Benefits of an Internet Camera

The use of internet cameras continues to explode in the video surveillance world. Current estimates show that by 2011 sales of internet camera surveillance systems will surpass traditional CCTV (Closed Circuit TeleVision) analog systems. Soon enough the internet camera will completely dominate the video surveillance market.

The reason for the internet camera's explosive growth and popularity are the many benefits it has over traditional analog camera systems. Listed here are some of the many benefits which internet cameras provide.

Lower Cabling Costs One of the biggest benefits of an internet camera is cost of cabling. Analog CCTV systems require the use of coaxial cable, while internet cameras use Category 5 (Cat 5) cable, which is significantly cheaper than coaxial. Secondly, less cable is needed: an internet camera need merely be connected to the nearest network port, while analog cameras must be connected directly to the recording device or viewing station. Not only is the price of coaxial cable many magnitudes greater, it also requires many times more feet worth in order to operate, creating a must higher cost over the internet camera.

Flexible Scalability Internet camera surveillance networks are easy to grow or shrink, as needed. If you need only one camera, a single camera network can be quickly and easily set up. As requirements grow cameras can be added one, two, three or more at a time: as many or as few as needed. All you need is an extra port (which can be easily added if needed), the camera(s) and hard disk space for recording purposes (which can also be easily added if required). This is different from DVR based CCTV systems, which must be added in groups of 16 cameras. Scalability for CCTV cameras can be very inflexible.

Remote Access One of the biggest benefits of an internet camera is its remote access capabilities. The reason for the internet camera's name is that its digitized signals can be sent over the internet. This means that security surveillance feeds can be viewed from anywhere in the world with internet access, no matter how far removed from the physical location of the camera you may be.

Aside from viewing, cameras and security feeds can also be managed from remote locations. Whether it be at home, at the office, on vacation, even on your mobile phone, you can always take control of your internet camera surveillance network. Data can also be recorded anywhere: either on-site, off-site or in multiple locations to provide for data redundancy.

Additional Features For Optimum Effectiveness In the world of analog, a camera can never be more than a camera. It might be a very good camera, but it will never be able to provide anything more than the functionality of a camera. It can record video but nothing more. In this respect an analog CCTV camera will always be limited.

Not so with an internet camera. Internet camera feeds are digitized, which allows for great flexibility. Analog cameras are excellent at recording what happens, however they cannot warn you if something out of the ordinary is taking place. If you wish to stop an event at the time of the event, you must have someone constantly watching the video feed to be able to witness the event and take immediate action.

Many internet cameras enhance their security functionality with motion detection and object recognition. Because the feed is digitized, you can program the camera to recognize certain objects, and be able to tell if the object is changed, moved or removed. The camera can then be set to send out alerts should something happen or motion be detected when it shouldn't be: letting you know exactly when something happens so that you can take immediate action. An analog camera by itself will never be able to provide such features.