Network CCTV Technology

In a digital network all of the components of the CCTV system are linked together on a standard ethernet network rather than traditional coax cables. They usually share the same network infrastructure as the main computer network. The major components of the system are:

Network Cameras

Network Cameras (often referred to as IP Cameras) connect directly to the local area network using standard ethernet connectivity, eg CAT-5/6 cables, wireless ethernet, power over ethernet etc. Camea can supply a wide range of network cameras to suit all applications - budget cameras, fixed cameras and Pan/Tilt/Zoom cameras, for use indoors or outdoors. Cameras produce images in either MJPEG or MPEG4 format. MJPEG is normally used for security applications.

Network Video Servers

Network Video Servers take the analogue video signals from standard CCTV cameras and re-transmit them onto the local area network in the same way as a network camera.
They are used in a number of circumstances, for example, to integrate an existing analogue system into a networked system or to enable specialised non-network cameras to be used.
Camea supplies Network Video Servers in 1, 2 & 4 channel configurations. We also supply Video Servers with digital recording capability.

Management Software

All of our cameras and video servers come with basic viewing and recording network cctv software.
We also supply our own network cctv software, ViewCommander, which integrates the recording, management and viewing of all our network cameras, as well as a wide range of third party network cameras.

How Does it work?

The Network Cameras and Video Servers encode the image stream in either MJPEG or MPEG4 format. They are transmitted on the network and, subject to communication links and security, can be picked up by the management software and other interfaces. Most cameras and servers also have a web browser interface so that any PC on the network (lan or internet) can access the images. Typically, a 4-camera system will use just a few percent of the available network bandwidth.
Broadband connections can also be used to transmit images to a central server, or to view live and recorded images from ViewCommander.  
ViewCommander runs on a standard Windows-based PC and records the images to standard hard disks. Typically, one camera running for one day will require about 2Gb of disk storage.

• No need for specialised individual coax video cabling for each camera
• Flexibility to add and move cameras and other equipment; using ethernet cabling means that you can add hubs, routers, switches etc to increase capacity.
• Can use new ethernet technologies as they develop, eg wireless, broadband, VPN, power over ethernet etc.
• Can view images from any PC connected on the network or internet (subject to communication links and security considerations)

Recording and Management software runs on standard Windows-based PCs:

• Records to standard hard disks - reliable and economical, can record months of images on the same disks if required.
• Rapid search of footage against date, time, events etc
• No tape changing - software can be set to automatically loop back to beginning to overwrite oldest data.
• High performance, low cost, reliable hardware.
• Can use latest technology, eg Network Attached Storage, High Capacity Optical Drives etc.

You can use our Network Video Servers to upgrade an existing analogue CCTV system. The system can be extended to include Network Cameras as well as analogue components into one integrated system.

You can add IP cameras onto the network whenever you need to, without having to re-cable the building.