IP CCTV camera

Why IP cameras for video surveillance are gaining popularity and what types of IP cameras do exist in our article.
In recent years, IP cameras for video surveillance are gaining popularity. For IP cameras do not need additional equipment - each camera is independent in itself and can work without additional devices. Poe technology allows you to supply power to the IP-camera via Ethernet-cable.

Types of IP camera

For different purposes, different types of IP cameras are used. Conventionally, they can be divided into three types:

• by installation locations
• by body type
• by lens type

According to the places of installation, the cameras are divided into outdoor and indoor.

Since street weather conditions are quite severe, a quality outdoor camera can operate in the temperature range from -50 to +50 degrees. Often c cameras use special heated thermometers. Outdoor cameras are also designed for high humidity and calmly withstand installation inside rooms such as a car wash. Increased performance dictate higher prices for this type of IP cameras.

Internal cameras are installed directly inside buildings . Such cameras are not designed to operate at very low or high temperatures and high humidity. Usually installed in offices or other premises to control the organization’s business processes. The advantage of such cameras is the price, which is significantly lower than that of outdoor IP cameras.

According to the type of the camera body , they are divided into cameras in a standard case, dome-shaped, PTZ cameras.

Cameras in a standard package are the simplest devices in a standard package. Can be installed both indoors and outdoors. For outdoor installation, a special thermoplastic is used, which protects against moisture ingress and low / high temperatures.

Dome cameras can be installed both indoors and outdoors. They have a body that visually resembles a hemisphere. Most often, an ip camera in this design is attached to the ceiling, less often to a wall. The hemisphere of cameras is often tinted so that the lens is not visible where it is directed.

PTZ cameras (PTZ-Pan-tilt-zoom) - a camera that supports remote control of the direction and zoom. This type of camera is convenient to use when you need to remotely rotate the lens of the camera, as well as zoom in on some fragments of the frame.

IP cameras lenses 

Camera IP cameras are divided into lenses with fixed focal length and variable focal length . On cameras with variable focal length, you can change the focus, which will either expand the viewing angles — get the overall picture, or focus on a smaller object in more detail.

When you need to decide what focal length to choose, you need to understand that the smaller the focal length, the less far-sighted your IP camera will be, but at the same time it will cover a larger viewing area. Conversely, the larger the focal length of the lens, the more detailed the frame from the camera will be, but the viewing area will be smaller. Wide-angle lenses are suitable for a general overview, such as car parking or a  conference room., and a greater focal length allows you to see a more detailed image that is required at cash desks in supermarkets or in banks to resolve controversial issues. Usually changing the focal length is a mechanical task. On the lens there are levers that allow you to change the parameters. On more expensive models, it is possible to change the focal length remotely.

CCTV security systems Chennai

WHY DO WE NEED VIDEO CONFERENCING, IF YOU HAVE SKYPE?

Why do large companies choose video conferencing to streamline negotiations, corporate training and costs, rather than popular video chats? Read in our article about the benefits of video conferencing.

Almost every company has a question about optimizing the business process using modern technologies. Video conferencing is no exception; it allows you to optimize the time and money costs of the enterprise and quickly resolve issues with partners.

WHAT IS VIDEO CONFERENCING (VIDEO CONFERENCING)?

What is videoconferencing is, in general, clear from the name, but it is necessary to realize that video conferencing is more than just cameras, computer and software are equipment and technologies that, in combination, allow remote communication to be transferred to a high, qualitative level, often achieving a presence effect.

The professional video conferencing system includes the following elements:

High-quality video camera with high resolution.


During a conversation using a popular video chat, you often see a low-quality picture with unregulated illumination. Professional video camera with adjustable sensitivity and color reproduction, reproduces high-quality, detailed image of your interlocutor. As a result, you are not distracted from communication and perceive the interlocutor as if he is at arm's length.

Conference systems (microphones)

Conference systems have high sensitivity to ensure high-quality speech during negotiations, as opposed to a microphone on a telephone or computer. More details about microphones.

Acoustic systems

Sound equipment is installed only after the engineering acoustic calculations of the room. In conference rooms and meeting rooms use various types of equipment: ceiling acoustics, wall mounted, frontal. When using the latter type of acoustics, there will be an additional effect of the presence of a remote participant.

Acoustic data room.

This item is directly related to the above; Without decent room acoustics, the sound effect of presence cannot be achieved. Mainly edited and formed using interior materials during the repair.

