Advantages of IP Video Surveillance over DVR Surveillance

This article lists the advantages of IP based Video Surveillance over DVR Surveillance. We discuss advantages like Scalability, cost efficiency, single network for multiple needs, reliability and redundancy, extended applications, open standards, enabling of wireless surveillance etc. for IP video Surveillance.

For an introduction to IP Video Surveillance, components of IP Surveillance and its comparison to DVR based video surveillance, click here.

Advantages of IP Video Surveillance over DVR Surveillance:

Scalability: IP Surveillance system scales from a single camera to thousands of cameras (in the increments of single camera) by just increasing the cameras, memory and processing power of the back-end servers.

Single Network: There is only a single network to maintain for multiple applications like data, voice, and also video surveillance. This reduces the time, technical resources and know-how required to maintain the network.

Cost: IP Surveillance use the IP Network components like Catx cables and network switches. This network can also be shared with other applications. So, the cost of setting up and maintaining twisted pair IP network is lesser than the cost of setting up and maintaining analog co-axial cable networks, which might be useful only for surveillance.

Maintenance: An IP network allows its components to be accessed from a remote site (even through the internet) and provides a web-based management interface to maintain and trouble shoot the network which makes maintenance easier for IP surveillance.

Reliability/Redundancy: As standard IP hardware is used, trouble shooting and availability of spare parts become easier for IP Surveillance. IP based data storage enables off-site storage and back up in multiple locations as standard hard disks are being used. And complete redundancy can be created at the network and individual component level (Servers etc) to make sure that there is no single point of failure.

Open Standards: As most of the IP systems are based on open standards, multiple vendor interoperability is possible with IP Surveillance.

Extended applications: IP Cameras allow intelligence to be built at the camera level and allow additional applications like video motion detection, license plate recognition etc.

Wireless Surveillance: As IP networks support standards based wireless networking, the end points (IP Cameras) could be wireless enabled and the surveillance system could be set up in wireless mode, to decrease the cost of cabling and make the IP surveillance accessible in remote locations.

Security: IP Surveillance can offer encryption, authentication, water marking etc. which make them more secure than their analog counterparts.

Power for Cameras: Since Catx cables in IP Networks support Power Over Ethernet standard, both electrical power and data can be carried to the cameras in the same cable (Instead of requiring a separate power source/ adaptor/ power cabling etc).

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