Image Per Second

Almost all customers and even some CCTV installers will take the DVR recording Image Per Second (IPS) or Frame Per Second (FPS) as a yardstick to rate a DVR. The higher the IPS or FPS over the number of video channel ratio the better.


But do you know the different between IPS and FPS? You need to be very careful when compare a DVR's IPS with another DVR's FPS.


Mpeg technology uses the interlace scanning technology (please refer to my 2008 Nov posting - Halloween – Unidentified Flying Creature) And here comes the confusion, some unscrupulous DVR producer actually self-define IPS as each interlace scan as one image. In other words if they said their 16 channel DVR is 400 IPS recording, in actual fact it is only 200 FPS recording worth.


Well, what I'm trying to say is, you may end up paying full price for half a car.

Green Shoots in a Mirage?

As the world real economy continue slipping into the abyss, the equity markets around the world had rallied from strength to strength since March.

Rightfully the health and life of a financial market depends on the real economy but the roles seem to have been reversed, where the real economy depends on the financial market. Hence all my business associates and friends had repeatedly asking me the same question; Is the current stock market truly reflecting the health condition of the economy 6 months down the road. Truthfully I don't have an answer.

I think the key question we should ask is, can we actually create wealth out of thin air by printing money or by changing the accounting rules like what the Obama administration had done and i believe they will continue to do so? Again I don't have the answer for that question but for sure we can channel video signal through air without wire with WIFI and extract water out of thin air!

Allow me to show you how;

Solace

As expected, the Malaysian economy is contracting 6.2 per cent in the first quarter from a year ago, its worst fall since the fourth quarter of 1998 at the height of the Asian financial crisis. It is the first time in eight years that the gross domestic product (GDP) has experienced a quarterly contraction which also translates to a drop of about 7 per cent from the last quarter of 2008. Bank Negara also believes that it has continued into the second quarter and governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz would not say if Malaysia would return to positive growth this year.


My fellow CCTV installers, in this depressing economy for those who would like to seek refuge in Joanna Wong sanctuary, check out her MTV. I had recommended this Taiwanese singer to a few CCTV installers (from 19 years old to early 40) and all of them had instantly fallen in love with her soothing and comforting voice.


Oh yes, happy Duan-Wu Festival!

Windows 7 - XPM

The new Windows 7 will feature a Windows XP mode (XPM). This feature allows applications to run in an XP virtual box and appears as if they are running natively on Windows 7. It is a great feature for small and medium-sized businesses who have applications that won't run well on Windows 7. XPM allows those who would like to upgrade to Windows 7 but at the same time want to use their old XP applications.



XPM to Windows 7 is network video server to a network surveillance system. Video servers enable an analog system to perform functions like motion detection, DI/DO connection, pre/post alarm snapshots etc. Migration and upgrade to an IP-based digital system from an existing analog surveillance system made easy and cost effective.

In other words, with video servers users can upgrade to IP-based digital surveillance system but still be able to use their old analog cameras.

Thermal Camera

This is a follow up to my previous posting as I said cinemas should deploy thermal camera. Some might wonder how does a thermal camera work.

Unlike a normal camera which can only capture light reflected by the objects, thermal camera or night vision camera operates by capturing the upper portion of the infrared light spectrum emitted as heat by objects which is imperceptible to our eyes and amplifying the infrared light to the point that we can easily observe the image. The hotter the objects, such as animal, warm human bodies, running engines, electronic appliances etc. emit more of this infrared light than cooler objects like water, trees or buildings.


Check out this cool thermal imaging of bat video from Discovery.

Star Trek

I watched Star Trek XI last Thursday night at Mid Valley Megamall's Golden Screen Cinemas and I noticed there is a big infrared (IR) camera being deployed next to the screen facing the audience. The main purpose to have a camera pointing at the audience my guess is to prevent the pirated DVD syndicate from using camcorder, handphone or any recording devices to record the movie.

To me with the given height and the area the camera has to cover, it is better to deploy a low lux box camera instead of an IR camera.

IR camera is a good fit for areas with virtually no light that only need coverage in a limited or confined area. The analogy of an IR camera is like walking around into the pitch dark with a torchlight. While IR cameras capture the image by supplying their own IR light source Low Lux cameras take the opposite approach as they take advantage of any ambient light available, in this case the light reflected from the cinema screen.

Like a torchlight, IR coverage is limited and narrow hence IR cameras often hit the limit of their IR lighting long before the optical limits of the lens. I suspect the IR camera at the cinema can only capture images around the central of the audience seats.




Back to the movie, I'm no Trekkie but like it all the same. The only setback was a lady setting next to me coughing nonstop throughout the show. Sigh... hope it's not H1N1... 5 more days to go before I can find out. Perhaps all cinemas should deploy thermal cameras instead of IR cameras.

Toyota Prius

My friend called me from Hong Kong yesterday, he told me that he is considering getting the Toyota Prius petrol-electric hybrid car.





I dunno if it is wise but again it demonstrates the green industry is indeed picking up a lot of steam.