Many “malfunction“ CCTV system was actually caused by inconsiderate subsequent system deployment, building remodeling or renovation.
For IP camera, most frequently the network bandwidth was shared with subsequent network gear deployment. The bandwidth became too low for the IP camera to operate normally. There is one case our network cable was even hijacked!
It is pretty common for a CCTV camera blocked by newly elected partition, awning and oh yes, signage.
PCI DVR used to has more advance functions compare to a standalone DVR but nowadays standalone DVR can perform most of the functions of a PCI DVR.
The latest standalone DVR supports Remote Viewing with handphone's Symbian OS, Windows Mobile, Internet Explorer and even Black Berry.
Standalone Triplex DVR enable its users to remote view, playback through IE browser and 3G mobile phone while recording.
It is not uncommon for standalone DVR to come with Video output, S-video output, VGA output, Audio input, Audio output and Alarm in/out terminal for added flexibility in deployment.
Most standalone DVR has multiple operation control, front panel key buttons, USB mouse and IR remote control.
Standalone DVR user can backup video footage with USB pen drive or DVD±RW. Users can even upgrade the DVR software via USB pen drive by simply download the latest software which is not possible in the past.
Hence it is getting tougher and tougher to choose between a standalone DVR and a PC based PCI DVR.
A CCTV installer just came back from Tokyo, he said what struck him was almost all the streets in Tokyo are lined with vending machines (VM) selling products ranging from cold and hot drinks, flowers, rice and some truly bizarre item like pet insect and used school girl panties!
To his surprise, unlike telephone booths in Malaysia none of those VM are vandalized or non-functional.
A few days ago a gentleman walked in with 7 IP cameras he bought in China when he was there for a trade exhibition.
He said they were dirt cheap that he could not resist. He managed to set them up but they are not stable. Those cameras had to be restarted every few hours as they will get overheated. He asked if we could do something to rectify the problem.
I explained to that gentleman that there is nothing we could do as those IP cameras are badly designed.
The H1N1 pandemic had deterred us from traveling abroad. But today let me bring you to Socotra Island, Yeman electronically.
Socotra is one of the most isolated landforms on Earth of continental origin It is part of the Republic of Yemen. Socotra is considered the "jewel" of biodiversity in the Arabian sea. The long geological isolation of the Socotra archipelago and its fierce heat and drought have combined to create a unique and spectacular flora and fauna. Surveys have revealed that more than a third of the 800 or so plant species of Socotra are found nowhere else.
This is possibly the most alien looking landscape on Earth. Check them out yourself.
JR, perhaps you could make a stop over at this lovely island when you are on you way back to Malaysia from Abu Dhabi?
A CCTV installer came to see me the other day to bid farewell. He said he will go back to his hometown to help his brother to run a family business, swiftlet farming.
He said he enjoys his current job and he never like the swiftlet business nor the lifestyle back home but the money looks promising.
I dunno what to say. To me life's too short for a miserable job.
When you deploy network IP camera, make sure you do calculate the required bandwidth. If the required bandwidth is more than network bandwidth you will end up in the following situation.
A husband and wife couple and an old lady came to us to get 2 CCTV outdoor cameras. Those cameras are to be deployed outside their newly extended dinning hall for their bungalow.
After half an hour of explanation, the husband wanted to get the big outdoor Infra red camera but his wife insisted on a smaller camera as she said the big camera looks ugly and overwhelming.
For the next 10 minutes I didn't have a chance to said a word as both of them engaged in a heated debate. The old lady finally spoke and stopped both of them from arguing. She turned and asked me politely for my opinion.
I said a more noticeable big outdoor CCTV camera is a talisman which can ward off potential burglar or thief.
The old lady didn't say anything and pulled out her platinum card to pay for the 2 big outdoor cameras.
Like I said in Size does Matter posting, camera size does matter.
Ilana Yahav is a sand artist who uses only her fingers to draw with sand on glass tables. Ilana creates incredible three dimensional vistas using sand, lighting and music. Her fingers dance in the sand on the glass to the music, the resulting creations are powerful and moving.
Received a call the other day. A lovely voice on the other side of the phone asked me to fax her our CCTV outlet location map so that her boss can pay us a visit.
I explained to her that our location map is available at our website and we could email her the link.
She complained that it is too troublesome for her to go to our website and download the map and since her boss wanted a hard copy it is easier for her to get a fax copy.
