Wednesday, October 31, 2007

The BIG three

When it comes to video cameras, especially IP cams, there are few actual camera manufacturers. I'd like to be able to debunk who is who among camera manufacturers, but I think I will leave that for a later blog. In the meantime, keep in mind that cameras are a lot like cars in the sense that a ford mustang is still a ford mustang, nomatter what body kit you apply to it. Same for cameras in that a Topco (for example) camera is still a Topco, nomatter who decides to OEM the camera, add in margin, and slap a new brand name on it. More to come on this matter soon...




3 comments:

Intercooler said...

Security Insider. You posted an entry on boing boing, indicating that IR LED’s would not interfere with CCTV cameras, like Pelco, Panasonic, etc…

I’m curious if you could state the effectiveness IR LED’s aimed at photo radar cameras would have. Both day and night conditions.

Thank you.

Security.Insider said...

Depends on how the light hits the camera and the timing. The camera should automatically adjust to the light, if it has wide dynamic range, and most radar cameras do. The timing of most WDR's is slow however, so the IR light could disrupt the image at night if it was a quick pulse. During the day, you will see little effect, if any. I know where you're heading with this though. To beat a traffic cam, a speeding cam, at night, you'd have to overcome the cameras own iris. If they're the kind that flash when you're speeding then you're not going to overpower them with another light unless it was a laser or something, and good luck hitting a camera lens with a laser (the angle has to be right to washout the entire image)...all while doing 90mph. Most systems have alarms called video occlusion filter setup so they will detect this type of attack as well.

Intercooler said...

Thank you, I suspected it wouldn't.