Bug, now that’s a word that covers a lot of ground.
And then there’s dreaded. There’s a bug in the system. Our customers rarely find a bug in the IP cameras Kintronics sells, but in the rare instances one finds its way in, they can rest assure we won’t rest until we’ve debugged the system.
The intercom has been with us for a long time, although we rarely acknowledge its presence. That’s because an intercom on its best behavior prefers to avoid the limelight and let the voice take all the attention.
Like any staple of technology, the Intercommunication Device has seen its share of change over the years.
Remember when door readers were connected to the central control panel and how difficult it was to run all the connections?
Oh wait, people are still doing that. The new IP connected readers have been available for a number of years and it’s surprising that they haven’t made more of an impact in the market. I talked to a number of people about this and the conclusion is that security dealers like to do what they know and find it difficult to work with computers and networks.
Are the IP door readers actually better, or as some people say, too expensive?
In this article, we reviewed the cost of the two technologies for an 8 door system.
Continue reading “Comparison of Door Access Control Systems”
Once residing only in the realm of science fiction, biometric authentication has moved into our everyday worlds. And if it’s not part of yours, hold on, it soon will be.
Once upon a time a driver’s license or photo ID was all it took to gain access to a secure building. Life was simpler then. But then, terrorism reared its loathsome head and made it apparent that these simple tokens of identification are woefully inadequate. Today’s security climate demands that secure access control be based on identity authentication. It is not enough that a person may already have security clearance.
Biometric authentication has stepped up to fill that need since the cardinal rule of authentication is that proof of identity be based on a trait or characteristic that is unique to the person, not just a piece of plastic or badge that has the potential of being misappropriated.
Continue reading “Biometric Authentication – the New Kid on the Access Control Block”
What happens to a frog’s car when it breaks down?
It gets toad away.
We tested a number of IP cameras so we could recommend the right camera for low light level applications.
Other key features include resolution, wide dynamic range, and frame rate, which we evaluated in our other posts.
In our latest product test, we compared the low light performance of the new Sony SNC-VM630, Samsung SNV-6084R, and Axis P3384 IP cameras.
The Samsung dome IP camera includes a built-in IR illuminator which we turned off for the test.
Continue reading “IP Camera Low Light Test and Evaluation – Sony vs Samsung vs Axis”
Some applications require IP cameras with a wide dynamic range (WDR). What is a wide dynamic range? It means that the video will look much better in situations where there are very wide light differences in the scene. You may have seen this type of problem, where you are viewing a person in front of a bright background. The background is clear, but the person is very dark and hard to see. The older IP (and analog) cameras used “Back Light” control to enhance the darker area (foreground) and ignore the background.
In this case, you can see the person but the background is lost in a bright haze. If there are people in the background you can’t see them. Today’s new IP cameras use a wide dynamic range to allow you to view both the foreground and background.
Continue reading “IP Camera Test and Review of Wide Dynamic Range – Sony vs Samsung vs Hikvision”
Wireless IP cameras can be used whenever you can’t wire the camera to your network switch. Cameras with built in wireless radios are used indoors, while cameras with external radios are used outdoors and in remote locations.
Cameras with built in radios are usually for indoor home use. But when it comes to outdoor use, cameras that use external radios are preferred because they are reliable and can cover much longer distances.
There are two types of wireless connections; Wi-Fi radios that use a dedicated connection between two points, and 3G / 4G that use the telephone wireless network.
Continue reading “Wireless IP Camera Systems”A Center for Disease Control advisory states “People who have been exposed to Ebola should not travel on commercial airlines until there is a period of monitoring for symptoms of illness lasting 21 days after exposure. “This has presented a conundrum for officials in West Africa, especially airport security workers. How to determine symptoms in passengers who are in their presence for but a few moments? One solution they’ve been employing is to take temperatures, a time-consuming practice.
Might using thermal Imaging cameras speed up the process?
Since one of the symptoms of Ebola is a temperature of 101.5 or more, temperature-taking has emerged as a daily routine in some countries. You know those signs posted in US bathrooms reminding employees to wash their hands ? They’re nothing compared to Liberia’s Ebola-fighting hygiene requirements.
At the end of any day, retail businesses equipped with IP camera security systems are sitting on a valuable cache of high resolution video. Conventional thinking would hold with its being stored for a set period of time, and if no forensic need arises, being deleted.
However, forward thinking management recognizes its value in optimizing a store’s bottom line performance.