Video equipment

This refers to video mapping systems of interlocutors (screens, monitors, panels). The transfer of visual content is most important during video conferencing, the quality of equipment plays the most important role here.

WHY DO I NEED VKS, IF YOU HAVE SKYPE?

The main differences are quality, reliability and capabilities.

The quality and level of video conferencing are directly related, as you have probably understood, from the installed equipment. A popular smartphone or even the latest version of the laptop with the best performance will not be able to broadcast video of a similar quality that is inherent in professional equipment, even if not a popular brand. When communicating via Skype, you simply see the interlocutor on your screen, the video conferencing system provides the effect of presence.

Reliability.

The actual problem for many organizations is the confidentiality of information. Unlike Skype, the videoconferencing system is protected from data “leakage” and listening, since all connections go through the client’s server, and the equipment is serviced by the company’s staff.

One of the main differences of video conferencing is the possibility of stable and safe operation, on weak communication channels, and vice versa, in local networks, where data transfer is very high.

Skype only works when connected to its servers via the Internet; that is, every time a connection fails, you will not be able to use the video connection all the time, until you troubleshoot. Imagine if this happens during very important negotiations with your partners or clients.

Opportunities

• demonstration of presentations, videos, photos, drawings, tables and any other multimedia materials during the conversation.
• during communication, an electronic board is available on which you can draw, enter and edit data.
• provides for the duplication of your desktop on the overall screen and desktop management of your interlocutor.
• video of negotiations and all data, if necessary.
• unlimited number of participants.
• the organization of the schedule of video conferences and invitations. By scheduling a conference, mark the date and time, and your interlocutors will receive individual emails.
• Integration with IP-telephony - the ability to call landline numbers, from the application for video conferencing, during the conference. Thereby providing a full audio participation of the interlocutor.

Of course, if you need a point-to-point video conferencing (two-way video conferencing), use extremely rarely and are not afraid of the “leakage” of information, then the most affordable and best option for you would be Skype or similar products.

But if the company is large, actively developing or planning to conduct training between the branches, you will need multi point videoconferencing. For the implementation of "multi point" you will need conference equipment that supports "multi point" (there is conference equipment with built-in up to 8 points) or a special video server. In more detail about the types of video conferencing, we will tell in the next article.

video conference system Chennai

Video conferencing equipment for real-world meeting rooms

Video conferencing has ceased to be an exotic concept and is increasingly penetrating our everyday work environment. She went beyond the meeting rooms and became available in the workplace of employees and mobile devices. This widespread use of video conferencing is facilitated by the growing transition from purely hardware solutions (such as Polycom, Cisco, LifeSize) to software and hardware. There are several reasons for this transition, but the main ones are as follows:

1. Software solutions for video conferencing are more affordable without losing functionality.
2. Software solutions for video conferencing provide greater flexibility in equipping workplaces and meeting rooms, in contrast to the standardized composition of hardware terminals.

This article, on the example of a specific meeting room, describes how it is possible to equip a room with video conferencing facilities that is simple and relatively inexpensive. 

The concept of a standard meeting room

The meeting room is now in almost any company. This is the place where meetings between employees, meetings with clients, discussion of projects are held. Recently, meeting rooms are also used for video conferencing with remote participants. The equipment of such meeting rooms allows participants to hear and see each other at a distance in real time, to share content (presentations, slides, videos). 

As a rule, meeting rooms have a metric of 25-30 square meters and a capacity of 8-10 people. These rooms are medium-sized meeting rooms.

Modular approach to equipping meeting rooms

Before turning to specific examples of equipment, you should talk about the modular approach. 

Today, equipping a meeting room with video conferencing equipment has ceased to be a highly specialized task. Previously, a hardware terminal with a predetermined composition of components was almost the only option for VKS equipment. Now the personal computer with the software client of the video conferencing center becomes the central hub, for example: Skype, Polycom Realpresence Desktop or TrueConf. 

Both of these options solve the problem - they provide participants with video calls, but they have different approaches:

1. The option based on a specialized hardware terminal involves placing typed equipment in a room — a video camera with the parameters offered by the manufacturer, a microphone, also a specific model, a central computing unit with certain functionality, and so on. Connectors for connecting equipment to the central unit are often proprietary. This makes it difficult to replace components. For example, the Polycom company produces video cameras with a non-standard HDCI connector, which without “dancing with a tambourine” is difficult to connect to anything other than the hardware terminals of the same company. This imposes certain difficulties in connecting cameras through a video switch, to build more complex video conferencing systems. The flexibility of upgrading and scaling in such hardware solutions is a bit
   
2. The option based on a personal computer, equipped in the simplest case with a video camera and microphone, gives more flexibility in choosing equipment, as the connection interfaces (USB, HDMI, 3.5 mm analog connector) are standardized and present in any modern personal computer.

