The IP Expo exhibition in October might be interesting:

IP Expo now incorporates four great events: IP’09 (focusing on infrastructure & convergence), VM’09 (exploring virtualisation), and (new for 2009) Wireless ’09 & Cloud’09 – The UK’s first independent cloud computing event, providing insiprational thinking plus practical solutions for your organisation

It aims to cover four key areas:

• The convergence of voice, data and video over IP Networks
  • Network Optimisation, Security and Business Continuity, Communications & Collaboration and Datacentre Management.
• Virtualisation
  • From servers to storage, data centres to desktops…Unleash the Power of Virtualisation in your Business!
• Cloud Computing
  • Whether building applications in the cloud or integrating cloud services with legacy systems
• Wireless
  • Define, develop and deploy the right mobility and wireless solution

Visit their website to learn more and register – IP Expo 09

The Mobotix Q24 is their latest 3 megapixel hemispheric network camera.

It supercedes the popular Mobotix Q22. The ’4′ is a new designation from Mobotix and represents their new faster processing engine, we will in due course see this appear in other models in the range e.g. Mobotix ‘D’ series dome cameras and the original ‘M’ series cameras.

The hemispheric operating principles are quite difficult to understand from a cold start and we are often quizzed about just what the Mobotix Q24 can actually do.

The classic application is to ceiling-mount this camera in the centre of a room and gain the ability to monitor and record everything that occurs anywhere in the room, with electronic pan/tilt/zoom capability to zoom into any area of interest (either in Live mode or in recorded footage) to see more detail. But, you can also wall-mount the Q24 and view a 180° wide field-of-view in front of the camera OR set the camera to deliver views of three preset selected sections of the overall scene covered.

Those good people at specialist Mobotix trainers The IP Academy have just released a new video introducing the Q24 and explaining a few of these features, it does a far better job than my words above seem to …

Mobotix Q24 explanation video from The IP Academy

IPCCTV is a complex technical subject and there are almost too many possible solutions to choose from.

We know that our customers like to do lots of research before selecting their network cameras and CCTV recording software so, we have put together a web page to collate all the IPCCTV Video Channels from our Partner manufacturers.

There is a growing trend to use video web services such as YouTube and Vimeo to deliver good promotional videos.

At the time of writing ACTi are obviously an early adopter with nearly two hundred videos on YouTube. Axis only set up an official channel yesterday, and Vivotek uploaded their first videos to Vimeo in the last 24 hrs.

Some of the videos adopt a formal instructive style.

Some are just for fun.

Some have rockin’ soundtracks!

Plainly this presentation medium is going to grow and grow …

Grab a cup of tea, pull up a comfy chair, make sure you’ve got a good broadband connection, switch your speakers on and …

Let the IP CCTV Camera Manufacturers entertain you!!!

We look forward to your comments and feedback below …

The Vivotek IP 7161 Network Camera has just been reviewed in the latest edition of PC Pro magazine.

Their judges preferred the performance of the previously tested Axis P3301 dome camera.

The other camera mentioned in their test, the Vantage VIPC1431EP has been superceded by the ACTi ACM-1231 (and is now a megapixel model).

Click the link to read their full Vivotek IP 7161 Camera Review.

Click here to read PC Pro’s review of the Vantage VIPC1431EP.

And here for their review of the Axis P3301 network dome camera (with some interesting explanations and comparisons of MPEG4 and H.264 video compression).

Greenpeace used some smart technology to intercept video signals from a Kent Police helicopter and have now (2 years later) used the video clips in this promotional video.

As reported in The Times Online:

A team of Greenpeace activists hacked in to and intercepted live CCTV footage from a police helicopter during a protest at a power station, to use in a documentary released this week.

Police are investigating how the activists managed to obtain footage beamed from their helicopter to officers on the ground during an invasion of the coal-fired Kingsnorth power station near Rochester in Kent, by Greenpeace members in 2007.

The footage has come to light only this week with the release of the documentary — made free of charge by Nick Broomfield, the Bafta award-winning film-maker — which uses parts of the helicopter footage to show the activists at the top of the 200-metre power station chimney.

Tim Hewke, who co-ordinated the 2007 protest, was reluctant to reveal exactly how Greenpeace intercepted it and said: “Someone, somewhere has a piece of kit that’s used from time to time.”

There’s obviously a hole in their transmission security and Kent Police are looking into it

We’re gonna leave any further comments on this one open to you, below …