A NVR is needed to record your video. The beauty of an NVR is that it does not have to be at the location of the cameras. With CCTV cameras, you have to have your DVR at the location, and there is no way you can perform offsite recording, unless you either burn a DVR and physically move it, or back up to a USB hard drive and move it. With a NVR, the video travels over your local area network, and if you have your NVR on site, you can record right there.

QNAP NVR 104 4 Channel SOHO and Home Owner NVR

Or, you can set up the NVR at a different location, and have your cameras send the video to the NVR so there is no recording going on on location. Perfect for any surveillance system because the thief usually steals the DVR, leaving you with no video.

And they work with over 600 cameras, from 32 camera makers, so you should have no problems adding most IP cameras. We will be putting some bundles together with AXIS cameras, ACTi IP cameras, and Vivotek IP cameras, so check back for updates.

Later…

Wendell the Chameleon
Spy & Surveillance Products Expert
EyeSpyPro.com/QNAPNVR104

If you don’t know, a 2 Megapixel IP camera can take stunningly clear surveillance video, that you can zoom in on, and recognize a person, unlike the fuzzy faces you see when you zoom in on a regular CCTV Camera. Unlike a 2 Megapixel digital camera, which is so outdated, its the standard now on mobile phones, 2 Megapixels of video is super high quality, allowing you to zoom right in on a license plate, or face, without it looking pixelated or blurry.

And the great part is these Vivotek cameas are PoE compliant, which means they can not only run the video on normal Cat 5 or ethernet cable, it can also run the power to operate the camea, carry 2-way audio, and control any PTZ function. Can’t do that with a 20th century CCTV camera.

The Vivotek FD8161 2 Megapixel H.264 Day and Night Fixed Dome Network Camera is perfect for indoor applications like theatres, lobbies, schools, or government offices. And 2 Megapixels will give you 6x field of view over a VGA camera, which allows you to install fewer cameras, and cover the same area.

Vivotek FD8161 2 Megapixel H.264 Day and Night Fixed Dome Network Camera

A large lobby can be watched, and you can also have an ePTZ feature, which allows the camera to focus on specific areas, like door entrances or cashiers, and give you the big picture. The video us compressed using H.264 technology, which is 90% smaller than MJPEG, and 50% smaller than MPEG-4. And a smart cropping function allows you to trim certain areas like sky or trees, allowing you to send smaller files over your network, reducing the strain on your bandwidth.

An IR cut filter & IR Illiminators allow the camera to work well during the day, or at night, and most Vivotek caeras are PoE compliant.

The Vivotek FD8361 2 Megapixel H.264 Day and Night Vandal Proof Fixed Dome Camera will give you everthing the FD8161 does, plus it works best in outdoor applications, or indoors where things might get rough. It’s IP66 rated, which means it can survive a major soaking, or dust storm, and keep on ticking.

Vivotek FD8361 2 Megapixel H.264 Day and Night Vandal Proof Fixed Dome Camera

A vadalproof camera can withstand a hit by a bat, stick, or rock, and work well at schools, public locations, or watching your back dock or back yard. Both of these Vivotek fixed dome cameras come with free software, and have smart features to alert you if the camera is moved, or covered with something like spray paint or trash bag.

And finally we wrote an article recently entitled; "10 Reasons Why IP Network Cameras Are Superior to CCTV Cameras," and you can read it over @ ezinearticles.com

Later…

Wendell the Chameleon
Spy & Surveillance Products Expert
EyeSpyPro.com/Vivotek2MegapixelIPCameras

Why? Well, the video resolution is better. With a megapixel IP camera, you can cover a whole parking lot, and using an ePTZ function, zoom into the important areas, and read a license plate.

CTC Union H.264 Blade Encoder With 4 Channel Chassis

Or no interlacing problems. On moving subjects, they will be much clearer when you digitize the entire picture, not 1/2, then the other 1/2, as interlacing does on CCTV cameras. And with H.264, you can crush the size of the file down to a fraction of MJPEG, or 1/2 the size of MPEG4.

The blades come with the ability to have a hard drive onboard, thus reducing the burden on your network. Dual streaming is standard, so you can browse on a normal PC without crashing it, as well as sending the compressed videoto your NVR.

You will get D1 resolution @ 30fps, with quality that will rival Bosch, at a price of Vivotek…

If you are looking to update your aging CCTV video surveillance system, check-out the full line of CTC Union H.264 Video Encoders.

Later…

Wendell the Chameleon
Spy & Surveillance Products Expert
EyeSpyPro.com/CTC Union H.264 Video Encoders

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

We have sold them through one of our wholesalers, though now that we are a partner, we can offer you the entire line, and we expect to have the complete line listed by this weekend.

In the mean time, check out all the Axis Network IP cameras on our online Spy & Surveillance Superstore & until this Sunday night, June 14, take a 13% discount off all Network IP camera products when you enter discount coupon code AXIS.

Christopher Winkler
EyeSpyPro
Axis Network Partner

P.S. Don’t wait until the last second, this 13% discount expires @ midnight, the 14th of June.