We did send her our website link (where the proper location map is) and fax her the following map.
Her boss came with both the maps and purchased a few IP cameras from us. He laughingly said he had prohibited his PA (that lady on the phone) from facebooking during office hours.
If we don't take care of our mother earth, all of us will end up being forced to use CCTV camera with IP68 water resistance housing.
The only way to escape this great flood is to live an eco friendly lifestyle. One of this lifestyle is to use only RoHS compliance electronic appliances.
Some CCTV installers are reluctant to get good quality tools for their job. Some even worst, they make do with the wrong tool.
These compromises not only delay the job completion time, increase wastage, produce sub-quality work, shorten the lifespan of the CCTV gear, being unfriendly to the environment and endanger both the workers' and the end users' lives.
After checking out this photos, am sure you will agree with me the right and good quality tool is indeed very important.
A CCTV installer came to see us. He had just completed a CCTV job in Melaka.
Approximately 2 hours drive south of Kuala Lumpur, Melaka or Melacca is known as a historically rich state. Because of its strategic location straddling the Straits of Melaka, it thrived as a port-of-call and a centre of entrepot trade with ships and merchants from China, Japan, India, Arab and South Africa.
In 1511, it fell to the hands of the Portuguese. Today, the ruins of the Portuguese built A Famosa and St. Paul's Church are the most prominent reminders of the Portuguese occupation.
After a fierce battle Melaka was taken by the Dutch in 1641. The Dutch, who held Melaka for over a century, left many fine buildings marking their heritage. The most imposing relic of the Dutch period is the Stadthuys, a strikingly pink town hall which is today the oldest Dutch building in the Far East. Right next to it stands the bright red Christ Church, constructed with pink bricks imported from Holland and covered with local red lacerite.
In 1795, Melaka was given to the British to prevent it falling to the French when the Netherlands was captured during the Napoleonic Wars. It was returned to the Dutch in 1818 under the treaty of Vienna but was later exchanged by the Brisith for Bangkahulu, Sumatra. From 1826 onwards, the British East India Company along with Singapore and Penang governed it, under the Straits Settlement administration in Calcutta.
For those who like to collect antique Jonker Street is the best place to hunt for authentic artifacts and relics.
The CCTV installer told me that there is a very interesting Roti Canai (a type of flat bread) store in Melaka. When I search with Youtube, this is what I got. Enjoy.
I was introduced to this concept of parallel world when I watched Michael J. Fox's movie Back to the Future.
It is a cool concept but it was extensively abused by terrible movie after terrible movie. That probably explains why for quite a while I was no longer a believer of the concept.
Believe it or not, I was reintroduced to this parallel world concept by the CCTV system.
CCTV is indeed an extremely powerful tool and yet relatively simple technology, or to be more precise, a combination of some common household technologies.
With the integration of Internet, handphone, camera and video recorder technologies, CCTV gives you the power of parallelly omni presence at multiple locations at any given time. CCTV is also a time machine which allows you to travel back in time to look at multiple sites.
Back to the parallel world inspired movie, here are 2 of those movies which had intrigued and impressed me.
Ahem... am surprise too. For once I openly declare a Taiwanese movie worth checking out.
Like any electronic gear, DVR needs air ventilation to keep the equipment at a certain temperature range to prevent the electronic components from overheating. Overheated components will cause instability, malfunction and damage leading to a shortened component lifespan.
Hence, ideally a DVR should be placed at an open, airy place. But in my Network Attached Storage posting, I had pointed out that many DVR users actually hide their DVR in an enclosed space to prevent it from being vandalized or taken away.
This practice had actually forced the DVR to operate in an overheated condition and became unstable, shorter lifespan or malfunction. The solution can be found in my NAS posting.
Meanwhile check out this pride of lions seeking refuge from the scorching sun under the shade of the wing before they got overheated.
CCTV cameras are at the very edge of any CCTV system. If the image presented by the camera is bad, the video footage will turn out lousy. Sort of what you see is what you get eventually.
No doubt some CCTV camera is high definition or high TV line but the colour is unreal. Red is too red, green is too green, blue is too blue etc.
Sadly most Asian CCTV customers prefer those cameras which show “brilliant” colour... which is unreal.
I know it is a matter of taste and I respect their choice but personally I like CCTV camera which shows true color, no reinforcement what so ever.
