IPCS Word(s) of the Day: Day/Night Camera

May 19, 2008 by Garrett Smith

Day/Night Camera = “Day/Night Cameras” are regular cameras with an especially sensitive CCD chip that allows a good image to be captured in very low ambient lighting (regular lighting – not infrared). Do not confuse these cameras with “Night Vision” cameras which is another name for infrared (IR) cameras. Refer to the manufacturer specification to determine if your particular camera is classified as a “Day/Night” camera.

You Have PTZ On the Dome!

May 16, 2008 by Garrett Smith

Making the decision to do a PTZ upgrade was step one, so now we need to move into our next phase of choosing what type of PTZ camera you will need. Ultimately the topic discussed here today can be applied over several different options when buying an IP Surveillance Camera.

Our very first question is none other than… “Is the camera going to be located indoors or outdoors?” This will give us the first ideas as to what types of enclosure you’ll need to support your new surveillance set-up.

Enclosures and location will go hand in hand when taking the first leaps of your purchase. Dome is the most viable solution with all of these circumstances. Going with a ceiling or wall mount can work to be interchangeable between indoors and out (with regards to the hardware’s materials). Newer model PTZ cameras have began to focus on delivering PTZ to household consumers outside of the dome. These options are available on such models as the TrendNet TV-IP400 or the 4XEM IPCAMWPTZ.

With the exception of some home- based and behind-the-counter set-ups, the dome is highly recommended for its versatility and vandal-proof features.

Portable Skype AND a PSP?

by Garrett Smith

Sony and Skype so happy together?

Well here it is people. Skype is working with Sony to make a portable game station, mini DVD player, Wi-Fi access and now Skype account. Wondering what this is? It is a new gadget for the PSP. That’s right, the PSP and Skype are working together to make you an all-in-one device. Take a look at this from Villu Arak over at the Skype blog. Want more screen shots? Then check out Andrew Brennan’s blog here. Or you can just read the official release info from Skype. So now that you are aware of this, and some of you have that craving to get the newest tech, then I suggest you still do your homework. Just remember that this is still a work in progress, and I do foresee some bugs…

One: Wi-Fi access. What if you are not around the strongest signal in the world? Will there be an echo or dropped calls? Can the device compensate for this? To go along with this trend, what about echo? Will the software have echo cancellation? Here is a scenario I see happening: You’re at a Starbucks, or hotel with an open AP. You have access and it’s a weak signal, then your call drops, or you can hear yourself on the phone. Who do you blame? The access provider, Skype or PSP? With this working on a public network like a hotspot, there is the endless possibility of devices using non-echo cancelling hardware. Just a thought…

Two: Headset for the PSP/ microphone for the system. You’re telling me that this thing cannot use the built in speakers and have a microphone in the attachment to make this a complete conference phone? Now that would be a great idea.

Three: PSP hardware. What if you’re one of those many people that bought the first PSP systems. Sure they work great. DVDs, games, every other function works great, but what about getting this Skype to work? Will you need to trade in your PSP for a newer model? Will the newer model be more? Can you even resell or eBay your old one in an attempt to get money back?

So with those issues in mind I ask you to please think about it. Read up on Skype, Sony, and blogs about when and how this will be deployed.

IPCS Word of the Day: Covert

by Garrett Smith

Covert = A covert application refers to a situation where you don’t want the person to know that they are being watched or recorded. Also known as ‘hidden’ cameras or “nanny cams.” Covert cameras are typically legal in a residential setting. Individual states have various laws concerning the videotaping of employees or business patrons. In many states, it is necessary to post signage notifying employees and/or business patrons that they are under video surveillance.

Citel Acquired by Tortel USA, LLC

May 15, 2008 by Garrett Smith

Just had a surprise visit from the folks at Tortel USA, LLC, whom have a local office in the Buffalo, NY area. I was surprised to learn that they have recently acquired Citel.

If you are not familiar with Citel, they make some unique products that allow businesses with hefty investments in legacy telecommunications gear from Nortel, Avaya and other tier1 vendors to gain the benefits of IP communications without scrapping their digital handsets. Citel’s Portico TVA products facilitate the redeployment of existing digital handsets from 85% of manufacturers, Nortel, NEC and Avaya included. No need to throw the baby out with the bathwater any longer, and your existing phones can enjoy a second life in service to a new IP PBX core or IP centrex hosted service such as Broadsoft.

