Why does surveillance video always seem to be the lowest quality?

miri

Diamond Member
Jun 16, 2003
3,679
0
76
How many times have you seen on the news surveillance which is low quality? They need to start making and or using HD surveillance video cameras, not sure why they use crap cameras.
 

Ameesh

Lifer
Apr 3, 2001
23,686
1
0
dumbass, the resolution is low is because they have to store tons and tons of video, in many cases several days or weeks. if they stored HD video then they would have to have massive storage arrays to hold it all.


idiot
 

SoulAssassin

Diamond Member
Feb 1, 2001
6,135
2
0
Yeah, typically either they record <24fps or the video is multiplexed. 99% of what you record you will never need so the quality is reduced to "good enough". You usually don't need to know the robber has oregano in between his teeth.
 

hanoverphist

Diamond Member
Dec 7, 2006
9,867
23
76
cheap people buying cheap equipment. the video systems ive installed for some cities here are damn near photo quality. you can see the color of their eyes if they face the cameras. luckily, most crooks know the cameras are there, so they wear masks and hide their faces. almost worthless.


edit:

the previous responses kind of surprise me. its not too difficult to get a DVR with great quality and 21 days stored tape at 20fps. and if you have wads of cash, you can get that for 2 months at 30fps. by good quality, i mean a higher res than 800X600 and not out of focus/ blurry. this is not hard to do.
 

Looney

Lifer
Jun 13, 2000
21,938
5
0
Storage like so many have mentioned. My parents store has cameras, but it's recorded onto like 12 hrs VHS tapes. You typically don't need HD reoslution to identify criminals. Even the fact that there's a running camera deters many. In time, i think we'll get higher quality, but at this time, VHS quality is good enough.
 

uhohs

Diamond Member
Oct 29, 2005
7,660
44
91
most of the security cam footage they show on the news is useless. what i see on the news looks like something from a $5 webcam. upgrade to something where the people aren't pixelated blocks of color. thanks.
 

mooglekit

Senior member
Jul 1, 2003
616
0
0
Originally posted by: hanoverphist
cheap people buying cheap equipment. the video systems ive installed for some cities here are damn near photo quality. you can see the color of their eyes if they face the cameras. luckily, most crooks know the cameras are there, so they wear masks and hide their faces. almost worthless.

You been working for mob on the side??


OP, it's a storage issue. One store isn't so much a problem, but when you think about a chain of stores that don't maintain local copies of security footage (it is usually recorded to disk elsewhere) you start talking about TB and PB of storage. Not to mention it is all either RAID 3 or 5 protected, some places even use RAID 1, so you will increase your storage requirements up to 2 fold there...yeah, it gets expensive fast. (I work for EMC, we make the storage arrays that are used for this type of stuff)
 

gwrober

Golden Member
Sep 3, 2005
1,293
0
0
Originally posted by: hanoverphist
cheap people buying cheap equipment. the video systems ive installed for some cities here are damn near photo quality. you can see the color of their eyes if they face the cameras. luckily, most crooks know the cameras are there, so they wear masks and hide their faces. almost worthless.


edit:

the previous responses kind of surprise me. its not too difficult to get a DVR with great quality and 21 days stored tape at 20fps. and if you have wads of cash, you can get that for 2 months at 30fps. by good quality, i mean a higher res than 800X600 and not out of focus/ blurry. this is not hard to do.


Hhmmm....I must learn from hanoverphist.....
 

spidey07

No Lifer
Aug 4, 2000
65,469
5
76
Originally posted by: gwrober
Originally posted by: hanoverphist
cheap people buying cheap equipment. the video systems ive installed for some cities here are damn near photo quality. you can see the color of their eyes if they face the cameras. luckily, most crooks know the cameras are there, so they wear masks and hide their faces. almost worthless.


edit:

the previous responses kind of surprise me. its not too difficult to get a DVR with great quality and 21 days stored tape at 20fps. and if you have wads of cash, you can get that for 2 months at 30fps. by good quality, i mean a higher res than 800X600 and not out of focus/ blurry. this is not hard to do.


Hhmmm....I must learn from hanoverphist.....

1) Quality remote controlled video cameras
2) Coaxial cable/fiber transceivers (can be done with ethernet if you like)
3) 128 input DVR bank to record everything
4) Monitor and control board

Done.
 

Skotty

Senior member
Dec 29, 2006
232
0
0
Definitely need some higher quality cameras. I have a surveillance system for my house and would like to buy better cameras for it, but high resolution CCTV cameras are hard to find. The ones I have are something like 420x300 (don't remember exactly). Which means you need a pretty close picture for a face to be recognizable.

Storage isn't really a problem for digital video systems. I can store about a weeks worth of cruddy video from my 2 cameras with only an 80 GB hard drive. That's with cameras running about 22 hours a day, 7 days a week. With 500 GB hard drives being affordable these days, storage is not an issue, even if you use high resolution cameras.

Anyone know where to get some high resolution CCTV cameras with changable or vari-focal lenses?
 

gwrober

Golden Member
Sep 3, 2005
1,293
0
0
Originally posted by: spidey07
Originally posted by: gwrober
Originally posted by: hanoverphist
cheap people buying cheap equipment. the video systems ive installed for some cities here are damn near photo quality. you can see the color of their eyes if they face the cameras. luckily, most crooks know the cameras are there, so they wear masks and hide their faces. almost worthless.


edit:

the previous responses kind of surprise me. its not too difficult to get a DVR with great quality and 21 days stored tape at 20fps. and if you have wads of cash, you can get that for 2 months at 30fps. by good quality, i mean a higher res than 800X600 and not out of focus/ blurry. this is not hard to do.


