CCTV Cameras

The benefits of CCTV can be to act as a deterrent to potential intruders, recording evidence of break-ins, vandalism or accidents on your site that you may want to investigate or pass onto the Police. Additionally, CCTV can be used to safeguard staff and others. Surveillance cameras have been shown to encourage good behaviour, and if people believe they are protected and safe they will perform better.

A CCTV or Video Management System tends to run over standard computer networks as modern phones systems also do. The system consists of cameras, a storage device (that runs the management software), network cabling, Power over Ethernet switch and a viewing workstation or mobile device. Cameras can record continuously to the central storage device and be interrogated locally on a device with software on it. A new addition that replaces the local storage are Cloud solutions that record footage based on triggers such as movement, analytics or detectors. In this case, all footage is recorded in the cloud and accessible via an APP or Web Browser.

Modern CCTV camera systems  now have the ability to provide viable real-time and post-event footage for the modern demands placed on them. High resolution cameras provide higher frame rates at multi-megapixel resolution, coupled with powerful video management systems and analytics they provide the ability to both provide high quality surveillance and a tool to support your health and safety obligations.

Advanced CCTV systems can both detect objects, people and movement. On some CCTV systems, such as Mobotix, this is done within the camera. Avigilon has developed its H5A cameras which contains analytics functions which together with its Avigilon Control Center (ACC) video management software can can now identify people, cars or lorries as categories.  Meanwhile Avigilon LPR analytics automatically reads licence plate information from vehicles, linking it to live and recorded video.

H5A cameras can also now analyse a camera’s scene and detect when objects (people or vehicles) are moving at an unusual speed or are present in an unusual location in the scene and send an event to ACC for presentation to an operator in the Focus of Attention interface.

CCTV cameras can help businesses through:

1. Crime prevention: CCTV systems are a deterrent against criminal activity.
2. Provision of evidence: If a crime or an accident does occur you have the footage to show evidence that can be used by law enforcers if necessary.
3. Safeguarding staff and others: CCTV has been shown to encourage good behaviour, and if people believe they are protected and safe they will perform better.

We would recommend that you seek advice from CCTV specialists that are accredited with one of the industry’s professional bodies such as the National Security Inspectorate (NSI). They will consider a variety of factors such as the size of your premises, the type of organisation that you are, what you are trying to achieve with your CCTV system and whether you are likely to want to expand or change your system in the future. By coming on site and understanding your organisation they can recommend the CCTV system that will work for you and provide more details such as what cameras to use and where they should be sited.

Ecl-ips recommends the Avigilon system precisely because it is scalable and there are a range of cameras to suit different requirements. Additionally, the Avigilon Control Center video management software is easy to use, but incredibly powerful. If you would like us to visit you and carry out a free site survey contact us.

Yes you can, this is both through Avigilon Alta, its cloud-based solution and Avigilon Unity Video, formerly Avigilon Control Center, its video management software, and Avigilon Unity Cloud Services.

However, you should be aware that as soon as you open up your cameras to the internet there is a security risk. Please make sure that you don’t use admin or administrator as usernames or any default usernames or passwords on your systems.

We have extensive experience of this and most CCTV systems can be upgraded. If it is an analogue system this is made quite easy with encoders or if you have an IP connected system you have more options with ONVIF compliant cameras. The main process here is working out what you would like to achieve by upgrading and giving you the best solution we can. Read one of our case studies to find out how we have helped others to upgrade.

Companies that operate in the UK are allowed to monitor their staff at work. However, the use of CCTV in the workplace is governed by extensive privacy and data protection legislation, which aims to ensure that the basic human rights to privacy and dignity are upheld for everyone, regardless of occupation and status.

CCTV surveillance cameras can be deployed on a business’ premises, but only for legitimate, justifiable purposes. Certain rights, such as the right to access footage in which they appear, are granted by law to all employees. For more information on using CCTV in the workplace read this blog.

The best method for keeping track of visitors and staff in a building or around a site is via an swipe in / swipe out Access Control system,  in conjunction with an integrated CCTV system. Number plate recognition technology within your CCTV cameras and software can also be linked to access control systems to ensure only authorised people access your site.

We would always recommend purchasing a CCTV System from an NSI Gold installer as this will provide you with access to properly trained staff to assist you with your buying journey. Ecl-ips has produced a CCTV Buying Checklist and can offer a free trial of the Avigilon CCTV system to help you with your CCTV buying decisions.

Yes an intruder alarm system is still a vital part of an effective security system even if you have CCTV cameras. We can help with this so please contact us if you want to know more.

Yes AI technology is embedded within both Alta and Unity cameras from Avigilon. All Avigilon Ava cameras come embedded with AI technology as do the latest cameras from Avigilon Unity such as the H6SL range. The AI-enabled analytics within the H6SL cameras provide enhanced object detection and classification so you can stay a step ahead of potentially critical events.

Avigilon’s security solutions help you maximise the efficiency of your staff or security personnel so you can focus on protecting what matters most — your people and property.

The main benefits of IP CCTV cameras are:

• Improved resolution
• Advanced video analytics
• Security & encryption
• Ease of installation
• Coverage