Security and Surveillance Industry News

As the internets largest supplier of security cameras, EZWatch has been providing innovative new surveillance camera systems for over 9 years. Since the creation of the incredibly powerful EZWatch-PRO professional grade video surveillance system in the spring of 2000, the company has released a steady stream of cutting edge products that have allowed it to remain at the forefront of the video surveillance industry.

The latest product to come out of EZWatch is a remarkable little pan tilt zoom camera that will fit in the palm of your hand, yet still offers all of the features and benefits of their full size PTZ camera line.

Dubbed the EZ-PTZ series these miniature high resolution color cameras utilize 480 line Sony CCD Sensors for exceptional .03 Lux low light capabilities. With 360 degree rotation, auto-focus and a 10x optical/10x digital zoom these cameras can handle just about any surveillance application. Each camera can support 32 preset positions and 6 programmable patterns. Check out the video samples from this incredible camera.

These tiny little cameras look exceptionally cool and they will blend in with just about any environment. You can mount the camera to a ceiling with the included mount, or you can purchase an optional wall mount bracket. No matter where you mount it, no one will ever guess that such a small camera is so incredibly powerful.

The new EZ-PTZ camera line starts at just $ 489.00 for an outdoor high resolution mini pan/tilt camera. With versions available for indoor and outdoor use and a large selection of optional camera mounts, the new EZ-PTZ series of security cameras is sure to be a big hit with consumers.

Did I mention they look cool….

The following is a legal opinion from Ken Kirschenbaum, a New York attorney that specializes in alarm inudstry issues.

QUESTION:

Hello Ken,

I have had a couple of customers ask if there is an increase in liability for them if they install CCTV. One customer’s corporate office will not install cameras unless the video is monitored 24/7.

If cameras are installed and someone is attacked or their property is stolen what is the legal responsibility/liability of the owner? Thank You,

Jim Robinson
The Bowan Company

ANSWER:

Building owners have legitimate concerns regarding the installation of cameras. But that same concern should exist no matter what type of security measure is employed by the property owner. Cameras do not pose any greater exposure for increased liability.

Increased exposure is a function of perception and expectation. Those coming onto the premises, whether they be tenants or visitors, all those lawfully on the property, should be able to rely upon security measures that reasonably appear to be intended for their protection.

Perhaps an easier example is a posted security guard. He sits in the lobby of a residential building. His instructions limit him to sitting behind his desk. If there is any problem his action is limited to picking up a telephone and calling 911. Does this limitation expose the guard company or the owner? A tenant is accosted in a mail room or laundry room and her shouts are heard by the guard. Maybe he has a CCTV picture of what is going on. He does not leave his desk. He promptly calls 911. By the time the cops get there the situation is over and the tenant suffers severe damages.

Although you may be drawing certain conclusions, you don’t have sufficient information. Does your conclusion change if I change the facts? There are signs at the desk and posted around the building that the guard will not leave his desk and will only alert the police. The injured tenant testifies that she has lived in the building for years and never saw a posted guard leave the desk. Or, she testifies that the guard frequently leaves the desk, patrols the lobby and building, and on occasion has intervened in altercations and illegal activity. So the answer depends upon the tenant’s, or public’s, perception of that security the guard actually provides, and what expectation the tenant or public can reasonably expect.

Cameras have the same analysis. Covert cameras unknown to the tenants would offer little expectation of security, unless of course the owner represented to the tenants that the covert cameras where there and the building was secure for their safety. Highly visible cameras can raise the level of expectation, and therefore the exposure of liability. Installers need to be careful to point out limitations in the security they provide, for both equipment and services. You should not take for granted that your subscribers understand the limitations of their systems or your services. You would be surprised how naive these subscribers become when they suffer a loss and blame it on your equipment or services not living up to their expectations. They perceive your security as preventative, not merely as a deterrent. I will take this opportunity to again urge you to use the Disclaimer Notice which you get at Alarm Contracts That will help defend against
claims of expectation from your subscribers.

So should owners take the posture that it’s better to provide no security rather than risk some? Better to have no cameras then those not watched? Better to have no burglar alarm then pay for UL certified AA? The answer is of course not. First of all, some level of security may be required by law. For example, fire alarms are required in many buildings. Access control with intercoms are often required in multiple dwellings. You need to know the statutory requirements for your systems. But there may be legal requirements that are not as clear. Property owners in high crime areas are required to provide more security then property owners in areas where crime frequency is low. Again, its a matter of expectation.