The second variant of equipment embodies a modular approach to equipping a meeting room, which involves the separation of all equipment into several subsystems, the composition of each of which can be changed without losing the overall functionality. Video and audio signals of each of these subsystems are connected to the client terminal on the basis of a personal computer.

1. Subsystem technology television. In essence, this is a video camera system. For large conference rooms, several video cameras are needed to capture all participants in the video. In the case of an average meeting room, a single video camera with a suitable viewing angle, swivel lens and optical zoom (PTZ) is sufficient.
   
2. Subsystem display information. This may be a projector or a screen, but recently LCD panels are increasingly being used because of their availability and convenience - no need, as is the case with a projector, to specifically dim the room or periodically change light bulbs. When choosing a TV size, you should be guided by the following rule: the distance from the TV to the closest participants should be at least one diagonal of the TV, and to the farthest participant - no more than four diagonals. 
   
   It is clear that for a long room, based on this recommendation, you will need a large diagonal TV. In some cases, the best options for the display subsystem become a video wall or duplicate screens.
   
   Video wall - a set of display devices (projection video cubes, plasma or LCD displays), which are combined with each other and form a single screen that allows you to play large volumes of information from different sources in a multi-window mode. The issue of video walls is very voluminous and is beyond the scope of this article. But the main parameters that you should pay attention to when choosing a video wall are: its size in inches, the width of the seam between the panels (usually 5.5 mm), the mode of operation, video sources and the functionality that the video wall controller must implement. 
   
   When collaborating with documents, the use of auxiliary panels that duplicate an image from the main screen becomes much more useful than one big screen. In this case, you must use a video splitter.
   
3. Subsystem sound capture. The wide-directional frog microphones, which are part of the hardware terminals, are replaced by speakerphones - devices that combine an array of microphones and a speaker. They connect to a computer via USB and provide effective echo and noise reduction, as well as a large radius of sound capture. In addition, speakerphones have the ability to cascade into a circuit to expand the sound capture zone.
   
4. Subsystem sounding room. There are a lot of options - from speakerphones and loudspeakers built into the LCD TV and ending with ceiling loudspeakers that evenly sound the whole room.

 video conferencing equipment in Chennai

The main problems of using video in meeting rooms and their solution

In this article we want to tell about the most frequent problems that arise when equipping and using meeting rooms. Very often they are the cause of low productivity negotiations.

So let's look at them in more detail:

1. Acoustic problems - all problems associated with the quality of the capture and playback of sound.
2. Lighting problems - lighting problems, such as interior decoration, the use of low-quality video cameras.
3. Communication problems - the lack of prioritization of video traffic on the network equipment, the connection of the VKS terminal through WiFi / 4G, the load from network users.

Consider these problems and their solutions in more detail.

Acoustic problems

The solution to the difficulties with the perception of the voice of the interlocutors is the primary task in the design of a meeting room for video conferencing. The consequence of these problems may be the poor hearing of remote participants and the illegibility of their speech. People have to repeatedly ask each other and ask them to repeat what they have said. This leads to discomfort of communication, unproductive negotiations and rapid fatigue of participants.

The most common problems with sound:

1. The echo effect is a situation when a participant in a conference, along with a speech from remote opponents, hears his speech. The echo effect arises from the fact that the speech of the participants, reproduced in the speakers of the remote side, returns through their microphone. To compensate for echo, there are software and hardware solutions called echo cancellers. Echo cancellation is the process of recognizing an originally transmitted signal that repeats with some delay in the transmitted or received signal. Once a repeating signal is recognized, it is removed by subtracting it from the transmitted or received signal. 

Most video client software clients (Skype, Trukonf, etc.) have either a built-in software echo canceller or automatic microphone sensitivity correction in their settings to compensate for self-excitation.

Software echo cancellation does not always solve the tasks, so there is a need to use more efficient hardware echo cancellers due to the presence of specialized DSP processors for processing audio signals in them. 

For small meeting rooms, for example, a great solution is a professional echo canceller Phoenix Audio MT107 . For large meeting rooms, when you need to mix multiple audio sources (from two to four), the Phoenix Audio Octopus is ideal , which, among other things, has an integrated audio amplifier for the speaker system. 

