Intelligent DVR questions

Tom, are you looking to just record the crime, or actually stop it? I can give you a few ideas that will actually stop it. If you like, I can send you an email explaining it. There are some better option for your dilemma.

Jack

efficiencies,

Well, I don't really have any INTELLIGENT questions but I have some dumb ones. First, here is my situation:

I have old 15k' light mfg building in the Cleveland inner city. I have been broken into 15 times this year alone. We have an ADT system with 3 PIRs, 1 Dualtech, door switches and fire system connections. We have an armed guard service that tours the building every few hours and has almost caught the thieves a couple of times. The thieves can hear the main gate opening and they run. The Cleveland Police has staked-out the building on numerous occasions without joy. I have researched many security solutions and upgrades and am most inclined to use a video system. One of the limiting factors is that we have cats on duty in the building thus limiting our dumb sensors. The other BIG advantage other than security is monitoring and recording workcenter activity with the intention of improving efficiencies, supplement training, reduce shrinkage, record injury circumstances and see just what those silly cats do at night.

The end product I want is: 1. Selectable, robust motion detection areas that will be cat-immune but record face identifiable footage of criminal activity and trigger my ADT system. 2. Constant recording of selectable work activities. 3. An easy to use, robust, low-maintenance, non-twitchy, good-feeling system that does not have too many capabilities that I will never use but has most of the capabilities I DO want, at a reasonable cost. 4. Administration of system through our tcp/ip computer network.

We can internally handle installation and computer related issues with no problem. I have been looking at various websites of DVR cards and related equipment and will pull the trigger as soon as I am sure of what I want and need and find a vendor that I have confidence in. I see the full spectrum of ebay vendors to stuff that is WAY out of my range with capabilities I will never need. I believe that eight cameras would more than cover the internal views I need but I don't know if I might like to expand to accommodate external views and coverage of some areas with different angles or magnification.

I haven't submitted a budget range yet as I am unsure what I will use. The prices vary so much, I know some of the stuff is crap and some is just WAY over-priced...I haven't figured out the sweet spot yet. A few local companies I have called knew nothing about DVR systems. Most of the on-line vendors I have e-mailed with questions haven't responded...they're out of the running, they must not want my money.

Just what is the difference between a Geovision 800 for $700 and a off-brand with similar specs for $210? Does every DVR card demand an Intel or can I use an AMD? What cameras can I be happy with? What's a reasonable budget number for everything excluding labor? What stuff should I avoid like the plague? What features are necessary, too cool not to have, or just plain cheesecake? Are there any recommendations for vendors?

Thanks, next time I might have intelligent questions!

What you need is our Sharpvision system. It does everything you want. Stay away from Geovision (simply because they are a competitor) We use Intel chips in our Motherboards and Philips on our cards. Intel because they have better video quality. Two years ago we used AMD's but there was a video flickering that could not be fixed, Intel does not have this issue. Our prices are fair with excellent tech support. Check out both of these sites, they both have live demos so you can see the quality of our High-definition systems.

I think I have read most of the forum and have seen many of your posts and your site...I think. Do you see what I'm trying to do?

E-mail away! Remove the (nospam) from my address.

Quote your stuff!

Standard DVR cards and prices

Mpeg4 Hardware compression Hi-Definition DVR cards and prices H.264 Hybird compression part hardware part software dvr cards and prices Standard DVR systems with prices High definition systems with prices Sharpvision Embedded Digital surveillance system Mobile DVR

Since you have the ADT alarm, have you considered asking them about the DVR? They probably install more CCTV than anyone in the country. You'd want to talk to their engineered systems division.

To answer your questions:

1. The typical pixel change motion detection built into most DVR's will be tripped by your cats. Some DVR's are being introduced in the near future with intelligent motion detection that can analyze motion and determine the source. Until then, the best option may be a stanalone video analysis system like VideoIQ from GE or ObjectVideo's VEW. This, of course, depends on your budget.

1. DVR cards vs. commercial off-the-shelf DVR's: The most expensive part of any DVR is the hard drive space. You really don't save much by bying a card and supplying the PC yourself.

2. Embedded OS versus Window: Check out GE Kalatel's StoreSafe and DVRMe models and Bosch's Divar 2. Compare these with the PC based machines. Both offer TCP/IP connectivity and free remote client software.

Look into remote video monitoring services. ADT offers alarm verification that ties the security alarm into the CCTV systems so their operators can view your cameras if you have an alarm. They can then determine the threat and provide information to you or police. With the right system, this is only $180 extra per year.

I'm interested in exactly how your system detects motion and determines what is a real alarm. What type of technology do you use? How does it work?

Not true with our system. Cats can be excluded from detection along with anything else. I saw the VideoIQ from GE at the ISC show in Vegas earlier this year. At first glance it looked very impressive but after prodding the salesman with technical questions and testing it myself, it is buggy and unreliable.

It uses pixels but you can mask off any area you want to detect motion or not detect motion. Then you can adjust the selected areas sensitivity by rate of motion or shade. A cat will not generate the same rate of motion or shade as a human. The GE guy thought he was slick, on their system they had a guy climbing a fence with a freeway in the background. They masked the area around the freeway and set a high rate of motion for that area and a low rate for the fence so it looked as if it was only detecting the human. We adjust for day and night shading by automatically changing the sensitivity settings per camera by time of day.

The GE system is one of many intelligent video software packages that attempts to learn the environment and to make decisions on what is occuring. I'm certainly not endorsing that particular product.

However, your product uses the exact same pixel change motion detection that is found on virtually every decent DVR on the market. Masking and sensitivity are great features, but they do not work in many environments.

If you are interested in developing your product to the next level, you may want to look into how products like ObjectVideo and VistaScape process video. AFAIK, there aren't any DVRs on the market currently that include this type of technology built in to the product. I know of at least on in beta from one of the major players in the industry, though. The behavior recognition part is just now being applied on a fairly large scale. Once perfected, this technology will eliminate the "meat factor" in making policy decisions. In other words, guards will no longer have to make decisions on what is and isn't appropriate behavior. For example if someone carries a bag into an airport terminal, drops it, and moves away from it an alarm will be triggered. If there is an area where people should be moving through fairly quickly, and some one is loitering, the system will know and trigger an alarm. Vehicles going the wrong direction or to quickly, trucks where only cars are allowed, planes in no-fly zones, people where there should be only animals are all possible.

Btw, most of this technology was initially developed through grants from the federal government for their use, so there is some money and horsepower behind the technology.