Video surveillance technology has long been a tool
for security personnel. Just visit any major retailer, warehouse club or new
car dealer to spot TV cameras all over the place. Today, most of those systems
use traditional closed-circuit television technology and are often hooked up to
a time-lapse or stop-motion VCR to record activity. However, many business
owners are finding that CCTV solutions have limited capabilities and can be
expensive to purchase and deploy.
Security-minded folks looking for something better
and IT vendors are heeding the call. Simply put, the future of video
surveillance is IP-based, while CCTV is clearly the past. Several vendors have
stepped up to the plate to offer IP-based video cameras, but only a few seem to
understand the real needs of security personnel. While most of the IP cameras
on the market are designed as indoor "nanny cams," IT hardware vendor
D-Link is looking at the big picture and offering commercial-grade cameras that
do everything a dedicated CCTV system can and then some.
Take a Channel Labs Walkthrough of the latest D-Link IP video gear
The company offers no fewer than 15 IP cameras
that should fit most anyone’s surveillance needs. We took a look at some of the
higher-end models, which feature remote zoom, along with remote positioning,
which supports moving the cameras on three different axis points. The cameras
we looked at also have optional all-weather outdoor enclosures that allow the
cameras to be used most anywhere.
DCS-6600
Series:
The DCS-6600 series consists of two
cameras, which for all intents and purposes are exactly the same, except that
the DCS-6620G features Wi-Fi connectivity
and has an MSRP of $999.99, while the DCS-6620
is only available for a wired Ethernet connection and has an MSRP of $899.99.
Both units feature motorized pan and tilt and a 10x
optical zoom auto focus/auto iris lens. The optical zoom capability is an
important feature. Most IP cameras rely on digital zoom, which suffers from
very poor clarity and image quality. With the optical zoom, users can zoom in
on license plates, faces or other elements to positively identify potential
security issues. Image clarity will be an important element if video needs to
be used as evidence during a legal proceeding.
Both cameras feature better-than-average
resolution. The highest resolution on the cameras is 704 by 480, which supports
an adequate 10 frames per second. A 352 by 240 mode supports 30FPS if needed,
but for most security purposes, 10FPS should be more than adequate and is a big
improvement over CCTV-based systems’ stop-motion recording capabilities. Two
video codecs are offered, MPEG-4 and MJPEG. Most users will opt for MPEG-4,
which is a more popular standard.
Installation and operation of the cameras proves
to be simple. Management and monitoring is accomplished with a Web browser. For
the DCS-6620, setup consists of little more
than plugging in an Ethernet cable and a power source. Once connected,
installers can use a setup wizard, which locates the camera on the network and
launches utilities to complete the configuration. Installers will want to set a
static IP address, name the device and implement security on the camera. All of
those tasks are exceptionally easy using the setup wizard. The DCS-6600
series supports as many as 20 user accounts and 10 simultaneous users. Security
rights can be set to allow view only or administrative use for each of the user
accounts. The browser-based interface offers context-sensitive help, and the
options and controls are very intuitive. The cameras seem to work best with
Internet Explorer, which automatically downloads the appropriate codec to
display live video.