The general scheme of operation and connection of the echo canceller using the example of Phoenix Audio MT107 is shown in the following figure:

2. Noises . In our case - this extraneous sounds that have no relation to the speech of speakers: man-made noise (air conditioners, equipment fans), the rustling of paper, move aside chairs, coughing, etc. 

conferencing microphones are focused on the human voice, that is to capture the sound waves in a certain frequency range. The sudden noise is knocked out of the frequency response of human speech, and the noise reduction system tries to cut it out of the general audio stream. 

The solutions described above: MT107 and Octopus , in addition to echo cancellation, are effective noise reduction systems.

3. Feedback acoustic communication. If the speakers in the conference room are located above the microphones or are directed towards them, then when you turn on several microphones, there is a high probability that the sound will be heard because the microphones will amplify the sound coming from the speakers and self-excited. 

To combat this local phenomenon, acoustic feedback suppressors are used . 

The principle of their operation is as follows: the feedback suppressor determines at what level of frequencies the pickups start to appear and as soon as these frequencies “creep” abruptly upwards, it cuts them out. 

The general scheme of operation and connection of the acoustic feedback suppressor

4. Weak hearing. It consists of two factors: the use of insufficiently sensitive microphones and insufficient power sound systems. 

Consider the first option on a specific example. A video conferencing terminal (Polycom, Cisco, etc.) with a standard microphone is installed in the meeting room. Suppose that its sensitivity is not enough to cover all the people in the room, and the hardware terminal does not support connecting more than one standard microphone. 

The solution to the problem can be connecting to the VKS terminal of third-party microphones via the mini-jack connector of 3.5 mm, which is in each terminal of even the youngest models. 

This may be a wired or wireless congress system.. The congress system is especially relevant when there are more than 10 participants in a room. 

Instead of a congress system, you can connect a system of desktop or ceiling microphones to the VC terminal using an audio mixer. 

From desktop microphones , raven are suitable for solving this problem , and they are connected to the hardware terminals via a mixer and an echo / squelch [Octopus]. 

An excellent working option for ceiling microphones is the Biamp Devio CR-1C , which consists of a high-sensitivity ceiling microphone and a central unit.

Low-power room sounding systems give poor audibility to remote participants. For example, when using built-in TV speakers in a large room. In our experience, the built-in television speakers should be used in rooms of no more than 20-25 square meters. 

In larger rooms, the sound from the television speakers is dissipated as people sit away from the TV. In this case, we recommend to use: 

Ceiling or wall speakers with audio amplifier. 

Built-in speakerphones speakers. 

In both cases, the sound source is closer to the people and, therefore, the interlocutors hear better.

5. Adverse acoustic conditions due to the presence in the room of a large number of sound-reflecting surfaces, for example, glass walls, tables and other interior elements. 

In this case, for the best sound capture, we recommend using congress systems , since They are equipped with microphones with a focused diagram. Due to the narrow directivity, the microphone picks up only the voice of the speaker, and all other sounds beyond the boundaries of the radiation pattern are cut off. 

Also in such adverse acoustic conditions, microphone arrays have proven themselves well:

Audio Phoenix Condor with intellectual adaptation of the volume of the voice, depending on the removal of the speaker from the microphone array.

Shure Microflex Advance MXA910 with functions of automatic mixing, correction of frequency and reduction of the echo effect.

Architectural solutions help to partially absorb the reflected sound - fabric blinds on the windows, sound-absorbing flooring, sound-absorbing panels.

Light and technical problems.

These include the mistakes in the design of the meeting room, which interfere with the quality capture and display of video.

1. Wrong lighting. It is not recommended to use fluorescent lamps and spotlights in a room for video conferencing. This leads to uneven lighting and flickering of the image obtained from video cameras. The second is sometimes solved by the built-in professional flicker compensation of 50-60 Hz built-in professional video cameras . But it is almost impossible to compensate for the areas of blackout and illumination with camera functionality. As a result of improper lighting, the camera will try to work through too dark areas, or highlights, this can lead to frequent refocusing and changing the overall brightness of the picture. 

The solution to such problems is the use of diffused light based on LED lamps, evenly distributed over the ceiling of the meeting room in the area of ​​the conference table.

You also need to avoid back or side lights, sunlight from the windows on the face and the camera lens. 

You can evaluate the quality of lighting by looking at the meeting room through the camera of a mobile phone in video mode - this will reveal the main problems with the flickering of light, sharp contrast and focusing.

