CCTV SYSTEM

CCTV SYSTEM BENEFITS

CCTV Systems combined with professionally delivered remote monitoring services ensures a virtual onsite presence and complete off-premises facilities control. Hi-Tech CCTV Monitoring provide round-the-clock cctv surveillance and cctv monitoring of your premises by linking your CCTV systems to our professionally staffed monitoring stations located at Ahmedabad and Kochi in India.Availing CCTV Remote Monitoring and video recording services from Hi-Tech CCTV Monitoring helps you gain a competitive advantage over your competitors. Taking advantage of our cctv systems experience in serving global clients, the innovative skills of our professionals, state-of-the-art infrastructure, and our domain expertise, enables business to extend their vision beyond territorial boundaries. Hi-Tech CCTV Monitoring maintains CCTV systems for many leading retailers, transportation and distribution, commercial and industrial firms. CCTV systems improve security, operations and risk management in your business.We offer cost effective CCTV Monitoring solutions that cater custom requirements.
CCTV surveillance systems benefit of availing remote monitoring services from us.
Reduces operating costs and false alarm rates
CCTV systems provides enhanced security 24/7X365 monitoring
Enables to link separate sites
Enables to track workers' performance and attendance
Augments business efficiency
Provides effective Loss prevention management
Routine reporting on suspicious persons, vehicles, and objects
Provides risk weighted reports on events with potential for threat
Provides immediate reports on potential threats
Provides description of events with detailed event correlation analysis
Chronological sequence and duration of events
Surveillance of internal and external environments
Enables clients to concentrate on what they do
Enables to monitor premises anytime from anywhere using Internet Hi-Tech CCTV Monitoring utilize latest cctv technologies such as digital service platforms of GSM and ISDN to perform remote monitoring activities. These cctv systems allow visual monitoring as well as voice and audible warning to the protected area directly from our remote monitoring stations.Hi-Tech CCTV Monitoring focus on the quality measures by constantly upholding high standards of business ethics. The official policy of our firm is focused on customer satisfaction. The policy accommodates constant growth that reflects on quality of output, customer service, and support to our clients' business interests. With a wide range of customized remote monitoring services, we serve as a single source support for your remote monitoring needs.Contact us to learn more about our Remote Monitoring Services.

How does a DVR system work?
Closed-circuit television (CCTV) was originally developed as a means of increasing security in banks. Today it has evolved to the point where it is simple and inexpensive enough to be used in home security systems as well as for commercial surveillance . CCTV uses 'television-type' cameras to transmit a signal to a specific, limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that all components are directly linked, and that the signal is not openly transmitted .
The reality is, a true DVR (Digital Video Recorder) meant for security is a sophisticated system composed of hardware components, software programs and sub-assemblies with built-in checks and balances. It all must work in unison to create a robust and reliable piece of equipment, designed for mission critical applications. This is not to be confused with the TiVo or other set top cable boxes that are also known as “DVR's.” They are in no way related. Creating a DVR solution requires a dedicated team of software and hardware engineers, database programmers and system designers, plus support personnel. We are talking about security where there is no margin for error. These applications take years to develop and debug.

