Access Control and Security Cameras
Security at your Business, School, and Plants are vitally important. Integrated Access Control and Video Surveillance systems provide robust services that help in prevention of theft, vandalism, increase safety, and improve daily processes and procedures.” We can design and implement the proper systems whether it be for a small office or a multi-campus organization.
Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) systems have become an indispensable tool for security and monitoring in a wide range of environments, from homes and small businesses to large public spaces and critical infrastructure. With the proliferation of video surveillance, the question of CCTV quality has emerged as a central concern for users and system designers alike. What exactly determines the quality of CCTV footage?
First and foremost, please understand that when it comes to commercial grade CCTV, you absolutely get what you pay for! In the day and age of Ring, Vivent, and other home grade CCTV systems, it is very easy to get overwhelmed by the cost associated with a true commercial grade camera system. There are many factors that are associated with the cost, but the main ones to focus on are
Infrastructure, When installing commercial grade cameras, people have the misconception that they just get hung on the wall and turned on. That is not at all the case. Building the infrastructure to run the cameras effectively can account for a large portion of a budget when purchasing a commercial system. Here is what is required to run a camera on the system: Cat5 or Cat6 data cable to the camera for connectivity Data Switch w/ PoE (Power over Ethernet) at the other end of the cable to power the camera and supply it with an IP address Commercial grade NVR (Network Video Recorder) to store the camera recordings. All of these things are required to make a camera work. None of these are add-ons or additions. This is just the bare minimum to make a camera turn on and produce video.
Quality, Camera quality and regulations might be the biggest price factor of the 3 we are discussing yet it is the hardest one to make a customer understand. As a commercial camera vendor, it is our job to ensure that anything we quote or install will match the standards of the customer but also our standards as an installer. We do ourselves no favors if we go to a cheap camera that produces cheap video and allow our customers to see their property stolen or vandalized but give them no real value when it comes to finding the perpetrator. This is exactly the type of video you would get if you ordered 6 cameras off of Amazon for $600.00. Sure, it was affordable and may act as a small deterrent, but what are you really going to accomplish with low quality video? The higher quality camera we install, the better the video footage it produces, the more likely you are, as a customer, to see the safe return of property. Higher quality equipment also adds addition features such as license plate recognition, tracking, and AI (Artificial Intelligence).
and Regulations,Now let’s take theft and vandalism out of the equation. 80% of the installations we complete have more to do with workplace safety than anything else. Whether it’s operators watching pieces of equipment for malfunctions or supervisors making sure employees are following rules and regulations. Each of those scenarios requires a higher quality camera than what Best Buy can offer you. But understand that higher quality means higher price tag! Now, also understand that we have tried to find higher quality, yet affordable units for our customers but that always leads to the same place…..MADE IN CHINA. The US regulates commercial CCTV when it comes to cameras that are produced in China because they have found that they are easily hackable because of their chipsets. That means we are not allowed to install them in places that have government ties or are government regulated. Places like Utility companies, Oil and Gas Companies, DOT or Homeland Security Regulated companies, etc cannot have cameras that were manufactured in China on their property. Because of this we cannot camera manufacturers such as HikVision, Dauha, Hanwa, even though they are high quality cameras. This would also include rebranded cameras such as Perfect View or LTS as these are cameras that have had their firmare replace, the underlying chips still remain.
and Reliability.What good is a camera if it spends most of its time not functioning because the firmware has a bug in it or because it overheats being outside in the sun all day. There is nothing worse than coming to your office and needing to see camera footage of an event and there isn’t any. Reliability is the main reason you purchase a commercial camera. It needs to work, at all times, no matter the conditions its in. To achieve that reliability, the camera is manufactured with high quality parts. We strive to keep our prices as low as possible while meeting or exceeding your expectations. We stand behind the products we sell and we want our customers to be 100% satisfied with their purchase! That is why we choose to supply them with high quality, reliable equipment! Generally, Axis cameras come with a 5 year warranty. Most other manufacturers that we install have warranties from 2 to 3 years depending on the specific cameras and their function. Warranties are based on professional installation, which we certainly do.
