Posts Tagged ‘ IP DVR or an IP server’

Web Ready Security Camera System

Written By:
Monday, January 10th, 2011

If you need to be able to monitor your security and surveillance system cameras from just about anywhere in the world at any time, consider using a web ready security camera system. These systems use the internet as the vehicle for transmitting their data so anywhere there is broadband internet access, there is potential for monitoring your home or business security camera system.

A web ready security camera system is reasonably priced, easy to install, and easy to operate thanks to technological advancements in the electronics and computer fields over the past few years. It differs from a standalone digital video security camera system in that it utilizes the internet to transmit the signals, and a personal computer or Mac computer to monitor and store the digital video image files.

A standalone, non-web ready security camera system consists of one or more digital video cameras, a Digital Video Recorder (DVR) with a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), and a monitor. The digital video camera captures the reflective light from objects and transposes these light images into electronic images. The camera normally has an on-board analog-to-digital processing chip that changes the electronic information into pure digital or binary form.

A video transmission cable, usually an RG-59 coaxial cable, must be run from each camera to the DVR unit. The signals from the cameras travel through this cable to the DVR unit where the DSP compiles them into a digital video file. Digital video files can be extremely large in size so the DSP uses a COmpression/DECompression (CODEC) utility to shrink the size of the file without sacrificing a large amount of quality. After the digital video file is created it can be viewed live on a monitor or stored on the DVR’s Hard Disk Drive (HDD) for later use.

A web ready security camera system produces the same sort of final results but goes about doing it in a different way. First a web ready security camera system has either IP (Internet Protocol ready) cameras or an IP DVR or an IP server. If the system uses IP ready cameras, each camera has its own built in web server technology that is used for the Internet. The camera connects to the internet either via a Cat 5 Ethernet wire or wirelessly using a corresponding wireless modem or router.

If the web ready security camera system uses an IP DVR, then normal cameras are connected to the DVR and the system works like a typical standalone system. Except that the DVR (and therefore the digital video files and camera controls) can be controlled remotely via the internet and some other end-user device.

If the web ready security camera system uses an IP server, it may be able to digitize older analog based cameras and send them over the Internet or it may simply combine the signals of several newer digital cameras and send them over the Internet. In either case, the digital video file must be sent over the internet to a connected computer that can act as a storage and monitor device or to some other web-compatible monitoring device such as an iPhone, iPad, 3G and 4G smartphones and other similar devices. (Note that if the signal is received by another DVR or personal computer, the system does not have a device to save digital video files to and therefore can only be used to monitor the cameras in real-time).

Probably the most profound advantage of web ready security camera systems is the incredibly almost infinite geographic locations in the world where the system can be monitored and operated. Theoretically, anywhere there is broadband Internet accessibility; the system can be monitored and controlled.

Perhaps the biggest disadvantage to these types of systems is that since they are connected to the internet, a very public domain, they may be susceptible to hacker intervention and even computer viruses.

All in all, there is nothing that can provide you with such extensive capability to monitor and control your system remotely than a web ready security camera system. If you need more information or would like to purchase a web ready security camera system, please contact one of Security Camera King’s security experts today either via live chat or telephone.

digital video file