Gigabytes is a term that we have all become familiar with, as the Hard Disc Drives (HDDs) in most Personal Computers (PCs) are now typically sized in the Gigabyte range.
A reasonably modern PC is likely to be supplied with a 250 or 500GB hard drive. A disc of such capacity is likely to be more than adequate for most standard PC usage.
Back in the days when Digital Video Recorders (DVRs) were a new technology the first units were typically supplied with a 40GB hard disc, that being the largest single drive capacity available at the time.
As with all things technological HDD sizes have developed greatly, and it is now quite simple to purchase a single HDD with a capacity of 1.5 Terabytes!
What’s a Terabyte? One Terabyte is equivalent to one thousand Gigabytes.
Therefore 1.5 TB = 1,500GB!
That’s a heck of a lot of storage capacity on a single drive.
Why do we need all of this capacity for IP CCTV recording solutions? If you are familiar with taking and manipulating digital still photographs you’ll be aware that a single high quality image file may be 1MB (MegaByte) in size. Bear in mind that with a network camera CCTV solution we will effectively be capturing many such images every second, from every camera, and you’ll begin to understand that we can very soon accumulate GigaBytes of storage.
The amount of storage available directly dictates how much video we can store. We can regulate this by either adjusting the file size of the images (using some form of video compression) or by adjusting the number of images per secnd that we capture (the frame rate or fps – frames per second).
The really big IP CCTV camera solutions (see our IP CCTV Facts page) are now using PetaBytes of storage.
1 GigaByte = 1,000 MegaBytes (106)
1 TeraByte = 1,000 GigaBytes (109)
1 PetaByte (1015) = 1,000 TeraBytes (1012)
1PB = 1,000,000,000,000,000 Bytes – that’s a lot of image storage!!!!
Vandal proof is just a promise too far – no sensible CCTV manufacturer or installer would ever offer “vandal-proof” products.
There is no end to the amount of force that might potentially be used.
Some manufacturers will state their claim e.g. “proven to withstand a blow from a 10lb sledge hammer”.
I recall, when vandal-resistant dome cameras first became available (some years ago) one manufacturer had a rig on their exhibition stand that allowed you to lift and drop a hinged sledge hammer repeatedly onto their dome camera’s bubble!
Another manufacturer (or was it the same manufacturer?) made a video of a truck driving over their camera to show that it could survive this extreme treatment.
However, I once attended a client’s site after a vandal had struck a camera mounted to the ceiling of a subway with a five foot concrete fence post – it did not survive that!
The ultimate in this particular game is “ballistically tested” – as you can see from above, nobody will ever claim that they have manufactured a bullet-proof camera!
It’s a 1.3 Megapixel network camera. 1.3 megapixels is three times the image resolution of the traditional CCTV cameras watching over your Reception area or shop!
Simply connect it to the nearest network point and record the video on a PC (ACTi provide their NVR Professional video recording software free-of-charge on a CD in the box with each camera – for use with up to 64 cameras!).
Camera, lens and outdoor weatherproof camera housing all in the one assembly.
In the case of this ACTi 7411 IP camera it’s also a vandal-resistant housing – ideal for those applications where you may have some fear of unwanted interference with the camera (indoors or out).
And, it’s a 1.3 megapixel camera, delivering over three times the image resolution of a traditional analogue camera.
And, it’s supplied with a vari-focal lens that allows you to adjust the field of view to suit the scene you want to cover.
And, it’s POE enabled, for an easy installation with video and power via a single Cat5 cable connection to your nearest network point.
The Professional version is shipped on a CD in the box with every camera purchased and can manage up to 64 cameras on any single site.
The Enterprise version can be downloaded from ACTi’s website free of charge. This version can be used for multi-site solutions where there are up to 16 cameras at each site. For camera counts greater than 16 on multiple sites ACTi NVR Enterprise can manage up to 64 cameras but, they charge for licences for 32, 48, and 64 camera versions – please contact us if you need any further details on this software.
Currently, this free video recording software only manages ACTi products, but you can mix their video inputs from their megapixel network cameras, standard IP video cameras and analogue CCTV to IP Video servers.
Their offer of free video software makes this perhaps the ideal migration route for owners of existing analogue CCTV cameras. Simply convert those CCTV cameras into IP video feeds by use of an ACTi video server. Then install their free recording software onto a suitable PC. Then add megapixel network cameras for better resolution IP CCTV into the future …