DVR, video surveillance, CCTV, Digital Video Recorder; it's all so confusing. Video security is a mission critical application. The surveillance equipment you buy must do what it designed to do; surveillance. The last generation of surveillance systems, were plagued by long cumbersome procedures, and ineffective results. Although digital surveillance technology has revolutionized the video security business whether it is home surveillance or commercial; caveat emptor; let the buyer beware. All Digital Video Recorders (DVR) are not alike. While the predecessor equipment was CCTV monitors plugged into Time Lapse Recorders, the latest digital video surveillance technology relies upon PC-based software which operates in conjunction with DVR cards (video cards which are present in the Digital Video Recorder (DVR) system.
One of the main advances in video surveillance is the ability to remotely monitor the Digital Video Recorder (DVR) over the Internet from anywhere in the world. In order to accomplish this task there are a number of not so obvious issues that many "alleged" manufacturers of Digital Video Recorders (DVR) fail to reveal. So when people ask us what is it that makes Procom the leading video surveillance solution, we tell them, "because it works." Beyond the quality of components, which is an issue unto itself, at the heart of a reliable Digital Video Recorder (DVR) is a robust database structure. So when comparing video surveillance equipment it is not as simple as comparing the basic PC components (hard drive, frames per second and number of channels) and saying they are the same. Nothing could be further from the truth. That just tells you what is under the hood and doesn't mean it works. Your acquisition of a video security system is a costly purchase, we ask you to educate yourself and make informed decisions. Our staff is here to assist you 7 days a week with the security industry's support by certified professionals. So when you are searching the web engines for DVR, video surveillance, CCTV, Digital Video Recorder, surveillance equipment or any other security acronyms; you will come to find as thousands of others have around the world there is only one solution Procom, the leader in next-generation security.

CCTV SYSTEM

Closed-circuit television (CCTV) is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly transmitted, though it may employ point to point wireless links. CCTV is often used for surveillance in areas that may need monitoring such as banks, casinos, airports, military installations and convenience stores. The increasing use of CCTV in public places has caused a debate over public surveillance versus privacy. People can also buy consumer CCTV Systems for personal, private or commercial use. A more advanced form of CCTV, utilising Digital Video Recorders (DVR), provides recording for possibly many years, with a variety of quality and performance options and extra features (such as motion-detection and email alerts). In industrial plants, CCTV equipment may be used to observe parts of a process from a central control room; when, for example, the environment is not comfortable for humans. CCTV systems may operate continuously or only as required to monitor a particular event.


History
The first CCTV system was installed by Siemens AG at Test Stand VII in Peenemünde, Germany in 1942, for observing the launch of V2-rockets.[1] The noted German engineer Walter Bruch was responsible for the design and installation of the system.[citation needed] CCTV recording systems are still often used at modern launch sites to record the flight of the rockets, in order to find the possible causes of malfunctions,[2][3]while larger rockets are often fitted with CCTV allowing pictures of stage separation to be transmitted back to earth by radio link.[4]
In September of 1968, Olean, NY was the first city in the United States to install video cameras along its main business street in an effort to fight crime[citation needed]. The use of closed-circuit TV cameras piping images into the Olean Police Department propelled Olean to the forefront of crime-fighting technology.
The use of CCTV later on became very common in banks and stores to prevent theft, respectively record evidence of criminal activity, both by customers / outside criminals or by staff. This use popularised the concept.
In recent decades, and especially with terrorism and general crime fears growing in the 1990s and 2000s, public space use of surveillance cameras has taken off, especially in some countries such as the United Kingdom.


Surveillance cameras

Uses
Crime prevention / evidence
Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, during the Columbine High School Massacre.
CCTV for use outside government special facilities was developed initially as a means of increasing security in banks. Experiments in the UK during the 1970s and 1980s (including outdoor CCTV in Bournemouth in 1985), led to several larger trial programs in the early 1990s. These were deemed successful in the government report "CCTV: Looking Out For You", issued by the Home Office in 1994, and paved the way for a massive increase in the number of CCTV systems installed. Today, systems cover most town and city centres, and many stations, car-parks and estates. The exact number of CCTV cameras in the UK is not known but a 2002 working paper by Michael McCahill and Clive Norris of UrbanEye[5], based on a small sample in Putney High Street, estimated the number of surveillance cameras in private premises in London is around 500,000 and the total number of cameras in the UK is around 4,200,000. According to their 'guestimate' the UK has one camera for every 14 people, although it has been acknowledged that the methodology behind this figure is somewhat dubious.[6] The CCTV User Group estimate that there around 1.5 million CCTV cameras in city centres, stations, airports, major retail areas and so forth. This figure does not, however, include the smaller surveillance systems such as those that may be found in local corner shops. [7]
Some argue that there is little evidence that CCTV deters crime.[8] According to a Liberal Democrat analysis, in London "Police are no more likely to catch offenders in areas with hundreds of cameras than in those with hardly any." [9] A 2008 Report by UK Police Chiefs concluded that only 3% of crimes were solved by CCTV. [10]
Cameras have also been installed in taxis in the hope of deterring violence against drivers [11][12], and in mobile police surveillance vans.[13] In some cases CCTV cameras have become a target of attacks themselves.[14] Middlesbrough council have recently installed "Talking CCTV" cameras in their busy town-centre.[15] It is a system pioneered in Wiltshire, which allows CCTV operators to communicate directly with the offenders they spot.[16]


