Internet Cameras – The Doom for CCTV?
Internet Protocol camera or the IP camera has a different technology as compared to Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras. IP cameras can send data over a Wide Area Network (WAN), Large Area Network (LAN), and Internet.
Traditional CCTV systems do not have this feature, which is why IP cameras are starting to pick pace in the video surveillance segment.
The singular and foremost advantage that an IP camera has over a traditional CCTV system is its ability to transfer video over a network, which enables video to be viewed from any location. Both CCTVs and IP cameras use CCD and CMOS chipsets.
While CCTVs process analog signals, IP cameras digitize the signal using an encorder, and feed it into a web server. This web server will play host to the videos, and the videos can be accessed through a browser program.
CCTVs can be upgraded to stream video over networks, but this is subject to additional installation of software, and hardware. Since this feature is an integral part of the IP camera, there is no need of additional hardware; just an Internet connection is needed to video management software on any host machine.
Surveillance cameras are installed to monitor an area. CCTVs record video to a location that will be in the facility itself. This means, that intruders can just blank the CCTV, and get into the video storage area, and delete the recorded video.
With IP cameras this cannot be done, as the recording location can be anywhere. The ability of the IP camera to transmit video over the Internet can create multiple recording points, so the question of sabotaging video recording does not arise.
So if IP cameras transmit video over networks, it also opens up the possibilities of going wireless. This further removes risk of sabotage, because the intruders can’t cut the data cables. Making IP cameras wireless, also gives the flexibility to place the IP cameras at any location.
CCTV cameras do come in different shapes. You can get various camera types of different dimensions. There are different pan, zoom, and tilt cameras for indoors and outdoors. Also, they are pretty inexpensive when compared to IP cameras.
But they do not have features like zoom-in and zoom-out like IP cameras. Also, analog signals lack proper encryption, and can be easily interfered. IP cameras have built-in software that encrypts all video signals.