It is like listening to music, I like to listen to music flat.
Talking about true colour and music, do you remember the song "true colours" by cyndi Lauper. If you don't here goes;
I simply lost count the number of times I had pressed and repressed the replay button.
A few days ago one of our existing customer called, he told us that his shop was burgled and his DVR was taken. He asked if we had a DVR system which can store the recorded video footage away from the DVR.
He is not the first victim who had encountered this deathliest CCTV system setback. The whole purpose of setting up of any surveillance system is to provide the user with clear recorded video footage, what is the use of a sophisticated CCTV system if the video storage was taken or damaged?
The only way to prevent the recorded video footage from being taken away or vandalized is to perform distance recording, record and store CCTV video footage away from the DVR.
You can do it on-site or off-site. Off-site CCTV recording is to record away from the site, it relies on the broadband. For example, surveillance cameras being deployed at the office and the recording being done at the owner's home.
Since broadband speed is slow in our country, it is close to impossible to perform distance recording if many cameras were deployed, another alternative is to deploy Network Attached Storage (NAS) to the surveillance on-site network.
NAS is essentially a self-contained computer connected to a network, with the sole purpose of supplying data storage services to other devices on the network (like the DVR).
Since those CCTV cameras are not connected directly to the NAS, intruders will vandalize or take away the DVR instead of the NAS. further more, NAS can always hide away from the DVR.
When I design a CCTV solution I would like to keep my CCTV solution as simple as I possible can.
Like I said in Minimalism in CCTV posting, simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
You will appreciate simplicity more after checking out this sophisticated roudabout.
Constructed in 1972 the Magic Roundabout in Swindon, England consists of five small roundabouts arranged in a bigger roundabout. Traffic flow around the inner mini roundabout is anticlockwise, and traffic flows in the clockwise manner around the five small roundabouts and the outer loop.
In 2005, the Magic Roundabout was voted the worst roundabout in a survey conducted by a UK insurance company. In September 2007, it was named as one of the World's Worst Junctions by a UK motoring magazine. In December 2007, BBC News reported a survey identifying The Magic Roundabout as one of the "10 Scariest Junctions in the United Kingdom".
Zee Avi began posting her song on YouTube with a webcam for a friend to hear. This lovely lady is born in the small town of Miri in Sarawak, East Malaysia on the island of Borneo which remains untouched, a natural paradise, an apt description of her songs.
Kris Rowley, a U.K. singer-songwriter stumbled upon her video and began posting her clips on his site, which started a snowball effect.
The day before her 22nd birthday, Zee posted what she intended to be her last video, a holiday song, "No Christmas for Me."
Not too long after the posting, an email came from Ian Montone, who had been shown her YouTube clip by Raconteurs' drummer, Patrick Keeler, prompting Montone to get in touch and offer to release her music on the Monotone Label.
Coke is a drink we love and Montos is a very popular mint candy. When this two unpresumptuous daily drink and snack come together will turn into a powerful eruption. It is call Coke geyser or Mentos eruption.
From left: Perrier corbonated water, Classic Coke, Sprite Zero, and Diet Coke with 5 plain Mentos drops. Diet Coke presented a height of about 2.5m
3 years ago, a CCTV installer partnered up with a burglar alarm installer and now they are one of the top security firm in town. I know both of them for years, before the partnership they are just small timer. When one of them with the in depth technical knowledge paired up with a top notch salesmanship of the other partner, they had created a Coke geyser.
All Mentos, if you can open up your mind and bother to look around, am sure you can find your cup of Coke.
Ehem... this is also apply to man-woman partnership.
It is not that hard to understand, every strength comes with its particular set of weakness.
For example, a more powerful car will consume more fuel, a popular singer like MJ will lost his freedom to walk freely on a crowded street etc.
There are strengths and weaknesses in every CCTV gear and solution too. For example;
(1) Higher resolution camera produces clearer video but it comes with bigger video file which required higher bandwidth and bigger capacity hard disk.
(2) Big size camera is never meant for discrete application or small pinhole camera is not build to ward off criminals.
Hence, when it comes to design a CCTV system, the most advance, biggest, most powerful surveillance gear is not always the best choice. Choosing a suitable CCTV gear is more important than choosing the best gear.
Like this episode of Spy verses Spy, the toughness of the iron can also be the deathliest weakness.
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