Why would a property owner whose building is next to a police station, where there has been
no reported crime in 50 years, need to invest in elaborate security systems and posted guards? But a building owner in an area where crimes are a daily happening needs to provide protection to those lawfully in and on the premises, because that is a requirement for building owners. The building owner’s security obligation has a direct correlation to the risk associated with the building. High risk, more security; less risk, less security.

Though the loss and damage to a victim may be the same in either location, the building owner
will face a different standard for the measure of the security before liability is imposed.

As the security professional don’t increase your own exposure because your subscriber limited you to a budget that paid for less than what you would have liked to recommend for adequate security. That limitation belongs in your contract terms and it belongs in the Disclaimer Notice.

IP Video Camera System

IP Video Security Cameras are quickly becoming the benchmark of video surveillance systems. Internet security cameras are extremely flexible and easy to install and use. They can stream video to users located anywhere in the world, and they offer non-centralized viewing and recording options.

Web ready internet security cameras can literally provide you with eyes and ears all over the planet. An internet security camera system can let you see, hear and even talk to your dog when he is home alone. Want to check on your vacation home and see if it is snowing? With an IP based security camera the answer is just a click away.

If you own a chain of convenience stores in 4 different cities, an IP based security camera system can provide you with the ability to view and record video from every store simultaneously from a remote location. Want to show people your new store front? Install a web based security camera and place a link on your website for live viewing.

Are you managing a large scale construction project? Place a web ready IP based security camera on the construction trailer and allow your investors to monitor the construction progress live!

As networks and computer use continues to expand, the applications for internet based security cameras are endless. Web based security cameras are quickly becoming the standard in the security industry.

Recent innovations have allowed IP video cameras to become very similar in design and capabilities as standard CCTV video surveillance cameras. The main difference between a standard CCTV camera and a web based video surveillance camera is the way that the video signal is treated after it leaves the camera.

Standard CCTV cameras require a dedicated transmission path (closed circuit) from the security camera to the digital video recorder or the security monitor. This normally requires a centralized and dedicated location for monitoring and or recording of the video signals.

IP surveillance cameras stream video over a dedicated network connection using internet protocol. The IP web based signal can be received and de-coded from any computer or workstation that is properly equipped. Web based security cameras can support multiple users in multiple locations. This provides for a completely non-centralized video surveillance system that can be monitored and recorded from multiple locations, simultaneously from anywhere in the world.

With a web based security camera system, you can monitor locations in India, Europe and America from a site in Mexico City. You can also monitor and record that same video from your office in Canada. Take your laptop on a business trip and you can check on your production line during a business meeting in Moscow. Imagine showing your customer their product being produced and packaged live!

Some people shy away from IP and network security camera solutions because they appear to be complicated and difficult to set up. The fact is the initial set up does require some expertise and knowledge but the operation and day to day use of the systems are no different than using any other PC based security camera system.

I found a great open source document written by John Honovich at IPVideoMarket.info which is a good resource for learning more about the IP video market.

Download John’s book here: security_manager_guide_video_surveillance_v1_0

An Introduction To Video Security Recording Systems.

In this day and age, most people are very familiar with Video Surveillance systems. From small two and four camera systems used to monitor homes and convenience stores to gigantic systems with hundreds and perhaps thousands of cameras, the use of video surveillance is increasing daily. Some studies have shown that an average person will be recorded on a video surveillance system at least four times every day.

So you want to install your own Video Surveillance System? Ten years ago, I would have never supported the idea, but recent innovations in Video Surveillance Technology have made it relatively easy to install your own surveillance system. The first step is to understand the different technologies available for recording video.

The effectiveness of your Video Surveillance system is based around one thing, the quality of the recorded images. There are currently three types of head end recording solutions currently being offered in the video surveillance market. They are the Analog/Time Lapse Recorder (VCR) Systems, the Digital Hard Drive Recording Systems which operate like a VCR but utilize hard-drives to store video and the top of the line PC Based Digital Video Recording Systems or DVR’s.

The use of Time Lapse Video Tape Recorders in the video surveillance industry started a little over 25 years ago. The first systems required a Video Recorder and a monitor for every camera. Innovations in the industry included the video multiplexer and splitters that allowed multiple cameras to be viewed and recorded on a single video tape. Until 4 or 5 years ago, this technology was still the most prevalent form of recording video.

A Time Lapse Recorder has a single video input that allows you to record the incoming video signal. A standard VCR records and plays back video at about 30 frames per second, which on a standard T-160 video tape allows you to record 2-hours of video. A time lapse video recorder slows down the rate at which the images are recorded. Some Recorders allow you to extend the recording up to 960 hours onto a single video tape.