2. Non-optimal interior colors and background. The wall opposite the camera is an important detail in the design of the meeting room. It is better to place a company logo and a clock showing local time. In the decoration of the room is better to avoid the motley colors, black and bright white, complex patterns in the interior. All this may prevent the camera from focusing and distracting participants from the speaker.

3. Non-optimal video display and capture devices. When designing display facilities, it is better to eliminate the use of projectors, since they are more suitable for presentations. In order to provide the necessary brightness and contrast, you have to mute the light in the room. While in video conferencing it is necessary to provide high quality images with good illumination of the room, which is required for quality video capture. Given these requirements, it is best to use LCD TVs, video walls or interactive video panels .

4. As a means of capturing video, we recommend using professional cameras for video conferencing. They have the necessary qualities to work in meeting rooms and conference rooms. Among these qualities are high sensitivity, tilt / rotate / zoom functionality, built-in image correction functionality, as well as the function of automatic camera pointing at participants. Web cameras should be left for personal use, and even more so you should avoid using cameras built into mobile devices or laptops in meeting rooms. The quality of the picture from such cameras will make communication uncomfortable and unpleasant for your opponents. Those who participated in a similar group conference on Skype from a laptop will understand me. It’s almost impossible to understand who from the group is now speaking to you - the picture is not clear, voices are indistinguishable. And this is despite the fact that the image was broadcast on a 55-inch panel a meter from the table.

Communication problems

These include problems related to the video transmission channel: insufficient bandwidth, high packet delay, Wi-Fi connection, no traffic prioritization, etc. The more of the following recommendations your network administrator can provide, the better video quality you will receive.

1. Use a wireless connection over Wi-Fi. Terminal VKS in the meeting room must have a wired connection to the network. Although in fact, often under the table in the meeting room is not held a network cable or for it is not connected outlet.
2. Video and audio traffic is critical to the delay of data packets in the communication channel. Therefore, you need to ensure the QoS policy by placing the traffic of the VCS in a separate subnet or VLAN. You also need to set up prioritization and marking of VKS traffic so that it is transmitted first and foremost, and requests from browsers, mail clients and other traffic that is not critical for delays have lower priority. For example, configure Priority Queue for real-time RTP traffic, as well as for signaling traffic that uses specific ports: 5060 UDP in case of [SIP] or 4307 [TCP] if you use TrueConf .
3. Abandon an asymmetrical Internet connection in favor of symmetrical. An asymmetric connection, including ADSL, when the incoming speed is much higher than the outgoing speed, can cause poor communication quality for your interlocutors.
4. Provide high availability and better connection speed for a group video conferencing server or MCU. Outgoing traffic on the server during conferences significantly exceeds incoming traffic. Therefore, it makes sense to place the server in a good data center with a gigabit Internet channel, connecting it to your VPN network to ensure for all conference participants a good connection to the server. By the way, the software server VCS TrueConf for this purpose has a special version in the Amazon AWS Marketplace application store.
5. Use modern solutions for video conferencing, because they will be able to quickly adapt to changing connection conditions and will be able to break through NAT and Firewall.

findings

It is not always possible to design a meeting room from scratch during the construction phase. Often, meeting rooms are rooms adjacent to the common office space or vacant utility rooms with all their features. This article talked about how to solve the most common problems. 

The advantages of using video conferencing

Save time. Using video conferencing allows you to hold meetings with remote colleagues “on the fly” directly from your workplace or from the meeting room. There is no loss of time for travel, travel and gathering participants, not to mention the multitude of expenses.

Ease of use. To organize a video conference, it is enough to invite your colleagues to the video conference and start the event at the same moment, or choose the time to start it when planning a meeting. In the second case, the VKS system will also remind you of the appointment. Do not forget that in the era of Skype'a interface VKS is very simple, understandable and does not require time for employee training.

Scalable. The number of participants is limited only by the capabilities of the video conferencing infrastructure: the interlocutor may be one, there may be several tens or even thousands.

Realism. Unlike a telephone conversation, video conferencing implies visual contact, the ability to “read” the interlocutor's emotions, to see his articulation. In addition, VKS systems do not allow to be distracted by external affairs during communication and fully focus the interlocutor’s attention on communication, as during a real meeting.

Security. Modern video conferencing systems are based on specialized codecs, proprietary protocols, and actively use encryption, so security risks today are associated exclusively with the human factor.