Micro Camara ip

An Internet protocol camera, or IP camera, is a type of digital video camera commonly employed for surveillance, and which, unlike analog closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras, can send and receive data via a computer network and the Internet. Although most cameras that do this are webcams, the term IP camera or netcam is usually applied only to those used for surveillance that can be directly accessed over a network connection. Micro Camara ip

An IP camera is typically either centralized (requiring a central network video recorder (NVR) to handle the recording, video and alarm management) or decentralized (no NVR needed, as camera can record to any local or remote storage media). The first centralized IP camera was Axis Neteye 200, released in 1996 by Axis Communications.

Micro Camara ip

IP cameras are typically available at resolutions from 0.3 (VGA resolution) to 29 megapixels.^[1] As in the consumer TV business, in the early 21st century, there has been a shift towards high-definition video resolutions, e.g. 720p or 1080i and 16:9 widescreen format.

History

The first centralized IP camera, the Axis Neteye 200, was released in 1996 by Axis Communications and was developed by the team of Martin Gren and Carl-Axel Alm.^[2] Although promoted on its ability to be directly accessible from anywhere with an internet connection,^[3] the camera was not capable of streaming real-time motion video, instead being limited to showing a snapshot image each time the camera was accessed. At the time of launch, it was considered to be incapable of operating as a motion camera due to what would conceived as “enormous” bandwidth requirements, thus was aimed primarily at the tourism industry.^[4] The Axis Neteye 200 was not intended to replace traditional analogue CCTV systems, given it’s capability was limited to just one frame per second in CIF, or one every 17 seconds in 4CIF resolution, with a maximum resolution quality of 0.1MP (352×288).^[5] Axis used a custom proprietary web server named OSYS, yet by the summer of 1998, had started working on a software port towards Linux to operate its cameras.^[6] Axis also released documentation for its low-level API called “VAPIX”, which builds on the open standards of HTTP and real time streaming protocol (RTSP). This open architecture was intended to encourage third-party software manufacturers to develop compatible management and recording software. Micro Camara ip

Micro Camara ip

The first decentralized IP camera was released in 1999 by Mobotix. The camera’s Linux system contained video, alarm, and recording management functions, thus the camera system did not require licensed video management software to manage the recording event, or video management.^[7]

The first IP camera with onboard video content analytics (VCA) was released in 2005 by Intellio. This camera was able to detect a number of different events, such as if an object was stolen, a human crossed a line, a human entered a predefined zone, or if a car moved in the wrong direction.^[7]

Video standards

Previous generations of analog CCTV cameras use established broadcast television formats (e.g. Common Intermediate Format (CIF), NTSC, PAL, and SECAM). IP cameras may differ from one another in features and functions, video encoding (compression) schemes, available network protocols, and the API to be used by video management software.

In order to address issues of standardization of IP video surveillance, two industry groups were formed in 2008: the Open Network Video Interface Forum (ONVIF) and the Physical Security Interoperability Alliance (PSIA). While the PSIA was founded by 20 member companies including Honeywell, GE Security and Cisco, and ONVIF was founded by Axis Communications, Bosch and Sony, each group now has numerous members. Cameras and recording hardware operating under the same standard will be able to work with each other, as each device will be communicating in the same language.

Micro Camara ip

Potential benefits

IP cameras differ from previous generation analog cameras which transmitted video signals as a voltage, whereas IP camera images are sent using the transmission and security features of the TCP/IP protocol. Some advantages to this approach include:

Two-way audio via a single network cable allows users to listen to and speak to the subject of the video (e.g. gas station clerk assisting a customer on how to use the pay pumps)
The use of a Wi-Fi or wireless network.^[9]
Distributed intelligence such as video analytics can be placed in the camera itself allowing the camera to analyze images.^[10]
Secure data transmission through encryption and authentication methods such as WPA, WPA2, TKIP, AES.
Remote accessibility allowing live video to be viewed from any device with sufficient access privileges.^[11]
PoE Power over Ethernet to supply power through the ethernet cable and operate without a dedicated power supply.

