A conversation in the local Co-Op between the vicar and a local resident led to IP cameras supplied by use-IP being used for a very different application than security.

 

As some elderly parishioners of St Peter and St Paul Church in Deddington began to find it difficult to attend the Sunday Service, the idea of a live audio stream was proposed. However, long pauses in the service (during communion, for example) revealed that both audio and video would be ideal. The brains behind the scheme, local resident David Rogers, used the church’s existing telephone line to establish a broadband connection, to which he connected a PC and IP cameras sourced from use-IP. He began with the Axis M1011 but found that the Axis M1054 was much more effective in producing the desired picture quality when viewed in full-screen. Recently, Mr Rogers has installed a second Axis M1054 facing the font at the rear of the Church to enable a second view, which is particularly useful during baptisms. A third IP camera (the Axis M1011-W) is used by the bell ringers of the church to alert them to the arrival of the bride during wedding services.

 

Using an application controlling Adobe Flash Live Media Encoder, the stream automatically switches on each morning and an operator can remotely adjust the volume to suit each service, whether it is solemn vows or a full choir and organ.

 

The project looks set to extend further into the UK, with interest from Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford, St John’s in Carterton and Buckingham Parish Church. The use of IP cameras in churches has also been noted on a more worldwide scale, following a visit from the Curate of Deddington (armed with nothing more than a laptop, an Axis M1011 and some cables) to Sweden to stream the consecration of Bishop Elect Jan-Olof Johannson from Uppsala Cathedral.

 

Back in Deddington, the success of the project is undeniable. Services are streamed frequently in the local nursing home and hospital, much to the delight of loyal church-goers, with one broadcast reaching an audience of 160. The technology has even enabled new Godparents from as far as Kuala Lumpur and New Zealand to take their vows and actively partake in baptism services from thousands of miles away.

 

The possibilities seem endless. Future projects planned in the Parish include a communal reading of the St James’ Bible in honour of its 400^th anniversary conducted over Skype and a ‘Christianity in 15 Objects’ series planned for 2011-12.

 

This may be a far cry from the ‘normal’ applications of IP CCTV Cameras but the work in Deddington goes a long way to prove how dynamic the products at use-IP can be.

 

For more information, please visit www.deddingtonchurch.org and watch a service yourself!

The interim CCTV Regulator, Andrew Rennison, has been appointed to carry out a review of the use and regulation of CCTV in the UK. In the 5 minute video clip below he does a good job of explaining both the role, the requirement for it, the process to be undertaken, and the timescale.

Andrew Rennison’s role forms a part of the National CCTV Oversight Body, which in turn forms a part of the UK’s National CCTV Strategy, and reports to the Policing Minister, David Hanson.

Some useful links:

• National CCTV Strategy
• National CCTV Oversight Body
• The Recommendations

CCTV in schools is often a cause of controversy and debate.

Apparently a UK school CCTV system inadvertently recorded footage of school children getting changed, which prompted this new statement from the Information Commissioner’s Office today:

6 November 2009

CCTV in schools

Jonathan Bamford, Assistant Information Commissioner, said:

“CCTV should only be used for a pressing need. It is perfectly reasonable for a school to use CCTV to help secure its premises, but it shouldn’t be left switched on capturing images of school children changing during the day. When a school is staffed and children are on the premises, cameras will not generally be required for security purposes. Organisations that do capture images using CCTV are required by law to adhere to the Principles of the Data Protection Act. Guidance for organisations using CCTV is available from http://www.ico.gov.uk/for_organisations/topic_specific_guides/cctv.aspx”

Now I am sure that all statements from the ICO are carefully considered and worded so that there can be no ambiguity of meaning, but I’m not entirely sure that they meant what they seem to be saying in that middle sentence:

When a school is staffed and children are on the premises, cameras will not generally be required for security purposes.

Switch the CCTV off during the normal school day???

Comments below please …

PS – check the website of the newspaper local to the school – the Manchester Evening News – lots of comments from concerned parents …

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 …

The new Pentax Varifocal Plus megapixel CCTV lens as captured in action at IFSEC 2009:

Pentax are well known for the quality of their CCTV lenses, but they have taken a long time to produce and launch their first megapixel CCTV lens. However, it seems that the wait may have been worthwhile as judging by the pre-production model demonstrated at IFSEC they’ve built in a new feature which might well see them take the lead in this sector.

Firstly, let’s explain what a vari-focal CCTV lens is – it is simply a lens which allows you to manually adust the field of view being monitored by the camera to exactly that which you wish your surveillance to cover.

Once upon a time we only had fixed focal length lenses available to us e.g. 4mm, 8mm,12mm, etc. These lenses provided a certain field of view, perhaps a horizontal viewing angle of 60° and that was what you got i.e. the view could not be adjusted. A set focal length lens provides a fixed field of view (horizontal and vertical viewing angle).

With the advent of the varifocal CCTV lens we were able to adjust the scene covered / field of view at the point of commissioning, so that only the area which we wished to cover was ‘seen’ by the camera. This allowed us to concentrate all of the camera’s available resolution onto the important area. For this reason vari-focal lenses are now used in the vast majority of all new CCTV installations.

With all of the currently available vari-focal lenses, as the field of view is adjusted, you then need to re-focus the lens at each scene setting. With their new ‘Varifocal Plus’ lens Pentax have developed technology which allows the lens to stay in focus as you manually zoom.

The guys on the stand weren’t revealing too much about how Pentax had achieved this first, they simply said that it utilised technology transfer from their lenses for the Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) camera market.

Precise focusing of CCTV camera lens combinations is something which many end-users struggle with, so this new lens from Pentax should bring great benefit to many end-users and field engineers.

It’s a 1.3 megapixel lens and should be available Q3 2009 for a price in the region of just £99!

Click the image to the right to visit the new page in our webshop and to download the datasheet from there for further information.

NB This lens will only work with cameras which have a lens connection socket and can be back-focused with an adjuster ring at the front of the camera (if you need any further help or information then give us a call on 01304 827 609).