The effectiveness of a surveillance system for your business or municipal facility is not merely a matter of equipment, the optimal, well-informed strategy guiding how it is set up. We will do a complete walkthrough with you and give our expert suggestions as to the most strategic locations for your cameras. Some customers want the cameras to be a little more hidden and discreet while others would like them to stand out and be very obvious, the choice is yours and we will work with your unique scenario and priorities.
We will set up a camera system that can be viewed via computer or smart phone, and if you’re a business with multiple locations we can link multiple NVRs (Network Video Recorder) to your account for easy navigation between sites. This allows you to link multiple sites under one account, no need to keep track of multiple logins for multiple accounts. We can work with your IT department to network the cameras or do it ourselves depending on the kind of network you have set up in your business. We use dome cameras for indoor use, turret cameras for outdoor use, bullet cameras for outdoor use in situations where a turret will not give the desired view. All these cameras have IR capabilities, meaning they will still work in low light recording a black and white image.
Surveillance Camera Equipment
We offer a complete lineup of commercial quality camera systems, from manufacturers like HIK Vision, UTC TruVision, Panasonic. Today’s latest network IP cameras wired using Cat 5 or Cat 6 network cabling can provide extreme high-resolution over this high-bandwidth throughput. Cameras are available with resolution ranging from 2 Megapixel high definition to 4K Ultra HD images.
Cameras are built in various physical types including cylindrical, mini dome, turret and pan/tilt zoom dome cameras.
These cameras provide color images with an option of wide angle fixed lenses, varifocal adjustable lenses, and pan/tilt zoom motorized lenses, which can be controlled via system software. All of the cameras we use have infrared ability, so they can see images at night in black and white for distances from 30 meters to 50 meters depending on the camera model.
Various options for these cameras and their software include:
- Local SD micro card storage, where besides images being stored on a server, or network video recorder, images are also stored as backup in the camera itself.
- Motion detection (the system can record pre-motion and post motion, to save storage space)
- Detection of objects that have been moved
- License plate recognition
- People counting (knowing how many people are in or out of the building, critical in fire alarm evacuation to know who is left in a building)
- Line crossing detection (you can set a boundary of an area and get an alert if someone crosses a border)
The United Technologies TruVision system we use has software that can combine the camera images and the access control together providing pictures of whoever uses their access control card or fob at a door, logging this as an event that can easily be tracked. Remote management also allows you to assign users and access levels to multiple buildings and doors from a remote admin location.
Surveillance System Recording Equipment
We normally like to install the recorder in an inconspicuous location so that it cannot be easily tampered with.
There are two different types of recording system types:
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Network Video Recorder (or NVR), which is an embedded recorder that has its own operating system and cameras inputs and hard drive space for the images to be stored. These systems are best for areas where no more than 32 cameras are going to be used. They are cost effective and easy to manage and use.
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Server type camera recoding systems, which require a Windows Server be built to certain specifications, to run camera management software. These require more maintenance but can handle an unlimited number of cameras. We use Panasonic’s Video Insight for these types of systems. Panasonic also makes Advidia, a brand of cameras that have free software and no license fees. Most server-based camera systems require the user to pay license fees every several years for each camera on the system, and this can add up to thousands of dollars at each payment juncture. Buyer beware of these hidden costs!