Archive for category: Video Surveillance

By David Strickland, Vice President of Kenton Brothers, talking about why IP video surveillance systems are a good investment.

The use of security cameras for both commercial and residential sites continues to rise each year. In 2018, the market size of that industry is projected to be somewhere around $32.6 Billion. This represents a compound annual growth rate of over 19.5% since 2011.

As a business owner or decision maker, you may be facing the dilemma of “Why do I need IP Video Surveillance?” Kenton Brothers Systems for Security can help you answer that question. And we can help you design the proper system for your needs.

Here are some of the top reasons why you need IP Video Surveillance.

(Note: IP video surveillance is a camera system that communicates over an IP network and records the footage digitally.)

Crime Prevention

On its basic level, having cameras covering your business can be a deterrent to crime. If businesses are located next to each other, and one has cameras while the other does not, the likelihood is high that an opportunistic thief will choose a “softer” target.

*Quick Tip – Be sure to add signage to your system to alert the general public as well as a potential thief that you have an active IP Video Surveillance System. Having this system in place will also help reduce internal theft of goods from your business.

Risk Reduction

One of the many benefits to an IP Video surveillance system is the reduction of risk due to false claims for falls or accidents. Many of our clients use their video footage to investigate accident claims. When necessary, they make key changes to help reduce claims. The system also acts as a deterrent for false or fraudulent claims.

Increased Production

Another great benefit of this type of system is identifying efficiencies in your production processes and procedures. By adding analytics, you can see heat mapping as well as identify areas for improvement. From traffic flow to resource locations in warehouses, you may find unknown savings in time and increased production.

Forensic Value

IP Video surveillance Systems help solve crimes. When a crime of some sort occurs, the first question law enforcement usually ask is, “Do you have a surveillance system?”

The number one way to identify suspects of a physical crime is to have a high quality image of the assailant. With social media and sites such as StolenKC, many crimes can be solved by the local community even before the police start an investigation.  The higher quality of the video, the better the chance of capturing identifiable aspects of the assailant.

Improving Experiences

IP Video Surveillance isn’t always about crime. We have a lot of clients that use the video and audio recording aspects of their IP video system for training and development of employees and procedures. Companies can create a process or procedure that may have unintended consequences. Being able to review this footage helps vet the changes and insure a great experience for employees and customers.

Peace of Mind

In my opinion, this is one of the biggest benefits to having an IP Video surveillance system. Being able to quickly “look in” on your business, no matter where you are, brings a peace of mind many people wish they had. “Did we open on time?” “How is the snow effecting my office?”  “How busy is my restaurant?” “Is my business locked up and secure for the night?”

These are the things that keep me up at night, and I’m happy I can do a quick check to verify that all is okay.

Cost Reduction

An IP Video System should be looked at as an investment, and you should expect a return. By reducing wasted time, increasing production, reducing threats and risk, lowering internal and external theft and increasing the satisfaction of customer and employee experience, you can realize savings that will affect the bottom line.

Please let us help you design the right system for you!

This is the number one question asked when we demo our security cameras. Typically, we’re showing cameras to a client or prospective client because investing in video cameras is often a visual decision. Usually, we’re set up outdoors and looking at a parking lot shot. An example is this image of our parking lot. Our parking lot is relatively small, so sometimes we’re able to capture a license plate as we’ll see a bit later.

When discussing whether or not we can get a license plate in the shot, I go into all the things that make a license plate capture possible.

Resolution

In the security industry, we’ve settled on a measure that reflects the pixel quality of the image. It’s called pixels per foot or PPF.

PPF is a calculation of the horizontal pixels of the image divided by the horizontal distance that is being covered by the camera at a given distance from the camera. That might seem a bit technical, but the nice thing is that it’s a measure our industry agrees on so that we’re all talking the same language!

The resolution of the camera, the distance an object is from the camera and the width of the cameras view all affect the PPF. So to increase the ability of a camera to capture a license plate, we should mount the camera as close as possible to the area or subject we’re trying to capture. It’s also important to narrow the view of the camera as tightly as possible and use a suitable resolution to fit the job.

Typically if we’re using a camera to capture license plates, we would start by reducing the field of view to only one or 2 lanes of traffic, not a wide angle like in the shot of our parking lot shown above.

You can see from this next shot that we were able to capture a license plate, even though the camera has a wide angle. This is mostly because the plate is so close to the camera and the truck is moving slowly. The PPF here is about 99 PPF.

The angle of the plate to the camera

In order to capture a good license plate image, we want the plate to be as square to the lens as in the image above. As the vehicle angles away from the camera we’ll have a harder time capturing the license plate.

As we can see in the image below, The PPF is only slightly less than before, but we weren’t able to capture the license plate.

Usually, making sure we’re as square as possible to the plate is at odds with being as close to the plate as possible (mentioned earlier.) Mounting on the curb is usually closer, but at a steeper angle to the plate.

Lighting

The camera, much like our own eye, has to adjust to lighting changes. Because cars are typically moving, the camera has a hard time adjusting to the lighting conditions in enough time to see a license plate. In the night shot example below, the plate is almost square to the camera, but we’re farther away, and the brake license plate lights are washing out the plate. (Generally, the lower resolution cameras also have better light response and wider dynamic range. These would increase the ability to capture license plates but are counter to the resolution needs we identified earlier.)

There are several models of cameras that capture license plates using different methods including infrared, flash lighting and high frame rates. However, these application specific cameras will not provide an overview of the parking lot at the same time.

So, “Can I get a license plate with that?”

The answer is maybe… If you want a camera that shows other details like the color of the car and an overview of your parking lot, then there are steps you can take to increase the ability of license plate capture by balancing the resolution angle and lighting. If you want a camera that only captures license plates, then an application specific camera is the way to go!

Need help with your specific application? Give us a call!