Be aware that when you are recording 960 hours on one VCR tape you are only recording 1 frame or picture every 9 seconds. When programming a time lapse recorder I strongly recommend you do not set the recording duration for more than 3 days or 72 hours. This setting allows you to record over a weekend without changing the tape. Three days of recording on one tape records 1.5 frames or pictures per second. Not great, but not bad considering this is a 20 year old technology.

This works O.K. for a single camera system. Let’s say for example you need 4, 8 or even 16 cameras to watch your property. You could either purchase a monitor and a time lapse recorder for each camera, or you can add a video multiplexer.

A video multiplexer allows you to view and record multiple cameras on a single time lapse recorder and video monitor. Multiplexers are offered in color or black & white in 4, 9 or 16 camera configurations. A video multiplexer works by digitally separating the incoming video signals and dividing them out, one at a time, to a time lapse recorder. It sends the image from camera 1 to frame 1, camera 2 to frame 2, camera 3 to frame 3 and so on. An added benefit of multiplexers is the ability to view multiple cameras simultaneously on a single CCTV Monitor.

A major drawback is that during the digitizing of the incoming video signals, about ½ of the information contained in the image is lost. Also remember that you are now limiting the total number of images per second for any given number of cameras. With 16 cameras recording on a single video tape for 72 hours, you are now getting about 1 frame of video from each camera about every 3 seconds.

If a video is recorded on a time lapse recorder through a multiplexer, you must use a time lapse recorder and a multiplexer for playback. A standard VCR cannot process the digital multiplexing encoded in the time lapse format and will not provide a useful playback.

With the advent of the digital age, manufacturers soon devised a way to combine the best features of the Time Lapse Recorder and the Video Multiplexer into a single system that utilizes hard drives rather than VCR tapes to store the recorded images.

Hardware based digital video recorders operate much like a VCR, complete with shuttle and jog controls. Most will utilize some type of traditional CCTV or SVGA Video monitor to view the video.

These units are built from the ground up to perform one specific function, record video. While they do operate some software internally, the video processing is hardware based. It is this hardware which provides the live viewing and high resolution recording. Many of these systems can record high resolution video from 16 or more cameras at up to 160 images per second.

No more VCR tapes are required as all of the video is recorded onto hard drives. How long the video can be stored is merely a function of the total images per second being recorded, the size of the image files and the total size of the installed hard drive(s).

In addition, these recorders utilize a process called first-in first-out to process video (FIFO). They will record video until the designated amount of disk space has been used. Then the system will delete the oldest clips and record the new video. This provides a continuous loop of recordings at anytime.

Some other interesting benefits of digitally processing the video are features such as motion or event based recording options and advanced playback capabilities. In the old days of VCR’s & Multiplexers, it could literally take many hours to try and find an event that occurred overnight. Now, the advanced digital search functions allow you to find archived video in seconds, not hours.

A PC based DVR is comprised of a computer, video capture cards and a software package that allows full motion video to be recorded and played back on a standard personal computer. Due to their superior processing speeds, some of these systems are capable of recording up to 480 images per second, which equates to 30 images per second, or real time video for every camera connected to the system.

Many people consider the PC based Digital Video Recorders to be much easier to use and more flexible than the Digital Hard Drive Recorders, and they offer selectable recording resolution that is up to 4 times greater than the resolution of the old Time Lapse Recorders.

PC based DVR’s are programmed and operated with a keyboard and mouse. The video is recorded to the computers hard drive in a compressed format. This compression allows a huge amount of video to be stored. On average, a four camera system recording continuously will record about 30 days of video on one single 80 gig hard drive. To double the recording days simply add another 80 gig hard drive.

PC based DVR’s are designed so they do not require any scheduled actions or maintenance to provide uninterrupted video recordings. Recorded video is played back on the computer monitor and it can be printed, saved to a floppy disk or burned to a CD. These systems allow you to view and playback any combination of cameras without interrupting the systems recording process.

A very popular feature of the PC Based Digital Video Recorders is that most of them support remote viewing from any PC that is properly equipped by using Windows Media Player or other remote viewing software. This can allow you to check on your home or office security cameras over the internet.

Which system is right for you? The final choice might come down to budget, or custom features that you can’t live without, but whether you choose a tried and true Time Lapse Recorder, or opt for a state of the art Digital Video Recorder, you are sure to improve the safety and security of your home or office by installing a Video Surveillance System.