Micro Camara ip

Potential concerns

Privacy and Portrait rights infringement^[12]
Average higher purchase cost per camera^[13]
Security could be compromised if credentials are insecure, given the camera can be accessed independent of a video recorder
Public internet connection video can be complicated to set up and may require either a Static IP Address or a Dynamic DNS, although some IP cameras include built-in dynamic DNS.^[14]

Hacking

As with a CCTV/DVR system, if the video is transmitted over the public Internet rather than a private network or intranet, the system potentially becomes open to a wider audience including hackers. Criminals can hack into a CCTV system to disable or manipulate them or observe security measures and personnel, thereby facilitating criminal acts and rendering the surveillance counterproductive. This can be counteracted by ensuring the network and device is secured and staying informed on new security methods. In 2012 users of 4chan hacked into thousands of streaming personal IP cameras by exploiting a vulnerability in some models of Trendnet home security cameras.^[15] In 2014 it was reported that a site indexed 73,011 locations worldwide with security cameras that were unprotected by using default usernames and passwords

Benefits of ip cameras

Micro Camara ip

Security cameras have become a common feature of modern security systems. However, technology continues to move forward and analog systems are becoming outdated. More and more facilities are moving away from analog to IP video surveillance systems. There are a number of reasons for this, ranging from budgetary to technological. Let’s look at the top four of them:

Image Resolution – All analog video cameras use the NTSC analog video standard, which was created in the 1950s. No matter what the camera’s manufacturer claims the image quality is, it is still being transmitted and recorded using this standard. It is an absolute cap on image resolution that you can’t get around. On the other hand, IP cameras come in a broad range of resolutions (measured in megapixels, or MPs) from which to choose depending on your specific requirements. For example, a 1.3 MP IP camera (generally the lowest resolution camera on the market) has almost 4 times the resolution of an analog camera. With this added resolution, faces become clearer, license plates become easier to read and larger areas can be covered by a single camera.
Scalability – Generally, analog cameras run a coax cable transmitting the video to a VHS recorder, which records straight to video tape or a DVR (Digital Video Recorder), which turns the analog signal into a digital signal for storage and review. The problem with this is that the VHS or DVR has a finite number of ports that cameras can be plugged into. Once you max out that number of ports, you would need to either buy a new VHS or DVR with more ports or a second, separate machine to run the additional cameras. IP video networks have the clear advantage when it comes to adding new video cameras. First, since IP cameras connect to the IT network, there is no limit to the number of cameras that can be connected. Second, the need to run a cable from the camera to the DVR is eliminated – you only need to run a cable to the nearest network switch. In addition, in IP-based systems the video is recorded using NVRs (Network Video Recorders), which use multiple hard drives and often employ a backup technique know as RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) to disperse the data across multiples hard drives for data safety and efficiency. Finally, since the data is being transmitted digitally, it can be transmitted across the internet, allowing for multiple locations to utilize the same NVR, meaning that a new video system does not need to be set up at each site, allowing for scaling beyond your existing facility.

Micro Camara ip

Ease of Installation – Many find it hard to believe but at this point IP video security systems are actually quite easy to install. Today, most IP cameras are actually plug-and-play, the same way your computer’s webcams are. In addition, the cabling is easier as well. With an analog camera, which has a single cable that can only transmit its video signal, it will also require a separate power cable and, if you want added functionality such as PTZ (Pan, Tilt, Zoom) controls for the camera you’ll need another cable for that. However, IP cameras use a single cable that can be used for everything. Using PoE (Power over Ethernet), IP cameras can be powered through the same cable that transmits the video signal and any PTZ commands. Finally, as mentioned above, since IP cameras run on the network, you don’t have to run the cable all the way back to the DVR. Instead, you only need to run it to the nearest network switch.
Analytics – Historically, analog CCTV systems were very reactionary. They used human monitoring to catch events in real time and stored past video feeds for review to reconstruct events after they have happened. When monitoring, someone would have to sit at a bank of monitors and watch the screens for any situations developing. This was a very time and labor-intensive activity and was dependent on human infallibility, which we know doesn’t exist. Occasionally the person watching the monitors would miss something because he or she was looking at the wrong screen at the wrong time or just suffering from fatigue after staring at the screens for hours and hours. Then, with the advent of Video Management Systems (VMS), video security became pro-active. Software was introduced that could monitor all the video feeds simultaneously, using analytics to detect potential situations developing before they actually occur and trigger alarms that humans can respond to accordingly. These analytics include facial recognition, loitering, line crossing, object taken and many more. Micro Camara ip

As the technology continues to improve, we see the cost of IP cameras dropping as well. As the cost of IP cameras becomes more competitive with analog cameras, combined with the above-mentioned benefits of improved image resolution, scalability, ease of installation and the ability to apply video analytics, now is the time to move your video security system from analog to IP. To learn more about how to begin the process, download our whitepaper “Transitioning from Analog to IP Video”.

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