Megapixel Cameras Aid in Fight Against Small Business Crime

  • Feb 14, 2012

For small business owner Marjan Kostomaj, running the family commercial printing business is filled with everyday challenges that range from marketing to production issues to equipment maintenance. One issue he no longer has to worry about is the building’s video surveillance system.

Kostomaj's business, Tiskarna Kostomaj, located in Celje, Slovenia, recently adopted an Arecont Vision megapixel camera solution. Kostomaj chose Arecont's megapixel cameras after IP VGA video camera surveillance systems were tried, unsuccessfully. According to Kostomaj, the previous cameras did not have the image quality and were not reliable. 

“Property crimes, particularly burglary and vandalism can seriously affect our business and the other cameras were simply not doing the job we needed,” said Mr. Kostomaj. “We needed a camera system that would be able to recognize a person or vehicle within the camera field of view (FOV).  And that’s exactly what we have with the Arecont megapixel cameras.” 

In designing the new system, Tiskarna Kostomaj selected Arecont Vision megapixel cameras that ideally matched their needs. The AV3130 provides superior night vision to cover the outside of the building and the parking lot. The unique dual-sensor, day/night 3/1.3-megapixel IP camera delivers up to 15 frames per second (fps) at 2,048x1,536 pixels of high-definition color resolution. In low-light conditions, the AV3130 changes from color to black-and-white and the camera’s frame rate increases to a maximum of 30 fps at 1,280x1,024 pixels. 

To meet their demands for higher resolution and identification for internal coverage, the company selected the AV5100DN, a 5-megapixel MJPEG camera providing 2,492x1,944 pixel resolution at 9 frames per second (fps). The camera offers simultaneous full field-of-view and region-of-interest video, and image cropping allows streaming of full-density partial images. Included in the new video surveillance system is the AV1300 camera, featuring 1,280x1,024 pixel video at 32 fps, forensic zooming, region-of-interest (ROI), image cropping and motion detection. 

“Any business makes itself vulnerable to crime if proactive measures are not taken to help prevent it,” said Scott Schafer, executive vice president, Arecont Vision. “Megapixel cameras have been proven time and again as highly effective tools to improve image quality and reduce the number of cameras to cover the customers’ location.”

Higher resolutions enable customers to minimize the number of cameras they use without compromising coverage. The ability of fewer megapixel cameras to take the place of many standard-resolution network cameras or analog cameras contributes to an overall lower system cost. The use of fewer cameras also requires less labor and cabling while providing high resolution. Using fewer cameras to cover larger areas also translates into cost savings related to infrastructure (cables, mounts, housings, etc.) which makes it easier to realize a system return-on-investment (ROI). Also, the availability of higher-resolution images can provide prosecutable forensic evidence.  
 

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