Hhmmm....I must learn from hanoverphist.....

1) Quality remote controlled video cameras
2) Coaxial cable/fiber transceivers (can be done with ethernet if you like)
3) 128 input DVR bank to record everything
4) Monitor and control board

Done.

Any good sites to learn from?
 

Kev

Lifer
Dec 17, 2001
16,367
4
81
Originally posted by: Ameesh
dumbass, the resolution is low is because they have to store tons and tons of video, in many cases several days or weeks. if they stored HD video then they would have to have massive storage arrays to hold it all.


idiot

hahahah, for some reason this had me cracking up
 

BigJ

Lifer
Nov 18, 2001
21,330
1
81
At some of the bigger stores, surveillance is top notch. At one of the big box home improvement stores, the cameras have the capability of zooming in to read the serial number on a dollar bill a cashier is handling. People involved in loss prevention can do just that when they review the footage stored if they're so inclined.
 

Locut0s

Lifer
Nov 28, 2001
22,205
43
91
As others said cost. The VAST majority of time recorded is of no interest it's the one robbery out of 300 days worth of tape that they are recording for. That's a LOT to store. FAR too much for your average convenience store selling penny candy and gas.

Having said this more stores are moving to digital systems, I know since I work in 7-11, but even they aren't any where near HD.
 

DBL

Platinum Member
Mar 23, 2001
2,637
0
0
Originally posted by: Skotty
Definitely need some higher quality cameras. I have a surveillance system for my house and would like to buy better cameras for it, but high resolution CCTV cameras are hard to find. The ones I have are something like 420x300 (don't remember exactly). Which means you need a pretty close picture for a face to be recognizable.

Storage isn't really a problem for digital video systems. I can store about a weeks worth of cruddy video from my 2 cameras with only an 80 GB hard drive. That's with cameras running about 22 hours a day, 7 days a week. With 500 GB hard drives being affordable these days, storage is not an issue, even if you use high resolution cameras.


Anyone know where to get some high resolution CCTV cameras with changable or vari-focal lenses?


Why are you discounting the huge bandwidth increase and storage space necessary to record HD feeds as suggested by the OP? Do you realize the difference between the resolution you are using and 720p, for instance? It's probably close to 10x the bandwidth.
 

spidey07

No Lifer
Aug 4, 2000
65,469
5
76
Originally posted by: gwrober
Any good sites to learn from?

No idea. You could try to find something on Panasonic's and Sony's site. I believe they rule this arena.
 

DBL

Platinum Member
Mar 23, 2001
2,637
0
0
Originally posted by: BigJ
At some of the bigger stores, surveillance is top notch. At one of the big box home improvement stores, the cameras have the capability of zooming in to read the serial number on a dollar bill a cashier is handling. People involved in loss prevention can do just that when they review the footage stored if they're so inclined.

But these cameras are not HD capable. They are just high quality cameras with a good zoom.

 

gwrober

Golden Member
Sep 3, 2005
1,293
0
0
Originally posted by: spidey07
Originally posted by: gwrober
Any good sites to learn from?

No idea. You could try to find something on Panasonic's and Sony's site. I believe they rule this arena.

Thx - I'll check 'em out.....:thumbsup:
 

BigJ

Lifer
Nov 18, 2001
21,330
1
81
Originally posted by: DBL
Originally posted by: BigJ
At some of the bigger stores, surveillance is top notch. At one of the big box home improvement stores, the cameras have the capability of zooming in to read the serial number on a dollar bill a cashier is handling. People involved in loss prevention can do just that when they review the footage stored if they're so inclined.

But these cameras are not HD capable. They are just high quality cameras with a good zoom.

I believe they are very high resolution. One of the loss prevention people has shown me from the video feed (not live video feed, stored video feed) from a normal camera in the store (not zooming in with camera) and enhancing the image to read shirt lettering, words on pieces of paper, all sorts of stuff. If they're doing it without zooming, it has to be a pretty high resolution, no?
 

hanoverphist

Diamond Member
Dec 7, 2006
9,867
23
76
the camera side is the part i know the least about. the radio comms and dvr side is more my area, along with adding the video as an activeX object in a scada system or other integrated project. we can do this with basic DF1 serial radios, as well as up to MDS mercury ethernet radios. the bandwidth is shared with our normal comms between sites, and is also downloadable via thumb drive onsite. we have set up a few of these sites for water systems across arizona, and some cities go much farther with their security. one city has 11 foot microwave sensors for intrusion, it senses the blood flow in a corporeal being. i thought that was overkill personally, but they had the budget so they got them. im pretty sure they saved the cost in copper already, since other places are getting hit and stripped for salvage by crooks all over the place out here.

and no, i dont work for the mob, it was a facetious remark about being lucky that crooks know the cams are there. it is our biggest argument over the cost of the systems. if you get a picture of someone in a mask, what good does it do? apply the funds to intrusion switches and comms to dial out alarms when they do happen. much better spent.
 

hanoverphist

Diamond Member
Dec 7, 2006
9,867
23
76
Originally posted by: Locut0s
As others said cost. The VAST majority of time recorded is of no interest it's the one robbery out of 300 days worth of tape that they are recording for. That's a LOT to store. FAR too much for your average convenience store selling penny candy and gas.

Having said this more stores are moving to digital systems, I know since I work in 7-11, but even they aren't any where near HD.

friend of mine was the night porter at a local burger king, and we used to go hang with him after hours when he was supposed to be cleaning the place. found out they had a fake camera the first week, and filled it with ketchup. he got asked about it the next day, but they couldnt prove it happened while he was there and not before. funniest thing i ever saw the next day, this camera pointed at the dining room oozing ketchup from the bottom seams.