With the trend of surveillance systems moving to IP Network Cameras, we wanted to take a moment to point out the advantages and disadvantages of using megapixel cameras, and what Vivotek has come up with their True Megapixel Solutions.
There are so many reasons not to consider a megapixel IP camera like the Vivotek IP8161 2 Megapixel H.264 Day Night Fixed Network Camera for your next installation:
- Clearer picture: CCTV cameras max out @ 0.4 megapixels, resulting in poor video quality, megapixel cameras deliver 3x the resolution.
- Interlacing: No interlacing problems with IP cameras as they record all in one pass, not two, no blurry lines when you have movement.
- Wider image: With an aspect ratio of 16:9, you can capture wide areas like parking lots, lobbies, or factories, unlike CCTV cameras with a 4:3 ratio.
- Zoom: You can zoom right in on your subject, without distortion, resulting in clear images for law enforcement.
- Cost: Over 8 cameras, the labor and materials savings of not running coax cable start to counter the higher cost of the camera.
- Less cameras: A 2MP IP camera can replace 6 VGA cameras, allowing you to create multiple zoom zones on one image, resulting in less cameras needed to do the job.
Get the picture? CCTV is so 20th century, the wave of the future is megapixel network IP cameras.
Yet with a 2 megapixel camera, you have a big file that sucks up your bandwidth, your Network Video Recorder, and puts a HUGE load on the CPU of the PC trying to view the images. If you have 16, 32, or 64 cameras, you have a lot of data floating around, and it really requires it’s own network at this point to not interfere with your LAN.
So Vivotek has this True Megapixel Solution, where they do a few things inside the camera, which cut down on the size of the files, the amount of data floating through your network, and the strain on the CPU’s.
This consists of starting with doing some cropping of the image, such as getting rid of the sky in a parking lot image, just recording the cars. This sometimes cuts the image size in 1/2. Also using an ePTZ allows you to zoom right in or a license plate, or duplicate the panning features of a speed dome.
Then the latest compression technologies are used, which is H.264. H.264 is MPEG-10. The advantages are that the compression is 2x as much as MPEG-4, and 80% more than MJPEG! The image is 1% of its former size, vs 2% with MPEG-4. That’s 50% more compression switching to H.264 over current MPEG-4, resulting in 50% less bandwidth & 50% less storage needed to do the job you are currently doing!
Onboard storage allows you to reduce the data flowing through the pipes & stored on your NVR, by keeping the date inside the camera until needed. Current 32GB SD cards will record 3 days of data @ 1mbs. The new 2TB SD cards will record up to 6 months of storage, eliminating the need for huge NVR’s. The only thing that is flowing is the low resolution streams for viewing, and occasionally for back/up.
Another huge feature of onboard storage is if your network goes down, you still have your video inside the camera.
Adaptive streaming of the data is the last part. Imagine just sending 1fps images to cut down size, until an event triggers going to full 30fps for the duration, then back to 1fps thereafter. 2MP video streaming 24/7 is a road hog. The bandwidth requirements for 16+ cameras is huge, the storage requirements will be large, and the strain on the CPU of the viewing PC to decode this down to CIF taxes the limits of the PC.
Imagine if you can send a stream for viewing in CIF at the computers resolution that needs less decoding, as well as the high quality images sent to the NVR? That’s what multiple streams can do.
Now toss all this into the martina shaker, with a splash of dry vermouth, and you have the perfect IP Surveillance System martini! Smart cameras that prep the image for storage & viewing, squash it down to 99% it’s original size for efficient storage and transfer, and only send out images for viewing on a regular PC, with the occassional back-up to the NVR. The Vivotek 9 Camera PoE Gateway Supported Network Video Recorder works with up to 9 Vivotek cameras, and is less then the cost of a NUUO NAS NVRmini 4 IP Camera Network Video Recorder.
Vivotek welcomes you to the 21st century IP surveillance system. No matter if you want to watch your home or business, there is a Vivotek camera for you.
Contact us through our contact form, or give us a shout: 1-877-3-EYESPY (1-877-339-3779) to help set up a 1-64 camera system for you. We will be showcasing our case studies in future blogs.
Later…
Wendell the Chameleon
Spy & Surveillance Products Expert
EyeSpyPro.com/VivotekIPCameras
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