Let’s Talk Frame Rate (FPS) Settings

When we talk FPS (Frames Per Second) or IPS (Images Per Second), it is really rather simple…the more frames you have available the more fluid your video feeds. This is a good thing, right? Yes, it can be, but there are pros and cons to everything. If you have an unlimited budget, that’s great! Crank it up to 11! For those of us on a tight budget, this can be the difference between great and mediocre coverage.

Regardless if we are going IP or analog security cameras, we can expect to pay a little more for the best frame rate. The more frames we get, the larger the video files will be, the more storage we will need, and that extra storage will cost additional dollars. What could have been a month’s storage can be cut down to a week if you aren’t careful.

On the flip side, the lower the frame rate, the more choppy the video. The top two frames in the above video show exactly what to expect with lower fps settings. Naturally, this is not ideal, but it dramatically increases the amount of storage space on your hard drives. Depending on the application, having a camera set to 5-10 FPS is not only completely acceptable, but encouraged. If a camera is at the end of a long hallway, monitoring a wide open space, or watching a low traffic area, recording at 30 fps is not only overkill, it’s wasting money every second it’s recording.

One quick tip, the difference visually between 30fps & 15 fps is absolutely minimal. If you put them side by side, you’d hardly be able to tell the difference. Recording at 15fps gives you fluid video at HALF the storage space! This will dramatically improve the amount of video in your archives.

Each setting is different and finding a happy median that works best for each camera is the goal. Your license plate recognition cameras, cashier stations, and entry ways need to be recorded at max frame rate and you can sacrifice fps in those other areas mentioned above. If you have any other questions, feel free to call me at 800-424-9070 and I’ll be more than happy to help!

UFO + Growing CCTV Market = Disclosure?

One topic of discussion in the UFO community revolves around the possible imminent disclosure of the extraterrestrial presence to the world. The news is full of examples: the Vatican announces how extraterrestrial life will have no effect upon the faith, prominent politicians make cryptic remarks involving extraterrestrial life, “secret” government files involving UFOs are becoming more prolific, and educated people are becoming more open to the possibility that ET life is visiting this planet.
With the expansion and explosion of information gathering devices such as cell phone cameras, portable digital cameras, and CCTV systems, the common citizen not only has easy access into information on the subject, but also has the capacity to add to the already burgeoning amount of evidence supporting the presence of extraterrestrial visitation.

Russian Comet and UFO Surveillance Footage (via abovetopsecret.com)

Despite the government’s churlishness and refusal to share publicly their work on extraterrestrial matters, public dissemination concerning ET matters is occurring nevertheless. Britian’s Ministry of Defense has already come out and made remarks on what they have kept secret for years, and everyone is waiting on the U.S. government to also make such a statement, but that is not likely to happen in the near future. But the truth will be harder to hide as more and more public and private camera systems become part of the landscape.

Stop Retail Theft

In 2009, retailers across the nation lost over $33 billion in revenue due to shoplifting and employee theft. Surprisingly retailers lost less in 2009 than in 2008. The decrease in retail shrinkage can be tied directly to the increase in the use of security systems in retail stores.

In August 2010, retail stores in Dallas, Texas participated in tax free weekend. During this government holiday, shoppers can make certain purchases that are exempt from sales tax. Unfortunately, there were several customers at retail stores in Texas who didn’t feel the need to pay for the merchandise they wanted. However, in Dallas security camera systems were able to catch many of these criminals in the act and resulted in much lower losses than the previous year.

Has your retail store been targeted by shoplifters? Is it possible you’ve had employees stealing from the register, but were never able to catch them in the act? Shoplifting and employee theft are the top two reasons for retail shrinkage. Almost half of the losses from these retail crimes are committed by the stores own employees.

How can companies avoid these outstanding losses? If you don’t have a security system, you’re already behind. Companies were able to reduce losses from 2008 to 2009 due to the increase in security cameras and surveillance systems in their stores. Some retail stores have integrated their security cameras with cash registers using point of sale systems to monitor every transaction processed by each employee. Other companies have enhanced their security systems by integrating network IP cameras and megapixel cameras, which provide higher resolution and finer details than standard analog cameras.

Don’t be a victim of retail crime any longer. Take the first step and contact a security systems expert to find out how you can benefit from a security camera system or point of sale system. Surveillance systems are less expensive than ever before. These systems not only save you money, but they deter crime, which means less time spent filling out police and insurance reports and more time selling merchandise to paying customers.