Video Surveillance

Vandal said:

I have a scene that calls for a character to review the recording from a security camera set inside a police garage/storage facility. For purposes of the scene, I need it to be the type of system that records in intervals, maybe every few seconds. I've seen these types of recordings from convenience stores when they show a robbery and the intruder is shown jumping from one frame to another rather than one continuous motion (if that makes sense).

My questions:

1) Is this video or a series of still photos? I've heard this type of system is used to reduce the amount of recorded information. I believe there are systems that will take the feed from four cameras and split it up by alternating between cameras every few seconds.
It is video with a freeze frame feature that lets the user print out pictures. Yes each camera has its own channel.The older systems had a VCR hooked up to each moniter and then routed into a type of command post.
2) Does anyone use tape anymore or is it likely to be digital, perhaps to flash memory or hard drive?
I havent done security in a while so I dont know how the newer systems operate, though I do know that they can be viewed from another location.

3) What would the playback look like? One feed that jumps between cameras or one screen split into quadrants, perhaps.
The tape rolls a little as the channel switches. The picture quality didnt used to be all that great, we had the system where the screen was split into quads.

I did try to look this up I had no luck. I'd like to get the nomenclature right.

As always, thanks.

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I hope this helped.

Ok.......my info is about 6 months old. When I was on leave I swung into the dispatch center to see my old amigos. Things might have changed, and my be different elsewhere.

One whole wall of the commcenter is nothing but cameras of the impound lot, major roadways, county buildings (inside and out).

Vandal said:

My questions:

1) Is this video or a series of still photos? I've heard this type of system is used to reduce the amount of recorded information. I believe there are systems that will take the feed from four cameras and split it up by alternating between cameras every few seconds.

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It was all cassette for us until a few years back. Then we switched over to digital with a separate feed/cable for each camera.

All the cameras go through a rotation. So for..........I don't recall.......20 monitors there are about 60 locations. Each monitor rotates through about 3 locations every 3-5 seconds. If something odd comes up the video can be locked with no rotation.

However, even during the switch the video is still being recorded. That means 100% of the video is going through while the dispatchers may only see 20% of the actual on screen events.

Vandal said:

2) Does anyone use tape anymore or is it likely to be digital, perhaps to flash memory or hard drive?

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Our feeds go into a series of massive computers. The video can be pulled from several terminals and made into video files for email or put into jumpdrives.

Vandal said:

3) What would the playback look like? One feed that jumps between cameras or one screen split into quadrants, perhaps.

I did try to look this up I had no luck. I'd like to get the nomenclature right.

As always, thanks.

Click to expand...

Ours are real decent quality. Of course, it'll depend on what kinda cameras you use. We don't use the split screen. Each feed will be pulled up on a seperate screen or computer monitor. We can do the multi screen thing.......but each dispatcher has 3-4 seperate computer screens so they can pull up on one or two what they need and work off the third.

Hope that helps out. Keep in mind, our Sheriff is real big into tech......some of the local cities aren't, so your mileage may vary.

Latest here at Boeing is digital - many locations, fed to a central station. The images are in color and the individual cameras are pan & tilt with zoom capability (in real time) All images are backed up on a server for future viewing. Quality is okay - you can enhance on your desktop. Motion is pretty smooth, not jerky like the older tape systems.

1) Is this video or a series of still photos? I've heard this type of system is used to reduce the amount of recorded information. I believe there are systems that will take the feed from four cameras and split it up by alternating between cameras every few seconds.

New digital systems are individual image captures. Old tape systems are analogue and are continuous.

2) Does anyone use tape anymore or is it likely to be digital, perhaps to flash memory or hard drive?

It is likely to be digital but I still see VCR tape back ups around.

3) What would the playback look like? One feed that jumps between cameras or one screen split into quadrants, perhaps.

This is selectable by user preference. Mine has separate data streams for each of 45 cameras. Although my Security Guards see a screen which jumps around between selected cameras, the data is still individual per camera.
My image rate 60 images per second (ips) which is pretty much continuous video but often people reduce this down to 30 ips to conserve drive space. That gives the strobe-like effect you often see on cheap playbacks from convenience stores.
I am able to record 45 days for 45 cameras using (2) 1 terabyte drives. I could utilize options to save space like motion detection, perimeter violation, light monitoring etc., but I don’t have to just yet.