An IP camera is a specialized type of camera that is typically uses for surveillance purposes. Over the past several years, the surveillance industry has changed dramatically and, as such, has started to offer more methods for surveillance that are capable of offering higher quality images. IP cameras, which are also referred to as digital surveillance systems, is one example of the remarkable advancements that have taken place.

What is an IP Camera?

An IP camera is a surveillance camera that is hooked up through a network. With an IP camera, you can conduct surveillance from a remote location in a cost effective manner. These cameras can be used in the home to monitor the activities of people, to keep an eye on children, and to catch potential crooks in action. An IP camera can also be used in a place of business to monitor employee behavior and to guard against shoplifters and other illegal activity.

In addition to being used for surveillance purposes, however, an IP camera can be used in a number of other ways as well. For example, remote classes are often taught with the help of an IP camera. An IP camera can also be used to assist with troubleshooting of systems or situations, as the camera can be used to videotape or send live images of the problem and sent to an expert for immediate assistance and instructions.

An IP camera can also be used for fun purposes, such as taping family outings and posting it on the web. People that maintain blogs, for example, may use an IP camera to tape their entries or to show their readers how to accomplish a certain task. In this way, they can provide a more personalized experience to their readers.

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The Benefits of Using an IP Camera Over a CCTV Camera

There are numerous benefits to using an IP camera rather than the more traditional CCTV camera. For one, IP cameras are generally much easier to install than CCTV cameras. IP cameras also offer more flexibility in surveillance options and, even better, it these cameras are more cost effective than CCTV cameras.

Furthermore, the image quality is far superior when using a higher end IP camera. This is because IP cameras are embedded devices and because it is not necessary for the camera to output an analogue signal. In general, a CCTV camera will have either PAL (which is 768 x 576 pixels) or an NTSC (which is 720 x 480 pixels) resolution. An IP camera, on the other hand, may have VGA ( which is 640 x 480 pixels), SVGA (which is 800 x 600 pixels) or quad-VGA (which is 1280 x 960 pixels) resolution.

As technology continues to improve, the benefits of an IP camera over a CCTV camera increase even more. For example, some IP cameras can actually track objects. Other forms of what is referred to as "intelligent video processing" are also being developed for IP cameras that are not possible with a CCTV camera.

The Benefits of Using an IP Camera Over a Web Cam

Although IP cameras can be used in many of the same ways as a PC based web cam, they are not actually the same. An IP camera is far more advanced than a PC based web cam and, as such, has many benefits that a PC based web cam cannot provide.

One of the most important benefits that an IP camera offers over a PC based web cam is the quality of the images. In many IP cameras, both MPEG-4 and Motion JPEG are supported at the same time. This makes it possible to view the images in full frame rate with the MPEG-4 compression standard while also recording.

Since an IP camera is connected directly to the computer network, they also make it possible to access live video streams directly from a desktop with a Web browser. Whether on a local area network or located anywhere else in the world, you can quickly and easily view the images being recorded by your IP camera.

Special Features of IP Cameras

The fact that IP cameras are used on a network also means that you can hear what is taking place in the remote location as well as speak to the person located in a remote area. Whether or not the IP camera allows for two way communication depends upon the model. Therefore, if this feature is important to you, be sure to purchase a camera that supports this technology.

An IP camera also allows you to set up alarm events. When you set up an alarm with an IP camera network, you can request that certain actions occur when the alarm is triggered. For example, you can set up the camera to begin recording images and sending them to a certain destination when the alarm is set off. Or, depending on your IP software, you may also be able to set it up so that doors or open or locked, messages are sent to mobile devices, lights are turned on or off, and temperate controls are changed.

If you want your IP camera network to have the ability to trigger certain events, you will need a model with input/output ports. These ports can be connected to doorbells, smoke detectors, sound detectors, movement detectors, temperature sensors, switches, lights, alarms and more. In this way, when a certain activity takes place that the IP camera is hooked up to, you can program it to begin recording. Or, you can simply set up your IP camera to automatically begin recording when something enters within its viewing area.

IP cameras come installed with a number of security features that help to protect the information that you have collected. For example, most have a number of levels of password protection in place. In this way, you can actually allow people to have access to certain aspects of the network while still restricting their use of the technology. IP address filtering is also utilized in order to allow only specific IP addresses to access the technology.

IP cameras are certainly the wave of the future when it comes to surveillance. In addition, they are capable of serving a number of other functions in addition to surveillance and, as technology continues to improve, the uses of these gadgets also continues to increase. It is no wonder why more and more people are choosing to add these handy little devices to their computer network system.