NVRs in view of that. On average, an NVR might be positioned near (in relation to networks, not literality) a camera group, so that the load is handled by the local LAN capable of absorbing it easily, thus saving capacity on other, perhaps more limited, areas of the setup.

Various mirroring techniques are now often utilized to replicate the capturing of video streams on additional NVRs located at different areas of the network, which offer a high level of defense against network breakdown. If one part ceases operations, the other is there as a backup and support resource. Due to the fact that there is no requirement for additional video cabling, you can have as many NVRs across a system as you desire.

Furthermore, proofs and information from the NVR can be taken out in the standard MPEG-4 format, thus enabling it to be played back by any third party viewer such as Windows® Media Player or QuickTime. Nevertheless, the exported visual footage includes watermarking and encryption to allow extremely secure recognition of meddling such as frame removal, rearranging or alteration.

Enhanced Evaluations

The analysis of video images to detect such events as overcrowding, stolen objects, cars parked too long outside a building or people moving the wrong way through security checkpoints is called Analytics. The process of Analytics is available as a supplementary or accessory ability to analog systems, which makes it hard to recognize the true advantages of this solution. On the other hand, in IP systems analytics can be completely incorporated so their full advantages can be recognized. The IP-based analytics can be operated in two modes: post-processing on any operator's PC and real time within the IP transmitter/receiver at the camera. Adding on the live broadcast mode allows the system to automatically recognize events as they take place. Furthermore, Post processing enables the operators to operate many different scenarios on the recorded video material. As clearly seen these two modes present the best of both worlds, using analytics to recognize events as they occur and also supplying advanced search tools for operators to evaluate previous events. The reality of the matter is that the human supervisors are generally good at confirming whether something is an incident or not, once it has been flagged automatically by the system, however they are poor at watching video monitors for long periods of time.

A great deal of the latest developments in IP video is focused on these types of abilities. Now we will discuss a number of of the analytics algorithms that are showing up on today's markets:

Highly developed analytics is one of the tools of IP video that clearly cannot be matched by conventional analog CCTV systems and provides advantages that can justify the IP products.

It can be estimated that huge productivity enhancements will result from using analytics applications during the searching of recorded footage in post-event evaluation, and NVR is the key for this operation.

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