The two-year-old James Bulger being led away by his killers, recorded on shopping centre CCTV.
The use of CCTV in the United States is less common, though increasing, and generally meets stronger opposition. In 1998 3,000 CCTV systems were found in New York City.[17] There are 2,200 CCTV systems in Chicago.[18]


The men alleged to be responsible for the 7 July attacks on London, captured on CCTV.
The most measurable effect of CCTV is not on crime prevention, but on a small number of high media-profile case of detection. The investigation or prosecution of several notable murder cases have been aided by the use of CCTV evidence; such as the apprehension of David Copeland, the Soho nail bomber. The use of CCTV to track the movements of missing children is now routine.[citation needed] After the bombings of London on 7 July 2005, CCTV footage was used to identify the bombers. The media was surprised that few tube trains actually had CCTV cameras, and there were some calls for this to be increased.
On July 22, 2005, Jean Charles de Menezes was shot dead by police at Stockwell tube station. CCTV footage debunked claims made by the Metropolitan Police in defence of the shooting of an innocent man.[19] Because of the bombing attempts the previous day, some of the tapes had been supposedly removed from CCTV cameras for study, and they were not functional.[20] An ongoing change to DVR based technology may in future stop similar problems occurring.[21]
The UK cameras were deployed and are maintained by NEP - Roll to Record, a division of NEP Broadcasting.[22]
[edit] Industrial processes
Industrial processes that take place under conditions dangerous for humans are today often supervised by CCTV. These are mainly processes in the chemical industry, the interior of reactors or facilities for manufacture of nuclear fuel. Use of thermographic cameras allow operators to measure the temperature of the processes. The usage of CCTV in such processes is sometimes required by law.[citation needed]
[editTraffic monitoring
Many cities and motorway networks have extensive traffic-monitoring systems, using closed-circuit television to detect congestion and notice accidents. Many of these cameras however, are owned by private companies and transmit data to drivers' GPS systems.
The London congestion charge is enforced by cameras positioned at the boundaries of and inside the congestion charge zone, which automatically read the registration plates of cars. If the driver does not pay the charge then a fine will be imposed. Similar systems are being developed as a means of locating cars reported stolen.
[edit] Transport safety
A CCTV system may be installed where an operator of a machine cannot directly observe people who may be injured by unexpected machine operation. For example, on a subway train, CCTV cameras may allow the operator to confirm that people are clear of doors before closing them and starting the train. Operators of an amusement park ride may use a CCTV system to observe that people are not endangered by starting the ride. A CCTV camera and dashboard monitor can make reversing a vehicle safer, if it allows the driver to observe objects or people not otherwise visible.



Main article: PrivaA surveillance room being surveilled itself.








