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Hybrid CCTV Systems Offer a Painless Upgrade Path

CCTV brings many benefits to business efficiency, and is an important tool in meeting hospitality providers’ obligations to their patrons and employees. But of the many technologies we’re now used to having, CCTV installation probably requires the most physical intrusion to the venue. In particular, the cabling connecting analogue cameras to the control centre must be changed if they are replaced by modern cameras.

So it’s not surprising if, faced with the disruption and cost they imagine is involved, many have sat on their hands rather than upgrade their old analogue systems to the IP technology they would be installing if they started from scratch today. In reality, though, the transition to IP need not be complete, abrupt and expensive.

The big advance in CCTV since its inception has been the Internet Protocol (IP) Camera. IP cameras offer the following advantages over their analogue predecessors:

• Extended field of view, allowing fewer cameras to cover more space.
• High-resolution megapixel imaging
• Remote viewing control; pan, tilt or zoom
• Scalability
• Sound and motion detection
• Wireless capability
• Power over ethernet
• Video analytics
• Point Of Sale system integration
• Easy upgrades

There’s plenty there to appeal to the efficiency-conscious user – but given that apart from the cost of the cameras themselves an IP-based system uses completely different cabling, is it worth the disruption? Luckily, that’s not the decision you really have to make.

A Hybrid system uses a hybrid digital recorder to convert the analogue signal from an old CCTV camera into a digital format. So while the optical limitations of the analogue camera remain, all the “behind-the-camera” stuff is suddenly available. Better still, it’s possible to add IP cameras and cabling to a suite of existing analogue cameras, thus upgrading your system over time and with minimal disruption.

You could also go for a Tribrid system. Suitable for those who want improved image quality without the need to recable, it uses high definition analogue cameras which use the existing coaxial cabling, together with any number of additional IP cameras with their own cabling. Vision data is fed to a tribrid recorder, which reformats it for use by the CCTV control and monitoring system.

CCTV is continuing to develop, with features like facial recognition and heat sensing for kitchens promising to bring ever greater management capability. And CCTV hardware costs continue to fall in real terms, making a hybrid or tribrid system upgrade far more accessible than you might think.

These solutions offer a highly cost-effective way of performing a staged upgrade of your system. To discuss upgrading your CCTV system, give your Bepoz account manager a call today.[/vc_column][/vc_row][/vc_column][/vc_row][/vc_column][/vc_row]