IP Camera Systems and Surveillance Blog

How to Design Your IP Paging System

Posted on June 15, 2017March 31, 2020 by Bob Mesnik

The secret to designing your sound system is to start at the ears.

The design of an IP paging system starts with the sound level required for people to hear an announcement. Once we know the right sound level, we can define everything else.

The sound level we hear is affected by the background noise, the distance from the IP speaker, and if we are indoors or outdoors.

We require different paging equipment if the system is used in an office building, or a noisy manufacturing plant. We select different IP speakers and amplifiers when we are inside a classroom, or when we are in the hallways of the school. This article describes how to calculate the speaker, the power required at each speaker, and the best place to mount the speakers.

The Intelligent IP Camera

Posted on June 12, 2017March 31, 2020 by Bob Mesnik

Intelligent IP cameras are providing advanced detection capability.

Would you like to know the moment when someone takes your laptop? Would you like to know when someone screams in the lobby of your building? How about detecting a gunshot? The latest IP cameras have quite a lot of built-in intelligence. They help protect people and assets. They notify you of dangerous situations, help deter terror attacks, and even tell you how many people have visited your store.

The first video cameras consisted mostly of analog electronics. They were mostly amplifiers, filters, and power supplies. Today’s IP cameras are digital and include powerful computers. The computers provide many different functions from processing the video image to connecting the IP camera to the Ethernet network.

Technical Jokes and Cartoons-29

Posted on May 24, 2017March 20, 2021 by Bob Mesnik

Question to IT Help Desk

Dear Tech Support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and I noticed a distinct slowdown in the overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewellery applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.

In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5 , and then installed undesirable programs such as NEWS 5.0 , MONEY 3.0 and ESPN 4.1.

Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system.

Please note that I have tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail. What can I do?

The IT Help Desk Responds

DEAR Madam,

How ALPR Works

Posted on May 24, 2017May 5, 2020 by Bob Mesnik

How Automated License Plate Recognition (ALPR) Works

Automated License Plate Recognition Camera

You may not have realized it, but Automated License Plate Recognition (ALPR) technology is all around us. It is used for toll collecting, to control access to parking lots and even to capture criminals. The technology has improved over the years and has become more economical.

Besides the analytic software that converts the image to computer characters, the system requires a good IP camera. It also requires proper lighting and the correct physical placement of the camera.

The analytic conversion software is similar to optical character recognition (OCR) software. ALPR is available as a standalone LPR system or included as an option with some IP camera video management systems.

How IP Powered Speakers Work

Posted on May 5, 2017May 18, 2020 by Bob Mesnik

IP powered speakers connect to a PoE type network switch.

The speakers include built-in amplifiers. They use PoE, so no additional power connections are required. Just plug the speaker into your network switch.

Each speaker can be addressed individually by the paging software. You can make a page to a single speaker, a group of speakers, or to all the speakers on the network. These IP powered speakers are very easy to install and provide excellent flexibility.

Technical Jokes and Cartoons-28

Posted on April 24, 2017March 20, 2021 by Bob Mesnik

I changed my password to “incorrect”. So whenever I forget what it is the computer will say “Your password is incorrect”.

A clean house is the sign of a broken computer.

We just got a fax. At work. We didn’t know we had a fax machine. The entire department just stared at it. I poked it with a stick.

Tonight’s Procrastinators Anonymous meeting has been postponed to tomorrow.

The trouble with jogging is, that by the time you realize you’re not in shape, it’s too far to walk back.

How Does Facial Recognition Work?

Posted on April 24, 2017May 18, 2020 by Bob Mesnik

Facial recognition systems are now available as part of video recording software systems.

The Technology for Facial Recognition

There are two primary methods for capturing and matching facial information.

The first measures various features of a person’s face, such as the distance between the eyes, or the position of the mouth to the nose. These geometric measurements or vectors are then stored in a database for later comparison.

The second method is far more complex. It captures the full facial image and uses as much information as it can. It then uses various computer algorithms, including machine learning, to build a set of definition data. This statistical database increases the reliability, as well as the cost of the system.

What is the Best IP Camera Recording System

Posted on April 24, 2017May 18, 2020 by Bob Mesnik

There are NVRs and VMS Recording Systems, but what is best for your IP camera system?

The video recording system is a key part of the total IP camera system. There are many solutions available, but what is the best one for your application?

Most NVRs, video management software systems, or even a cloud system will provide basic video recording. But, if you want to support many cameras at multiple sites, you need a more advanced system.

This article helps you determine the best recording system for your application. It compares simple systems that are used for a handful of cameras, to complex systems that can handle thousands of cameras at multiple sites. Your total system requirements will determine the best video recording system.

Technical Jokes and Cartoons-27

Posted on March 23, 2017March 20, 2021 by Bob Mesnik

How to translate responses from your boss:

I’ll look into it. = I’ve already forgotten about it.

I tried my best. = I did the bare minimum.

Happy to discuss further. = Don’t ask me about this again.

No worries. = You really messed up this time.

Take care. = This is the last you’ll ever hear from me.

What is an Explosion Proof Camera?

Posted on March 23, 2017May 18, 2020 by Bob Mesnik

An explosion-proof camera includes a special enclosure. The camera and enclosure can be used in a hazardous potentially explosive environment. This means that the camera system will not cause an explosion, rather than survive an explosion outside the enclosure.

The camera and enclosure used in these environments are designed to prevent ignition of the surrounding gases or dust. They will either contain any explosion within the device or prevent sparks exiting the device and triggering an explosion.

Normally, we don’t worry about sparks. For example, a household light switch may emit a small, harmless visible spark when switching. In an ordinary atmosphere, this arc is of no concern, but if a flammable vapor is present, the arc might cause an explosion. Explosive environments can be found in a number of places such as oil and gas tankers, chemical processing plants, hospital operating theaters, aircraft refueling, and hangers, coal mines or oil refineries, sewage treatment plants, grain handling, sugar refineries, and printing industry. These environments can contain flammable gases such as acetone, propane, methane, hydrogen, or coal dust.