A mobile closed-circuit TV van monitoring a street market.
Opponents of CCTV point out the loss of privacy of the people under surveillance, and the negative impact of surveillance on civil liberties. Furthermore, they argue that CCTV displaces crime, rather than reducing it. Critics often dub CCTV as "Big Brother surveillance", a reference to George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, which featured a two-way telescreen in every home through which The Party would monitor the populace. More positive views of CCTV cameras have argued that the cameras are not intruding into people's privacy, as they are not surveilling private, but public space, where an individual's right to privacy can reasonably be weighed against the public's need for protection.[23]
The recent growth of CCTV in housing areas also raises serious issues about the extent to which CCTV is being used as a social control measure rather than simply a deterrent to crime. However, since the events of September 11, 2001, many studies have suggested that public opinion of CCTV has grown more favorable. Many proponents of CCTV cite the attacks of the London Underground bombings as one example of how effective surveillance led to swift progress in post-event investigations.
Quite apart from government-permitted use (or abuse), questions are also raised about illegal access to CCTV recordings. The Data Protection Act 1998 in the United Kingdom led to legal restrictions on the uses of CCTV recordings, and also mandated their registration with the Data Protection Agency. The successor to the DPA, the Information Commissioner in 2004 clarified that this required registration of all CCTV systems with the Commissioner, and prompt deletion of archived recordings. However subsequent case law (Durant vs. FSA) has limited the scope of the protection provided by this law, and not all CCTV systems are currently regulated.[24]
A 2007 report by the UK's Information Commissioner's Office, highlighted the need for the public to be made more aware of the "creeping encroachment" into their civil liberties created by the growing use of surveillance apparatus. A year prior to the report Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner, warned that Britain was "sleepwalking into a surveillance society".
In 2007, the UK watchdog CameraWatch claimed that the majority of CCTV cameras in the UK are operated illegally or are in breach of privacy guidelines. In response, the Information Commissioner's Office denied the claim adding that any reported abuses of the Data Protection Act are swiftly investigated. [25]
In the United States, there are no such data protection mechanisms. It has been questioned whether CCTV evidence is allowable under the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits "unreasonable searches and seizures". The courts have generally not taken this view.
In Canada, the use of video surveillance has grown very rapidly. In Ontario, both the municipal and provincial versions of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act [26] outline very specific guidelines that control how images and information can be gathered by this method and/or released.
[edit] Technological developments


Surveillance camera at London (Heathrow) Airport.
[edit] Computerised monitoring
The first CCTV cameras used in public spaces were crude, conspicuous, low definition black and white systems without the ability to zoom or pan. Modern CCTV cameras use small high definition colour cameras that can not only focus to resolve minute detail, but by linking the control of the cameras to a computer, objects can be tracked semi-automatically. For example, they can track movement across a scene where there should be no movement, or they can lock onto a single object in a busy environment and follow it. Being computerised, this tracking process can also work between cameras.
The implementation of automatic number plate recognition produces a potential source of information on the location of persons or groups.


Surveillance camera outside a McDonalds highway drive-in.
There is no technological limitation preventing a network of such cameras from tracking the movement of individuals. Reports have also been made of plate recognition misreading numbers leading to the billing of the entirely wrong person.[27]
CCTV critics see the most disturbing extension to this technology as the recognition of faces from high-definition CCTV images. This could determine a person's identity without alerting him that his identity is being checked and logged. The systems can check many thousands of faces in a database in under a second. The combination of CCTV and facial recognition has been tried as a form of mass surveillance, but has been ineffective because of the low discriminating power of facial recognition technology and the very high number of false positives generated. This type of system has been proposed to compare faces at airports and seaports with those of suspected terrorists or other undesirable entrants.