The cost savings incurred by not having to purchase new IP phones when migrating to an IP PBX are huge. In my experience, handsets can often represent the majority portion of the overall expenditure when implementing VoIP.

Another benefit here is not having to retrain all of your employees on the functions of a new IP handset. They gain the UC benefits of a new IP communications platform, but the overall user experience is much more seamless and certainly less traumatic for users.

Tortel has deep roots in the traditional Nortel pbx channel, and this acquisition makes a ton of sense from a standpoint of being able to “hit the ground running”. I spoke with them at length, and came away with a sense that Citel was in the great hands, and likely has a bright future.

Linksys Visits IPCS

by Garrett Smith

The folks at Linksys were nice enough to come visit our offices and teach us more about the features Linksys IP Camera systems have to offer. Ed Draper and Dave Hornstein (filling in for Andrew Lissitz) showed us the importance of IP Camera bundles, Power over Ethernet switches and Network Attached Storage (NAS). The guys displayed a PVC2300 camera and all of the free applications included with the camera.

These included:

a choice to disable LED lights
the ability to chose your stream type
detachable lenses
creating a recording schedule
image settings
stream speed
full audio
motion detection settings
mobile phone streaming

and many others.

Realtime Review of Nimbuzz

by Garrett Smith

Nimbuzz: is it buzz worthy?

Nimbuzz

Taking a look at Informationweek.com for the latest releases, I came across this little article. The piece talks about a beta program, Nimbuzz!, in the works to include VoIP services, IMing, Texting (SMS) and Chat all on a mobile phone.

What are even better are the investors of the program: “The company has received several million dollars in backing from venture capitalists, including $10 million from Mangrove Capital Partners, which was the original backer of Skype.”

Want even better news about this? Well, “With this new release, we now also have a genuine free mobile VoIP solution that works on more than 90 handsets including Nokia (NYSE: NOK), Samsung, and LG.”

One more thing about it: And I’m sure you will love this….ITS FREE!

So at this very moment I am downloading it, going to test it and will reply soon with a post on my findings.

Update:

I have tested this program out on my Facebook, MySpace and cell phone, and I have to say I am completely impressed. It is very easy installing the software, just as easy to log into it on your cell phone, and I have not noticed any bugs or issues as of yet.

One thing I did notice is the wide range of programs it will integrate with. Here are some just to name a few: Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Xing, Blogger, LiveJournal, Flicker, Ebay, Outlook, and many many more.

So I urge you to take a look and let me know what you think. It took about 30 minutes of my time to plug the applet into my personal areas, and it’s not difficult to figure out. If you decide to test it out I would be very interested in your thoughts good or bad.

Later!

IPCS Word of the Day: Compression

by Garrett Smith

Compression = Compacting signal or data to lower bandwidth utilization. Video JPEG frames can take up a ton of bandwidth on a network, so typically a compression mechanism is used to “shrink” the frames down to an acceptable file size which is more easily transported without hogging bandwidth.

Free Shipping Promotion

May 14, 2008 by Garrett Smith

Hi everyone,

Just letting you know that we are still having our promotion on free shipping for all Axis IP Cameras and Geovision DVR cards.

Don’t miss out, and as always, let us know if you have any questions at http://www.ipcamerasupply.com.

IPCS Word of the Day: CMOS

by Garrett Smith

CMOS= The usage of Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductors in imagers to sense images improves over CCD technology in resolution, dynamic range, and noise sensitivity.

IPCS Word(s) of the Day: Day/Night Camera

You Have PTZ On the Dome!

Portable Skype AND a PSP?

Sony and Skype so happy together?

IPCS Word of the Day: Covert

Citel Acquired by Tortel USA, LLC

Linksys Visits IPCS

Realtime Review of Nimbuzz

Nimbuzz: is it buzz worthy?

IPCS Word of the Day: Compression

Free Shipping Promotion

IPCS Word of the Day: CMOS

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