Eye-in-the-sky surveillance dome camera watching from a high steel pole.
Computerized monitoring of CCTV images is under development, so that a human CCTV operator does not have to endlessly look at all the screens, allowing an operator to observe many more CCTV cameras. These systems do not observe people directly. Instead they track their behaviour by looking for particular types of body movement behavior, or particular types of clothing or baggage. The theory behind this is that in public spaces people behave in predictable ways. People who are not part of the 'crowd', for example car thieves, do not behave in the same way. The computer can identify their movements, and alert the operator that they are acting out of the ordinary. Recently in the latter part of 2006, news reports on UK television brought to light newly developed technology that uses microphones in conjunction with CCTV. If a person is observed to be shouting in an aggressive manner (e.g., provoking a fight), the camera can automatically zoom in and pinpoint the individual and alert a camera operator. Of course this then lead to the discussion that the technology can also be used to eavesdrop and record private conversations from a reasonable distance (e.g., 100 metres or about 330 feet).
The same type of system can track an identified individual as they move through the area covered by CCTV. This is being developed in the USA as part of the project co-funded by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and, in France, by a company called Keeneo. With software tools, the system is able to develop three-dimensional models of an area and track/monitor the movement of objects within it.
To many, the development of CCTV in public areas, linked to computer databases of people's pictures and identity, presents a serious breach of civil liberties. Critics fear the possibility that one would not be able to meet anonymously in a public place or drive and walk anonymously around a city. Demonstrations or assemblies in public places could be affected as the state would be able to collate lists of those leading them, taking part, or even just talking with protesters in the street.
[edit] Retention, storage and preservation
The long-term storage and archiving of CCTV recordings is an issue of concern in the implementation of a CCTV system. Re-usable media such as tape may be cycled through the recording process at regular intervals. There also may be statutory limits on retention of data under some sort of Data Protection Act. However, individual recordings may be retained for indefinite periods for use in investigations or as evidence in legal proceedings.
Recordings are kept for several purposes. Firstly, the primary purpose for which they were created (e.g., to monitor a facility). Secondly, they need to be preserved for a reasonable amount of time to recover any evidence of other important activity they might document (e.g., a group of people passing a facility the night a crime was committed). Finally, the recordings may be evaluated for historical, research or other long-term information of value they may contain (e.g., samples kept to help understand trends for a business or community).
Recordings are more commonly stored using hard disk drives in lieu of video cassette recorders. The quality of digital recordings are subject to compression ratios, images stored per second, image size and duration of image retention before being overwritten. Different vendors of digital video recorders use different compression standards and varying compression ratios.
The following formula can be used to determine the storage capacity required in binary gigabytes:
n: number of camerasf: frame rate (number of frames per second)s: average size in kilobytes of each compressed framea: activity time of each camera in percentage (e.g., use 60 for 60%)d: duration in daysk: constant approximately equal to 1214 (exact value: 32768/27)
[edit] Closed-circuit digital photography (CCDP)
See also: Closed-circuit television camera
A development in the world of CCTV (October 2005) is in the use of megapixel digital still cameras that can take 1600 x 1200 pixel resolution images of the camera scene either on a time lapse or motion detection basis. Images taken with a digital still camera have higher resolution than those taken with a typical video camera. Relatively low-cost digital still cameras can be used for CCTV purposes, using CCDP software that controls the camera from the PC.
Images of the camera scene are transferred automatically to a computer every few seconds. Images may be monitored remotely if the computer is connected to a network.
Combinations of PIR activated floodlights with 1.3Mpix and better digital cameras are now appearing. They save the images to a flash memory card which is inserted into a slot on the device. The flash card can be removed for viewing on a computer if ever an incident happens. They are not intended for live viewing, but are a very simple and cheap "install and forget" approach to this issue.
Closed-circuit digital photography (CCDP) is more suited for capturing and saving recorded photographs, whereas closed-circuit television (CCTV) is more suitable for live monitoring purposes.
[edit] Special uses



An example of a CCTV camera with speakers attached,
in Ipswich, UK
A very special use of CCTV is at Hessdalen AMS where by it is used for discovery of unidentified flying objects.
In the earlier days of television, some programs, and selected live sporting events, were shown on closed-circuit television in theaters across the United States. The 1952 Metropolitan Opera production of Bizet's Carmen was telecast complete by NBC on closed-circuit television. From 1965-1970, the Indianapolis 500 was shown live on closed-circuit television in many movie theatres. The first few WrestleMania events were shown in such a way as well. The first six Super Bowls were shown at special closed-circuit TV gatherings in the host cities, where the game was blacked out by National Football League rules in place at the time.
In the UK, some places have installed talking CCTV, where the operator can talk to the people they monitor